Warlord by Mel Odom

Author:Mel Odom
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2020-01-28T00:00:00+00:00

THIRTY-THREE

Huang Caravan

Southwest of Makaum City

0403 Hours Zulu Time

“Master Sergeant.”

The jumpcopter copilot’s voice came over Sage’s helmet comm and woke him from the light slumber he’d managed to ease into only minutes after departing Fort York. He blinked and pulled up the local map on his HUD. Sitting up a little on the bench seat that ran along the jumpcopter’s cargo area, he ran his hands over his combat harness and checked his gear.

“Yes sir, Lieutenant,” Sage replied. He studied the map in detailed relief. All he saw was jungle except for the wide swath created by the Yeraf River cutting through it 10.8 klicks to the southwest. The blue X that marked the rendezvous point pulsed slowly.

“We’re coming up on your drop point,” the young lieutenant said. “Three minutes out and closing.”

Sage couldn’t remember the woman’s name and had to pull it up on his screen.

Dundee, Alice, First Lieutenant.

“Copy that, sir.” Sage glanced back at the jumpcopter’s cargo area.

Murad, Jahup, and the other thirteen soldiers of his mission op sat armored up and wearing hang glider descent equipment. They were going to join Huang’s caravan en route approximately seven klicks out from the river.

Like Sage, Jahup had taken the time to sleep while sitting in the safety netting on the bench across the cargo hold. All of the other experienced Makaum hunters in the group had slept as well during the hour-long hop at treetop level.

Swaying with the jumpcopter’s movement, Sage stood and nudged one of Jahup’s feet with his own.

Jahup’s helmet rolled from his shoulder to face Sage.

“Time to rise and shine, Sergeant,” Sage said. “Get your teams ready.”

“Copy that, Master Sergeant.” Lithely, giving no indication of yesterday’s injuries or the fact that he’d just awakened, Jahup stood and swayed with the jumpcopter’s movement.

Sage, Murad, Jahup, and Culpepper headed up the four fireteams, each having their own squads, which were further broken down in command. Culpepper was leading the demolitions team, Murad had the snipers, and Sage and Jahup had split the heavy weps teams that would do most of the close-in fighting.

“Two minutes,” the lieutenant called back.

“Roger that,” Sage said.

He went through checking his team’s readiness. All of them packed a grenade-launcher-equipped Roley for lead weapons. They also carried monofilament-edged boarding axes for when they were hand-to-hand inside the vessels if it came to that. Projectile weapons would be dangerous inside the Phrenorian submersibles. The final check was on the glide-assist pack. Without it, surviving the drop to the jungle floor would be next to impossible. The canopy crowned at two hundred meters.

“One minute,” the pilot called back.

Sage stood at the jumpcopter’s rear section and waited as the lift assembly dropped the boarding ramp. Wind rushed by him and moonslight filtered into the dark cargo area but didn’t highlight the armor with the camo function absorbing ambient light.

A sea of trees blew by beneath the jumpcopter, and they would be the most dangerous aspect of the descent. Even with the light-amplifying feature of the armor and the fast

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