Divided (#1 Divided Destiny) (7 page)

Fires raged across the city from all the explosions. Burned-out cars, blown-out storefronts, shattered windows, and crumbled walls were commonplace. So far the fighting had mostly been contained within Manhattan; the aliens had used Central Park as a staging point to deposit fighters. The Air Force had scrambled a couple of bombers, aiming to take out a wave the second they materialized. Despite their fighter escort, the bombers were shot down before they could get close.

Leo doubted they would stay confined to Manhattan for long. They would find new areas to drop their troops, and the fighting would spread out on multiple fronts until the entire city was engulfed. Captain Decker had told them that the other six ‘chosen’ cities were fighting similar battles. The war was global, but not as global as it could have been.

When it came to the alien attack, there had been two surprises. The first was that the fighting wasn’t constant. Yesterday, as darkness had started to fall, the alien troops had retreated back to the mothership. Whether they didn’t have enough troops to staff shifts to maintain an around-the-clock attack or they just couldn’t hack fighting in the dark, no one knew. Whatever the reason, it was a very welcome respite. They were granted time to get reinforcements, and fresh troops into position. Leo and his unit had also managed to get some quality rest, an unexpected bonus.

The other surprise had more to do with the alien strategy. The military were limited by what they could put into the field. They had to load planes, get trucks into position; they were ill-equipped to fight a war on their own soil. However, the aliens weren’t limited in the same way. Within minutes, the mothership could be above anywhere on Earth, and they could beam down alien troops anywhere where they would face no resistance. They didn’t have to meet the Earth military in battle; they could catch them out with lightning-fast attacks all over the globe.

That would be near impossible to defend against. Perhaps that was why the aliens weren’t taking that strategy. They wanted Earth subjugated, not destroyed. Therefore, they had to take out the military; they had to break the back of the resistance in order to win.

Before Leo and his squad could leave, Captain Decker stopped them.

“Hold up, we have new orders,” Decker barked.

The unit gathered on the side of the hangar again, in the same spot they’d had to receive their briefing the previous day.

“Area 51 sent a team last night down to Mexico, to some shrine. Long story short, they think it’s a transport device to another world. Apparently there is some legend about a superweapon. We should be so lucky, right? Anyway, this robot probe vanished in a flash of light. They aren’t sure what happened to it, but it disappeared. Colonel Clark is assigning our unit to check it out,” Decker explained bluntly.

Leo frowned. “We’re two men short, sir,” he pointed out quietly. They were also a long way from Mexico. A fresh unit from Camp Pendleton would surely be a better choice. Not that he was questioning the decision of a colonel; that was way above his paygrade.

“That doesn’t matter; we’re together as a unit. It’s a mad scramble out there. Colonel says we’re the closest special forces unit that’s mission ready. Grab your gear. Wheels up in ten,” Decker ordered.

“Hey Frasier, if we’re heading into the unknown, let’s cover our bases, yeah? Grab a little extra gear,” Staff Sergeant Ortiz suggested.

“Good idea,” Leo said distractedly. “I’ll be there in a minute.”

Leo leaned against the side of the hangar and pulled out his cellphone. He had tried his parents again last night but hadn’t been able to get a connection. Earlier this morning, the phone had rung but no one had picked up. He was getting worried, which was a distraction he didn’t need right now. They all had family. They all had people they cared about.

If they were going to be deployed to an alien world, he wasn’t going to have phone reception. He had promised himself he wouldn’t keep trying; the phone networks were overwhelmed as it was, and he knew better than to add to it. However, he had to try once more. It might be the last chance he would ever have to speak to them.

From the sounds of things, they hadn’t been able to forge a link between here and wherever the probe had gone. It could have just been vaporized and not transported. If it had sent the probe somewhere, there was no guarantee that wherever it had gone had an atmosphere capable of supporting human life.

Spacesuits were pretty rare things. Even if they had been offered, Leo wouldn’t have accepted; they were too unwieldy. If they jumped into trouble, it would be a massive hindrance. Maneuverability and being able to carry more gear trumped assurance that they could breathe on the other side. This trip was a massive gamble. It was most likely a suicide mission, but they were out of options.

Conventional means just weren’t going to cut it; they were seriously outgunned. True, they had taken out some of the suited aliens on the ground, but it was early days, and the aliens had many advantages. He had no doubt that the aliens would adapt to their strategy, and then they would be back to square one again.

Leo hit his father’s cellphone number on his contacts list. Mercifully, it began to ring. And ring. And ring. His heart sank; they weren’t going to pick up this time, either. Then he heard the click that said the call had been answered.

“Dad, oh thank god,” Leo said quickly. “Are you alright? What’s happening? How’s Mom? Why haven’t you been picking up?” Leo let loose his barrage of questions, all his fear and concern bubbling over.

He felt a faint stirring of anger. He knew it was likely not their fault; in fact, if he knew his mom and dad, they had been trying to call him. It was probably down to the phone network, but he had been so worried. Now that they had finally answered, he was mad that they hadn’t picked up sooner. It was irrational and uncalled for, but he couldn’t help it.

“Who is this?” asked a young, tentative voice on the other end of the line.

“Staff Sergeant Leon Frasier. What are you doing with my dad’s phone?” Leo demanded, a sick feeling coiling in his gut. The beginnings of anger evaporated as he broke out in a cold sweat.

“Sir…sir, I’m sorry…I…we’re not supposed to do this. Given everything, normal procedure for informing next of kin has been…look, I’m really sorry. I’m just an assistant, but the phone kept ringing, and…I’m sorry,” the boy babbled.

Leo banged the back of his head against the hangar wall and closed his eyes. He had known it; he just hadn’t wanted to accept it. He hadn’t wanted to believe that it could be true.

“You work at the morgue?” Leo asked brokenly. He swallowed hard when the boy confirmed it. “What happened?”

“I don’t have all the details,” the coroner’s assistant started hesitantly. “A fight broke out at the grocery store over the canned supplies. It turned into a shootout. There were several casualties. I’m sorry, I don’t know any more.”

“That’s okay,” Leo managed.

He could hear his own voice in his ears; it sounded calm, eerily calm, like all his emotions were dead, suspended by the shock. It was a shock. He had known his parents wouldn’t live forever, that he would bury them one day, but he hadn’t expected it to be today. They had been so strong; they had always had an air of invulnerability. They had been his heroes, and now they were gone.

“I’m deploying, so I’ll be unreachable. Do whatever you need to; I’ll take care of things when I get back,” Leo told him. He didn’t wait for a response, ending the call.

Leo stared at his cellphone for a long moment. He didn’t care who had pulled the trigger, not really; they were just a symptom. The cause were those damn Roswell Grey aliens. They had started this mess; they had caused the chaos and the panic. It was their fault. Their fault, and they had to pay.

“Goddamnit!” Leo screamed. He turned, swore, and punched the wall. Then for good measure, he threw his cellphone against the wall and kicked it once it smashed against the concrete floor. He grimaced and looked at his hand; his knuckles were scraped, but there was no serious damage. He’d gotten away with that blinding moment of fury.

“Leo, what the hell, man?” Don jogged over, his face a mask of concern.

“My mom and dad are dead,” Leo told him. “Someone started a firefight in the grocery store.”

Don swore. “I am so sorry.” He put a comforting hand on Leo’s shoulder. “You going to be okay?”

“Yeah, of course.” Leo laughed harshly. “Is it wrong that I wish we were heading back to New York? I really feel like kicking some alien ass right now.”

“We’ll get our shot,” Don promised.

Leo nodded. He couldn’t think about this right now; he had to focus on the mission. There was nothing he could do for his parents. With a start, he realized that he was now alone in the world. His mom and dad had been his only family, aside from the family he had in the marine core, his brothers in the unit and beyond.

It was wrong, and it was reckless, but somehow he didn’t mind the fact that this could be a suicide mission anymore. There was no one left who would miss him; he was a perfect candidate to send. Don wasn’t. He had a mother and a younger brother, and Leo wished he could keep him safe. He was his best friend, but nowhere was safe now, not even areas that weren’t under active attack by the aliens.

They were all in danger no matter what. This mission gave them a slim hope of ending the threat. That was worth pursuing, no matter the cost.

Chapter Six

Night had just started to fall the day before when the robot probe had disappeared in a flash of light. It was less than twenty hours later that Leo’s squad arrived at the makeshift camp by the shrine. Leo stood with Don at his side, along with Jakeman and O’Flynn, the other two remaining members of his tactical squad. They had been shown footage of the robot probe’s disappearance, so they knew what to expect.

Now they were just waiting for the all clear to depart. It was somewhat bizarrely comforting that even in the chaos of an alien invasion, the military was still very much hurry up and wait. Leo raised an eyebrow as the resident scientist berated three of the military members of his escort.

“That’s Doctor Julian Braden,” one of the gunnery sergeants whispered. “Apparently he’s legendary around Area 51 for being difficult. Ran off all his research partners until no one would work with him.”

“I really can’t imagine why,” Don muttered to Leo.

A few more minutes passed, and Leo came to the conclusion that Julian Braden must either be brilliant or he had some powerful friends, given his rather abrasive personality. The man in question was currently scowling and tapping away on a tablet furiously.

He had no idea what Doctor Braden was doing; from what he could gather, it wasn’t as if there were any adjustments that could be made. He might just be a dumb marine staff sergeant, but it seemed fairly simple to him. They stood on the platform, someone touched the pedestal, the beams of light shot up, and they either died or hopefully were transported somewhere else. There was nothing anyone could do to control it. How could they, given they didn’t understand it? Although he was sure it wasn’t magical, as had been suggested in the book they’d been told about.

Leo certainly didn’t believe in magic; he followed the principle that any suitably advanced technology was indistinguishable from magic. The aliens had advanced technology, and he wasn’t so naive as to believe they were the only other intelligent life out there. Perhaps this ‘Shrine of Iqmir’ was something left by another advanced race, or maybe even the Roswell Grey aliens themselves.

Either way, the Roswell aliens vastly outmatched them technologically. They were desperate, they needed an edge; that was why they were here and not battling the suited ground troops. The marine special forces were among the mostly highly trained soldiers in the world. Leo didn’t think it was that egotistical to realize that you used your best card for the strike that would make the difference.

There were fourteen men in the unit. Twelve now, thanks to the deaths of Corporals Hellen and Demming. Four men per tactical squad now, down from the original five, and four as the headquarters element. Usually Captain Decker and the senior sergeants would stay at the frontline base while the tactical squads deployed. Given that they were going to a different world, though, the whole unit was going. The plan was they would set up a base camp on the other side. The tactical squads would then deploy from there, exploring whatever world they arrived on.

The platform was roughly the size of a large pallet, eight feet by ten feet; with their packs and all their gear, it would be a tight squeeze. They certainly wouldn’t all be able to make contact with the pedestal, although with how the beam of light had shot up through the whole platform, Leo rather thought that contact was unnecessary; that was merely the activation, and whatever was on the platform was beamed away.

No, if they were taken somewhere else, hopefully it would be directly to another platform. They could then repeat the feat, return, and make a report. He had a sense it was not going to be that easy. It never was.

“Fall in,” Captain Decker ordered.

The unit stepped up onto the platform. Leo shifted around, adjusting his bulky pack as they tried to all squeeze on. No one wanted to see what would happen if anything overhung the edge of the platform; he had a sick feeling that it wouldn’t be good. If it was a pack, they would just lose the gear, which was easily recoverable. If it was a limb, then that was something not so easily fixed.

“Everyone ready?” Captain Decker checked. “Doctor Braden?”

Decker was the one who would touch the pedestal and activate whatever the robot probe had done earlier. The other men who were next to the pedestal had left as much room as they could between them and it, though not so much that it deprived those close to the edge of the platform of space. They were all nervous. Leo tightened his grip on his assault rifle, aware that they could land in a hot zone. They weren’t trained for this; no one was trained for this.