The Aeschylus (10 page)

“You're wrong about that, boss. They're here. That's why I came to get you. I thought you would have heard the chopper.” Reiner spat into the dirt.

Mason grunted. Had he really been too lost in his own thoughts to hear the thing? It didn't matter; digging up the hole in the cellar was good for him. It was therapeutic.

He looked behind the church and saw the padre up on the hill, watching them. He pointed east towards the beach, looking more scarecrow than man.

“That guy gives me the creeps.”

“Quit it,” Mason said, but he was glad. The fact the cowboy could see old Manuel was somehow reassuring. Had he come to this place alone the first time, Mason would have wondered if the padre was real at all.

“Grab the bags.”

“Am I following you?”

“No. Head on over to the helo and make sure it gets refueled first. I'm going to see about our guests.”

Mason started up the path and crested the hill overlooking the beach. He didn't have far to walk. Most of his own men were still tossing the pigskin, but the new kid, Nicholas, was talking to the civilians. Mason had worked with almost everyone on his team before. He'd known Markus Reiner for six years, Christian Vytalle and Jin Tae for four. Their Alpha pilot, Hal McHalister, he'd flown with on and off for eight. Nicholas Worsch was the only new addition. Black Shadow had put him in at the last minute, and he didn't know everyone yet. That was fine. He'd come around after this job, Mason was sure. As for the others, Mason figured he'd have to
reintroduce himself, and that was also fine. Then, he counted and frowned. There was an extra man. The McCreedy woman was only supposed to bring back one. Instead, she brought back two. That was what you'd expect putting a woman in charge, wasn't it? They always overdid it. He started down the hill.

In moments, the man in the center caught sight of him. “Well, sonofabitch. Mister Mason Bruhbaker. I see you're still in the business.”

He nodded. “AJ.”

They embraced, and Mason slapped the other man on the back. “Been a long time.”

Kate stood with her jaw hanging. “You know this guy?”

“Old AJ and I go way back. Ain't that right, AJ?”

“We were in the same unit, once upon a time,” AJ said. “Did a few private sector jobs after, back when I was young. Guess that's ancient history.”

“Hey, did you know his name is 'Angus?'” Dutch said, chiming in.

Mason showed his veneers. “Who are you?”

“Henry Jones,” Kate said, interrupting them. “He and AJ are attached at the ass. It was the only way he would agree to come.”

Mason looked his old friend up and down. “Is that right?”

“When I found out who was footing the bill for this little excursion, I thought it would be better to have backup. All the more so when I learned you were the one in charge on the ground.”

“Bet that was the first thing you asked.”

“You bet. I know the mission always comes first. I've got to look out for my own safety.”

“I see you brought a piece too, huh?” Mason looked at the pistol tucked into his old friend's belt.

“Well, we didn't exactly run through customs on the way in.”

Mason appraised him, and he couldn't quite suppress a smile. AJ was as paranoid as ever. The thing was, he was right to be. “Guess it's obvious I didn't ask for this. The client thought
it would be a good idea if their ex-security chief came along for the ride. Don't know why, but it's their money. I suppose if they really valued your opinion, they probably wouldn't have fired you in the first place, right?”

AJ's face tightened.

Mason knew how to get under his skin, and he was glad to know that some things hadn't changed. AJ wasn't a bad guy, but he didn't know his place in the world. When they used to run together, AJ had been a fine soldier. He was a good shot, calm under fire. He could man artillery. He could pilot a tank. But he was a smartass, and Mason had no use for smartasses. It had taken him years to find a team full of players he could trust, and AJ would have never made the cut.

“You know he used to play ball?” Nicholas said.

“Yeah,” Mason said. “Yeah, he did.”

“Who'd you play for?” Nick asked.

“Notre Dame. Third string. I still got a pretty good arm.”

Mason looked at Kate. She was trying to hide it, but she was impressed. Imagine, the things that some women liked. He looked behind him and saw Jin and Peter smashing into one another, wrestling for a fumbled ball like animals. Friendly competition amongst real men... well, it never was.

“Hey Jin!” he called. “Jin Tae!”

His engineer looked over, sweating in the afternoon heat. “Yeah?”

“You want to play a round with another college boy?”

The man waved. “Whatever you say, boss.”

Kate stepped forward. “We don't have much time. We need to get moving.”

“I say when we have to get moving, and I say we have time for a first down play amongst old buddies. What do you say, AJ? You too old to show us what you got?”

AJ looked at Henry, then at Kate. “Like the man said. Whatever you say.”

Mason heard the wind whistle behind him. He may have been lost in his own thoughts in the church, but now, it was game time, and at game time, he could hear a dove taking flight
a half a mile away. He turned and caught the football just as it came within reach. It was a catch Jerry Rice would have been proud of, and he barely had to step to grab it.

“I told you. That's five bucks!” St. Croix said.

Jin waved him off, but he looked glad to lose it. Faith in your commander was something that couldn't be underestimated, and Mason always welcomed their little tests. There was a reason he was Black Shadow's best.

He tossed the ball to AJ, and the man coughed as he caught it. “Sure,” the man said, looking at Kate and his loser friend. “Sure, what the hell?”

“Do you know what you're doing?” the girl asked. “You know, they're all bigger than you.”

AJ was already headed towards the beach. “I never really know what I'm doing. I just go with it.”

The girl scoffed, and he smiled at her. He liked her, as stiff and stodgy as she was. Of course, being out in the mountains with nothing but dirt and machinery for a year, he'd probably like any girl that walked his way, especially one offering money.

Meanwhile, the men on the beach were looking at him skeptically. Not counting Mason, there were eight altogether. That made sense; Black Shadow assignments were usually divided into two four-man fire teams, and they usually took at least one pilot. Nicholas stepped over to his side, and AJ nodded.

Then, something slapped him on the shoulder, and he spun. He found himself facing another merc. This one happened to be the team medic. “What's up, baby? You AJ?”

“Yeah, that's me.”

“I'm Melvin. You used to play ball, huh?”

“Long time ago.”

“Me too, man. Half-back.” He made a point-and-shoot motion with one hand and blew wind through his teeth. Then, he took off his glasses and tossed them over to Mason, who was
now walking up the sidelines. “Heard you were good. I don't trust ya enough to leave those on, though.” The man winked, and AJ sighed. It looked like he was going in with a big target on his back after all.

He tossed Melvin the ball and took his place in position behind him. For now, old Melvin was stuck with center. He didn't know his other teammates, and he didn't know what play they were going to run. But these neanderthals looked like they were just going to run straight through each other, so he didn't guess it mattered.

On the other side of the line, he was facing off against one pilot and three other men. Even four against five, they looked like they outweighed his side two to one.

He could see the sweat dripping down their center's chin. He had a crazy, green look in his eyes. AJ was just about to ask him what his problem was when Melvin hiked the ball. He caught it with an
oomph
, stepping back out of sheer instinct.

The four men on the left locked up, but Nicholas went long. AJ was just about to toss when Melvin dropped to one knee. The other center launched himself over, planting one boot on Melvin's back as he hurtled towards AJ like a missile. AJ turned just in time to see two hundred and fifty pounds of meat hit him square in the chest. He fell against the sand, nearly blacking out with the impact. It was a good minute before he could push himself up. He thought Melvin would be apologizing, but the man was laughing.

“Oh, shit!” he said, coming over to him. “You okay, man? Holy shit, sorry about that.” And then, another gale took him. “I have to say, that was a nice one, Vy. Damn.”

The other center held out a hand and gave Melvin a high-five.

AJ spit out a mouthful of sand. Looking back, he saw a hand extended to him, this one connected to Nick. He took it but saw even the kid was grinning.

“What the hell are you smiling at?”

“I don't know. I guess I've just never seen an old guy get hit that hard before. You have to admit, it was a pretty good hit.”

AJ waved him off. “Yeah, yeah.”

Further up the beach, he could see the girl with her hands on her hips. She had a look in her eyes like his ex-wife used to get, like she would say something if she thought it would do any good.

“All right, gentlemen,” Mason said, clapping his hands. “I think it's about time we get going. The clock is ticking.”

AJ turned. “No.”

“No?” Mason asked. “I don't think you're in charge here, old buddy.”

“One more play.”

“We don't have time for—”

“Thirty more seconds. Unless your lackies are too afraid I'll shove this ball up their ass now that I know who can and can't block.”

Mason paused, then nodded. “All right. It's your funeral, but make it quick.”

“Last time wasn't fair, anyways.” He looked right at Melvin. “It was five on four last time. One of our team should sit out. What do you say there, chief?”

Melvin looked at the others, then huffed. He strode past AJ and off the playing field, kicking up sand as he went.

AJ turned to Nicholas. He kept his voice low. “Can you throw?”

“What do you have in mind?”

AJ told him. A moment later, they stepped back to the line, this time with a plan. Melvin's buddy was looking at AJ with murder in his eyes, and he wasn't the only one. They didn't have a clue as to what was coming, though. Twenty years wasn't long enough to wash the playbook out of AJ's head.

The kid hiked the ball and then circled around behind him. AJ tossed the ball back to him underhanded, and then cut up the middle. A moment later, Nick threw, arcing the ball up and over the guys on the front line. He wasn't great with a football, but the distance wasn't long, and AJ caught it like it was nothing. He sprinted up the beach, heading towards the piece of driftwood marking the goal line. He could feel himself
grinning as he went. There was someone behind him though, and he was gaining.

AJ pushed off of his left leg, intending to jump into goal, but another meat hammer hit him in the back, driving him face down into the dirt. He landed straight on the ball, the pigskin cutting into his chest and knocking the wind out of him a second time. He coughed as he pulled his head out of the earth, tasting grit all of the way in the back of his throat. He looked up and saw the driftwood directly to his right. Behind him, Melvin's buddy was getting off the ground. The guy hadn't been fooled for long; he had good instincts.

Nicholas came running up behind them. “Holy cow, good run. Is it in?”

AJ looked at the driftwood. “Yes.”

“No,” Christian said at the same time.

“It looks good to me,” AJ said.

“No.”

“You want to fight about it?”

Mason came striding over. “All right, it's over, you two. It's time to go.” AJ was about to say something else, but he was cut short. “I said cut the crap. Go find Markus. We move in five minutes.”

With one final glare, Christian started running up the beach.

“Not bad for a man my age,” Mason said. “I don't think he likes you, though.”

“I don't think he's the only one.”

“You never were very good at making friends, Angus.”

AJ nodded. “You never were very good at keeping them.”

He wiped the sand out of his mouth, then headed off without waiting for a response. Nicholas seemed to be the only one pleased with the whole affair, and the kid gave him a thumbs up.

“You done playing games?” Kate asked when he got within earshot.

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Good. Now if you don't mind?” She pointed towards the shore.

“Are we flying?”

“Yeah,” Mason said, coming up behind him. “Greg Marten and I are on the Delta chopper. You and the stragglers will be riding with Alpha. They're both fueled and ready to go, so let's get moving.”

Kate groaned. “I thought we'd be taking the boat.”

“Not so lucky,” Mason said. “But we'll get there fast. It should take just under two hours.”

“Why are you two the only ones flying in the first chopper?” she asked.

“It's over three hundred miles out to the platform. On the outside chance their fueling station is incapacitated, we want to make sure at least one bird has the fuel to get back.” Mason smiled. “And it will be a tight thing at that.”

He walked off, and Kate groaned a second time. AJ could almost see the fluids in her stomach churning.

They marched off as a group, following the flux of mercenaries as they headed to the shack serving as a fueling depot. A few of them whooped as they went, slinging their shirts overhead.

“You look grim.”

AJ turned and realized Kate was talking to him. All he could do was nod towards the men. “Bunch of idiots.”

He'd seen the same thing a dozen times—guys getting worked up right before shipping out. He and Mason never did, but then again, he and Mason had been alive longer than all of these yahoos. When the dying started, that cavalier bullshit went fast.

Probably just an accident and a downed radio tower
, he thought.
Easy clean-up, and easy money
. Even if it wasn't, he had nothing to complain about. He was tired of sitting on his ass in the middle of nowhere. When he had first left, he had needed to get away from everyone and everything in his life. That was over a year ago now, and things had changed. And
here was this girl offering him... what, a second chance? He didn't believe in second chances, but it was something.