Boots Down by Scott Moon

Author:Scott Moon [Moon, Scott]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Space Marine, Science Fiction, Space Fleet
Publisher: Scott Moon Productions LLC
Published: 2024-10-25T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 18

The final stretch of my trip passed in the blink of an eye. One moment, I was checking the abandoned bar I’d been hiding in, and the next, I was two-thirds of the way back to our rendezvous point. My eyes tracked every street and alleyway. I remained aware of the sky and even spent some time making sure nothing was coming up from underground. Maybe I’d seen too many movies, but the drainage grates always cast a threatening air.

Sheila was standing guard when I arrived. Her MCR was dark and well concealed in the shadows of the building. To the uninitiated, it would appear abandoned, or maybe it would even be confused with a statue. I knew differently.

“I see you, Jam man,” she said, sounding relieved. “You know the procedure is to announce before you pop up and get smoked.”

“You wouldn’t do that to me,” I said. “I’m just a harmless pedestrian.”

“Yeah, right. Tell me you have Andrew and the rest of Titanium I with you.”

“No. I sent the report. The location was abandoned, though they were there for a while.” I left out details about their counter-surveillance mission and what they learned of the Jitak. What I had discovered wasn’t how they came to be there in the first place, but maybe that was in the file that only Sergeant Stomper could access.

“What are you saying?” Sheila asked.

I didn’t even answer. She’d known that I’d come up empty but had probably been keeping herself awake fantasizing about a different outcome. We all pranked each other. Maybe she pretended I was going to jump aside so that Andrew and the others could all yell, “Surprise!”

Wouldn’t that be hilarious?

“Where is she?”

“Talking to CRD,” Sheila said. “I think the commander is freaking out over the aliens.”

“Can’t say I blame him.” Sargeant Stomper had mentioned a possible contact, and now that’s all I could think about. I really hoped they were calling in the cavalry. The only problem with that daydream was that we were usually the units sent to fill that role.

I came upon them in a parking garage they’d carefully camouflaged, not just from aerial surveillance but from anybody looking horizontally from another building. There were so many possible observation points in the city that it defied the imagination.

Not my imagination; I could totally believe hundreds of snipers were watching us right now. The only proof against this theory was the fact that we were alive.

The first thing I did was check my rig. MCR Peter still had the vault locked. “Is it there, buddy?”

“Of course. Your C-FEF officer was smart not to try me.”

“I like your style, Peter.”

“Noted. I will record the compliment in my performance log.”

Stomper sat on a camp stool with her feet spread wide and her helmet off. Dark circles ringed her eyes but didn’t damage her looks. She wasn’t one to offer compliments unless a guy wanted to get punched. That didn’t change that she was the total package, the bigger, better deal—smart, industrious, good-looking, and loyal.

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