Chapter Twenty-Five
Bren couldn’t tell when one explosion stopped and another started, a constant rumble shaking the ground beneath her. Not only were there cracks in the walls, but they’d started branching across the ceiling as well.
“If this building is coming down, we might stand a better chance of surviving beneath a doorframe,” Cam yelled above the noise.
Seb was the closest and yanked open the door. CS soldiers were dashing up and down the corridor as well as prisoners. It’d become every person for themselves.
“Maybe we should try to get out.” She didn’t direct the idea at anyone in particular.
But Cam shook his head, expression grim. “It’s too late.”
He gestured to the small chunks of concrete dropping onto the people running. The pieces were getting bigger.
“What about Shen? Seb saw her in a room down the corridor.”
“There’s no time. We’ll have to find her after. Everyone squeeze in.” Cam put his back to the doorframe and then grabbed Bren’s arm, yanking her forward so she landed up against his chest.
Seb stepped in behind her, and by the time Bartlet and Harlow slipped in, squeeze was an understatement. She couldn’t move, could barely breathe, wedged between Cam and Seb.
The next strike landed closer, shaking the ground so much she would have lost her footing if she’d been standing on her own. Walls crumbled and huge chunks of the ceiling fell. A whole section came down farther along the corridor, burying the people who’d been trying to escape. Cam ducked his face close to hers, holding up an arm to protect both their heads.
Dust choked her next breath and her heart stalled, fear convincing her these were her last moments of life. The next explosion would bring the rest of the building down around them, and they’d be buried.
She pressed her face into Cam’s chest, closing her eyes, not wanting to see the end coming. Though they were plastered against each other, he pulled her closer and she unabashedly let his strength surrounding her leach deep into her. Maybe it made her a coward, but she was glad she wouldn’t die alone.
People said a person’s life flashed before their eyes when they died, but it wasn’t what happened for her. She saw a life, but it was a life she wished she could have with Cam if it hadn’t been for the wedge her brother had driven between them. But it wasn’t only Jordie’s fault. She hadn’t tried to explain the real facts to Cam, and he was the idiot who’d gotten all judgy on her without bothering to see the truth.
Getting indignant over it now seemed like a waste of the last few seconds of her life. Except, the ground was no longer quaking beneath her feet. Her ears were ringing, not in a high pitch but in some weird white-noise kind of way, like someone had stuffed cotton balls in the canals.
Her fingers ached from the grip she’d clamped into Cam’s shirt, and she had to force them to release one by one. As she slowly brought her head up, pain rippled across her shoulders and down her back, because her muscles were so tight.
Half of the roof above them was missing, showing dark sky and stars where the corridor had once been. Now it was just piles of rubble. Thank God they hadn’t tried to make a run for it. The room they’d been in hadn’t fared too badly; only a few steel beams had collapsed. Cam’s suggestion of standing in the doorway had saved them.
“Is everyone okay?” he asked, his voice rumbling through his chest where he was still pressed up against her.
“Harlow caught some debris,” Bartlet reported.
“It’s superficial,” Harlow muttered dryly, clearly doing his best Colonel McAllister impression, since that’s what he’d said about his gunshot wound.
Seb laughed, the sound heavy with relief, and they all joined in.
Nothing like a building falling down around a person to make them feel alive.
They all carefully stepped out of the doorway, Cam leading the delicate scramble over building wreckage, climbing up until they had a vantage point.
The jets had retreated, cutting off the CSS air support. The camp had been decimated, leaving the rebels to overrun the grounds. Most of the CSS weren’t even bothering to fight back—either fleeing or surrendering. It was a resounding victory.
“Bren, come in.” Alpha’s voice was muffled from the comm in her pocket.
She quickly pulled it out to answer. “Reading you, Alpha.”
“Thank God,” he uttered, relief in his tone. “Did you all make it?”
“One of Cam’s men is injured, but he’s walking. Otherwise, we’re fine.”
“The rebel forces are regrouping on the north side of the camp. There’s a large field nearby we should be able to land a few jets in.”
“It’s a date,” she replied, sharing a quick smile with Seb, who was already celebrating a quick ride home to the Knox.
“Watch yourselves on the way out,” Alpha said, then ended the comm.
As she slipped the device back into her pocket, Bartlet bandaged the gash Harlow had on his thigh.
“We need to find Shen,” she said to no one in particular. “Seb, do you think you can work out where you saw her?”
“Four doors that way.” He point to the left where the corridor was still somewhat intact. Thank God. The chances of finding her unharmed might be higher.
She scrambled back down the way they’d come, Seb on her heels.
They had to push some debris aside and clamber over chunks of concrete, but they reached the door, which was sagging on its hinges.
“Sub-Officer Shen?” Bren called out, squeezing through the opening.
“In here.” A cough followed the words. “I’m okay, just stuck.”
She and Seb followed the source of Shen’s voice. She’d hidden under the metal framed bed, and a few decent-sized chunks of concrete had fallen on top. Between Bren and Seb, they managed to make a large enough gap for Shen to slide out. She looked a little worse for wear—the CSS had obviously “questioned” her, but otherwise didn’t seem to be seriously injured.
“Ready to get out of here and head back to the Knox?” Seb asked Shen when she was upright.
“So ready,” she replied with relief in her voice.
Bren took the lead, Shen in the middle, and Seb bringing up the rear as they carefully made their way back to where Cam was waiting on the roof with Harlow and Bartlet.
“All good?” Cam asked when they rejoined him.
“Yep, good to go,” she returned. A few short hours ago she’d thought both missions completely lost. Things had turned around fast, and she couldn’t even take the moment to be grateful because they still had to get themselves out of the CSS camp.
Cam took the lead, picking his way across the ruins. In a few places they had to double back, and they were constantly stopping to help other people out of the rubble. One or two were beyond saving, and while she hated to do it, they had to leave them with the promise of sending help back.
The rebels would no doubt organize some kind of rescue, but considering the four of them were still UEF soldiers operating in enemy territory—despite the rebels winning this small battle—they couldn’t risk the CSS rallying their forces and recapturing them.
It took longer than she would have liked, but they finally made it to the outer perimeter on the north side. Here, the rebels were pulling out people who were too injured to walk on their own.
Those who weren’t injured had amassed in the nearby field, and beyond that, just as Alpha had promised, several of the Knox’s jets were landing.
They navigated the crowd, and by the time they reached the jets, Alpha was standing by the nose of his ship talking with Halden.
Alpha took a second to salute Cam, before turning to her. “CAFF, glad to see you’re in one piece.”
He reached out and brushed her shoulder, sending a cloud of dust flying up. No doubt they looked a sight.
“No love for me?” Seb demanded, elbowing his way in and grabbing Alpha in a back-slapping hug. “Never thought I’d thank you for bombing the shit out of a building I was standing in.”
Seb stepped back and Alpha sent him an exasperated glare as he brushed dust off his flight suit. “You’re welcome. But I’m having second thoughts about giving you a ride back to the Knox. I’ll be cleaning dust out of my jet for the next six months.”
“No choice if the CAFF gives you a direct order.” Seb bumped his shoulder into hers, as if expecting her to immediately jump on his side.
“Of course I’ll give the order,” she replied with a straight face, “for him to take me back. You can find your own way.”
“Cruel. But you’re the one who’ll have to face Jenna and explain how you left me behind enemy lines.”
“He’s right,” Alpha said in a dry voice. “Jenna will get that look on her face, and then we’ll all be ducking for cover.”
“Sorry to break up the reunion, but there are a few things we need to discuss,” Cam interrupted. “The rebel forces are moving on. They’re going to make a play for the Pontifex’s residence in the Holy City while they’ve got the momentum and the CSS are scrambling to marshal their forces. There are unconfirmed reports coming in that the Pontifex is dead, and his top echelon of leaders are too busy fighting between themselves over who will step into his place to organize their forces against any attack.”
“Colonel McAllister,” Alpha put in. “I was to inform you that Commander Emmanuel is sending in several contingents. They’ve already crossed the border and should be here within the hour.”
“Then our chances will be even better,” Halden said.
“I’d say our chances are pretty damn good,” Seb replied, no doubt saying what they were all thinking. It seemed too good to be true, too surreal to think the war they’d been fighting all these years, the war that had ravaged this planet for decades, might actually come to an end tonight.
Of course, that would only be the beginning for the people who lived here. They’d have to work out how to start all over again.
The idea struck her, reverberating all the way to her soul.
She’d followed her brother into this war to keep an eye on him, but after he’d died, it was like she’d forgotten the girl she’d been before she’d started pre-mil training. Back then, not much more than a teenager, she hadn’t any concrete plans, but she’d put any thoughts of her future aside to stand with Jordie.
After his death, she’d stayed because she’d been good at her job and could see that the people of Ilari needed help. That fighting to liberate them was the best way of doing that.
Honestly, she was tired of fighting. She’d been on automatic pilot since Jordie had died, hadn’t let herself care too deeply about anything other than her job.
Her feelings for Cam had violently woken her up, and she wanted more. She wanted to know who she was when she wasn’t flying a jet. She wanted back some of the carefree girl she’d once been. One who’d been just a little bit reckless, a little cheeky, but always going forward with the best intentions. She wanted to give Neve a home, wanted to see what kind of people they could grow to be together, because she was sure the little girl would teach her just as much, if not more than she might ever impart to her.
“We’re grateful for the troops,” Halden was saying, bringing her back into the conversation that was happening around her. “And maybe I’m pushing my luck, but will that air support you offered continue on with us to the Holy City?”
“Of course,” Bren replied. Maybe she should have conferred with Commander Yang, but she was the CAFF. She didn’t doubt he’d agree with her on this one. “I’ll personally lead the next wave.”
“Thank you.” Halden took her hand, giving it a firm shake.
“We should get back to the Knox to regroup.” She forced her CAFF mask firmly into place, only letting her mind focus on the things that needed to be done for the next air strike to go smoothly. “Colonel, do you and your men need a lift, or are you staying here to wait for Commander Emmanuel’s men?”
“We’ll be fine here, Lieutenant,” he replied just as tactfully.
Though she’d addressed him by title first, Cam returning the gesture was like a final punctuation on anything personal between them. Almost as if it’d never been.
“Let’s get off the ground, Alpha.”
Alpha nodded his agreement, then glanced at Seb. “Harper is waiting to take you, Seb. Shen, you’re with Mack.”
Seb turned to shake hands with Harlow and Bartlet, and maybe she should have done the same.
But after everything that had happened in the last few hours, she wanted to get the rest of the night over and done with.
Still, as she walked away, it felt wrong, like she was making the biggest mistake of her life. Part of her wanted to go punch Cam and tell him he was the biggest idiot she’d ever met, willing to throw away what had developed between them because he was still hung up on what her brother had done. But it wasn’t up to her to figure that out for him.
So, she took a deep breath and climbed to the cockpit. But when she got to the top, she couldn’t help stealing one last glance. Cam was staring up at her, his expression pensive, but unreadable. Her heart skipped a beat, hope flaring through her that he was having second thoughts, that he’d come over and tell her that he wanted to talk, and they’d meet up after they got through this night to work things out. But one of his men said something to him and he turned away, deflating the hope within her as quickly as it’d flared.
“Ready to head home?” Alpha asked.
“Definitely,” she muttered, dropping down into the cockpit and sitting back to make room for Alpha. The jets were technically designed for one pilot, but there was room to squeeze two when need be.
Alpha settled in and closed the hatch. A few seconds later, they were in the air. In the distance, she picked out the village where Neve was hopefully sleeping peacefully, unaware of the major events unfolding. With any luck, in another few hours this would all be over, and she could begin working out what her new life was going to look like. The thought brought a tiny spark of excitement, telling her that she was definitely ready for a major change.