The Seraphim Sequence - Fifth Column 2 by Nathan M. Farrugia

Author:Nathan M. Farrugia [Farrugia, Nathan M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Science Fiction, Hard Science Fiction, Thrillers, General, Technological, Suspense, War & Military, Action & Adventure
ISBN: 9781743341933
Google: UJAClgvNN4YC
Publisher: Pan
Published: 2013-03-15T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-Five

Sophia opened her eyes. DC was sitting in the corner, watching her. She tried to sit up but her head reeled.

‘What are you, Edward the glittering vampire?’ she said.

DC looked confused. ‘You don’t know who—’

‘Never mind, it was a joke,’ she said.

‘How are you feeling?’ he asked. ‘I mean, you know, considering you were—’

‘Completely fucked up?’ Sophia said. ‘On a scale of alive to dead, I’m somewhere in the middle. And even that’s debatable.’

‘Well, that’s good, I suppose.’

She wanted to shrug but it required too much energy. She settled for raising an eyebrow. ‘At least we’re alive. It just … it shouldn’t have been Benito. He shouldn’t have been dragged into this.’

‘Don’t blame this on yourself,’ DC said.

Everything surged inside her. She couldn’t hold it in. ‘I watched him die,’ she said. ‘I couldn’t save him.’

Tears blurred her vision of DC but she felt his hand across her shoulders.

‘Don’t,’ he said. ‘Don’t think that.’

Tears poured down her face, mixing with snot. ‘This isn’t how it was meant to happen,’ she said. ‘It wasn’t meant to turn out this way.’

Nasira appeared in the doorway. Or maybe she’d been standing there the whole time and Sophia hadn’t noticed. She was wearing the submarine-issue overalls and sneakers.

She took Sophia’s hands, squeezed them. ‘Hey, you can do this. You’re OK.’

‘I’m not OK, I’m really not,’ Sophia said. She forced herself to smile. ‘Those overalls really suit you.’

‘Don’t push it.’ Nasira grabbed a tissue from the infirmary’s solitary tissue box and handed it to her.

Sophia blew her nose. ‘Freeman,’ she said. ‘I never got to say goodbye.’

Nasira exhaled slowly. ‘I know, honey.’

‘I watched Benito die. I wanted to save him, I wanted to save them both. But I couldn’t.’ She swallowed back more tears. ‘There’s nothing quite like death to make everything seem pointless.’

Nasira looked away. ‘I went back for Freeman, I tried to save him.’

‘They killed him?’ DC said. His eyes were glassy.

Nasira stared down at Sophia’s injured leg. ‘Yeah,’ she said.

‘I’m surprised they didn’t want him alive,’ Sophia said, sniffing.

‘If it makes you feel any better, we put down eight of those motherfuckers today,’ Nasira said. ‘More shocktroopers than we’ve killed in our entire lives.’

Sophia forced a smile. She reached out and took Nasira’s wrist. ‘You did what you could. You both did. I’d never ask for more.’

A tear streaked down DC’s cheek, touching the corner of his lips. In all his years protecting Freeman, they’d grown close.

‘You’d be saying goodbye to my sorry ass too, if it weren’t for the boys,’ Nasira said. ‘And Grace.’

Sophia heard footsteps. She knew it was Grace even before she arrived. She didn’t say anything, just stood there in the doorway. She’d changed out of her wet clothes and into overalls. Her hair was untied: two thick black ribbons that unfurled past her shoulders.

Sophia wiped the tears from her eyes. ‘You could’ve run,’ she said. ‘You could’ve left Nasira, you could’ve left me. Why didn’t you?’

‘It was my op,’ Grace said. ‘I’ve never lost an operative. And I plan to keep it that way.

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