Edge of Grey

by Phelps, J. C.

  “Of course, Commander.”

  Brown started razzing Sam about never getting a hug in greeting like he’d given me. I walked away, not wanting to get in the middle of their banter. Then I heard Brown groan. I turned around and had to peer around Black, who’d been following me closely. I was just in time to see Sam drop Brown from a bear hug.

  “Oh, Sam,” Brown said in a girly voice then made kissing sounds.

  “I will heal, Brown,” I said. “And, I seem to recall you saying something about not wanting to piss me off.”

  “Oh yeah. That,” he said. “You’ll get over it.”

  He grinned and winked at me.

  They laughed and then performed their more standard greeting of the gruff handshake that was actually an arm shake. They grabbed each other’s arm just below the elbow, gave a good, hard shake, then leaned in to do that half hug that men seem so fond of.

  I had to walk past the group of men Red and Green were speaking with to board the plane and they all stopped talking to nod greetings so I smiled at them all before I climbed the stairs.

  “Let’s get geared up,” Black said after we were inside.

  I followed him down an aisle between several rows of seats to the back of the plane. It was an open area with benches down either side and I could tell the back of the plane opened up. That would be convenient for jumping.

  “Here.”

  Black handed me a parachute and started to put one on himself.

  “This is going to really hurt,” I said as I put it on and thought of the jerk I’d experience as the chute opened.

  “You won’t sit this one out, will you?” Black asked with hope in his voice.

  “No chance.”

  He nodded and took a seat on the bench.

  “I want to be the first one out,” he said.

  “I’m right behind you.”

  I sat next to him on the bench. Some of my fondest memories were the ones that included Black, a cliff, and parachutes.

  Black reminded me that even though all of us had communication devices all communication from here on out would be reserved for the team leaders unless we had an emergency. Green was our team leader. For lack of imagination, we were considered Team One.

  We had five teams in play. Team Two would be split into three two-man teams as the mission progressed. The first two would remain here to keep control of this airstrip, two more would remain at the next airstrip. Then we’d leave the remaining two from that team inside the underground garage at the end of the tunnel. We’d have to split Team Three as well. Two would stand guard outside the empty warehouse that led down into the drug refinery and the four remaining would hold the walls while teams one, four and five secured the holding cells and took headquarters. Our team would go up to Ruiz’s room to take him into custody, or search the premises until we found him.

  As soon as Ruiz was in custody we’d make our way to the holding cells to check for Will while teams four and five placed explosives throughout the refinery. There was no point in allowing a drug refinery to remain standing if we had an opportunity to kill it.

  The plane started to fill up as we sat there. Everyone put on their own parachutes. Blue sat next to me and Red, Brown, Green, and Sam took the first seats on the bench across the plane. Then the rest of the men filled the benches evenly.

  Within ten minutes we were off the ground and gaining altitude.

  I was restless during the short flight. I hadn’t jumped from a plane for a long time and I was looking forward to a night jump, yet I was worried about my shoulder.

  About fifteen minutes into the flight the back door came open.

  “Ready?” Black’s grin was infectious.

  I nodded and smiled back at him. Sitting next to Black, feeling the invigoration I always felt before we jumped, brought me back to the place I’d been before they’d discovered my Penumbra identity. It was a good feeling, but it didn’t last long.

  He stood and as soon as the door was open he jumped. Green was the second man out of the plane, but I was right behind him.

  I pulled my chute almost immediately and wasn’t disappointed in the pain in my shoulder. I’d dislocated it again.

  I swore and focused on the landing lights of the airstrip below us. Steering the parachute was almost impossible with one good arm but I managed. The lights were coming up fast and I landed just outside the perimeter.

  Black was still recovering his chute not far from me and came to help me when he noticed I was struggling with only one arm.

  “You okay?” He whispered.

  “Out of socket,” I managed through clenched teeth. I hurried to gather up the rest of my chute.

  “Wait,” he said.

  He reached over and unbuckled the pack and helped me get it off my bad shoulder.

  Blue joined us and Black told him my shoulder was out of socket.

  “Damn,” he swore quietly.

  I saw him and Black nod at each other in the dark and the next thing I knew they had my arm back in the socket.

  Black caught me before I hit the ground and steadied me for a couple seconds as the dizziness subsided.

  The men were all congregating near us, piling up the chutes, and pulling down their night vision goggles.

  “Stay close,” Black said and I nodded.

  After that, all communication was made with hand gestures.

  My team consisted of my partners and we made our way for the hangar. I couldn’t let my shoulder hinder my team. My pistols were more manageable than the rifle strapped to my chest so I pulled one of them out and followed my team as quietly as I could.

  I heard the four other teams signal their readiness through my earpiece as we made our way to our destination. As soon as Green confirmed we were in position all teams executed their orders.

  We took this hangar in a similar manner as the operation at Ruiz’s personal airstrip. Except I had an advantage because I’d been in this hangar before.

  Again I was the last one to enter. This time shots were fired but I didn’t dare pull my own trigger. I was the only one without a suppressor on my weapon. My partners took no prisoners this time around and the hangar was littered with twelve dead men in a matter of seconds.

  I put my pistol back into the holster and raised my rifle. It hurt like hell, but I told myself to suck it up. If I fired my pistol, I could alert the enemy to our presence. I couldn’t compromise the mission. Not this time.

  We started a sweep of the hangar as the reports of all clear came from the other teams. We checked both planes in the hangar as well as all the other nooks and crannies before Green called in our all clear.

  I’d warned the men about the underground passage and they’d made sure no one was able to get to it. That had been one of the missteps I'd worked through while on top of Ruiz’s hangar.

  I wiped the sweat from my forehead as we waited for the teams to converge.

  When the men were all present we loaded up into two SUVs and drove into the tunnel. It might kill our element of surprise with the noise of the engines but we didn't have time to go in on foot. Green and I had estimated the tunnel ran thirty miles from the airstrip to the refinery. We’d take the last mile or so on foot in hopes of retaining some form of ambush.

  We were all crammed together in the vehicles and no one spoke for the fifteen minute ride. I was still fighting the pain in my shoulder and did a fair amount of grimacing as the man on my left jostled into me.

  Finally we stopped and exited the vehicles. The jog to the underground garage in the dark was quieter than I’d expected. We'd all pulled down our goggles as soon as our feet hit the concrete of the tunnel floor. I could hear foot falls all around me and an occasional shifting of equipment but I didn’t look around. It felt like I was running with a pack of wolves. All I could think of in that moment was how my dad had always told me, “You are who you run with.” I was proud to be running with this crowd. Still, with my aching shoulder and the knowledge of my involvement on
the opposite side, it felt undeserved.

  As soon as the light from the underground garage started to filter through my goggles we stopped and removed them. We moved in slowly to let our eyes adjust and in hopes of not alerting anyone who might be standing guard.

  There were no guards inside the garage, but I knew there’d be at least two on the other side of the door.

  Our men were through the door as soon as it was opened and had the two guards down before they could react. It was all done without a sound and I was extremely impressed. We took a chance and marched through the workers as if we were supposed to be there. The people packaging the drugs didn’t pay any attention to us as we trooped through. I guess Green was right and people working these kinds of jobs had learned to never ask questions and work through anything.

  The next guarded door wasn’t any trouble for our men in the lead and we were up the stairs and inside the empty warehouse making our way to the refinery yard. Then we’d have to go find Ruiz. We were betting, at this time of night he’d be in his room at headquarters.

  As soon as the last two guards were taken care of I ached to go directly to the holding cells. Instead, we followed the plan and sent two teams to secure the walls. My team that consisted of my partners waited in the shadows until we received the all clear. It was a tense ten minutes and I kept my eyes on the two guards standing near the holding cells.

  The remaining four men from team three stayed on the walls to keep the high ground. We watched as Team Four descended the walls and swooped in on the two guards outside the holding cells. With the guards dispatched they entered the building. My heart beat heavily in my chest. What if Will was who Jake had wanted me to find back when he said he had information I needed to find for White. I’d assumed it was simply the fact that this was a drug refinery owned by Ruiz. A direct link to Posner and Ruiz running drugs together.

  But, Jake had been the one who had me thrown in the holding cell. What if he’d done that so I’d find Will and when I didn’t, he continued to give me little hints to keep checking around for information that might be useful to White. When we returned White was already gone so maybe Jake gave up trying to give Will’s location up. He had told me he was certain Posner would have him killed if he knew he was trying to sell him out.

  The team exited the building right after giving the all clear and we all converged on headquarters. When I’d been here, things were fairly quiet after eleven o’clock. Most of the activity happened right after shift change and the last shift had gotten off a couple hours ago. Most of the men would be back in their barracks by now.

  This was where things could get out of hand. We entered headquarters quietly and took down each threat as they surfaced. Thankfully this crew seemed to run on the same schedule as the one I'd been on. The socializing that took place in the main part of headquarters was at a lull and the only resistance we met was drunken security officers sitting around the bar.

  My team broke away from the other teams to go up to Ruiz’s room. I took the lead and brought them straight to his door.

  Black put his shoulder into it and broke down the door. The rest of us swarmed into the room and located Ruiz scrambling around his bed, trying to get his bearings.

  Red and Green grabbed him by either arm and pulled him from the bed.

  Red told him to remain quiet and he might live to see tomorrow.

  The remaining intact teams were waiting on the first floor and we handed possession of Ruiz to one of them. Green told them to meet us at the underground garage and then set the other two teams to place their charges.

  My team made our way back to the holding cells stopping only long enough to find the keys on one of the guards our men had drug into the building.

  Red did the honors and unlocked the first cell and threw open the door while we all trained our weapons inside. It was empty. We went down the line of doors with the same result in each of them. No one was in any of the cells.

  “There were men in here when I was in here,” I said.

  How could Will not be here? I'd been certain he was here.

  “Let’s move out,” Green said.

  All of my partners filed out of the building but I was left standing there. I couldn't accept this.

  “Grey. Now!” Black said.

  His voice, though low, was harsh enough to pull me out of my disbelief. We all hurried back to the underground garage gathering all of our men as we moved through the refinery.

  The two teams tasked with placing charges were already waiting for us in the garage.

  Our men all loaded into the side-by-side ATVs and headed down the tunnel before my team. Red took a second to inform the workers they should evacuate through the warehouse then Brown parked one of the largest ATVs in front of the door to hold it shut.

  The ride through the tunnel was fast and we arrived back at the second airstrip within seconds of the last team. The plane was ready to go and we were in the air in record time. I could see the refinery on fire from the air and I watched it on the horizon until we started to descend onto Ruiz’s airstrip to recover the rest of our men.

  Once the last of our men were safely on the plane and we were back in the air Blue came up to me and kneeled in the aisle. We’d all sat in the more comfortable seats instead of along the benches in the back of the plane. I got stuck with an aisle seat next to Black.

  Blue offered two different pills and a bottle of water.

  I shook my head.

  “No,” I said.

  “I know you expected to find Will back there, but we have Ruiz now. Red's working on him,” he said while indicating the back of the plane with a hike of his head. “There’s no reason you shouldn’t take these. We’re on our way home.”

  “I was really hoping he’d be there,” I said.

  “I was too.”

  He offered the pills again.

  “A muscle relaxer and a painkiller. One’s for the dislocated shoulder the other’s for the pain.”

  “Pusher,” I said as I took them.

  “I am not,” he said. “I just need you a little out of it so I can stitch you up again. I shouldn’t have let you take that jump.”

  “Stitch me up?” I glanced at my shoulder and saw the blood soaked through my jacket.

  “You must have ripped out your stitches when the parachute opened. Do you have a tank top on under all this?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  “Take your pills and then strip down to it and I’ll get my equipment.”

  He waited until I took the pills before he walked away.

  I struggled to get my jacket off in the small space and accidentally smacked Black in the face. He’d already fallen asleep.

  “What are you doing?” He asked as he held my only good arm tight by the wrist.

  “Sorry,” I said. “I have to take all this off so Blue can perform surgery. He thinks I ripped out my stitches.”

  “Let me help you,” Black said and started to pull on my sleeve.

  “I’ve got it if you just let go,” I objected.

  “Don’t smack me again,” he warned.

  After a little more struggling I got the jacket off and then the shirt under that. I was left feeling cold in just a tank top. The wound was still bleeding steadily and Black poked at it with my already bloodied shirt that had ended up in his lap.

  “Ouch. Stop it,” I said.

  “Gotta clean it up,” he said.

  “Still painful?” Blue asked.

  I nodded.

  “Lean forward. I need to check the back too.”

  He cursed and let me know I’d ripped those stitches too. Then I felt a sharp stick.

  “Ow!” I leaned forward even more to get away from the pain.

  “Good,” Blue said. “Stay just like that and I’ll get this side done first. I gave you novocaine so you shouldn’t feel me working.”

  I groaned and almost fell asleep as he worked.

  “Okay. Sit up,” he said after a long time.


  I did what he asked with a little effort.

  “Can we just do this when we get home?” I asked.

  “The pills are kicking in?” he smiled.

  “No. I’m just tired.”

  “Wanna try this side without novocaine?” he asked.

  “I don’t care, just hurry up.”

  He laughed and I felt the prick of a needle.

  “I wouldn’t do that to you,” he said.

  I heard Sam’s voice asking what was going on so I struggled to open my eyes.

  “She tore her stitches,” Blue explained.

  “It was that hug you gave me,” I said.

  Brown’s face appeared over Sam’s shoulder.

  “Got you drugged up again? Looks like I have a little more time before you heal up.”

  He actually stuck his tongue out at me so I slowly flipped him the bird. Black let out a laugh that made me smile and I closed my eyes again.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  WE’D BEEN BACK AT THE office building for two days and Ruiz had been uncooperative. As was the case with my father. The Admiral demanded a private meeting with Green and me.

  “I should never have agreed to this,” he told us. “I thought you were doing this to clear the way for your job.”

  He meant the Penumbra job to take out Posner.

  “We are,” I said.

  “Then why isn’t it done?”

  “I’m not ready to do it yet.”

  I shrugged.

  “You better convince your operative to do her job,” he told Green.

  “I’m sorry, Admiral. She has the final say with all jobs,” he said. “I’d never think to cross Penumbra.”

  “She’s not Penumbra again, yet,” my father said.

  “We both know Penumbra is more than just the title. Since you took that part of the job away from me, I’ve grown to embrace the more widely viewed opinion of a rogue operator. So, I’d say you might want to bring me back into the fold before I have no qualms about completing any job that comes my way,” I said.

  The Admiral’s eyebrows raised, his nostrils flared, and his lips pinched together.

  “Are you threatening me, young lady?”