Hidden Impact

by Piper J. Drake

  The man came through the door, his gun held out in front of him as his gaze swept the room. She waited—and she might be stupid for losing the precious moments—until his attention was on the far end of the room. Pulling the pin, she tossed the flash bang grenade hard.

  His partner shouted a warning.

  It landed short, its arc only taking it part of the way to the man, but it rolled the remaining few feet toward him. She turned away just as it exploded. The sharp bang was deafening and she clutched her head. There were shouts, but they came to her as if her ears were stuffed with cotton. She didn’t wait for her hearing to come the rest of the way back. She ran for the window, lobbing one of the metal batons she’d found in the bag through the glass. No time to climb through. Instead she threw herself through the window headfirst and tried to tell herself to roll.

  She hit the ground hard, rolling onto her back, the wind knocked out of her.

  “Stay down!” Gabe’s voice, still muffled as if she had earplugs in her ears. One side was worse than the other.

  But okay. She could do that. Happiness and relief cut through her fear. He was here. Relief might have been a wonderful thing if her hands and shoulders weren’t stinging. The pain was actually increasing steadily. Oh, she had to have landed on something bad. Like glass.

  “Victoria.” Gabe was crouching over her and she could see the muscles in his neck strain like he was shouting. Maybe he was. The whole world was a muted cacophony for her. His hands patted her down in a gentle but thorough progression over her entire body. This checking for injuries was becoming a thing between them. Maybe it wasn’t a good thing.

  Maybe she was going to be hysterical.

  Victoria was at their side, firing her weapon. “Covering. Go.”

  Gabe’s mouth was set in a grim line as he grabbed Maylin by the wrist and pulled her to a sitting position, urging her to her feet. “We’re going to need medical. Have them meet me at the main cabin, stat.”

  She tried. Honestly, she dug into her reserves and pulled up every contrary, stubborn moment in her life to drive herself to her feet. But nothing was working right. Everything throbbed, punctuated by piercing pain in random places. And a hot wetness was running from her ears down her jawline.

  Gabe had her up, though, and he hoisted her over his shoulder. The jostling hurt more, blood rushing to her head as her view consisted of the ground and his feet running. She might throw up.

  The world went black instead.

  * * *

  “You’re safe.” Gabe’s voice came clearer this time, but not by much. There was still cotton, or maybe dirt, clogging her ears.

  Around her, people were rushing back and forth. There was an IV in her left arm and a man in fatigues was injecting something into the line leading to her. Beyond him, another man in fatigues was being led by. The skin up and down his arm and the side of his face darkened, burned.

  “Here. Focus right here.” Gabe stepped into her line of sight. He caressed her cheek and she turned in to the caress, letting her eyes flutter closed as his thumb gently brushed across her skin.

  “We’re giving her Toradol for the pain...” The stranger’s voice faded away.

  * * *

  It was a lot quieter when she woke up.

  “Welcome back.” The voice was familiar but it wasn’t Gabe or Lizzy, not Victoria or Marc either.

  Maylin inhaled and exhaled nice and slow, each breath clearing away more of the grogginess. She opened her eyes and blinked a few times before focusing on the slender man seated next to her.

  “Caleb.”

  He grinned. “Glad you recognize me.”

  “I don’t know where I am, though.” The room looked something like the nurse’s office from high school. Not really, but it was the closest comparison she could think of with the curtain partitions around her stretcher partially open to reveal several similar beds. There were doors at either end of the long room but no one seemed to be walking by. A couple of curtains were drawn around stretchers at the other end of the row.

  “You’re still on Centurion Corporation grounds.” Caleb stood and poured water into a tiny cup. He handed it to her carefully, making sure she had a good hold on it before he settled back into his chair. “Sip slow. If it stays down, we’ll see about getting you whatever chow the medics say you can try first.”

  “Where’s Gabe?” She followed directions, the water cool against her lips and her dry throat. Since the initial sip seemed to go down fine, she took another then returned her attention to Caleb.

  “Well, Diaz and the team are fine. Not a scratch on them.” Caleb waved a hand in the direction of the hallway. “You, on the other hand, look a lot worse than you are.”

  “Thanks?” Most likely she’d regret asking for a mirror.

  “You fell on broken glass.” Caleb eyed her, maybe to gauge how well she was reacting to the news.

  “I remember. I jumped through a window.”

  “Not recommended. We all try to avoid it if possible.”

  “I can understand why.” But she wasn’t in pain, per se. Stiff, yes. And maybe there was a dull throb over most of her body.

  “Most of the cuts were superficial. A couple are held closed with butterfly stitches, so don’t mess with those. One or two spots, we had to stitch closed after the glass was removed. When those itch, don’t mess with them either.” Caleb stood and refilled her little cup with more water. “How’s it staying down?”

  “No nausea.” She pondered. “So if I start itching, you’re going to put a cone of shame on me?”

  Caleb grinned. “Nah. But they make these mitts we can put over your hands to keep you from scratching.”

  “I’ll pass, thank you.” And the conversation was starting to wear on her. It wasn’t that he wasn’t nice, and the banter was pretty light, but there was a nagging...something at the back of her mind.

  “Everything sounds weird. Kind of hollow.” The words popped out.

  “Yeah.” Caleb set the pitcher down. “About that. Nice distraction with the flash bang, but you were too close. You blew out your eardrums.”

  “Ah.” Well, considering the alternative, it might be the better of the options. “Is it permanent?”

  “Medic says the ruptures on your tympanic membrane are fortunately minor. Obviously you can hear some, and what trouble you’re having isn’t likely to be permanent.” Caleb tapped a finger to the side of his own ear. “I can tell you from personal experience it’ll probably be fine. Could even get back to close to one hundred percent in a few days to a week. But if you don’t have your full hearing back in about three months, what’s gone is probably gone for good.”

  Sobering thought.

  “Considering most of your injuries were minor, we decided to keep you here at our medical facilities, but we can provide you with protection at a civilian hospital if you really want to move.”

  Some of the tension left her shoulders. There was a world of difference when someone gave her a choice. “This is okay. Especially if I can get up and leave soon.”

  “So long as you promise to rest, you can be moved to the rest and rehab cabin, but the guest cabin is a mess. We’d rather you stay in a more secure building for the time being.”

  Memory came crashing back. “Charlie!”

  “Whoa, whoa.” Caleb jumped up as she started to swing her legs down off the stretcher. “You’ve still got an IV in, don’t rip it out by accident. Your friend is going to be fine. Our men retrieved him from one of the Apaches when we responded to the offensive action.”

  She blinked back tears. How could she have forgotten? “Really?”

  “To be honest, Edict shoved him out of the helicopter.” Caleb held her shoulders. “But he didn’t fall far. He’s got a few bumps and bruises, but you look a lot worse than he does. Plus,
with the damage to your ears, let’s take it slow with the standing up or one of the medics is going to come in here and yell at us both. Your balance might be off.”

  “They just...let him go?” Maylin had been so sure they’d kill Charlie, and maybe her too, once she wasn’t of use as leverage. Maybe she’d been watching too many television shows.

  Caleb grimaced. “Well, there’s no being sure. But Lizzy took a distance shot at the person holding him in the copter. So whatever they were going to do, their mind was changed. Lizzy is a pretty incredible sniper, in case you didn’t know.”

  “I didn’t.” Really, she didn’t know much about any of them. Except Gabe. “Where are they all now?”

  Caleb paused. “I promised Diaz I wouldn’t lie to you. He said he owed it to you.”

  Maylin’s breath caught in her throat.

  “You have been out for a good twenty-four hours. They’ve been cleaning up and analyzing the attack, including a captured recording of your call with Jewel. Nice presence of mind, setting it to record the call, by the way, and keeping your wits about you with her. That woman is too clever for her own good.” Caleb sat and crossed one leg over the other, tapping his knee with his fingers in a rapid staccato beat. “Harte and I arrived with several other fire teams, enough to make a couple of squadrons. That’s two dozen more people to support Diaz’s team, by the way.”

  “Okay.” It was a lot of people. All to the good, she hoped. Elation bloomed in her chest and spread through her body, clearing away the last of the fog of her injuries. They had enough people and firepower. They were going to get her.

  Her heart contracted and expended in her chest almost painfully. After being told so many times to give up, by everyone, this was finally happening. And she couldn’t help holding her breath against the fear that all of this could still end badly.

  A few tears welled up and she blinked them back. Happiness and apprehension warred with each other inside her head until she clenched her hands in her lap to stop them from trembling.

  Caleb didn’t say anything as she worked through her tumble of emotions. He seemed so nonchalant about it or, she was realizing, his expressions weren’t reflective of what he was actually thinking.

  She’d blinked away the tears and sat staring at him for a few moments before he continued as if he’d never stopped. “Diaz and his team were ready with a plan, and it was determined they should execute, with certain tweaks, before Edict or their sponsor decided to move your sister since the acquisition of you failed.”

  In his own way, Caleb was really hard to read. She couldn’t help but watch him close. He seemed so genial and pleasant, she almost missed the tightness around his eyes and at the corners of his mouth. His tone had barely changed. But he was angry. Maybe.

  “Caleb, I...”

  He waved her apology away before she could finish. “It’s not your fault. Not any of this. And Edict is ballsy as fuck for taking action here. There has been tension between the two organizations ever since they cherry-picked a couple of our resources, but this took it to a whole new level. Trust me. If it hadn’t been you, it would have been a different contract and a different altercation.”

  “How are you and Harte different, Caleb?” She’d wondered before, and maybe it was a stupid question now. But she wanted to know. Isabelle and Victoria had nicknames, but most of the men had been addressed by last name.

  Caleb blinked. “Different?”

  “Everyone calls you and Harte by your first names.”

  “Oh.” He might have been blushing. Maybe. Hard to tell, but he did look sheepish. “I was an officer when I was active with the US military. So was Harte. I’m in training now, but I have special subject matter expertise in intelligence and other things. So I guess since we don’t use rank in the Centurion Corporation, being private sector and all, the first name usage is our version of addressing someone who is the equivalent of an officer. Sort of a gentleman’s agreement. It’s not quite that simple, but that’s the high-level version of it.”

  “So you have authority.” She kept her gaze steady on his. No dodging on this one.

  “Yes.” He said it slowly, like he was realizing she’d maneuvered him and was deciding whether he should slip out of whatever she had in mind.

  “So you can take me to Gabe and the others.”

  “Not exactly.” Caleb studied her. “They’re not on premises and there’s no way I’d take you to where they are. Besides, we’d only be in the way. The operation is planned and in progress. If we want them to succeed then we trust them to do what they need to do.”

  “There’s got to be a way to know what they’re doing though. You don’t just wait in the dark for them to come home.” Even as she said it, she watched his expression go pleasantly blank. Wow.

  “This time. No. We aren’t waiting in the dark.” Caleb met her gaze with his own and it was inscrutable. “If you and Diaz are a thing, it’s important you accept who he is and what he does. Most of the time, not sometimes, you will have to wait with no word until he comes back. Decide if you can handle that.”

  Not a light matter.

  “I won’t answer that right away, because what you’ve said deserves time to really absorb.” Maybe other people said something different. But she wanted to give it serious consideration, because it was another truth, a reality of who Gabe was. “But this time, you said you weren’t waiting in the dark, and you didn’t say I had to.”

  Caleb chuckled, the seriousness evaporating. “Promise you’ll eat something first. The operation won’t start for a while yet, not until 0200 hours. When it does, I also need your word that you’ll stay in the back of the room with me. You have questions, you ask me. Don’t interrupt anyone else no matter what you hear.”

  She pressed her lips together. Despite his levity, she got the impression he’d take her right back out of whatever room this was going to be if she couldn’t follow his instructions. If he was taking the time to make this clear to her in advance, it was almost certain there’d be something going on she’d want to question. Could she watch and not ask questions? Not attempt to interfere? A hundred possibilities ran through her head. It was that or sit here waiting.

  She wanted to know what was happening. “I promise.”

  Caleb dragged his hand through his short cropped hair, rubbing his scalp with his palm. Abruptly, she wondered if he’d stayed the entire time watching over her.

  He chuckled. “I’d have never done this before, but I figure you should be there as our good luck charm. You’re the bird dog that flushed up all of this trouble in the first place.”

  Chapter Twenty

  “One Alpha, in position.” Gabe kept an eye on the corridor, scanning left, then right, and back again as his team crouched around the access to the old air ducts. Literally one eye open since his team had invested in the better-quality night vision gear that covered only one side, allowing the men to retain depth perception and leaving them free to open the other eye in case of a quick change in lighting. It took some getting used to, but allowed for faster reaction time.

  It was the edge needed for survival and success, in that order.

  “Roger that, One Alpha.” Harte’s voice came low through the comm in Gabe’s ear. “Squad Two in place, maintaining surveillance. You are clear to proceed. Unless you need a minute to recover from the run. It was a long way through those tunnels.”

  Gabe grinned in the dark. Sometimes he wondered if he missed the more strict communications practices of active military duty, especially during operations like this one. But then, their frequency was secure and Harte had a good sense of when there was time for banter versus times every word mattered. “A mile or two underground? Didn’t break a sweat.”

  “Roger.” Harte might be chuckling, but his words came through clear. “Proceed.”

  “Proceedi
ng, sir.” He clamped down on the anticipation driving him to rush forward. There’d been a lot of hurry up and wait to reach this point. His Delta fire team had to break the seal of an airlock fused shut decades prior by the Army Corps of Engineers decommissioning team while Alpha, Bravo and Charlie fire teams stood by on watch. Once breached, Alpha led the way into the tunnel with Bravo and Charlie following, leaving Delta to stand watch at the entrance.

  At the entrance to the air ducts, Marc and Victoria had scouted the next stage of entry into the underground complex while he and Lizzy had held their position. Meanwhile, Squadron Two’s fire teams had taken up positions above ground to keep an eye on the site’s activity.

  It’d been a lot of waiting. Now that he and his team were inside and on point with a primary plan and a backup, everything they did would be action and reaction. Which was good, because An-mei Cheng had waited long enough.

  Using hand signals, he motioned for Marc and Vicky to lead them forward. They crawled through a short stretch of air duct before sliding into the space between a wall and a massive pipe. There was a long-forgotten built-in access for a repair crew on the side of the pipe, allowing them to enter and climb down under the main part of the facility, still underground but a level or two above the matrix of tunnels branching out from the old site. The drain in the utility closet was industrial sized, large enough for them each to emerge and take position before heading out into the more dangerous hallway.

  “For a decommissioned ICBM, the facilities are in surprisingly good repair.” Harte’s comment was nonchalant, confirming for Gabe that the camera feeds each of his men wore were in working order despite the underground distance.

  “Well-lit, clean,” Gabe responded. There were a lot of these decommissioned sites dotting the United States, leftover from the Cold War when intercontinental ballistic missiles were scattered among “dummy” sites. Over time, they’d fallen into disrepair, and most were condemned. “Funny how this one didn’t show up as having a long-term lease.”