Drak hesitated, their gazes meeting. “I won’t be far.”
“Thank you.”
He walked away with the other Veslors. Milts and Peters approached. They stood on either side of her.
“Walk,” Peters ordered. “I hope you won’t slow us down. We don’t wanna be left behind.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m in pretty good shape, thank you very much.” The weight of the thin armor suit wasn’t bad, and she didn’t have a bunch of weapons or a supply pack strapped to her back the way the other team members did. The chunky boots were weighted. She was grateful for that when the ground under her crunched as they walked up a hill, making her slip a few times, but she managed not to fall on her ass. Neither of her escorts offered her a hand. It didn’t surprise her.
After a bit, she saw the Veslors remove their helmets, sniffing the air. They changed direction before putting their helmets back on. After a short distance, they repeated the process. It became clear that the helmets must mess with their sense of smell.
They found their first nest twenty minutes later. There was a small cave in the hillside that the Veslors pointed out. She noted that Rogers’s team stayed far back and allowed the Veslors to cross to the cave alone. Clearly, they were the ones expected to go inside to set explosive charges.
It irritated her, watching the humans chat and laugh while Drak and the others worked. She turned to Peters. “Do Cadia ever wake up if they hear sound?”
“Yeah, they do. Those beasts are meaner than fuck, too. You gotta go in all quiet while they’re sleeping, plant the devices real close, and then sneak out.” He paused. “Boom!”
She jumped at his loud shout. “What in the hell is wrong with you? You just said they can wake up, and yet you’re yelling?”
He grinned. “Our big friends can handle it if some beasties open their eyes.”
Milts cackled. “Yeah. One beast to another.”
“Fucking assholes,” she muttered, shooting dirty looks at them both.
“You’d know all about fucking, wouldn’t you?” Milts smirked. “How’s the commander in bed? You should try a real man sometime.” He leered at her.
She showed her disgust by curling her lip. “Hold your breath on that ever happening, Milts. Please. Your face will be as blue as your balls.”
He glared at her.
She rolled her eyes and turned away, watching the cave entrance on the hillside across from where she stood. In minutes, the Veslors came out and barely cleared the rocks around the entrance when she saw Rogers lift his pad.
“Duck for cover,” he bellowed.
She ducked when the men did. The other hillside exploded, sending debris flying and dust rising up from the small valley below.
Abby stood, looking down. There was too much dust at first to see the Veslors but when it cleared, she spotted them sprawled on their bellies. They had been too close to the blast and could have been seriously hurt.
Her temper flared hot. Rogers should have given the grouping more time to put distance between themselves and the blast. Her report at dinner wasn’t going to make Howard happy. That much she was sure of.
She trained her attention on the Veslors. They picked themselves off the ground where they’d been thrown. She could see the imprints of their bodies in the dirt. That meant they must have landed pretty hard.
“Fucking assholes,” she muttered.
“What’s that?” Peters stepped closer.
“You heard me.” She refused to look at him, instead watching the Veslors. They were moving fine, seemed unhurt, but she wondered about their sensitive ears.
The team moved out, an hour later finding another cave. It was a repeat of the first one. Rogers and his men stood around doing nothing while the Veslors were sent inside to plant bombs.
The process infuriated her. Now she regretted stopping Roth’s grouping from being sent down without a human team to assist. They were probably better off on their own.
She noticed Rogers playing with the pad, and it worried her. What if he blew the explosives while the Veslors were still planting them? He could call it an accident.
That was another thing she was going to ask Howard to change. The person holding the detonator should be someone else—like the Veslors planting the charges.
Rogers caught her watching him and lowered the pad. He said something to two of his men, and they glanced her way, but she wasn’t close enough to hear what was said. It was a sure bet it wasn’t something flattering or nice.
The Veslors finally came out, and the asshat blew the cave with them too close to it again.
That time she didn’t duck, watching the Veslors. The blast knocked them off their feet. That’s how they’d ended up leaving imprints in the ground. Dust poured out of the cave, obliterating her view of them. She seethed as small debris rained down on her. They were far enough away that the blast didn’t knock them over, but Abby still felt the shockwave hard enough to give her a good jolt.
She was going to have a lot to talk about with Howard. Her temper got the better of her and she marched over to Rogers. They had a good four more hours of the shift to get through. He laughed at something the man to his left whispered.
“What in the hell do you think you’re doing?”
He spun, looking surprised. “Excuse you?”
“Knock the shit off, Rogers. You wouldn’t blow those explosives with your men that close, and we both know it. Is this funny to you? Amusing? Their lives are in your hands, you ass. What is wrong with you?”
His face turned red from anger. “Don’t tell me how to do my job.”
“Your team goes in on the next cave. Not them.”
“Fuck you, Thomas. I’m in charge here.”
“That’s really sad then, since you’re being such a dick. What part of ‘treat the Veslors like you would your own team’ didn’t you understand? Those were the words in your orders. I should know—I read them. Are you telling me you’d blow those explosives with your team that close? Great. I’ll get to see that at the next cave.”
“Is there a problem?” The voice was deeper than a human’s, and she turned, only to find Roth and his team hurried behind her. They’d approached faster than she’d expected.
“So many I’m losing count.” She glared at Rogers. “I’m here for Commander Bills. Eyes and ears, Rogers. Your team goes in next. You might be in charge, technically, but that won’t be for long if you don’t stop this bullshit. Do you get me?”
“You want to take over this mission?” Rogers seethed, spitting his words.
“I’d do a better job than you. At least I’m fair, and I don’t want anyone to get hurt. That’s two things I have over you.”
“Fucking bitch,” he spat. “Move out!”
She watched him storm off and tried to calm herself. Someone gently gripped her arm, and she looked over her shoulder. Drak was the one touching her. His grouping stood with him.
“What happened?” He looked concerned when he spoke.
“He’s blowing the explosives before you’re completely clear to amuse himself and his fucking team by making you suffer the blast wave. It’s wrong.”
“We’re tough.” Roth shrugged.
She held his golden-eyed stare. “That’s not the point. I bet it hurts your ears, at the very least.”
“It does,” Gnaw admitted.
“This shit is going to stop.” She glanced at them. “I’m sorry I prevented you guys from going down on a mission without another team. You were better off that way, weren’t you? Do the other teams treat you like this, too? Make you do all the work?”
Roth sighed. “We don’t complain.”
“You should,” she seethed.
“I said move out,” Rogers bellowed. “It’s not break time.”
* * * * *
Drak worried about the female. Abby wasn’t one to keep her thoughts silent. When they located the next cave of Cadia, she confronted the human team leader, arguing with him. Drak appreci
ated her standing up for them but he didn’t like the way the human males were showing their anger toward her. It was making his grouping nervous, too.
“Your team,” Abby gritted out at Rogers.
“I’m in charge, not you, Thomas!”
“How about being fair? They found them. Your team can blow them up,” she countered. “Oh yeah, and whoever goes into the damn cave should have the detonator.”
“They’re going in, and I’m the one who detonates the charges. Don’t tell me how to run my teams.”
“Someone should! You’re incompetent.”
Drak lunged when Rogers took a threatening step toward Abby with his gloved hand fisted, as if were about to strike her. Roth tried to grab his arm but he dodged it.
He snarled loudly at the human team leader. That drew Rogers’s attention, and he took a step back. Drak gently took Abby’s arm and pulled her away.
“You’re a very aggressive female. It’s not the best time,” he softly reminded her.
“Veslors, get your asses in that cave,” Rogers shouted.
Abby tore out of his grip. “No! I’m putting my foot down.” She stomped her boot. “See that? Enough. You’re not sending them into another cave so you can blow them off their asses on their way out. Har-har. Real funny, asshole. Or not!”
“You’re a fucking civilian.” Rogers looked red in the face, was panting as if he were having a hard time breathing, and two of his males had grabbed hold of his arms. “You don’t get to tell me how to do my job! We’re blasting them fast to keep the Cadia from smelling the explosives and having time to get away.”
“Bullshit!” Abby spat.
Roth got between them. “Everyone needs to calm.” He turned to Rogers. “She has a point. It’s time your team sets explosives. You can keep the detonator. We should be working together fairly. That’s only logical and reasonable.”
“Even an animal knows that,” Gnaw grumbled.
The aggression levels rose but Rogers seemed to get a handle on his temper. “Fine. Let’s just get this shit shift over with.” He ordered his team members into the cave.
Drak led Abby to a safer location. She looked upset. Her green eyes were flashing anger but they also seemed watery, as if she were about to shed tears. “We appreciate your support, but Rogers isn’t a good male to anger. He doesn’t have much control over his temper.”
“I refuse to just silently watch that happen again. It’s outrageous! Not saying anything equals being a party to their behavior. What if one of you gets hurt? I’d feel completely responsible because I allowed it happen. That’s not me, Drak. I see an injustice or someone about to get hurt, I will step in to make it stop. Even if I have to get in that asshat’s face to scream at him.”
“You’re a sweet female.”
Her eyes widened, and then she surprised him by laughing. “I’m not. My assistant calls me a ball-busting bitch on a good day. Mel has worked for me since we graduated from school, and we grew up together. She knows me better than anyone.”
“What kind of balls do you bust and why?”
She laughed more. “Um, I think you call it a seed sac.”
He appeared horrified.
She grinned. “Not literally. It’s a human saying for someone who doesn’t put up with any ridiculousness. I’m used to being in charge. Well, mostly. I run teams for D Corp. If it needs to be installed or fixed, I’m in charge of all the people who make it happen. Sometimes I personally do jobs for important clients to represent my family.
“My parents are more into the creative side these days. They dream up what we want to produce next and handle the super-smart geniuses we have on staff. They build the systems and programs that make them run.” She turned her head, found Rogers, and scowled. “I’d fire his ass so fast it wouldn’t be funny. Then I’d send an honest reference to every decent company out there to spare them the hassle of finding out what an incompetent asshole he is. It would be doing them a favor. It’s called blackballing someone.”
“Blackballing? You humans use a lot of ball terms.”
She looked at him, amusement on her features. “I guess we do. Blackballing means telling them he’s a bad employee and can’t follow orders. No one would hire him.”
“That would make him an enemy.”
“I’m pretty sure we already are. That’s on him. He’s an asshole.”
“You need to be more careful.”
She smiled. “I’ve heard that before. It’s not really my style though. Call me spoiled, but I’m not used to holding back from saying what I’m thinking. I’m a Thomas. We’re loud and opinionated. I come by it honestly. My parents didn’t knock out all their major competitors and make their company number one in the business by being timid. The first lesson my dad taught me was to never back down from assholes. He encouraged me to stand up to him whenever I disagreed with something. Some of my fondest memories are arguments I’ve won.” She grinned. “And yes, I’m admitting my dad can be an ass.”
“I like that about you,” he admitted. Then he glanced at Rogers, who still appeared furious. “Be careful of that one.”
“I know. But he pisses me off because he’s so blatant with his bullshit. That makes him a mega moron. Those are the most dangerous kinds of men. He doesn’t even realize he’s an idiot. Guys like him never do.”
“Don’t confront him again. I’d feel responsible if he lost his temper and hit you. I don’t like to take unnecessary risks, but I’d do whatever it takes to keep you safe.”
She nodded. “I hear you. It sounds like we’re a lot alike.”
He wasn’t so sure of that, but Drak respected the female nonetheless.
Chapter Five
They reached a huge flat area with hundreds of holes in the ground. Each one looked large, about five feet in diameter. “What are those? Did the colony do drilling around here for mineral testing? Or looking for water?”
“Those are from the adult Cadia,” Peters informed her.
“They burrowed into the dirt?” She stared at the countless holes. They were everywhere she could see ahead of them.
“Out,” Milts grunted. “Scans of this area found a complex maze of tunnels from a massive cavern system deeper underground. It’s where those fuckers breed. They come up to the surface at night to hunt for food once they’re adults.”
She turned around, staring in the distance. The settlement could still be seen. It was probably about eight miles away. She could only see the highest points of some of the buildings with the suns glinting against them. “Shit. Didn’t the colonists realize how close they were to the Cadia breeding ground?”
“They probably didn’t give a shit.”
She looked at Milts.
He shrugged. “They aren’t dealing with these fucking things. We are.” He pointed. “See the bones over there?”
She followed his gloved finger. Near one of the holes, there were indeed bones. It looked like they had been part of some large animal. “What about them?”
“We figure these things hide in the holes at night, wait for prey to come close enough, and grab it. Ever seen the mouths on those ugly beasts? Big, and tons of teeth. They could eat an entire person in about four bites. They spit out the bones of their prey after devouring everything else.”
She shuddered.
Peters added his opinion. “Plus, with all these holes, prey might fall in. I think they make so many on purpose to trap food.”
“They’re smart fuckers.” Milts shot her a smirk. “Be careful not to get too close to one of those holes. We sent drones down a few to see if we could blow up their breeding cavern. They dig at odd angles. Think of a twisting slide. That’s what every hole we checked turned out to be. They occasionally come to flat surface, like the things had lay down to rest a bit, but there’re mazes of tunnels that just take you deeper and deeper on those slides.
“They’re too steep to easily climb, and the ones we checked were five to six hundred feet deep in total. The dron
e signal range quit before we reached their lowest caverns, thanks to the density of the dirt and rocks. All three drones were lost. We’re not sure if the Cadia destroyed them or they quit working when the controller couldn’t send a signal through that much dirt to fly them anymore. You fall down one, you aren’t getting back out.”
“Noted,” she muttered. No way was she getting near one of those holes. “Do the Cadia ever come up when the sun is out? Do you think any are lurking in those holes right now, waiting to grab one of us?”
Amusement showed in Milts’s eyes. “Maybe.”
Peters chuckled.
Abby rolled her eyes. She figured they were purposely trying to make her afraid. “I’ll take that for a no. Why are we here?”
“We drop all our remaining bombs down these holes at the end of our shifts. It’s never going to reach the deepest part of the cavern system where they breed, but it collapses some of the tunnels they use to get closer to the settlement. I’m sure we sometimes kill a few of them, too.”
“What about the caves we already blew up?”
“The ugly bastards come up from these holes and use the caves for day shelter closer to their food source, to make it easier for them to attack at night.” Milts jerked his head toward the settlement. “People must taste good to them. They keep heading that way and forcing us to kill them. The teams we send down here at night stay on top of the walls they put around the city, in case any try to break through the gates. It happens but it takes time. Our teams get to open fire on the fuckers.”
A horrible thought struck. “What’s to keep the Cadia from coming up under the settlement if they can dig below the surface?”
“The planners thought of that when they constructed the settlement. They reinforced all the pavement it sits on to make it impossible for the ugly beasts to break through. They shouldn’t have built there at all. Cadia live in the desert. A few hundred miles west would have put the settlement by the coastline and in a different terrain.”
“Then we’d be battling sea monsters,” Peters muttered. “They got those here, too. The Cadia are tamer than the killer giant squid things. They live in the water but come up onto land—and they think we’re great food, too. It was in our debriefing package when we first arrived. The colonists lost a group of twelve explorers camping on a beach. There were no survivors but they captured footage of what happened. It was disgusting. The sea monsters like to grab their prey, squeeze until it’s crushed into a pulpy mess, and then eat the goop that’s left.”
Mission: Guardian Angel (Veslor Mates Book 2) Page 5