by Sam Sisavath
Gaby chuckled. “Depends on who you ask. But don’t tell her I said that. She hates the idea that people think she’s more than just a failed medical student.”
“In her defense, she’s only a failed medical student because the world ended before she could finish.”
“Excuses, excuses.”
They both smiled and said nothing for a while. Instead, they drank their coffee in silence and watched the civilians of Darby Bay going about their lives. Nearly half of the town was engaged in fishing, which meant the marinas were a constant hub of activity. The smell of seafood—fresh, rotting, and everything else in-between—was thick in the air, and it clung to people’s clothes, especially the ones that had been here awhile.
Most of the boats he was looking at were using sails to get around, but wind power wasn’t going to cut it for the planes and other heavy machinery moving around loudly behind him. When he’d asked Gaby where they were getting all the jet fuel and gasoline, she had smiled and said, “Five years, Keo. You can get a lot of things if you put in the effort to make friends. And Lara’s been making a lot of friends the last five years. She’s practically rebuilt the trade routes in the south all by herself.”
Keo took another sip from his too-sweet coffee. “She wouldn’t come back with you? Megan?”
Gaby shook her head. “The guys tried to convince her, but she wouldn’t budge. I think it was because you weren’t there. I got the feeling she didn’t entirely trust us.”
“She’s a smart kid, and she’s been through a lot.”
“We all have.”
“Who did you send?”
“Margie, Ronald, and Johnson.”
“I don’t know who any of those people are.”
“You wouldn’t. They showed up after you left. I would have gone myself, but…”
“Your leg.”
“Yeah. Anyway, they said she was with some guy named Jonah. You know him?”
“We met. Nice enough chap.”
“He a Brit?”
“No. Why?”
“I dunno. You called him a ‘chap.’ I thought only Brits use that word.”
“Now you know a non-Brit who also does.”
“You’re weird.”
Keo grunted and finished off the coffee with some effort before putting the cup down next to him. It was heavy ceramic and wasn’t in any danger of blowing off the rooftop and smashing the heads of the Black Tiders walking around underneath them.
“Margie said this Jonah guy seemed to be doing a good job keeping everyone together and safe,” Gaby was saying. “Megan wouldn’t come back with the team, but about a dozen others did. Some from your town, in fact.”
“I wouldn’t exactly call it my town. I spent some time around Winding Creek, that’s all.”
“With Megan and her mom. Her very attractive mom.”
“I’m not fixated on looks, Gaby. I try to see the beauty inside of everyone.”
“Oh, I totally believe you, Keo. Totally.”
He grinned before glancing up at the sudden whup-whup-whup coming from above. A helicopter on approach, skimming over the rooftops of Darby Bay.
“That’s a Little Bird,” Keo said. “When did you guys get that?”
“Three years ago,” Gaby said. “Equipment is never the problem. Finding people who can use them without killing themselves—or the people around them—has always been the real trick. Fortunately, Mercer left us with a lot of good people.”
“At least he did something decent in his life.”
The morning sunlight gleamed off the black hull of the MH-6 Little Bird as it swooped by overhead. Keo followed its path, locking eyes with two guys in blue BDUs sitting on the bench alongside the chopper, legs dangling off the sides while they cradled rifles. Or Keo would have locked eyes with them if they weren’t both wearing black goggles. There were two more on the other side, but Keo only saw their legs.
“Where are they coming from?” Keo asked as the attack helicopter headed for an available LZ in the airfield behind them.
“Looks like they’re just getting back from a night mission,” Gaby said. “I don’t know the specifics. You’ll have to ask Lara or Danny for those. Have you talked to Danny yet since you came back?”
“I was told he’s out of state.”
“He’s in Louisiana.”
“What’s he doing in Louisiana?”
“Cleaning up some problems that we thought we’d dealt with already, but apparently we were too optimistic. He’s handling that in person while providing support through the radio. Lara rarely does anything this big without his input. She relies on him.”
“She should. Bad jokes aside, Danny knows what he’s doing out there. He’s got experience out the ass.”
“So do you.”
“Unfortunately.”
Keo took a moment to look around him at the organized chaos taking place within the Black Tide section of Darby Bay. The more he saw of the FOB, the more impressed he was. Lara and Danny had done a hell of a job forming an army, even if neither one of them would come right out and call it that. But that’s what it was: an army. Keo had seen enough of them to recognize one.
“You’re impressed,” Gaby was saying next to him. She was also smiling.
“Yeah, I am.”
“This isn’t even the biggest FOB we have. You should see the one outside Boulder City that we put together about four years ago.”
“Colorado?”
“Uh huh. The one commanded by Beecher. It dwarfs everything we have down here in Texas.”
“So why isn’t Beecher down here lending a hand?”
“Lara didn’t ask for it. And besides, he’s got his own hands full. You were up there, weren’t you? Colorado?”
“Once or twice. But I didn’t stay for very long.”
“You need to get out more, Keo. There’s a big world you haven’t seen. A lot of things are happening you don’t know about.”
“So people keep telling me.”
“The Purge might be over, but that didn’t stop the bad guys from doing bad guy stuff.” She finished her coffee and set it down on the ledge next to his. “Goddammit, I wish I was going out there with you.”
Keo sighed. “You and me both, kid. You and me both…”
Keo changed his clothes for the second time, but only after the first hot shower he’d had in more than five years. Or, at least, he thought it had been over five years. It was hard to keep track of those kinds of things. Cleanliness was what Gaby called a First World problem when they were walking down from their long morning coffee on the rooftop.
He was pulling on a new shirt and cargo pants when someone knocked on his door.
“It’s not locked.”
A woman he hadn’t seen before stood in the open doorway but didn’t come in. About five-five in combat boots, shorter without, with dark hair. Late twenties, but she could have been younger. Ortega was stenciled across the name tag on her BDU.
“You busy?” she asked.
Keo shook his head and finished drying his hair with a towel. He’d gotten a fresh cut before the shower and was feeling less like a hippy. “Do I know you?”
“Ortega. You can call me Rita.”
“Come in.”
She stepped inside and closed the door behind her. “I’ve been assigned to your team.”
“Already?”
“They didn’t tell you?”
“No. I don’t even know when we’re going out there.”
“As early as two days from now, as late as five, depending on what the eyes in the sky are seeing around Fenton. And Lara’s here to call the shots, which means this is a pretty big deal.”
“Is that what that means?”
“She’s usually not around. She’s a busy woman.”
“So I hear.” Then, “So what else do you know that I don’t, Rita?”
“That’s about it.”
“What about who else is on my team?”
“I think it’s
just me so far.”
“I guess we’ll find out together, then.” Keo tossed the towel while Rita leaned against the wall next to the door and watched him curiously. “Was there something else?”
“I just wanted to introduce myself.” She paused, before adding, “And get an up close and personal look at the famous Keo.”
Keo chuckled. “Famous or infamous?”
“Same difference.”
“Is it?”
“You’re the one who put Mercer out of his misery. The guy who ended a war that could have killed thousands of people. The way I hear it, you snuck onto Black Tide Island, found him asleep in his room, and blew his brains out.”
“It wasn’t quite that simple.”
“But you did do all of those things.”
“Yeah, I guess I did.”
“Well, damn. You da man.”
Keo smiled, though he wasn’t sure if he should feel flattered or a little (or maybe even a lot) alarmed that people were going around talking about the things he had done. He’d killed Mercer for personal reasons, not because of some desire to end the man’s bloody rampage.
He grabbed his old clothes from the floor and tossed them into a bag to be destroyed. “Were you one of Mercer’s people?”
“God, no,” Rita said. “I was living in one of the towns his people nearly wiped off the map. I barely got out of there alive.”
“So I guess you weren’t shedding any tears when you heard he died.”
“I might have even thanked God once or twice. That was before I learned about this guy with cojones the size of Mount Rushmore named Keo.”
Keo raised both eyebrows. “Mount Rushmore?”
“Or bigger.”
When he looked over at her, Rita was staring at him with a big smile on her face. He couldn’t decide if she was just messing with him or… Yeah, she was probably just messing with him.
“So you’re on my team, huh?” he asked.
“Uh huh.”
“What’s your specialty?”
“I’m your sniper.”
“No shit?”
“You sound surprised.”
“You’re a little small to be a sniper.”
“I’m bigger out of my clothes.”
“Are you, now?”
“Just say the word, and I’ll show you.”
Keo grabbed a jacket from the pile. “Ever hear the phrase ‘Don’t shit where you work?’”
“That sounds…disgusting.”
“It means not to get involved with someone you work with.”
“Who said anything about getting involved?” Rita grinned, and Keo thought she was having a ball making him uncomfortable.
“So, you’re a sniper. Any good?”
“I was trained by the best.”
Keo gave her a wry look. “Don’t say Danny.”
“Peters. That was before he decided to give up the warmth and safety of the gun range for the cold and mud of field work.”
“Okay, that makes me feel better. But you still haven’t told me if you’re any good.”
She shrugged. “I’m okay.”
“If you’re going to go out there with me, I’m going to need more than just ‘okay,’ Rita Ortega.”
“I was trying to be humble,” the sniper said. “I’m actually pretty good.”
“Pretty good is good.” He sat down across from her, and they locked eyes. “Let’s get down to it, then.”
“Let’s.”
“Were you assigned, or did you volunteer for this?”
“I volunteered.”
“Why?”
“Because I didn’t sign up to mop floors or make breakfast.”
“Fair enough. Have you ever killed anyone?”
“A few.”
“How many is ‘a few?’”
“Enough that when you need me to pull that trigger, it’ll get pulled,” Rita said.
Keo grinned, because he believed her.
Seven
It took Keo five minutes to look for a bush big enough to hide Calvin’s body, then ten more to carry him over and make sure he couldn’t be spotted unless someone took a really close look. It helped that the sniper’s ghillie suit allowed him to blend in. It wasn’t perfect, but was as ideal as it was going to get under the circumstances.
Rita stood guard the entire time while he worked, sometimes moving around to get a better look at their surroundings. She was back when Keo finished up with the Bucky, and he wiped the man’s blood off his fingers using Calvin’s already bloodstained handkerchief before tossing it into the bush to be reunited with its owner.
“Did you ever find out how he was doing it?” Rita asked.
“Doing what?”
“Throwing his voice around like that.”
Keo shook his head. “It didn’t come up. I’m assuming whatever he used”—he glanced toward the tree stand nearby—“is still up there somewhere. You in the mood to do some climbing?”
“I’ll pass.”
“Suit yourself.”
“You think he had another one of those things back at the other place or if he was just carrying it around with him?”
“I don’t know. But he had plenty of time to set them up.”
Rita glanced over at the tree stand. “How the hell did he get up there, anyway?”
“He said he had ropes and gear.”
“Let me guess. Those are still up there, too?”
“Uh huh.”
“And you literally shot him out of the tree?”
“I shot at him, but he fell down on his own.”
“How did he survive the fall?”
“I dunno.”
“He could still walk?”
“Apparently.”
She looked back at him. “I heard stories you’re a pretty good climber.”
“People need to stop telling stories about me.”
“If it makes any difference, they were all impressive stories. Especially the one about how you dodged a bullet and headbutted a man to death.”
“Who said I dodged a bullet?”
“Didn’t you?”
“People can’t dodge bullets, Rita.”
“They said you did.”
“I got shot in the head.”
“Really?”
“Yes. If you look closely, you can still see the scar.”
“But you’re still alive.”
“You can survive getting shot in the head.”
“Hunh,” Rita said.
“That’s what I said.” Keo snatched up Calvin’s rifle and tossed it into a nearby thicket. “You didn’t want that, did you?”
“I got mine,” Rita said, patting the buttstock of her Mk 14.
“Did the others finally make contact with Command?”
“I don’t know. They were still trying when I took off after you.”
He gave her a wry look. “You shouldn’t have done that. I gave you orders.”
“They were lousy orders,” Rita said. She met his stare and didn’t look away.
“Doesn’t matter. Orders are orders. Soldiers are supposed to follow orders.”
“Not when they’re lousy orders.”
“So is this going to be a pattern? You’re only going to do what you feel like doing, my orders be damned?”
“No. But I’m not following a dumbass order. You shouldn’t have left by yourself. You almost got killed.”
“I didn’t.”
“You’d be dead if I wasn’t watching the whole thing and took him out.”
“I had it handled.”
She smirked. “He got your gun.”
She’s got a point, he thought, but didn’t feel like letting her know that. She was already too full of herself.
He said instead, “Getting his hands on my gun and using it are two different things.”
“Uh huh.”
Keo started walking back in the direction they’d come, and Rita followed.
“We’re heading back?” she asked
.
“I need to let Lara know what happened.”
“What if she tells us to abandon the mission?”
“Then we abandon it.”
“But the mission’s not done.”
“That’s not my call to make.”
“You’re the boss, boss.”
“She’s the bigger boss. Besides, we made a lot of noise out here. There could be a platoon of Buckies on their way right now.”
“They’re not, or they would have been here already. The fact that they aren’t means they’re not coming. We’re still too far away from Fenton for them to risk precious manpower they don’t have.”
She wasn’t wrong, but again, Keo didn’t let her know that.
He said, “Either way, it’s not my call. It’s above my pay grade.”
“So why did you come back here on your own, then?”
Keo didn’t answer her and kept walking.
“You knew the sniper was out here,” Rita said. “You wanted to get back at him for Chang and Banner. Admit it.”
“What if I did?”
“You’re not going to get any arguments from me. Anyway, I wouldn’t expect less from the guy who blew Mercer’s brains out.”
Keo sighed. He wondered how long that act was going to follow him. It was five years ago, but to hear people keep talking about it, it might as well be last month.
“I’m surprised you felt the need to, though,” Rita continued. “You didn’t even know they existed until three days ago. I bet you don’t even know their first names.”
“Ronald and Jeff.”
“Yeah, but which one is which?”
Damn, she got me, he thought, but said quickly, “It’s not about names. It’s about who they were. They were a part of my team. My team. And Calvin took them out. I’m responsible for that.”
“I know. Not that it was your fault. That’s not what I’m saying. But that they were on our team. What happened to them was on all of us.”
“Maybe,” Keo said, but he thought, But it’s mostly on me. That’s what happens when you do something stupid like agree to lead a bunch of people.
God, what was I thinking? How did I ever let her talk me into it?
They walked in silence for a few minutes. Keo was pretty sure he knew where he was going; there were a lot of trees, and they all looked identical, but he recognized the path. Or, at least, he thought he did.