(eng) Myke Cole - Shadow Ops 02 by Fortress Frontier

Author:Fortress Frontier [Frontier, Fortress]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER XV

LEAD FROM THE FRONT

Sorcerers are still officers. SAOLCC teaches you how to use magic, but it also teaches you to lead. And how do you lead? From the front, of course.

—Lieutenant Colonel “Crucible” Allen

Chief, Sorcerer’s Apprentice/Officer Leadership Combined Course (SAOLCC)

Bookbinder sat in Colonel Taylor’s office. His office now. He’d have to get used to that concept sooner or later. It wasn’t much bigger than his old office, with the same decor, imposing cherrywood desk, crossed flags. He had gathered all of Taylor’s personal effects—his challenge-coin collection, pictures of his family, a signed baseball from a World Series a decade ago—into a cardboard box, which now sat on the floor in the corner. With the FOB cut off, there was no way to get it home anyway, or even report Taylor’s death.

Cold panic crept up his spine, tying his stomach in knots. He was the ranking officer on post. With Taylor dead, the command of the sprawling, division-sized base, with all its operations, fell to him. Fifteen thousand servicemen and -women from all five branches of the military and all the supporting government civilians and contractor personnel. Roughly thirty square miles of fortified ground, all of it under siege almost daily. Low on supplies, cut off from home.

I can’t do this. I’m a bureaucrat. Even a hardened commander would balk at this.

Stop it. You have to do it. Everyone is looking to you. Dig deep and find a way.

But the deeper Bookbinder dug, the hollower he felt. Where he looked for a reserve of confidence and ideas, he found only more questions. Where did he even start? Who did he talk to first? He looked down at his fingernails. He had washed his hands dozens of times since that horrific night in the cash, but he still imagined he could see the faint brown streak of Taylor’s blood on them.

Dig deep, damn it. Find a way. There’s a division’s worth of people looking to you to lead them. You will not let them down.

He swallowed as Carmela appeared in the entryway. “Sir?”

He willed his face to take on hard contours, a firm gaze, resolute mouth. He would act the part of a commander and hope he eventually felt it. “Carmela.”

“Lieutenant Colonel Allen is here to see you, sir.”

“Very well, thank you. Please send him in.”

Crucible entered, his helmet under his arm. One of Bookbinder’s first orders once he took command was for all FOB personnel never to leave fixed structures without helmet, body armor, and at least a sidearm. The short man’s hair was matted to his head, a day’s growth of stubble on his face. He looked like he hadn’t showered in several days. But he took a formal step to Bookbinder’s desk and stood at attention. “You wanted to see me, sir?”

“At ease,” Bookbinder said, gesturing at the chair opposite his desk. “First, take a load off. Second, call me Alan.”

“Sir?” Crucible looked puzzled as he sat.

“Alan. It’s my name. I want you to start using it when we’re alone together, okay?”

Crucible looked uncomfortable.

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