Only Human (Themis Files #3)(65)

—I know why Captain Hough isn’t here. He has a broken arm.

—How do you know?

—I broke it.

—What?

—He touched me.

—Bodie grabbed you?

—He put his arm around my shoulder. I asked him to remove it. He didn’t.

—Haha! I’m sorry, that’s not funny at all. I can’t believe you broke Bodie’s arm! He must be so pissed. He’s been dying for a combat mission.

—He’s a dick.

—Eva, I think you and I are gonna get along fine. Do you know why they removed Benson?

—I think they want me to prove myself?

—Why? How? We’re just here to scare the Chinese away. They won’t cross into Korea with us standing there.

—They might. Themis is with them.

—Shit.

—Shit is right. My father’s inside.

— …

—You can say it. The traitor, right?

—No. I’m sure he has his reasons … Do they expect us to fight?

—Either that, or they think my dad’ll back away.

—That’s fucked up.

—You can say that again.

—Are you … OK with this?

—It doesn’t seem like I have much of a choice.

—I’m sorry. I mean that. I’m truly sorry. This is just sick.

[Lapetus, this is Central, change of plan.]

Roger, Central. Are you gonna tell us what the new plan is?

[Themis is at the Yalu River, alone.]

Where are the Chinese?

[About eight hours away. Your job is to get Themis to leave before they get there.]

And just how do you suggest we do that? Ask nicely?

[We’re giving you some operational discretion on this one.]

How much discretion? Are we clear to engage?

[Affirmative.]

… Roger that … Central, do we have the right crew for this?

[Lapetus, you have your orders. Turn to 320 degrees, 7 minutes.]

Are you up for this, Eva?

—Do you think they’ll let me leave if I’m not?

—Probably not.

—Then let’s just get this over with.

—Central, heading three, two, zero point seven. And change. Awaiting distance. Are we doing this in one jump?

[Any part of North Korea you’d like to visit along the way?]

Negative, Central. One jump it is. It just seems a little long if we’re to land in a river.

[Your concerns are duly noted, Lapetus. Unit size sixty-four. Distance three-five-three. In base-8, that’s a round one hundred for units, five-four-one for distance.]

Roger, Central. One-zero-zero. Five-four-one. Ready for jump.

[Lapetus, you are go for jump.]

Punching it in now.

…

—Uh, Barbara? I don’t think we’re in the right spot.

—I see that, Eva. Central, this is Lapetus. We’re about a quarter mile short of the river on the Korean side. We’re standing on some tanks. I repeat. We’re standing on tanks. More tanks all around. Looks like a whole regiment. I see foot soldiers to the east. It’s dark outside but it looks like a lot, five, ten thousand maybe.

[Can you see Themis?]

Affirmative. She’s in the river right in front of us. We’re walking towards them.

—Hi, Dad!

—Did you just wave at them?

—Yep.

[Lapetus. You should beam into the river, get away from those tanks.]

Copy that, Central. Punchin—Hot damn! They’re firing at us!

[Beam out of there, Lapetus. Get to the river.]

Can’t do that with our shield working. They’re lighting us up like a Christmas tree!

—Barbara, give me a weapon!

—You got it, Eva.

—How does that thing work? Last time I was inside one of these things, we had a sword, not a … ball of light.

—Point and I’ll shoot.

—They’re everywhere! Just shoot!

—Incoming missile, port side! Brace for impact!

—I’d be happier with a shield in my hand. Yokits! That hurt!

—Shit. Two more SAM launchers to starboard. Are those tanks ever gonna stop?

—Forget the tanks, let’s get rid of those missiles first. Fire!

[Lapetus, we’re showing half a dozen MiGs heading your way. Repeat, six MiGs. ETA 1 minute.]

—Copy, Central. You can stop with the good news. We’re as happ—AAARGH! FUCK! Where did that one come from?

—Behind us, two more trucks with big rockets on top!

—Screw this! Switching to a wide beam. We’ll just swing around and wipe them all out.

—There are ten thousand men over there, Barbara. Do we have to kill them all?

—Sorry, Eva, but that’s what you get for standing next to the asshole firing missiles at us. What the—? Central, Themis just appeared in front of us. She’s attacking!

—No! She’s not! She’s firing at the tanks!

—Why is your dad helping us?

—He’s not helping us. Vincent’s trying to stop us from overloading and wiping out everyone. He’s trying to save the Koreans.

— …

—Trust me, Barbara! He’s not gonna hurt us.