by Siegel, Alex
Marina called Bethany on the phone. "We're finally in position to begin the search."
"It's been almost an hour, ma'am," Bethany replied.
"I know. These operations never go as smoothly as we want. Can you give me a more specific position for Xavier?"
"Somewhere in the northern half of the mobile home park. That's all the information we have now."
Marina grunted with irritation. "How many homes will we have to search?"
"Thirty or forty."
"That could take hours." Marina sighed. "We'll need your support. Are you and Leanna going to be able to stay awake?"
"We'll try hard, ma'am. Smythe is right here watching us. We have a Global Hawk positioned directly above you, and it has infrared cameras."
"Good. Call if you see anything."
"Yes, ma'am," Bethany said.
Marina put away her phone and addressed her squad, "The northern half of the park. We'll stay together and check the homes one at a time. That may take a while but splitting up is too risky. Be alert. If we find Xavier, the action will switch from slow to very fast in a heartbeat."
"Yes, ma'am," the entire squad responded in unison.
Marina allowed herself a small smile this time. She liked being the boss.
"I'll take the lead," she said. "Stay close. Weapons ready."
She crept towards the mobile home park. She had an assault rifle strapped across her back, but it was too bulky for sneaking around. Instead, she grabbed a HK MP7A1 submachine gun. It didn't have the punch or accuracy of a rifle, but it could be handled in tight spaces and fired with one hand.
She approached the first home. The lights were off inside. She gently tried the door and found it was locked. Using her lock picks, she opened the cheap lock easily and quietly. A millimeter at a time, she eased open the door. Her night vision goggles allowed her to see into the dark interior. Nobody was there.
She slipped inside and her squad followed. Like dark ghosts, they searched the interior. A couple was sleeping in one bedroom and a child was in another. There was no sign of Xavier. Marina led the squad back outside a few minutes later. They left no evidence of their presence behind.
The following fourteen homes were searched the same way. Even though the process was repetitive and tiring, Marina forced herself to treat each entry as a lethal threat.
The next home gave her trouble though. The lock on the door was stuck. She fought with it for a minute but the cylinder refused to turn. Jennifer gave it a try and had the same result.
Marina walked around the home, looking for another entrance. Most of the windows were small, and while she and Jennifer might be able to slip through, the men would make too much noise. Marina found a sliding patio door in back that looked promising. The rest of the squad came up behind her and readied their guns. She knelt down and went to work on the lock.
The entire door fell out as soon as she touched it. The frame had been unscrewed. She could only watch as it smashed on the floor with a noise loud enough to wake the neighbors.
"Oh, shit," she muttered.
An instant later, she heard an explosion on the other side of the home. Everybody sprinted around. A portion of a side wall had been blown open. Marina caught a glimpse of a big man in a gray coat just before he disappeared around a corner.
The entire squad chased after him. Marina trailed behind for several paces and then stopped running. Xavier throws shadows, she thought.
"Wait!" she yelled. "Stop! It's just a shadow!"
The squad halted and looked back. Marina heard a noise behind her. It sounded like somebody kicking open a door. She took a step towards the hole in the side of the home.
She suddenly remembered what had happened to Yule back at the camp. She threw herself to the ground and covered her face with her arms.
Another explosion sent flames washing over her. Her body armor and helmet were fireproof, but the back of her neck was uncovered. Pain made her cry out.
After the explosion was done, she rolled onto her back and gasped. Her squad ran over.
"Get behind cover!" she screamed. "He's out here somewhere!"
Jacob grabbed Marina's arms and dragged her to her feet. Gunshots rang out. Carl stumbled but kept going. The squad found cover behind another home.
Everybody was breathing hard.
"You OK?" Marina asked Carl.
He touched his side gingerly. "The armor worked. The bullet didn't penetrate, but it did break a rib."
Jacob looked at Marina's neck. "That's a nasty burn. You lost quite a bit of hair, too."
"I'll deal with it later." Snarling, she took out her phone and called Bethany. "I need your help."
"We saw an explosion," Bethany said. "What's going on? Is anybody hurt?"
"Not seriously. Xavier is somewhere near my position. That Global Hawk of yours will be my eyes in the sky. If he steps into the open, tell me where he is."
"I see him!" Bethany yelled. "He's moving! Wait, no, there are two... three... Uh, oh."
"I guess his shadows show up in infrared just like the real Xavier. When God gives a gift, He gets the details right."
"Yes, ma'am. God is very good at details. I have four possible locations for Xavier. I wonder if he knows we have a spy plane."
"If he doesn't already," Marina said, "he'll figure it out soon enough. He knows our capabilities."
"Do you want to talk to Aaron? He's asleep, but I'm sure he won't mind if you wake him up."
She hated the idea of calling her boyfriend for help on her first real assignment as a commander. It was demeaning. However, Aaron would have a wise suggestion for her. If she had to swallow her pride to be successful, so be it.
"OK," she said. "Good idea."
A moment later Aaron spoke, "What's going on? Where are you?"
Marina gave a very quick summary of her situation.
"Listen," he said, "the most important thing is to make sure nobody on your team gets killed."
"I know that! Just give me a suggestion for how to catch Xavier."
"The problem is he'll never run out of shadows. He can do three at a time if he really tries hard. He'll have you walking into traps all night. That's what he does. You might catch him eventually, but it's more likely you'll die first."
"There are five of us," she said, "and only one of him."
"But he has more experience and a better gift than any of you. He's been in the Society for twenty years. He's almost qualified to be a legate. If you're going to beat him, you can't just chase him around. You have to find a weakness. Let me put it another way. Do you see the path to victory here?"
"No."
"Then you're on the path to defeat," he said in a stern tone. "Really, if you want to win tonight, you're only option is to bomb the shit out of the entire neighborhood until you're sure he's dead."
"That will kill hundreds of civilians."
"Which is exactly why he chose that location. He knows you won't do that."
Marina heard voices. She looked around a corner and saw several people standing near the destroyed mobile home. They were speculating about what had happened.
Bethany broke into the conversation, "Ma'am! I'm seeing infrared signatures all over the neighborhood. People are coming out of their homes. Any of them could be Xavier."
"Were you listening to us?" Marina said.
"Yes, ma'am."
Marina didn't know if she should chastise Bethany. Eavesdropping on a conversation between commanders was a bad thing to do, but Marina hadn't told her to get off the line.
"I was afraid of this," Aaron said. "Now it will be almost impossible to catch him. He could even be circling back to see if he can get an easy kill. I recommend a cautious but swift retreat at this point."
Marina looked at the homes around her. She didn't see any movement. "Bethany, tell the state police to send all the units they can. That should keep Xavier busy while we get away."
"Yes, ma'am," Bethany said.
"Be care
ful," Aaron said. "Good night."
The call ended and Marina put away her phone. She used her night vision goggles to check the shadows around her again. The back of her neck was throbbing and she was glad she couldn't see the injury.
She faced her squad. After a moment of thought, she said, "Aaron recommends we bail out. It's good advice. The police are already on their way. But I want to dance with Xavier one more time if I can. Do any of you have a strong opinion?"
"We jumped out of an airplane in the middle of the night to get here," Jacob said. "I'll give it another shot, ma'am."
The others nodded.
"OK. Stay on your toes. Follow me."
Marina took off at a steady, quiet trot. Her squad followed with their guns ready.
Aaron had been right about one thing. Chasing Xavier under these conditions was stupid. It was much better to let him come to her.
Marina reached a large road that ran along the north side of the mobile home park. There was a deep ditch beside the road. She pointed at the ditch, and the squad dropped into it. Their eyes were barely above the level of the frozen grass.
"Carl, watch our back," Marina whispered. "Jennifer, left. Zach, right. Jacob, look forward with me."
She gazed across a small field at a line of houses and trees. There was open space on all sides. It would be impossible for Xavier to get close without being seen.
Marina waited without moving a muscle. Minutes passed. Her patience paid off when she saw a dark shape slip around the corner of a house. It was using the shadows of trees as cover. Every movement demonstrated masterful expertise in the ninja arts. It had to be Xavier.
She aimed her submachine gun but stopped short of pulling the trigger. Her gun had a suppressor, but it would still produce enough muzzle flash to give away her position if somebody was looking for it. She was starting to think like her enemy. Another fucking shadow, she realized.
Zach moved. Marina couldn't stop him before he fired his rifle. She looked back at the shadow and saw it fall over. She didn't buy the act though. Xavier could certainly make his illusions pretend like they were dead.
A ball flew at them from a different location. Marina's eyes widened when she realized it was a grenade. Jacob jumped up, caught the grenade in the air, and hurled it back. She barely had time to get her head down before it exploded. Shrapnel thumped against her helmet. Jacob fell back into the ditch.
She quickly checked him. A fragment had sliced through his face mask and had cut his chin, but that seemed to be the only injury. Marks on his chest plates showed where other fragments had struck his armor.
Marina realized she was in a bad situation. She only had a few seconds before Xavier attacked again. She could fire her gun at the trees, but it wouldn't do much good. Even if she spotted him, it probably would be another shadow.
Jacob carried two flash-bang grenades on his belt. She grabbed both, pulled the handles, and threw them at what she hoped was Xavier's location.
"Move!" she yelled.
Zach and Carl grabbed Jacob by the arms and yanked him to his feet. Everybody was already sprinting when the grenades went off. They sounded like twin thunderclaps. The flash of light was bright enough to overload Marina's night vision goggles even though she was facing away. She had to take off her mask to see.
She led her squad towards a nearby cluster of homes. Lights were turning on all over the neighborhood. If the earlier explosion hadn't woken people up, the grenades certainly had.
Marina picked a house at random. She kicked open the door and ran inside. An old woman in a pink nightgown stared at her in shock. Marina put her to sleep with an injection of venom.
The rest of the squad spilled into the home. The last one inside closed the door and turned off the lights. Enough light leaked in through the windows that Marina could still see well enough.
She turned to Zach. "Idiot!"
"I saw..." he replied weakly.
"You saw what Xavier wanted you to see! He tricked you into giving away our position. You nearly got us all killed. Did anybody else shoot at that shadow?"
"No, ma'am." He lowered his eyes.
Snarling, Marina took another look at Jacob's injured face. The cut was deep and messy but not dangerous. He could still fight. She glared at Zach one more time.
Marina's phone rang. She grabbed it and answered, "What?"
"It's Aaron. Bethany just called and told me there were more explosions. Are you still engaged with Xavier?"
"I decided to stick around a little longer."
"I told you to get out of there," Aaron said.
"Don't give me orders. You're not my boss anymore."
He hesitated. "True, but I'm still your boyfriend. Please, get out of there."
"It's adorable the way you worry about me, but this is exactly why Ethel is sending me to San Francisco."
"Marina..."
"My actual orders are very clear," she said. "Kill Xavier. Not, kill him if it's safe and convenient. Not, run away when the situation gets scary. I have to continue this operation until there is a compelling reason to stop."
He was silent for a moment. "You're right."
"I am?" She raised her eyebrows.
"Absolutely. I apologize for being a typical male. Here is a new recommendation. You and your team have gifts. Use them. Set a proper trap and lead Xavier into it. Show that mother fucker he shouldn't mess with Marina Pavlova."
She smiled. "I will. I love you."
"I love you, too. Bye."
She put away her phone.
She turned and faced her squad. After a little thought, she said, "Follow me and keep up. I'm going to move fast."
She ran out of the home, turned, and continued along a narrow road. Her eyes went left and right as she searched for a certain kind of place.
After a few hundred feet of hard running, she found exactly what she wanted. There was a small patch of raw land in the corner of the mobile home park. The residents had been using it as a junk yard. It was full of broken trailers, rusted cars, crates, dead appliances, and other debris.
She ran to the center of the area. "We'll ambush Xavier here," she declared. "Jacob, use your gift. Place proximity sensors everywhere. They'll tell you whether you're looking at the real Xavier. Jennifer, vomit up some black goo to create sticky patches. If we can glue him to the ground, it will also prove he's real. Then everybody hide. Be patient and observant. The first few Xaviers you see will probably be fakes."
"What are you going to do, ma'am?" Jacob said.
"Leave a trail of breadcrumbs for him to follow."
She ran back to the entrance of the area. She took out a sharp knife and made an incision in her left palm. She squeezed a little blood onto the snow. It looked dark in the moonlight. She went five paces forward and made another blood spot. Then she went forward again and made another.
Chapter Twenty
Xavier was in pain. A grenade fragment had cut his thigh earlier, which was embarrassing because it had been his own grenade. The wound was deep, but he had decided to ignore it for now. A group of legionnaires was in the mobile home park, somewhere. He wanted to kill at least one before fleeing. His pride and reputation were at stake.
Xavier still wasn't sure how the enemy had found him. Somewhere along the line, he had made a mistake. He needed to be even more careful in the future.
People were wandering the streets and talking to each other in small groups. Everybody was wearing heavy coats over whatever clothes they had thrown on.
Xavier expected the legionnaires were still looking for him. The Society didn't employ quitters. He stayed well hidden and had two of his shadows leading the way. They would get attacked first, which would allow him to locate hidden enemies.
He slipped between patches of darkness. The moon was annoyingly bright tonight, and it kept him from crossing open spaces. He had to cling to the walls of buildings instead. A few times he crawled under porches or over roofs to make progress.
He s
potted a drop of blood in the snow. The color and splash pattern were unmistakable. Apparently, the grenade had injured somebody besides him. There was another drop further along.
Xavier heard police sirens in the distance. Running out of time, he thought.
He followed the trail of blood. Before taking each step, he stared into the dark places around him. He also stayed well off to the side in case an ambush was waiting for him. He kept his shadows moving back and forth like silent sentries. Mostly, he listened for the slightest noise. The winter night was very quiet.
He reached a point where he had to expose himself to continue forward. An empty lot full of debris was directly ahead. It was a good place for an injured legionnaire to hide and an even better place for an ambush. Xavier felt compelled to investigate but the police sirens were getting close. Within minutes the mobile home park would be swarming with cops. He proceeded anyway.
Xavier made a wide circle around the lot, using whatever cover he could find. He eventually reached a stand of trees on the other side. There were several avenues of escape from here, making it a good place to launch an attack.
He sent two shadows forward. They crept across the snow on their hands and knees. It was difficult to control both at once, so their movements were a little stiff. Being very tired didn't help, either. Xavier had hoped to get a reasonable amount of sleep tonight, but it didn't seem like that would happen. The shadows looked exactly like him. They even had grizzled chins and blood on their illusory thighs.
They moved silently through the entire lot without drawing any fire. Xavier heard nothing except the damn sirens. The trail of blood led directly to the lot, so somebody was in there. Maybe the legionnaire was badly injured or dead.
Xavier reached under his coat and grabbed another fragmentation grenade. It might flush out any hidden enemies, but it would also bring the police straight here, so he would keep it in reserve. He held the grenade in his left hand. A 9 mm semiautomatic was in his right hand.