The Horns of Avalon (Purge of Babylon, Book 8)

by Sam Sisavath

  “Don’t freak out,” Riley said, and she thought, Too late, “but some of my guys are carrying around iPods with your messages in a loop on them.”

  Lara sighed. “I know. Hart told me.”

  “I know it’s not something you’re comfortable with, but your messages gave a lot of people hope. To a lot of us, you’re not just Lara, you’re the Lara. You’re famous.”

  “Glad to be wanted, I guess,” she said. Then, hoping Riley would take the hint and move on, “Maybe it’s time you filled me in on where I’m taking your people.”

  “I guess I should tell you, since we’re in this together now.”

  “I think so.”

  “Have you ever heard of the Bengal Islands?” he asked.

  Lara smiled. “I might have heard a thing or two about it.”

  “Don’t tell me…”

  “Yeah.”

  He broke out into a big, stupid grin. “Maybe I was right the first time.”

  “About what?”

  “This.”

  “What is ‘this?’”

  “Fate. You showing up just when we needed you the most. It’s got to be fate, Lara.”

  “I don’t believe in fate,” she said, and thought, At least, not anymore. Not after Will didn’t come back to me.

  “I do,” he said.

  “Then you’re a fool.”

  “I’ve been called worse. I know what Mercer’s going to be calling me when he learns about what I’ve done.”

  “You think he’ll come after you?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You haven’t thought about it?”

  “I guess I never got that far,” he said, and seemed to drift off.

  He looked as if he was thinking very seriously about her question when there was a squawk and she heard Maddie’s voice coming through the radio hanging off her left hip.

  “Lara, come in.”

  She unclipped the radio, but said to Riley first, “She’s one of my people.”

  He nodded, though she wondered if he actually heard her. He looked gone, as if he was still trying to come up with an answer to her question.

  She felt like giving him some space and stood up and walked over to the window, where she keyed the radio. “I’m here, Maddie.”

  “Uh, there might be a little problem,” Maddie said. “Well, maybe a possible complication.”

  Riley, hearing that, glanced over.

  “What kind of ‘complication?’” she said into the radio.

  “Hart was doing a head count of the Ocean Star folks, and he thinks we might be, uh, missing a few, uh, heads.”

  “Be more specific, Maddie.”

  “Hart says a couple of the civilians are missing.”

  Riley sat up straighter. It was a mistake, and he grimaced with pain from the sudden movement.

  “Did he check the entire boat?” Lara said into the radio.

  “Twice,” Maddie said. “All the civilians should have been on the Trident by now. The only ones that should still be on the Ocean Star with you are a few of Hart’s soldiers.”

  “There’s an armory,” Riley said.

  “I know; I had Hart put guards on it after you were shot,” she said. “The guns were the first things I had your people move over to the Trident. I know I said I didn’t need them before, but I didn’t see any point in leaving them behind when we go.”

  “I think that’s a good idea,” he nodded.

  “What are the chances some of the civilians might have snuck weapons onboard? Like Andy?”

  “Pretty good. It wasn’t like we searched everyone. Or anyone, for that matter. There was no reason to.”

  “Lara?” Maddie said through the radio.

  “I’m here,” she answered. “Where is Hart now?”

  “Doing a third head count.”

  “That’s a waste of time,” Riley said. “They must have stayed onboard while you guys were shuttling people over. It wouldn’t make sense for them to go along only to sneak back here.”

  Lara nodded, then walked over to the door and pushed the lock into place.

  “Why did you do that?” Riley asked from behind her.

  “Just in case,” she said and walked back to him. Then, into the radio: “Maddie, you said all the civilians except two are onboard?”

  “That’s what Hart says,” Maddie said.

  “I want you to pull anchor and take the yacht farther out.”

  “How much farther?”

  “At least another half mile.”

  “Should I ask why?”

  “Just in case.”

  “Gotcha. But you know we’re not done with the supplies, right?”

  “Doesn’t matter. We can finish it later. Right now, I want you to put some distance between the yacht and the platform.”

  “What about you?”

  “When you see Hart again, tell him to radio me on this frequency and we’ll coordinate what to do next. Your job right now—your only job—is to take care of the Trident and everyone onboard, understand?”

  “Roger that,” Maddie said.

  “Why the second ‘just in case?’” Riley asked when she put the radio away.

  “Because I don’t know what those two missing crewmen will do. Best-case scenario is they’ll hide until we leave.”

  “And the worst-case?”

  “They use whatever guns they snuck onboard and finish what Andy started. And maybe they won’t stop with you. Maybe they’ll decide no one should be able to leave, either.”

  Riley shook his head. “If you think they’ll blow up the Trident with all those people onboard, it’s not going to happen. They wouldn’t do that. I know everyone who served onboard the Ocean Star. None of them are capable of something that heinous.”

  “You thought you knew Andy, too.”

  He flinched. “Below the belt, Lara.”

  “But true,” she said, and stared back at him.

  “Goddammit, I know you’re right.” He swung his legs over the side of the bed and leaned forward to gather his strength, even though those movements probably cost him more unnecessary pain. “I messed up,” he added quietly.

  “Think of it this way,” she said, “you’re three out of forty-six. These days, if you’re batting over .500, I’d say you’re coming up ahead.”

  He made an effort to smile, but she could tell he was far from convinced.

  * * *

  “They were in the comm room,” Hart said when Lara opened the sickbay door for him. “But they took off long before we showed up.”

  “What were they doing in there?” Riley asked from his bed.

  “I don’t know, but they didn’t go in there for their health, I’m guessing.”

  “Who was it?”

  “Ezekiel and Lang.”

  Lara looked back at Riley. “Anything special about them?”

  Riley shook his head. “Nothing that I can think of. Ezekiel’s one of the mechanics and Lang helped out in the galley.”

  “A mechanic and a cook?”

  “Basically.”

  Lara turned back to Hart. “Any ideas where they’re hiding now?”

  “Not a clue,” Hart said. “It’s a big place with a lot of nooks and crannies to hole up. Frankly, if they are hiding and waiting for us to leave, I’m not sure we should even bother looking for them.”

  “I agree,” Lara said.

  Riley nodded. He had looked stronger when he first woke up, but the last hour had drained some of that strength, and just sitting on the bed seemed to take a lot out of him. “The only thing to be concerned about is that they might have called for help. Given us away.”

  “What’s the status on the supplies?” Lara asked Hart.

  “About sixty percent are already onboard the Trident,” Hart said.

  “The essentials first?”

  “Just like you said.”

  “Then that’s going to have to be enough.”

  “You mean leave the rest behind?”

/>   She nodded.

  “That’s too much to abandon,” Riley said behind her. “We might need everything we can get when we reach the Bengal Islands.”

  “I’m thinking about your people, Riley,” Lara said. “There’s a lot of space between the storage area and the top deck. A lot of rooms and doors and corners. Right now we don’t know if Ezekiel and Jones plan on doing anything. If they even have just one gun between them…”

  Riley shook his head. He clearly didn’t like it, but he said anyway, “You’re right. It’s not worth risking one more man to this war.” Then to Hart, “We’ll leave the rest behind, like she said.”

  “You’re going to have to help him topside,” Lara said to Hart.

  Hart nodded and glanced back at two men in black tactical gear, weapons out, standing guard behind the open sickbay door. “Phil, give me a hand.”

  One of the men turned around and stepped inside.

  Hart walked over to Riley. “It’s going to hurt.”

  Riley gritted his teeth. “I’ll try to keep the crying to a minimum.”

  Hart chuckled, then with Phil, they flanked Riley and helped him up to his feet. Riley’s face turned red almost right away with the strain.

  “We’ll have to move slow,” Lara said. “And give me that,” she added, reaching for Hart’s rifle.

  “I’d ask if you knew how to use one, but that would be a stupid question, wouldn’t it?” Hart said.

  She gave him a wry look.

  “What about the prisoners in the brig below us?” Hart asked. “We never talked about what we were going to do with them.”

  “They’re Lang and Ezekiel’s problem now,” Lara said.

  Hart and Riley exchanged a look, but neither one protested.

  She walked on ahead of them, stepped outside in the hallway, and stopped next to the remaining sentry. “What’s your name?”

  “Jolly, ma’am,” the man (boy) said. He may or may not have been out of his teens—and if he was, then it was just barely—though he was at least a foot taller than her and big around the chest and shoulders.

  “Jolly?” she smiled.

  “It’s a nickname, ma’am,” Jolly said, and actually blushed.

  “I’m Lara.”

  “I know, ma’am.”

  “You can stop calling me ma’am. I’m not that old.”

  “Sorry, ma—Lara.”

  “Better,” she said, then nodded up the hallway. “We’re going to lead them upside and to the boat, okay, Jolly?”

  “Gotcha, Lara.”

  “Good,” she said. “Let’s go.”

  * * *

  “They might have called for help. Given us away,” Riley had said.

  Lara thought it was a pretty good bet the missing crewmen had done exactly both those things. Why else would they go through the effort of using the comm room? They would know it was empty, with Terry and the others already onboard the Trident.

  So the question was: Who did they call for help and give Riley’s plans away to?

  The only thing that kept her from panicking even just a little was the knowledge that they weren’t going to be here to wait and find out. She felt a flush of pride at having convinced Hart to start moving his people over to the Trident sooner than he had expected. Not that Hart had really put up much resistance. She hated to admit it, but the older man was somewhat of a pushover.

  They made it to the top platform without any problems, even though Lara kept expecting Ezekiel and Lang to pop out from behind every corner they approached. Judging by his awkward steps and bunched shoulders, so did Jolly, who seemed to be alternating between moving beside her and just slightly ahead of her. The young man was, she realized after a while, purposefully making sure he was always first to reach the potentially dangerous points so she wouldn’t have to.

  Who says chivalry is dead? she thought, smiling to herself.

  They made slow but steady progress, with Hart and Phil trailing behind with Riley between them. She didn’t rush them because they could afford to take their time. Sunup was still far off, and Faith was waiting on the docks below. Two more men were standing guard when they emerged out of the submarine door at the top of the entrance, and the suddenly bigger party moved through the windy top deck.

  As well as things were going, Lara kept waiting for the gunshots that never came. Wherever Ezekiel and Lang had escaped to, all signs were pointing to the two men being determined not to reveal themselves. Which was fine with her, and frankly, more than she could have hoped for.

  Glancing to her left off the platform, she could see the lights of the Trident standing out against the suffocating blackness of the ocean, still maintaining its safe distance from them.

  Lara unclipped her radio and keyed it. “Maddie, we’re on our way now.”

  “Roger that,” Maddie answered. “Any trouble?”

  “So far, so good. We’ll see you soon.”

  “Sarah’s keeping a pot of coffee hot for you.”

  “You guys have coffee?” Jolly asked as they rounded a hulking piece of machinery that had conduits sticking out of its sides. Predictably, Jolly had casually hurried ahead before falling back beside her when they were safely around it.

  She fought back a smile and said, “Don’t you?”

  “No, ma’am. I mean, Lara.”

  “The place we were at before had boxes of them. We had to leave most of it behind when we left, but fortunately we brought enough to last for a while.”

  “I’d love some coffee. Black. How do you take yours?”

  “Same.”

  “Awesome,” Jolly said.

  Awesome? Lara thought, not quite sure if she was amused because Jolly was so easily impressed or because he sounded very much like a crushing teenage boy. He reminded her a bit of how Benny was around Gaby, though taller and less awkward.

  A radio squawked behind her and she heard Hart’s voice. “Status.”

  “You guys are in the clear,” a male voice answered through Hart’s radio. “No one’s followed you outside.”

  “All right. Chain the door and catch up to us.”

  “On our way,” the voice said.

  It was another “just in case” plan, though this time Riley had come up with it. If Ezekiel and Lang were indeed hiding below deck, chain-locking the main entrance would keep them pinned inside so they couldn’t come out to freely take potshots at them or the Trident. The last thing she needed right now was someone armed with a grenade launcher lobbying rounds at the yacht. It was a small chance, but she’d rather it be zero instead.

  By the time Riley’s other two men caught up to them, they were already moving down the stairs at the edge of the platform. Yet another one of Riley’s men stood below them, waiting with a flashlight.

  “Lara?” Jolly said as they went down.

  “Yes?” she said.

  “Don’t take this the wrong way…”

  Oh God, I already don’t like where this is going.

  “But I just wanted to say it’s cool finally meeting you,” Jolly said.

  Okay, not so bad, she thought, and said, “Likewise, Jolly.”

  “Anyways,” the young man continued, “I thought you might get a kick out of knowing that me and some of the other guys carry around iPods with your messages on them.”

  “Oh yeah?” she said, fighting back the cringe from showing on her face.

  “It’s just the same two broadcasts you put out,” Jolly said. “But—and again, don’t take this the wrong way—but sometimes I pretend you’re saying something else.”

  Oh God, someone shoot me now.

  “Nothing bad,” Jolly quickly added. “Just stuff like the weather and traffic reports.”

  She was so relieved that she didn’t even try to fight back the short laugh. “Traffic reports?”

  He grinned, pearly white teeth showing, but if he was slightly embarrassed or blushing again, she couldn’t tell in the semidarkness of the stairs. “You know, like you were doing the ne
wscast? Just to give some variety to the messages and all. Nothing perverted or anything. I hope that’s okay.”

  “That’s fine, Jolly,” she said, and made an effort to smile at him.

  “Thanks,” he said, before quickly hurrying down the stairs ahead of her just before another turn came up.

  “Told you,” Riley said behind her. He wasn’t even trying to suppress a chuckle. “The Lara.”

  “Shut up, Riley,” she said.

  * * *

  They loaded Riley onboard Faith’s boat first, settling him down on the front bench, then climbed in after him. Faith powered up the engine and maneuvered them into the water, Riley’s people at the stern standing guard with weapons ready and eyes watching the Ocean Star for signs of Ezekiel and Lang.

  But neither men showed up, and before long Faith made another turn and they were on an intercept course with the Trident.

  When they had put enough space between them and the oil rig, Lara sat down on the bench next to Riley while Hart and the others remained standing around them. She looked back one last time at the lights blinking on the edges of the massive platform as it began succumbing to the blackness.

  “How long will the lights last?” she asked.

  “Until the generators run out of fuel,” Riley said. “A day, tops.”

  “Communications?”

  “Nothing runs without diesel, and we’re taking most of that with us.”

  He was referring to the refueling ship, which at the moment was anchored on the other side of the Trident. They would bring the second vessel with them as insurance. It was going to slow them down, but speed wasn’t going to be an issue once they cleared the area, regardless of what Mercer did in response to Riley’s mutiny tomorrow. She didn’t think they would need the old boat anytime soon, but the Bengal Islands were a long way off and they had a detour or two ahead of them.

  “Who do you think they radioed?” she asked.

  “The comm room can reach anyone, including Black Tide,” Riley said. “If I were them, that’s where I’d direct everything. Texas right now is too unpredictable, and they probably knew they wouldn’t get much assistance from there.”

  “If that’s true, then Mercer already knows about the mutiny.”

  Riley nodded but didn’t say anything.