The Last Mission of the Living (The Last Bastion #2)(22)

Torran finished his conversation, killed the comm line, and rushed down the stairs to where she stood trying to look like she wasn’t in excruciating pain.

“They were surprised to hear from me, but they’ve got a tiltrotor on its way.”

“Fantastic.” Lindsey gave him a wry smile. “We’re all going home.”

Glancing significantly at the smoke rising from the nearby pyre, Torran said, “Well, some of us.”

“I’m sorry about your squad,” Lindsey said truthfully. “I’ve lost people, too. It’s never easy.”

“No, it’s not. I thought I’d never go through this again, but...” Torran ran a hand over his sweaty, dirty brown hair.

“Again?”

“The final push. The failed one. A year and a half ago.”

“You were there?”

“My squad was wiped out. I was the sole survivor.”

“Same with me. Well, not sole survivor. Only me and my best friend Maria made it out. The rest of our squad died. We lost a lot of good people that day.”

Torran nodded somberly. “Yeah, we did.”

“Time for us to go. Got your story straight?” Lindsey observed the man’s internal struggle. He didn’t like lying, but she could see him coming to terms with the fact that he had to do just that.

“Yeah. I do. I still don’t understand why the Constabulary wasn’t part of this whole operation to begin with.”

“You will,” Lindsey promised him. The worm would be going out in a matter of minutes. Soon the entire city would know all about Admiral Kirkpatrick and the SWD’s attempt to take over the government.

“The body in the subway...I wasn’t going to ask about it, but...” Torran stared at her pensively. “He was one of them, wasn’t he? An Abscrag?”

“Something like that.”

“And he got into the city and someone shot him?”

Lindsey pressed her lips together, her mind racing. He would know soon about the Inferi Boon, but she didn’t want to incriminate herself any more than she had already. “There was a breach. It was dealt with. We’re the cleanup crew.”

“And you ended up saving me,” Torran said.

“We don’t leave people behind.” Lindsey signaled to Giacomi and Hobbes and switched the comm in her helmet. “Petra, open the doors.”

“There is so much more going on than I know about, isn’t there?”

Lindsey laughed. “Well, yeah. Isn’t there always? It wouldn’t be The Bastion if not for the intrigue.”

As the doors slid open, much easier now that they’d had a bit of use, Lindsey finally pushed off from the wall. It was difficult standing on her leg and she wobbled. Torran started to reach out to steady her, but Hobbes caught her about the waist and lifted her off the ground.

“Got you, Vanguard,” he said. “I’ll get you to your cane.”

“Cane?” Torran looked at Lindsey sharply.

“The final push,” she answered, shrugging.

“I suggest you get on the roof,” Franklin said to Torran as she walked past him. “Just in case.”

“Thank you. All of you.” Torran’s lean face was sorrowful, but also sincere.

“See you around, Master Seeker MacDonald.”

“I look forward to it, Vanguard Rooney.”

Hobbes carried her over the threshold and Lindsey glanced back as the door started to close. Torran was already scaling the wall, heading for the roof. She hated that she couldn’t bring him back into The Bastion, but she was also certain he’d be safe until the tiltrotor arrived.

“He was kinda cute,” Giacomi decided as they trudged toward the maintenance cart.

“For a skinny guy,” Franklin agreed.

“He wasn’t that skinny,” Giacomi protested.

“I could bench press him.” Franklin shook her head. “Besides, aren’t you still seeing that one girl?”

“We’re not exclusive. She’s got a guy on the side.”

“I volunteer for being a guy on the side,” Hobbes said with a grin, helping Lindsey down the steps.

“Uh huh,” Franklin gave him a dark look. “Don’t you have enough women?”

Lindsey listened to the friendly banter, remembering all the times she and Maria gave Ryan hell. She missed both of them so much it was a physical ache in her chest. Knowing Maria and Dwayne were out there somewhere together was a small consolation. At least they had a chance at a life beyond the walls of The Bastion.

Settled into the cart and clutching the cane Hobbes had retrieved, Lindsey turned her attention to her wristlet. It was only a matter of minutes now. Maybe seconds.

After the four Constabulary soldiers settled into the cart, it zoomed down the track toward the bowels of the city.

A minute later all four wristlets chimed.

It was time to change the world.



*



Torran crouched on the roof of the entrance of the subway station. Weapon at the ready, he surveyed the vast land around him spotted with the bodies of the dead and bins of salvage. The Bastion was behind him, majestic and dour in the early morning light.

In his hand, he held the dog tags of Special Sergeant Amber Alkan and Special Constable Gareth Reese, along with those of Goodwin and Jonas. He had plucked the tags from the smoldering remains and intended to turn them over to his superiors during his debriefing. The mysterious and highly intelligent Abscrags had destroyed his squad and nearly killed him. If not for Vanguard Rooney and her squad, he’d be an Abscrag.