Only Human (Themis Files #3)(49)

They ventured deep into the forest. The wind was blowing, and there were no animal tracks to be found. The elder and Skaei were both ready to give up when a magnificent deer appeared out of nowhere. Skaei, well, she couldn’t see a thing. The elder walked in front of her to guide her. A little to the left. A little more. Skaei drew her bow as far as she could. She knew the elder’s verbal cues were not enough, and she would surely miss. She remembered what the villagers said about her and quietly summoned her namesake to help her, to let her hear the heartbeat of her prey. And for the briefest of moments, she did. She aimed at the sound and let go of the arrow. It is possible that Skaei did hear a heartbeat at such a distance, unlikely, but possible. Only if she did, it was the elder’s heartbeat and not the deer’s because her arrow went right through his heart, and he slid to the ground without a sound. Skaei called for him for hours, never found his body. She died the next day when she fell off a cliff trying to get back home.

The moral of the—

—I know what the moral of the story is. You can’t do anything if you don’t know what’s going on.

—I thought it was about not putting too much faith in one person’s ability to change things.

—Come closer.

[Ma’am! DO NOT approach the prisoner! Do not whisper to him!]

I’ll get you out.

[Ma’am! I’m going to have to ask you to leave!]

—Thank you for your visit, Dr. Franklin. You should go now. My friend Keith and I are about to have a little chat.





Part Three




* * *





ROAD TO DAMASCUS





FILE NO. 2155


MISSION LOG—CAPT. BODIE HOUGH AND LT. BARBARA BALL, U.S. MARINE CORPS, MECHA DIVISION


Location: Aboard Lapetus, Musk? Naval Base. Near Stockholm, Sweden


—Hey! Why are we beaming there? We could walk to the Merry Ham.

—It’s Mariehamn, with an “n” at the end, you moron. And it’s about a hundred miles. We don’t have that kind of time, and they’d see us coming, well, a hundred miles away.

—Are you sure? It looked real close! On the map. You saw it!

—There’s a thing at the bottom of the map. Tells you the scale.

[Lapetus, we don’t have all day. You have the coordinates. You are go for launch.]

—Roger that, Central. Punching it in … now. We’re … here.

—To the left, Bodie.

—OK, I see it. Central, we’re about a mile from the pier. We can see the ferry.

[Roger that. You are looking for a girl, nineteen years of age.]

I don’t see her. I can’t tell if—

—Central, this is Lieutenant Ball. We’re getting closer, but there are quite a few people here. Can you tell us what she’s wearing? They’re all very tiny from where we’re standing.

[Stand by. We’re asking our source.]

You’re talking to him now? Is your source here?

[Lapetus, she is wearing a black tee shirt. She should be exiting the ferry building now.]

…

[Lapetus, do you have contact?]

There!

—Central, we have eyes on. She saw us too. She’s running towards us.

[Roger that. Just keep her company. We’re sending a helo to pick her up. ETA three minutes.]

—Bodie, look. The ferry building.

—Got it. Central, there are five, no, six people in olive uniforms exiting the building. I repeat, six people, possibly hostiles, coming our way.

[Where’s the girl?]

Still running. Maybe eight hundred feet from us. Wait. Central, I see flashes of light. Are they shooting at us?

—They’re not shooting at us, they’re shooting at her!

[Lapetus, protect the girl at all cost. I repeat, you must protect the girl.]

—Arming weapon now.

—No, Bodie. They’re too close. We’ll kill the girl too. Just kneel. I’ll pick her up.

—What?

—You heard me. Just kneel!

—All right!

—Come on, girl. Just like King Kong. Climb …

I’ve got her! Get up! Get up! Get up!

—And up we go. I hope she’s not afraid of heights. Central, we have her in our hand, but I see trucks on the main road. There’s a helo coming from the east. I’m guessing that’s not ours.

[Negative, Lapetus. ETA, two minutes.]

Central, I don’t think they’ll feel very welcome. I have a feeling this whole place is about to get very unfriendly. Lieutenant, what do you say we walk her out of here?

—Go! Head south towards the small islands.

—South? But Sweden’s that way!

—We can’t cross here, Bodie. We need to head south.

—All right. If you say so. Heading south. Central, that helicopter is coming at us real fast. It’s … firing at us. Incoming! Brace for impact!

—Turn around! Turn around!

—Damn! We’re hit! We’re hit. They hit us in the back.

[Lapetus, this is Central. Is the girl alive?]

—Affirmative, Central. I’ve got her against our chest. She’s holding on to my thumb for dear life. Keep heading south, Bodie.

—I am!