The Seraphim Sequence

Chapter 5-1

Chapter Five

Nasira followed DC into the helo hangar, the others behind her. The curved roof had retractable blast doors that allowed the helos to depart the base. The hangar was empty of personnel but cluttered with crates, boxes and pallets of equipment.

‘You have Pariahs?’ Jay said.

She turned to see him pointing to the row of three dynamically stable quadruped robots. The Akhana had snatched a bunch from the Fifth Column in 2005. Originally designed as a packhorse for soldiers, they’d quickly evolved into reconnaissance and combat support roles. They were remotely controlled by operators, and each possessed a mount for a carbine or assault rifle.

‘Yeah, these are the early prototypes,’ Nasira said. ‘You should see what they’re deploying now.’

‘I’d rather not,’ Damien said.

‘I second that,’ Benito said.

DC moved past the first helicopter and checked the stack of crates nearby.

‘Where are the Council?’ Nasira asked.

‘I’m not taking you to the Council,’ he said.

He opened a box. Inside, Nasira could see a stack of M4 carbines and attached grenade launchers. It took a second for her to realize the implications of what he was doing.

‘Why are you doing this?’ she said.

‘It’s my job, remember?’

Jay cracked his knuckles. ‘I don’t know what the plan is but I like it.’ He inspected the M4s, picked out one to his liking.

‘You’re disobeying an Akhana elder,’ Nasira said to DC. ‘You shouldn’t.’

DC swallowed, the vein in his neck suddenly taut. ‘And why not?’

‘Because that’s my job.’

‘Listen,’ he said. ‘Whether you like it or not, I’m helping you.’

‘I have zero reason to trust you and I’m not about to start now.’

DC glared at her. ‘If you don’t get Sophia off this base by sunrise, you will never see her again.’

If there was one thing she knew about DC, it was that he never talked s**t. He meant what he said. And that meant Sophia was in a fuckload of trouble.

Nasira shook her head. ‘You want us to shoot our way through fifty guards—a lot of ’em ex-Special Forces—and just walk her the f**k out?’

‘You have a better idea?’ DC said. He picked up an M4 with an attached grenade launcher. ‘Vortex ring gun. Portable.’

‘I don’t trust experimental weapons,’ Nasira said.

‘You are an experimental weapon.’ He handed her the carbine. ‘And this isn’t experimental, at least not any more.’

She took it and inspected the grenade chamber. ‘It works?’

‘Fires a modified blank round through a diverging nozzle. The cartridge itself is completely normal. The modified round shoots out the nozzle, creates a subsonic vortex ring. That’s where the party’s at.’

‘What sort of party?’ Nasira said.

‘Throws a ninety-kilo man over a hundred meters.’ He eyed Benito. ‘In civilian talk, that’s three hundred feet.’

Nasira nodded. ‘My sort of party.’

Jay took Nasira’s M4 by the rail.

‘What are you doing?’ Nasira said.

‘I’m helping you.’

‘You’re not getting paid for this. This isn’t the op.’

‘You saved my ass on First Avenue,’ he said.

‘And you brought me back from the dead on Desecheo Island.’

Jay shrugged. ‘Yeah, but I kinda killed you to begin with, so that cancels itself out.’

It didn’t happen often, but sometimes Jay wasn’t an asshole. She didn’t want his or Damien’s help but unfortunately she needed it. Same for DC.

Jay smiled. The same annoying smile he’d given her yesterday at the restaurant. The same annoying smile he’d given her last year. It was annoying because it made her dislike him less.

‘I could use your help,’ she said.

Jay gestured to the grenade launcher. ‘I’d like to give this a spin.’

DC pointed to the far end of the hangar. ‘There’s a shooting range over there.’

‘No, I mean on real people,’ Jay said.

‘They have at least twenty guards between us and Sophia,’ DC said, his gaze covering all of them. ‘You’ll be outnumbered seven to one.’

Damien blinked. ‘We’ve had worse odds.’

DC turned his attention to Nasira. ‘Get Sophia out of here. If you can do that, I can get you somewhere safer.’

All she cared about was rescuing Sophia. She didn’t like DC’s promises and preferred to rely on her own arrangements, but she hadn’t given much thought to where to go from here.

She spoke to Benito. ‘I know you have some training now, but you should sit this one out.’

‘I can fire a grenade,’ Benito said. ‘You might need the backup.’

Nasira chewed her lip. ‘Fine, but stay the f**k out of the way and don’t point that thing at anyone unless you have to. If I get you shot, Sophia will kill me.’

DC handed them each an empty bandolier.

Nasira started filling the twelve pouches with blank 40mm rounds from the box. When she was done, she shed her jacket and slung the bandolier over her head. She put her jacket back on and zipped it up. Aside from the bulkiness, the bandolier was concealed.

‘Vortex ring grenades are non-lethal,’ DC said. ‘Sights are on the side. If you need to kill—and I sincerely hope you don’t—then you can use the primary trigger. You can have an extra mag, but if you need that then you’re probably screwed anyway.’

Jay took an extra mag. ‘That’s our default position.’

Nasira loaded her grenade launcher. ‘Everyone put a round up the spout.’

‘That’s what she said,’ Jay said.

Nasira elbowed him in the ribs with the butt of her rifle. ‘If you say that line one more time I’ll put a round up your spout.’

Jay grunted. ‘I charge extra for that.’

This is going to be a long day, Nasira thought.

‘Check this out, this is where they’re holding her,’ DC said. He’d closed the weapons box and spread a map on top.

Nasira stepped in closer to see. DC’s finger was pressed over a square that read Reserve Command Post.

‘The Akhana use it as a holding cell,’ he said. ‘The closest thing we have to a prison.’

‘I don’t care what it takes, I’m getting her out,’ Nasira said.

‘We’re getting her out,’ DC said.

‘Dolph will have that place zipped up tight with guards, won’t he?’ Benito asked.

‘That’s the bad news,’ Nasira said.

‘And the good news?’ Jay asked.

‘The good news is there are two ways in,’ Nasira said.

‘He’ll see this coming,’ DC said.

‘And I won’t disappoint him,’ Nasira said. She turned to Damien and Jay. ‘But you will.’