Cloud Invasion: R-D 2 (R-D #2)(73)

"It may convince them to attack sooner," Colonel Hunter pointed out.

"Nothing will stop them from attacking. Sooner or later, does it really matter?" Matt asked.

"Not with these," I said. "Their only concern for life is for their own."

"I'll have images in an hour," Matt said, lifting the cell phone Corinne had given him and placing a call.

"Come, cabbage," I breathed against her temple. "Sit with me for a while. I need to have you close to me."

*

Notes-Colonel Hunter

"There are no innocent lives to be concerned about," I said as photograph after photograph was loaded onto a tablet for Corinne. "She'd recognize them anyway, if there were."

"That is an outstanding gift," Matt said. "I think it's extremely unusual, even in her current race."

"Current race?" A chill passed through me at Matt's words.

"She's not human. I hope you realize that," he said. "Nick isn't human, either. Maye is the closest to being human. Rafe's talent for shielding is certainly not human."

"Fuck," I scrubbed my face with a hand. "I never really thought of that, before."

"The evidence has been in front of you all along. That's what the drug does. Why it created a dinosaur from another planet, and creatures you've never seen before. Why so many died. That drug was never meant to be given to humans. It's why we have an enemy to fight, now."

"Because somebody decided it might be fun to try," I sighed.

"For whatever reason," Matt confirmed. "Richard may be the one to ask about that."

"Maybe, when this is all past us," I said. "This is the hand we have to play now, before more innocent lives are taken."

"Very true," Matt confirmed. "Almost done, here. Will it be a problem that we have more than four hundred in this initial round?"

"No. I've seen her do this before," I shrugged. "No innocent lives, remember?"

"I remember."

*

Corinne

In for a penny, in for a pound. That old saying went through my mind regularly as Rafe held me. We stared out a window of the ugly building in Arlington, while I contemplated the task before me.

Just making people dead wouldn't be enough. There had to be something else-something that would make those who remained fear for their own lives. I had to dig into the past to determine what might work.

"Ready?" Auggie's voice was soft as he interrupted us.

"Yeah," I sighed. Ilya loosened his arms-I accepted the tablet Auggie handed me. "Dead," I sighed at the first photograph. "Dead," I spoke to the second.

*

"Corinne? Cori?" Auggie snapped his fingers in front of my face. I had no idea how long I'd been catatonic, but it must have been a while. Leo sat with Ilya on the other side of the room; Ilya looked ready to either fall apart or kill somebody.

"They can't fire the rockets," I said, blinking to bring Auggie's face into focus.

"Why?" He knelt beside me, concern in his expression as he asked the question.

"One of the people I made dead knew where they were," I shrugged weakly. "I deactivated all of them, including the propulsion system. They won't work, now."

"Where were you?" Auggie asked. "You've been out of it for more than two hours."

"Killing is a terrible thing, Auggie," I said. "Nobody should do it."

"It was necessary, cabbage," Ilya sat beside me.

"I know. I still hate doing it."

"We have word," Matt strode into the room, waving the cell phone I'd given him. "The insurgents are so angry that the rockets won't work, they've declared jihad against Russia."

"Who are they blaming for the deaths?" Auggie rose and asked.

"They don't know who to blame, and they're afraid to place blame, most likely," Matt said. "Here's an image of the note pinned to every dead man."

"I can't read that," Auggie said. "It looks like Arabic."

"It is. It says, and I'm paraphrasing, this death was deserved. Carry on in this one's footsteps and you will receive the same."

"Corinne?" Auggie turned to me. I shrugged again.

"I didn't kill three," I said. "But I gave them a warning."

"What was the warning?" Matt asked.

"I told them in mindspeech that they were marked," I replied. "I figure they're trying to get the hell away from the others now. After all, I saw plenty of others after reading each one before he died. I have just about the entire insurgent army inside my memory, now."

"Holy f*cking hell," Auggie swore.

"I'd prefer not to kill them," I said. "But I could."

"Matt?" Opal walked into the room.

"What is it?" We both knew, just from the tone of Opal's voice, that something had happened.

"The Kremlin was hit by two rockets," Opal said. "Seven are dead and the Russian President is having a meltdown."

"Good," Ilya muttered.

*

Notes-Colonel Hunter

"Am I to understand that the Kremlin has been harboring insurgent leaders?" Madam President demanded.