Damage Control (Valiant Knox) (20 page)

A ripple of low, anxious murmurs passed through the group of recruits. Okay, this might be a problem. If she spent who knew how long hiking to the Ilari base, it was going to delay her finishing the final profiles. Plus, if she was traipsing around down here, it gave the traitor more of an opportunity to work out who’d been tracking him and take out Leigh and her separately. How could Leigh think this was a good idea? But then her logic reined in her apprehension long enough to remind her that he probably hadn’t a choice. He couldn’t just pull her out of what probably amounted to an important aspect of FP training with no concrete reason—one he could share with anyone else anyway.

Leigh motioned to the other three instructors and then the four of them walked back toward the transport.

“Wait!” One of Steve’s buddies spoke up. “You’re
leaving
?”

Leigh paused and looked back at them as the two pilots and two other instructors boarded the transport. He shot a cutting grin at the recruit who’d questioned him.

“It wouldn’t be much of a test in survival if we showed you the way and lit your campfires for you now, would it? Just make sure you don’t accidentally walk west, or you’ll find yourself on the CSS side of Ilari. And if that happens, no matter how many times you press your emergency beacon, no one will be coming to get you.”

With that, Leigh gave a short salute and disappeared inside the transport. The hatchway slid closed and the shuttle lifted off with a low swirl of dust a moment later.

The group of recruits broke into a surge of noisy disbelief and questions.

“They can’t just leave us out here!” someone yelled. “What about GPS and holomaps? How the hell are we supposed to know which way is northeast?”

For a long second Mia couldn’t breathe, her lungs too tight and ribs contracting. She was down on the ground, only a few miles from CSS held territory, with no type of security and no immediate help if anything went wrong. Without Leigh’s datapad, without actually being able to do anything to find the traitor, she felt like she’d been stripped of weapons and marched onto the battlefield.

What better opportunity to get rid of her than an exercise like this? Accidents happened. Or she could just disappear without a trace, assumed captured and killed by the enemy.

With dread growing inside her like a thick, black cloud, she watched the transport disappear over the buildings. She wasn’t exactly an expert at direction, but it seemed the shuttle had gone in a northeast direction, and logically it made sense that the instructors were going to kick back at the Ilari base for the next two days while they waited to see how many recruits turned up.

“We are so screwed,” Kayla muttered.

“Some more so than others.”

She passed a gaze over the remaining recruits standing around. Maybe the stress of the last few days was really starting to get to her, because the thought occurred to her that maybe she should have been running profiles on the people in this class. But that was ridiculous, wasn’t it? How could any of them be a mole, when the troop transport had been attacked, it? It made no sense that the CSS would fire on a vessel carrying one of its own people.

On the other hand, everyone had their price. What if the traitor paid someone to take care of her—

She shook her head at herself and stepped forward, walked over to the pile of packs, and grabbed one off the top. She tossed it to Kayla, who had trailed her, and then grabbed a second. She was getting ridiculous with the conspiracy theories. Yes, she possibly was more exposed down here, but there was safety in numbers, so she’d just make sure she stuck with a large group at all times. No point in standing around worrying about things. The sooner she got moving, the sooner she could walk into the Ilari base and put this latest test behind her.

Chapter Twenty-One

M
ia glared at her aching feet, hating the combat boots that obviously weren’t designed for walking long distances. If she’d given in to the discomfort, she could have quite happily stopped to set up camp two or three hours ago, but she’d pushed on. The more ground she could cover today, the better off she’d be in the long run, because tomorrow would only get harder, not easier.

Though the physical side of things presented a muscle-straining challenge, this situation was more a mental game than anything—seeing if she could push herself, keep motivated, and succeed. Instead of thinking about how far she had to go or how long it would take or how cold or hot it might get or where she’d find water to refill the bladder in her pack, she’d simply started living in the moment, putting one foot in front of the other, picking a landmark in front of her, and concentrating on getting to it before finding another goal.

Being so hyperaware of everyone around her had been an extra drain. She’d shamelessly listened in on more than a few conversations today and a couple of times even found herself searching the landscape for an ambush or sniper, becoming more and more convinced that if the traitor knew who she was and planned on trying anything, it would be while she was out here. Not that she’d probably be able to see it coming anyway; she didn’t exactly have any experience being a ground soldier, so she had no idea what kind of signs would indicate the enemy were nearby.

When Kayla and she had set off, most of the recruits had scrambled to follow them, no doubt the pack mentality kicking in for everyone that they’d be better off sticking together. At first, most people had seemed somewhat relaxed and chatty, though not totally jovial. This wasn’t some academy camping trip after all, just like Leigh had said.

Kayla and she had chattered for a while, but as the day wore on, they’d become quieter as their group grew smaller and some people fell back. Others had stopped altogether. She’d taken note of every single person as they’d broken off from the group, and then started looking even more closely at those keeping up, trying to pick out anyone who seemed extra nervous or overly interested in her.

Now, the sun was dipping toward the horizon behind the clouds and a glance around revealed eight others beside Kayla and her, none of whom were Steve or his friends. Thank God for small favors. At least she wouldn’t have him and the other Ackerly assholes to worry about tonight. It was going to be bad enough fighting her exhaustion from walking all day to stay awake. Because no way was she going to fall asleep out in the middle of nowhere, giving anyone the opportunity to walk up and kill her in her sleep.

“That looks like as good a place as any to camp.” Kayla pointed ahead to an old barn or shed next to a small stream in the overgrown field they were crossing.

Mia nodded, too tired to reply, and switched directions slightly, headed for the structure. The clouds had been steadily thickening over the afternoon, and the scent of rain had been in the air for the last half hour, a slight humidity making the hike more uncomfortable. It would definitely rain tonight, maybe even storm. Finding an actual building to shelter in pretty much seemed like luxury at this point.

The small group they’d formed all trekked over to the barn. It wasn’t huge, but could have fit their entire class of recruits inside if everyone had kept up. Instead, the ten of them would have plenty of room to spread out or lie down.

In the fading light, it was hard to see much, but obviously they weren’t the first people to use the barn for shelter. Down the far end, where a hole in the roof let in the last of the day’s light, there was a blackened spot surrounded by stones where fires had previously been set. A couple of old crates and other things had been arranged in a loose circle to form a ring of mismatching seats. Maybe previous recruit classes had done the same hike and found the barn like they had. It gave her hope that they were on the right track and hadn’t spent the day walking in the wrong direction.

A couple of recruits were already making their way over to the pit, grabbing bits of wood to make a fire. Everyone in the group who’d made it this far probably could have been considered the top performers in the class. They were all hardworking, seemingly honorable people who took their duty to the UEF seriously. She hated to think that any of them could be a traitor, but her paranoia and mistrust had taken her off the rails hours ago. She was just going to believe her OTT suspicions of everyone and everything would keep her alive until she got back onto the
Knox
.

She set down her pack and crouched to unfasten it so she could assess the food situation. A cursory check earlier in the day had revealed some MRBs—meal replacement bars. They were chewy and definitely on the unappetizing side, but had the required nutrients for soldiers in combat or troop movement situations when a five-star meal wasn’t the first priority. But she hoped that somewhere in the bottom of the pack, there might be something a little more substantial. She wasn’t a fan of preserved foods, but right now she’d even take a plexi-can of baked beans over another MRB.

Her search efforts were futile—she found the emergency beacon, a basic first-aid kit with the usual antiseptic wound-healing gel and other items to treat minor injuries, a paper-thin thermo sheet for sleeping under, enough MRBs to last about a week, and not much else.

She pushed the pack aside and stood, walking the perimeter of the barn, assessing the structure in the rapidly fading light. If there was going to be a storm tonight, she didn’t want to end up crushed under a beam if the dilapidated barn couldn’t hold up. However, she didn’t exactly have a degree in architecture. The best she could do was check none of the support posts looked rotted while she tried not to think about her growling stomach.

By the time she’d done a lap, most of the recruits had moved to sit by the rapidly catching fire in the pit. Some grimaced their way through MRBs, while others like her had decided that staying a little on the hungry side was preferable.

One of them, Granger—who had turned out to have a lot of hiking and camping experience and had sworn all day they were definitely heading northeast—seemed to be trying to untangle something, while Nicka sat next to him, holding part of it up.

Curiosity got the better of her and she rounded the fire to get a closer look. It seemed to be some kind of netting, but it was definitely in a mess.

“What did you find?” she asked, sitting down next to Nicka.

The other girl gave a quick shrug. “Looks like junk to me, but Granger says he might be able to catch something in it.”

“Catch something?” She glanced over at Granger, who had his head bent over a knot, trying to work it free.

“Something to eat, like a fish or one of those bunny-raccoon things that we kept seeing in the fields today,” Granger clarified.

She leaned forward and grabbed the net from him. Since her fingers were more slender, she had the tangle undone in a matter of moments.

“I’ll take an order of fish, but you’re on your own with the rabboon.”

He sent her a grin as he separated what had actually been two nets tangled together. He tossed one in her direction as he stood.

“Then you’re on fishing duty, Wolfe.”

Without waiting for her to answer, he turned and headed out into the slanted golden light slicing in under the cloud cover.

She studied the net, then glanced over at Kayla, who had kicked back on the ground, leaning her back against one of the crates and using her pack as a pillow.

“Feel like a spot of fishing?”

Kayla shook her head and held up her half-finished MRB. “No way. I might eat fish, but I don’t want to see it alive before I do so, and I definitely don’t want to have anything to do with gutting or de-scaling.”

“Suit yourself,” she muttered, turning to trail Granger outside. He’d moved off into the field, wading through thigh-high grass, holding the net up, ready to trap the first unsuspecting rabboon he came across. She took a moment to cast a searching glance across the landscape, looking for any signs that there might be other people around. For half a second she considered turning around and heading back inside with the excuse that she didn’t want to or couldn’t catch fish after all, but the lure of something other than an MRB to eat proved too hard to resist. She’d just make sure she didn’t go too far.

With her heart skipping a beat or two, she turned toward the stream, the gently flowing water reflecting the last orange streaks of the sky and dark gray of the clouds. The water was literally crystal clear and not very deep; she could see the rocky bottom.

Were there even fish in a stream like this? She walked to the edge and set down the net, taking a moment to wet her face and drink from her cupped hands. Somewhere in the distance, grass birds were calling back and forth, while insects chirped in the last of the day’s humidity. The peacefulness of it all struck her quite suddenly.

Like almost all of earth, her home state was one big city. The few vacant stretches of land were nothing but dusty, barren dirt. Though Earth still maintained around twenty billion inhabitants and acted as the central government to all the far-reaching systems and planets that had been colonized over the last few hundred years, the original birthplace of human beings had long since seen the death of Mother Nature. The only examples of what had once been a gloriously green world were now housed in special biospheres with carefully maintained mini-ecosystems, like living museums.

But she couldn’t let the novel tranquility lull her, not when she’d been getting closer and closer to finding the traitor.

With a short sigh for her aching muscles, Mia grabbed the net and stood, turning left and trekking along the bank, looking for anything that might pass for a meal. Even some kind of fresh water crustacean would probably be better than the MRBs. She’d been going along for about ten minutes and was considering giving up when the stream widened and deepened slightly. With the light almost gone, and stray droplets of rain beginning to fall, it was hard to see much, but a large school of fish darted up and splashed out of the water.

With an excited burst of energy rushing through her, it was simply a matter of throwing out the net, drawing the string to close it and then tugging it into the bank. Without much effort at all, she’d caught seven fish.

“I should have guessed that you’d be the one out here catching everyone else’s dinner.”

She shot to her feet, the voice familiar, but still zapping her system with acute shock.

“Leigh—I mean Captain Alphin! What are you doing here?” He stood on the opposite bank, arms crossed and leaning against a tree trunk. She glanced back toward the barn in the distance, but didn’t see anyone else, not the other recruits or instructors.

“It’s okay. There’s no one else around to hear you calling me Leigh.” His lips quirked in a short smile. “As to what I’m doing here? Monitoring and assessing, mostly. There’s somewhat of a gray area legality-wise when it comes to taking a class of green recruits and dumping them in the middle of nowhere to find their own way to base. As long as we’re within a mile or so of you at all times, the brass can’t say we put you in undue danger or whatever crap they come up with.”

Suddenly the day’s walk took on a whole different light. “So you never actually left us?”

It had all been a ruse, another test for them to pass or fail. Of course, she’d already known it was a test, the parameters just hadn’t been what she’d thought.

“For all intents and purposes, yes, we did leave you. We maybe didn’t go as far as you thought.”

The heavy knot of tension she’d been carrying unwound a little. All day, she’d stressed about the traitor making an attempt on her, but the entire time, Leigh had been nearby.

“So where are the other instructors?”

“Checking in with the rest of the recruits, since you’re all fairly scattered. You and the others did well to get this far. I don’t think any of the others found shelter, so they’ll probably spend an uncomfortable night getting rained on.”

Even as he spoke, a few more drops splashed down from the sky, the wind picking up slightly.

“Do you have any idea how much I freaked out after you left? Since the incident in the launch bay, I couldn’t help thinking—”

“That if the traitor knew you were the one who’d been tracking him, what better opportunity to get rid of you than while you were off the ship?”

Her shoulders drooped a little, his words effectively cutting off the indignation she’d built up. If Leigh had considered the possibility, then maybe she wasn’t so paranoid and crazy after all.

“I’ve been snatching glances behind me all day. The possibility that I’d started going nuts had crossed my mind.” She felt a little silly admitting it, and if it had been anyone else but Leigh, she wouldn’t have said a word.

His expression took on a grim tightness. “It’s not crazy to be on alert like that Mia. That’s how a good soldier survives. I’m sorry. You don’t know how much I wanted to talk with you before now. I almost said something on the transport down here, but I couldn’t be sure we wouldn’t be overheard. I’m just glad you’re smart enough to see the danger.”

“Yeah, well I wasn’t the only one in that launch bay, so I hope you’re taking precautions as well.”

His lips kicked up in a half smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “You don’t have to worry about me. Just watch out for yourself until your boots are back on the
Knox’s
deck. Speaking of which, I should probably get back. I’m supposed to be reporting the recruits’ progress.” He sounded as reluctant as she felt. Which was ridiculous. Did she want to stand around out here in the dark and get rained on? Unfortunately, if the answered featured her getting to spend a few more minutes with Leigh, then obviously she wasn’t as sensible as she’d always believed.

Despite the fact that he was more than ten feet away and the stream separated them, just seeing him had brought a profound measure of comfort. Comfort and a sharp, surprising surge of longing.

The last few days, she’d been able to keep from examining how deep her feelings ran and how she craved his touch, because there’d always been other people around and the danger to both their careers outweighed the reward. However, now they were most definitely alone and her body was waking up, despite the aches, tension, and exhaustion from the long day.