Torrent scrambles and starts down the slope.
G-D fucking Riley! I shrug his hand off me, then fire my bolts of flame at an old man running away from us. He alights and falls, crying out. I light another villager, and another, watching them as they scream, run, and writhe on the ground. Tears of rage fill my eyes.
“Weir, come back—retreat.” Riley’s voice reaches Tor, who gets back to us under our cover fire; the insurgents are now shooting at us from all sides. Weapon fire is exploding all around us, from our teams and the rebels.
Tor looks at me as he jumps behind our low ridge, relief in his scared eyes.
I’m going to kill Riley. My heat boils out of control as I shoot streams of flame from my right and left hands in rapid succession. Buildings, enemy soldiers, brush and street debris light up like a valley of giant bonfires. The volcanic power of Pele overtakes me, or is it Sekhmet?
I don’t fucking care.
I am fire.
The familiar high surges through me, shooting harsh laughter out of me like minor explosions.
Chapter Thirty-Six
This is my effing life now.
There’s nothing I can do. Riley takes us on mission after mission, destroying villages and innocent lives. Yes, we also hit hidden bases and ride a lot of gunfire. But we always leave the place in flames, corpses riddled with bullets bleeding on the streets, with buildings, homes and people burning brightly.
I must follow orders. They have Smoke and Tor. If Riley knows about them, then he’d only have to dig a bit deeper and Tage could also be in his cross hairs. Riley has made it clear they won’t last long if I disobey again.
Fucking army. This is my daily mantra; all I can think every moment of every day.
“The worst part is.” I’m slow to share my deepest thoughts with Dr. Mara. “I … get a huge high from shooting my flames, from lighting everything … everybody … on fire.” My last words come out in a whisper, my head down.
“It’s to be expected. You’re being forced to kill both soldiers and civilians almost every night. The only way to cope is to, get used to it, you could say.” Dr. Mara is never shocked at my confessions. Somehow, it helps, telling her. Tor avoids me at all costs these days. I catch glances from him, but he doesn’t approach. I’ve also tried cornering him so we can chat. He turned and walked away.
That night I spoke up against Riley, I thought Tor had almost forgiven me. Us. He knew I tried to stop the killing of civies. But Tor doesn’t know that Riley is blackmailing me with his and my brother’s lives. I won’t put either of them in jeopardy. If Tor is still mad at me and won’t speak, then I’ll take it. As long as he’s safe.
“I can’t keep doing this.” I look at her. “I’m so angry, all the time, except when I feel that crazy high. I don’t know who I am anymore. What if I lose control?”
Can she see me shaking, the rage trembling through me?
Dr. Mara studies me and says nothing for several, long minutes. “You can’t disobey orders?”
Does she know, what they’ve threatened? I shake my head, not daring to say it.
“You know, Ashley, I wonder if your fire powers are maybe not as strong as they could be. Maybe the force grows slightly less when you’re separated. Maybe you need your friends by your side, to give you more power?”
I stare at her, surprised by her words. What does she mean? She nods to me, waiting for me to finish her thought. “My friends, like my brother Smoke, my best friend Tage … maybe even Torrent.”
Dr. Mara smiles before continuing. “Yes, don’t you agree that you would do much better on these missions, be more effective with your power, if your friends were near?”
“But, that would mean the army would have power over my friends whenever they want, if they had all of them here.” What is she hinting at, exactly?
“And if something were to happen, in the chaos of battle … maybe all four of you disappeared together … or maybe you’ll all get kidnapped or lost to the army in some way.” She looks at me, willing me to comprehend.
Is she serious? I think this idea over. Defect?
“I don’t know how we would do that … unless we had help.” My look is a question.
She turns off the recording device. “Help is here with you. Don’t say anything to anybody, not even your friends. Let me arrange things.” She leans back and nods. “I’ll speak with Commander Riley about you, how you would do better if your closest companions were here with us. In the meantime, I expect your powers of fire might lessen, just slightly, each day. It’s the stress, of course.”
I nod and gulp. She’s effing serious.
“It’s really best if the four of you stick together, I think.” Dr. Mara closes her notebook, signaling our time is over for today.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
I exit the military plane at Peterson Air Force Base, and we drive the twenty minutes to Fort Carson. Dr. Mara has managed to do the impossible. Plus, she got Riley to let me tag along during the pick up. As soon as we arrive, I look around, eager.
There she is. My best friend Tage, a sight for sore eyes. She rushes up to me for a big hug. Her blond hair is shorter than the last time I saw her, so many months ago. “Hey bestie!” she says. “It’s been way too long.”
“Yeah, it has.”
“Let’s not do that again. God, I’ve missed you. How was boot camp?” She glances over her shoulder. Smoke is a couple of steps behind. The way he stares at her confirms that there is more to them. About damn time. He needs someone in his life, other than me, telling him what to do.
Smoke follows, and we also embrace. “Hey, Fireball.” It’s been so long, almost a lifetime since I’ve seen him, too. At least he saw me right before I was locked in juvie. Smoke’s eyes dart between Tor and me, and he notices we don’t look at each other. We have a lot to catch up on. An eyebrow raises. I press my lips into a line.
The four of us stay up late comparing our boot camp experiences, the DSs, the surrounding cities, and all that. We come to the conclusion that our training is pretty much the same.
Then Tage and I wander back to my room for girl chat—they’ve added a cot for her. We’re roommates, just as Smoke and Tor are. I’m sure they have a lot to catch up on, too. I hope Tor doesn’t poison my brother’s mind against me.
“What’s going on between you and Tor?” Tage asks as she plops onto my bed, yoga style.
“Nothing. Not anymore.” I can’t meet her eyes.
“So, there was something? What did he do?”
“How do you know it wasn’t me?”
“Was it?”
“Maybe. Not really. We had a difference of opinion.”
“Well, don’t worry about it. You’ll get back together with him.”
“How do you know that?” I pick at the bedspread, thinking back to training when I set that one on fire. I’ve come a long way since then.
“Call it intuition.” She taps the side of her head. “I just know. Could be wishful thinking on my part. Or it’s because you don’t just quit cold turkey on someone, not when he looked at you the way he did. He still does at times. So, whatever happened, fix it. You’re meant to be with him. I don’t know him all too well, but from what I saw and think of him to be. He’s a good guy. Decent. He’ll treat you better than anyone you’ve dated.”
“I really only dated Chad.”
“Yep, so you’re not setting the bar too high then.” We giggle. “Seriously though, Ash. I mean in. You and him. You’re a lot more alike than you know. Dr. Mara told me about your and his abilities. While I don’t have anything like that, at least I don’t think so, he understands you in a way that no one else could. Not even your brother, Smoke.”
“There might be two others in the world.”
“And they could be girls for all we know. Not that there’s anything wrong with liking girls. But I know you’re into guys. Specifically, Torrent.” She stares at me. “So …”
“What?”
“T
ell me how far you and Tor went.”
“What’s going on with you and Smoke?” I counter.
“He’s nice.” Tage shrugs.
“Nice?”
“Yes.”
“I know there’s more to it than ‘he’s nice’. Since when are you tight lipped about anything?”
“Do you really want to know? I mean, it’s your brother. Twin brother.”
“I don’t need to know specifics about you getting it on with him. You can tell me of course, if you want to. I want to know when it started, where you are now, are you seeing each other or is it more?”
“It’s more, I think. I want it to be. We really haven’t seen a whole lot of each other. We called each other a couple of times during boot camp.”
Lucky bitch, I didn’t even get to call him. I had to continue writing old fashioned letters.
“It was great hearing from him,” she continues. “We’d complain about the hours, meals, the drills. You know that sort of thing. Then it morphed into sharing what we wanted to do after training. He said that you and Tor were working together, and he was trying to find a way to get him and me to be with you guys. And here we are.”
I’m happy for them both.
“Things started slow for Tor and me,” I say after a moment of silence. “I knew he kinda liked me. I liked him, too. He’s nice to look at. His eyes are so blue I can get lost in them and it’s only when he pulls me out of the depths that I am saved from drowning. We went on a few dates in between breaks. Work was intense so we needed down time, and since he and I were together all the time, plus we knew each other coming into AIT, it made sense that we stuck around. Not everyone liked me.”
“You don’t say.” Tage smiles as I punch her arm.
“We even kissed a couple of times. Oh man, is he a great kisser. Then I got really injured on one of the missions and he stayed at my side during the whole recovery process, which didn’t take too long. Apparently, I heal super-fast. Anyway, my feelings for him had been growing which led to way more than kissing.” I sweep a finger across my lips, remembering all the times Tor’s mouth was on mine making my toes curl. “We got new orders that I followed, but Tor started voicing his opinion and only did the bare minimum. He kept hounding me and saying what the uppers were asking me to do was wrong and I should question them. This is the army, Special Ops, no one asks questions. Tor was on the verge of doing something stupid and that made me doubt myself. I’m a solider. Country, duty, self.”
“And morals?”
I shrug.
Maybe she’s Team Tor. Could I be on the wrong team?
Still, we wouldn’t all be together now if it weren’t for me. And Dr. Mara. She actually pulled this one off. We did it together, as I had my power and effectiveness lesson, little by little, each mission. It wasn’t hard for me to behave as if I was struggling with the stress and the awfulness of our missions. I really was falling apart over there.
This break from everything is much needed, and we’re given a few weeks to rest and recuperate. Tage and I continue our nightly chats. Sometime Smoke and Tor would join us and other times, it’d be just Smoke and myself. Never did Tor and I spend time alone. We’d catch each other’s eyes. Maybe Tage is right that we might end up together again.
Only time will tell.
But within a month we’re back in the Middle East, all four of us together on Alpha Team, being given orders to cause both flooding and fire at a large city.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
We leave the mission tent.
Tor is shaking his head, then he looks at me, speaking in a whisper. “He can’t be serious. Riley wants me to call up water to destroy homes, possibly kill civies? I won’t do it.”
I pull Tor aside and explain to him that yes, he will. All of our lives depend on both of us obeying. His eyes grow wide, and for the first time I see something other than anger when he looks at me. It looks like understanding and maybe a little fear.
As usual, we each get a session with Dr. Mara before the mission. Today Dr. Mara also meets with Smoke and Tage individually.
“This is the one,” Dr. Mara nods. “You’ll be in a metropolitan area. As soon as the right moment comes, and you and Tor should probably create the right moment, the four of you disappear. In the chaos they will think you’ve died, most likely.” She slides an envelope across the table to me. “Here’s some cash. I’ve given enough to each of you, so that you can get a flight to Cairo and lay low for a while in a hotel, just nothing too expensive. I’ll meet you there as soon as I’m able, within a month.” She gives me further instructions on where and when to look for her.
My adrenaline is zinging through me as I leave. This is it—we’re defecting. We’re finally leaving these assholes. I’m filled with excitement, with nervousness, with some dread, as this goes against all my training. What if we’re caught?
No, I won’t think that way. We’ll make it. Tor and I can definitely cause some chaos.
Dr. Mara has warned us not to get together, all four, and talk about this. So, we break into pairs here and there, acting like our normal selves, but quietly planning our next steps.
We obviously cannot pack our stuff to bring with us. But the army uniform has lots of pockets, so we bring a few essentials and personal items. We can buy clothes and toothbrushes in Egypt.
Cairo—the great pyramids! I’m ready to blow this joint. I glance around my tent one last time. I really don’t need anything but the cash in my pocket, my fire, and my friends. I was never one for keepsakes.
***
Our convoy enters Baghdad after dark, making as if we’re headed to our own military base. We have a lot of vehicles with us. We’ve come in force.
Baghdad is not expecting us. It goes about its business, and lights and bustle don’t stop in a place this big.
We’re brought to a park near the wide river, curving around like the letter “U.” We’ve been informed that several ISIL guerilla groups have come out of this area, across the river.
Riley motions to Tor and me as the soldiers fan out in all directions behind us. Smoke and Tage stay close, ready with covering gun fire.
Tor and I nod to each other.
This is it.
I go first, shooting beams of flame across the wide water, at one building and house after another. I ignore the screams, the people running into the streets. Soon the whole block is burning, and more houses catch fire from the first.
This may rage out of control …
Tor then puts his hands up. He draws up the river so that it splashes into the streets. He calls the clouds to gather, and soon rain is pelting us all. I keep the fires going, despite the rain and water. Sirens begin echoing through the streets amid all the crazy noises.
They want this to look like a natural disaster, so no gunfire unless absolutely necessary. That’s good, at least.
Mist is drawing up, mingling with the black smoke roiling into the black sky, draping the flaming, screeching whole city in a surreal, gray fog. It’s across the river and is trickling our way. Soon … soon.
“Smoke, Jennings, with me! Warfield,
Weir—move to your left and hit the next section. Alpha Team, cover them.” Riley leads Smoke and Tage away.
No, what are you fucking doing? We have to stick together. Sweat prickles my forehead, and Tor and I look at each other, worried. What do we do now? We have to stay together.
We move as told, while I fire up another section of buildings and cars, and Tor brings the water flooding. The familiar heat is taking over, broiling through my body. Riley can’t ruin this now, the asshole.
Tor pauses a moment, laying his hand on my arm, leaning close. “Take a moment, Ash. Don’t do anything stupid. We’ll have our chance,” he says right in my ear.
Breathe … I try to calm the heat while I continue to shoot powerful flames. It’s easier to take out my rage through the flames, like Pele herself. I fill with the high of power unleashed and pelt another section with
my burning destruction. Nothing can stop me!
Shooting fire from my alternating hands, I let the rage of the goddess take over. I scream as I shoot it out, to another set of buildings, and another.
“Ash, no,” Torrent shouts, but I don’t let his words sink into my awareness. Turning, I spew flames out to everything around us, the buildings on this side of the river, the bushes and cars—anything that will burn. Flames and explosions leap up, hemming us all in.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Tor grabs me from behind, stopping the flames as he pins my arms around me with his own. It’s too late, though, our unit is trapped within a circle of flames quickly growing out of control.
Tor releases me and shoots water to make a break in the fire. Our unit runs through, toward where Riley and the others went.
The wall of flame behind us lights our way. We cross the grassy park and find the rest of Alpha guarding its entrance.
“What happened back there?” Riley looks at me, his face stern.
“I … I don’t know. It got out of control,” I answer, looking straight back at him.
“No matter, we’ll leave it. But we’ll have to take the long way around to the rendezvous point.” Riley surveys the streets. People are coming out of buildings, staring at the destruction, running, driving, making calls. A few vehicles explode when the fire reaches the gas tanks.
Riley splits our unit into smaller groups, keeping the four of us near him, as we all make our way back. He takes us right along the river’s edge, back through the park, Tor using his water to keep the fire from getting too close.
A boat looms from the darkness of the black river, lights shining directly on us. We’ve been caught. Words shout out, in several languages, then in English.
“Drop your weapons, hands up!” the megaphone barks.
We stop, flames behind us, the river on our right. The spotlight trains on us steadily. We all drop our weapons and raise our hands.
Flame Guardian Page 15