Alien Into Charybdis by Alex White

Author:Alex White
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Titan Books

PART III

REVENANT

FIVE MONTHS AGO:

TOP SECRET//NOFORN//ORCON – ROSE EAGLE

TRANSMISSION INTERCEPT 01 March 2184

(TS//OC-RE)

THIEN: The files you stole with the Blackstar are missing an entry.

MARSALIS: You have my attention.

THIEN: I’ve placed the information in your old drop. I hope it’s what you’re looking for.

MARSALIS: Explain why I would trust you.

[CONNECTION TERMINATED]

20

EXFILTRATION

The light from Shy’s remaining eye is gone with the flash of the muzzle. Her head snaps backward and bounces once against the ground. She twitches, but Becker knows it’s meaningless.

Duncan wipes a split lip on the back of her hand and checks it like she’s never seen her own blood. She’s not even breathing hard.

She’s about to turn around.

“I—” Becker chokes on his own dry throat and curses himself. “She came at you.”

Her gaze locks onto him like a raptor spotting prey.

“You have the tasking order,” he continues. “That means she attacked you in the course of a combat mission. You had to defend yourself.” He’s a coward for excusing it, but he needs time to think. No part of him was prepared for this moment.

It’d sounded like a reasonable request—help the Americas gain a foothold. He hadn’t understood what he was agreeing to do.

Get ahold of yourself, or she’ll see— Duncan draws closer to him, and he stiffens. If he looks frightened, she might assume him to be a squealer. Standing nearby, Matsushita keeps studying his notes, and hasn’t even looked at the corpse. That’s unnatural, but it might fit his profile. Anyone who likes to play with the x-rays must be a little damaged.

Duncan remains silent. She’s probably waiting to let him hang himself with his own rope. If she senses even the tiniest iota of disloyalty, he’s sure she will end him. So Becker gestures to Shy, but doesn’t let his eyes travel to her body.

“She was helping them develop weapons, a civilian at an illegal facility.”

There are people alive downstairs.

As he speaks, his mind continues racing. He scans the room. It’s just the science geek and the captain. If he put a round into her, there’s no way Matsushita could stop him from getting to the console and—

A glimmer of recognition tints her eyes.

“Aw, Jesus, Captain.” It’s Lee’s voice at the doorway. He and Wallace must’ve come running when they heard the shots.

Duncan groans. “You knew she wasn’t walking out of here, Sergeant,” she growls. “Don’t even give me that shit.”

So she’s got Wallace and Lee.

Duncan’s tension appears to drain out, and she looks at Becker. “Corporal Shit-wit, it doesn’t matter what story you’ve got, because we were never here. I appreciate the enthusiasm, but it’s a waste of energy. We’re next door to the galaxy’s largest toilet. No one is ever, ever going to find this body.”

Becker thinks of Shy’s lifeless form spiraling into the abyss, dashed against the rocks. Have other secrets been flushed down there? How many bones will she be joining?

Got to save anyone I can.

He can’t lock the data storehouse doors. Even if Duncan, Lee, Wallace, and Matsushita weren’t there, he doesn’t know how to operate the terminal.

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