Traces of Grey: Book Four of The Alexis Stanton Chronicles

by Phelps, J. C.

For the shooter to have missed his target, me, he had to have been shooting from a position that didn’t afford him the best line of site as I walked toward the sniper hide. It’s possible I would be dead if that had been a real bullet. I worked through the map in my mind again. I didn’t dare move much and draw attention to my hiding spot. The area was fairly large, but at least now I knew about where one of the remaining shooters was located.

  I was still working through how I was going to get out of there when I heard an unfamiliar voice over the radio, “Sector Two, Commander.”

  “Confirmed kill?” Black’s voice came to me next.

  “No sir. But, she’s still there.”

  I knew Black would be watching now or on his way toward me. I had to be extra careful. I started a low crawl out of there. It was a risk I absolutely had to take. They had my location, but I had the other snipers location narrowed down. I hoped he’d stay put.

  I wasn’t far from base camp, which wasn’t far from the tower. The tower marked their rendezvous point and probably where the shooter hid and had been hiding since day one. I wish I’d have thought of this before. Instead, I ignored the tower because it was someplace that would be hard to defend from snipers on the higher ridges.

  I’d made my way slowly to the top of the ridge and decided to make a run for it. This was part of the map where the backside of the ridge was still in play. I had to get behind the ridge or Black would find me crawling around on the forest floor.

  “Movement at the top of the ridge,” I heard the man say. “She’s behind the ridge, moving west. I have no shot.”

  “Keep me up to date,” Black said.

  His voice was strained and came in a single breath. It sounded as though he was running.

  Damn it! He knew exactly where I was and in what direction I was headed. I doubled back and followed the backside of the ridge toward my very first hide. I didn’t care about my tracks at the moment. I had to put some distance between my last known location and me.

  Because I ran flat out, I made my destination in less than an hour. I fell to the ground and crested the ridge on my belly. My view wouldn’t be the best until I got onto the downward slope. My muscles screamed to take it slow but my brain pushed me to crawl as fast as I could.

  My rifle was ready before I had eyes on the tower, so when I could finally see it, I was ready to do my scan. I wasn’t disappointed and saw my target sweeping with his binoculars. Not a smart move. As with all my shots, time stood still and I watched him locate me in the binoculars. He dropped the binoculars, tried to ready his own rifle and use the radio at the same time. He did manage, “Sector…” before his alarm blared through the radio. Of course, he was already in the process of speaking and the word Three came out as well. Again, Black knew my location. At least this time he didn’t know exactly where I was in the grid.

  I jumped up and moved down the ridge to a crevice I’d slept in three nights ago. It jutted back into the hillside a couple feet but was too tight for me to utilize my rifle. Less than five minutes after I got settled I heard rustling above. My heart leapt into my throat. A good tracker like Black would have no trouble figuring out where I hid.

  My pistol was at the ready as I waited for Black to show himself. It seemed like hours before he pounced. Our alarms went off at the same time.

  “Damn.”

  Black pulled his pack from his back and switched off his alarm. My alarm was still blaring and in the tight space it was almost more than I could stand. I struggled to work myself out of the hole and Black leaned down and offered me a hand. I was dragged out of the hole in one short pull. I followed Black’s lead and shut off my alarm.

  As soon as it was quiet, Black stuck out his hand. I took it and he gave me that gruff shake I’d seen him do with all the other men. He literally lifted me from the ground as he pulled me in for a quick embrace.

  “Nice,” was all that he said as he set me back down. Then he spoke into the radio, “Game over, men. Rendezvous at camp in sector six. As soon as we break camp we’ll return home.”

  “So? Who got who first?” I asked.

  “Doesn’t matter. They were both kill shots and fired almost simultaneously. We both would have had time to pull the trigger.”

  We were back at camp Black within two hours and the men already had everything ready to be hauled back out of the forest. Again, we were saluted as soon as we walked into camp. One of the men asked, “Who won?”

  “Forty-one, Grey. One, Team Black.” Black answered the question.

  The looks made me very self-conscious but I held my head high.

  The man I’d taken out in the tower walked toward me with a somber expression. When he was directly in front of me he held out his hand. I took it.

  “Great game, Commander.”

  “It was fun,” I replied.

  Black and I grabbed some of the supplies and led the way back to the compound. The hike back was light and easy, even though we pushed hard. Most of the army had been just sitting out here for eight days with nothing much to do but play dead. Their speed mixed with the carefree attitude convinced me they were ready to return to the compound.

  Chapter Twelve

  We made it back to the compound late that afternoon.

  “We get real food tonight.” Black pointed toward the mess hall as we marched back onto the compound. He addressed the men, thanking them for participating. I expected him to berate them for not winning and asked him about it after we left them.

  “It was more the fault of the planner,” his voice was disappointed. “I shouldn’t have kept them in such large groups. The next time around, I’ll do better.”

  “What do you mean? Next time. I have no intentions of being hunted by forty men at one time again.”

  “You never know what might come up when you’re out in the field.” We stood outside my apartment door in Headquarters.

  “Maybe. Just know I won’t be doing it again any time soon. I’m exhausted.” I left him standing in the hall.

  The first thing I did was shower. The hot water felt so good. I stood under the spray watching the mud circle the drain. It was a full five minutes before the water became clear again, making me lose interest. I hadn’t been that dirty for months and something about it was satisfying. I’d finally gotten my hands dirty again.

  The mess hall wasn’t far from Headquarters. Black sat alone at the officer’s table and indicated a full plate of food to his left. The tables filled the room in orderly rows. Black’s army was spread out at the tables, intermingled with new faces. I watched as one of the men, who hadn’t been involved in the recent training, picked up a biscuit and brought it to his mouth. The sniper from sector two smacked it from his hand and some harsh words were exchanged. The would be biscuit eater was going to get belligerent, but more men stood from their seats to back the sniper. That’s when I noticed that none of them ate, even though they all had full plates in front of them.

  “Did you get this for me?” I asked before I sat down.

  “Yep.”

  I took a seat and looked around the room. All eyes were on us.

  “What’s going on?” I asked Black.

  “They won’t eat until you do. It’s a show of respect.”

  I immediately picked up my own biscuit and took a bite. It was heavenly and I savored it as I watched everyone finally dig in. Conversations started to spring up here and there and it sounded like a regular mess hall before I finished my biscuit.

  Black and I sat alone at the officer’s table and neither of us said anything. I watched the conversations as I ate. I had tried to break myself of the habit of eavesdropping, but it had become automatic, like reading.

  The conversations were all the same. It was all a retelling of our training op. The men kept looking at our table while they talked, so even if I couldn’t read lips, I would have known they talked about us.

  After dinner I went straight to bed and didn’t wake up until late the next morning when Black knock
ed at my door, looking for coffee.

  “Sleep well?” He asked as he sat down at my table.

  “Too well.” I rubbed my eyes and yawned as I started the coffee brewing.

  “Brown will be here sometime this afternoon or evening and we’ll leave for the office tomorrow.”

  The mention of going home brought White to the front of my thoughts. He was always there, but I’d been purposefully ignoring those thoughts while I worked. I looked forward to seeing him, but I was worried. I hadn’t been away from him for any length of time for several months and now I’d been gone almost a full month. I’d asked for it and needed it, but was it what White and I needed? What had he been doing while I was gone? Did he even think of me now that he’d had a taste? I wanted to believe that his loyalty ran as deep for me as mine for him, but he was a man. All of my experiences with men made me worry that he’d lose interest if I were out of sight. I pushed the worry down and decided it might not be a bad idea to hang out in the office for a few days or even a couple weeks.

  Black and I spent the rest of the day wandering around the compound, checking things out. We hadn’t taken a proper tour of this compound yet and took advantage of our time before Brown arrived.

  I tried to ignore the conversations not meant for our ears or my eyes. Still, I caught enough snippets to know our recent training op was still the main topic. I finally came to the conclusion I should have given in and let the men get me right away. It wasn’t just the awe or disbelief that had me self-conscious. It felt as if my relationship with Black had changed as well. He walked around with extreme pride evident on his face but no longer had that teacher’s air. I suppose being considered an equal to Black could be a good thing, but I’d always looked up to him as a type of mentor and liked that he seemed to keep me under his wing. Now, I was afraid he might stop backing me as much as he used to.

  Later that afternoon Black and I met Brown at the airstrip. Red had come along with him.

  “Heard about your exploits, Ms. Grey.” Red’s voice held notes of condescension and superiority.

  I just nodded and smiled. I didn’t know where he was going with this, but I was certain I wouldn’t like it. It was possible he could be making conversation. He did have a tendency to try to make everyone feel inferior when he spoke. Yet, the glint in his eye made me suspect him of prodding and I hated prodding.

  “When did you take up sniper jobs on the side?” He questioned.

  My mental warning light was already flashing but this intensified it. I just shook my head and laughed it off. Still, there was a definite air of accusation to his words. I hoped Red was just being a jerk and had no real idea who I was. I tried to make sure the tension I felt didn’t spill over into my body language.

  “Seriously? When?” He kept at it.

  I gave in and faced him with raised eyebrows. I stood with my legs slightly spread and solid, as if I were about to take a punch. As soon as I took the stance I knew I’d screwed up. That’s exactly what Red was looking for and the look of triumph on his face was too much.

  “Screw off, Red.”

  I forced myself to relax. I hoped I could blow it off as him just pissing me off instead of me having something to hide. The uncomfortable looks from Black and Brown told me they both felt the stress of the situation.

  “Don’t start fights, Red,” Black said.

  At least now I knew he’d still come to my defense. I just wished it hadn’t been when I was trying to hide something from him, too.

  “She’s been too busy playing White’s nurse maid,” Brown jabbed.

  He, obviously, had no idea what exactly White and I had done on our last job. I gave him the expected disapproving look and he grinned. I felt sick. Red let it drop but I could picture the wheels turning in his head and I didn’t like it one bit.

  My feelings of guilt made me go directly to my room after dinner while the boys went to the compound bar for a couple of drinks. I’d lied to my partners without saying anything, twice. And, what made it worse was that two of the three had defended my lies.

  I didn’t sleep well that night and was already on my fourth cup of coffee when Black came to my door the next morning.

  He took his seat at the table and waited for his coffee before he said, “We’ll leave in about an hour. You packed?”

  “I didn’t bring any luggage, remember?” I only managed a slight smile.

  “Everything okay?”

  “Yeah. I didn’t sleep well, that’s all.”

  About half an hour later Red showed up at my door. “I thought I’d find him here.” He nodded at Black.

  You just have to make sure I know you’re not here to see me.

  I raised my eyebrows and scowled at him.

  “May I join you for coffee?”

  I opted to let him in because Red and I had made huge strides over the last year or so and I’d begun to think of him as just another one of the guys. But, now that his curiosity was obviously piqued, I didn’t trust him, and he was being an overall jerk. I had no excuse other than general dislike to deny him entry, but that didn’t mean I had to be overly cordial.

  “Go ahead and get yourself a cup.” I pointed to the brewed coffee. There was no way I was going to wait on him after his nasty attitude.

  Brown showed up shortly after Red had gotten his own coffee. I immediately poured him a cup and delivered it with a smile. The gesture wasn’t lost on any of the men. Red’s smug amusement shown on his face and only served to irk me further.

  “So,” Red directed at me. “Are we going to start putting you out on hit jobs?”

  “Do we even do that?” I raised my eyebrows at him in a challenge.

  “At times, but with your skills we could take on more.” He returned the challenging look from across the table.

  “Nah. Not my style.” I directed all of my attention into my coffee cup.

  Black attempted to redirect the conversation by asking how things were going at the office.

  “Nothing new.” Red gave me a sidelong glance that I pretended I didn’t see. “And, you.” He pointed a finger at Black. “Even you couldn’t track her? Man, you had eight days.”

  “What’s your problem, Red?” Black asked, his jaw tightening.

  “It all just seems a little contrived.”

  I’d heard enough.

  “So you think we set it up? One little girl couldn’t do what I did? There’s no way I could take out forty men and Black? You’re right Red. We set it up. Black thought the men should show more respect for their female co-workers. Funny, it didn’t carry over to you. Honestly, I couldn’t figure out how to pull the trigger on those damned fire sticks.” I was on the verge of standing from my seat and smacking the smug look from his face.

  “So what if she’s good at something, man. What’s the big deal?” Brown backed me. “We’ve all seen her shoot that sniper rifle. And,” he continued, “Black taught her how to get around the woods. There’s nothing unbelievable about this. Sounds like you’re just trying to get your ass kicked.”

  Brown’s hackles were raised. I’d only seen this side of him a handful of times. I loved that he’d take my side over Red’s, but the guilt gnawed at me.

  “Ha. You’re going to kick my ass?” Red challenged Brown.

  I was tense and waited for one of them to stand from his seat. That would be my cue. Brown and Black would not fight my fight. I didn’t know if I could take Red or not, but I’d give it a shot.

  “I don’t think I’d be fast enough to either kick your ass or protect your ass if it comes to blows.”

  The intensity in Brown’s eyes gave a different meaning to his smile.

  Red faced me, as if waiting for his very own black eye. I ran through all the fight scenarios and seriously considered acting them out. I really wanted to break his nose, but I knew it was wrong. He was my partner, even if I didn’t care for him. This wouldn’t be anything like me popping Brown to make a point. There was an actual grudge I’d be fighting
and that was entirely different.

  “I think we’ve exhausted this subject. I’ll meet you all at the airfield in fifteen.”

  Red slowly stood from his chair, indicating he didn’t want to get physical. Though his tone was sincere his eyes still held suspicion. I expected him to add something else to his last statement, but it never came. Instead, he left the three of us sitting uncomfortably in my room.

  I figured this wouldn’t be the end of it, but at least it was the end of this round.

  As we boarded the chopper I noticed Red had left the tension in his shoulders behind.

  The flight was only slightly awkward for me. I tried to figure out what had prompted Red to get so riled up about my good showing on the field. My mind went directly to Penumbra. I had to protect her at all costs, even from my partners. But, that was my problem. If I weren’t Penumbra, I knew that would be the last thing on my mind. I had to forget about her when talking to Red. Penumbra did not exist in my world, at least not intimately. Still, what did he think he knew? I hadn’t done a Penumbra job since Dimitri and Red had no clue back then. He couldn’t know, I reassured myself and dozed in my seat.

  None of us had bags to deposit in our rooms so we all went directly to the office to check in with White.

  Gabriella greeted us all with a smile and a nod as we walked past her into White’s office.

  “How’d things go?” White asked when we each took a seat.

  “Great,” Black answered.

  “Glad to have you home, Ms. Grey, but I don’t need you at the moment,” White said as soon as I’d gotten comfortable.

  I didn’t know how to take this. Was I still being talked about behind closed doors or were they going to discuss something else? I left gracefully, though I wanted to stomp to the door and slam it when I left.

  “That was quick,” Gabriella said.

  “I was kicked out.” I slumped in my chair.

  “What? Why?”

  “No idea.” I shrugged.