The Fight for Peace (23 page)

“We’re going in hot. Remember if this comes down to a hunt and seek, you aren’t as familiar with the terrain. Don’t get lost or separated,” Chris ordered, taking full control of the plane as he rushed the landing.

Training took over as her platoon spilled out, lending defense to the nearly obliterated base. Chris and Simmons manned the weapons on the transport, providing cover fire as the rest of the platoon hopscotched between cover, pressing the FLF force deeper into the Wasteland.

Cori didn’t know if an hour or four had passed as she tracked out from base, conserving shots. Her sense was that it wasn’t a big force they fought, but one sent to test for weaknesses. Somewhere out in the snows of the Wasteland, a larger force waited. She knew it. Pyotr’s guess had been right.

A figure stood silhouetted against the hilltop in front of her, but Cori missed the shot as the enemy soldier dropped down the far side. She swore to herself, scurrying to the top of the hill. Peeking over the brim, a gully cut toward the valley below, quickly widening and deepening. The soldier she was tracking was nowhere to be seen.

Cori dropped into the gully, sliding on loose pebbles so that she couldn’t stop herself until she’d gone twenty feet. As she stumbled upright and faced a tumbled pile of boulders, she realized what her sleep addled brain hadn’t picked up. She would have seen the soldier if he’d come this way.

At the click of a rifle behind her, Cori whirled, aiming hers as she waited for a jolt that would hurt far worse than the training shocks. A rifle shot echoed, but it was the soldier wearing black in front of her who fell. Cori stared at him in disbelief.

“What the fuck are you thinking?” Pyotr swore at her as he jumped into the gully. He gave Cori a push so that she dropped from her frozen position. “You are behind their line,” he hissed, scanning the top edge of the ravine that was already over their heads as he backed farther down slope.

“Then what the hell are you doing here?” Cori snapped back, keeping her rifle at ready.

Pyotr didn’t get a chance to answer as a bush shuddered to his right. He fired as soon as he had a clear view. “Get over the boulders. We need better cover.”

Cori did as told even though she wanted to argue. Her stupidity wasn’t worth both of their lives. Tatiana would be livid. She had to fire twice to give Pyotr cover out of the ravine, both of them making a hectic dash to a clump of trees. They made it another five minutes, dodging fire that came from three sides until finding a decent hole with boulders and views. Cori was sweating, waiting for a moment that wasn’t lucky, as she reevaluated her earlier thought. Maybe the main force wasn’t so far away.

A whine whistled in her ears, coming loud and fast. “Shit,” Pyotr said, dropping his gun and diving over her. The world around them flashed and hissed.

“What the hell?” Cori yelled, pushing Pyotr off of her and feeling relieved when he moved. He wasn’t bleeding. Over their heads a strange triangular plane sped by, turning as if it could defy gravity to flip around for a second pass. This time the lasers it shot didn’t come quite so close.

“Dactyl,” Pyotr said, sinking to the ground. He leaned against the boulder. “Give them a moment to clear the FLF out. Then we’ll head back.”

Cori stared at him, tears wavering in her vision. “Why the fuck did you come after me? You could have been killed!” She launched herself at him, hitting his chest twice before he managed to stop her. “Just because I’m your cousin is no reason to get shot.”

Pyotr held her balled hands away, swallowing hard as he held her gaze “That isn’t why I’m watching out for you,” he rasped.

Her arms shook so that Pyotr released her. She fell against him as much as he pulled her. For a lifetime of having known him, she couldn’t think of having been so close to him before or having seen how bright the green flecks were in his eyes.

“It isn’t because you are in my platoon either,” he said, voice warmer as he cradled her against his chest. “Or just because of that.”

“I thought you hated me, all those years on the farm,” she whispered.

“Well you were such a princess and chasing after Earls and such. I thought you were out of my league.”

“Hah. Now you know I’m not.”

Pyotr sat up, catching her before she overbalanced and fell backward. He leaned forward until they were eye to eye. “For someone so strong, you treat yourself so badly. Cori, you are still out of my league, only I’ve got enough guts to try anyway. Dammit, why can’t you see how special you are?”

She leaned forward, resting her forehead against his. “Why don’t you see that I’m not?”

His answer was a slight hesitation before shifting to rest his lips against hers, waiting there for her to decide. Trembling, she pressed her lips into his. His kiss was tender and slow as if they had hours and didn’t sit in the midst of a battle. A burst of fire in the valley below made them both jump.

Cori pulled away with a laugh. “It would be my luck one of us would get shot now.” Pyotr snorted at her comment, picking up his rifle. “When did you learn to kiss like that?” she asked him, tossing a glance over her shoulder from where she’d turned to look out over the valley.

“I don’t kiss and tell,” he said.

That made her turn to face him again. “Who? Eloise? She never said.”

“Not Eloise,” Pyotr assured her, catching the hand she used to poke his chest. He grinned at her. “I told you I don’t kiss and tell.”

“Pyotr, what are we doing? We are cousins.”

“Like fifth removed if not more.” His expression turned warm and sincere again. She didn’t want to admit how much it knotted every emotion in her.

“You could do so much better than me. Someone less ...”

“Less what? Bold? Sassy? A pain in the ass?”

“Thanks,” she snipped, picking up her rifle. “Can we head back now?”

“What we are doing,” he said, catching her before she stood, “is surviving until the end of this war. Then, I hope you’ll let me take you on a date?”

She stared at him, hating that he made her want to shake so hard she thought she’d drop her gun. There were tears on her cheeks and she couldn’t stop them. “Even after ... you don’t have to treat me lik
e—
”

“You think what happened to you means you don’t deserve to be courted properly?”

He brushed her cheeks dry, kissing her forehead. That made her want to cry harder. He’d been there for her since she’d warned the Guard of the assault on Byran, patient and kind despite everything. That cracked something open inside of her and emotions washed through her along with wishes she thought beyond her reach.

This time, she did drop her gun in order to hold him. He held her tightly, lips brushing her eyes as she sobbed against his chest. It took her a minute to feel in control enough to pull away. “Yes,” she said, looking into his eyes. “When we both survive this and go home, I’ll go on a date with you. I don’t care if Iva says no.”

Pyotr laughed. “Great. Well we are doing a lousy job on the survival part. Let’s get back.”

They slipped over the hill, not meeting any resistance. Down in the valley, the shooting had stopped. The sky was clear of the dactyl that had saved them as well. Ahead through the lingering smoke, they could make out the outline of a transport.

“You know you are the nicest guy I know,” she said to him. “I really hope you don’t realize how much better you can do before we get out of this.”

Pyotr stopped, turning and pulling her to him in one motion. This time his kiss had a lot more passion as well as the self assurance. “Not going to happen,” he whispered to her when he pulled away. He kissed her forehead again, ruffling her short hair. She followed him down to the transport, trying not to smile too much.

Tony had a bloody cheek. “I fell,” he said.

“Tripped, but he missed the bullet coming his way by doing it,” Jess said.

“Idiot,” Liisa said, kicking Tony and then hugging him.

Nicks and scrapes were the worst injuries any of them had from the running battle. Chris joined them where they sat too tired to move and hoping the officers handing out orders overlooked them.

“Get your stuff. You’ve been awake twenty-four hours, so you lucky sots get to head back to base to catch some sleep before getting to take watch again,” Chris said.

The platoon stood to weary groans. “What about the main force of the FLF?” Cori asked. “Isn’t the Guard chasing them into the Wasteland?”

“Some are. Not you though. You’ve been training for a different mission.”

They found out what that was a few days later. Chris pulled them together before another scheduled training session on the transports. Cori had ended her private flight lessons, explaining she needed sleep and the toll had been too much. She and Pyotr kept their distance in many ways, but found themselves sitting or standing side by side more often than not.

“We are preparing for an assault on the two main FLF cities,” Chris told them. “The plan is complicated and dangerous. You’ll be moved out in the next week in preparation for staging the attack. The FLF is as blind as we are, but we need to move into Canada in order to be ready for the signal to surround Isle Royale.”

“Excuse me, sir,” Pyotr said, brows drawn together. “Do you think that is the best place for us?”

“Are you questioning orders, soldier?”

“No, sir. But ...,” Pyotr hesitated as he stood at attention. “But I speak Russian. I lived in Crystal City for several months, and I know people there who might not support the current government. I don’t know a damn thing about Isle Royale.”

“No, you don’t Grekov. As far as I can tell, you possibly won’t be fighting the people you stayed with or any distant family like your cousin, Ivan Petrovich, over there either.”

Pyotr’s jaw tensed. Cori was certain he’d back down. He never pushed. But this time Pyotr frowned. “If he is my cousin, sir. I fully believe the FLF has no problem lying. As for the rest, like I said when I enlisted, they shot at me first.”

Chris stared hard at Pyotr, but he didn’t flinch or unfocus his distant, locked stare. “Wait here,” Chris finally said with an exasperated sigh. He walked into the transporter. Muffled conversation came over the static spit of the walkie.

Pyotr didn’t move. Nor did the platoon, although Cori exchanged a quick glance with Iva.

“At ease,” Chris said when he came back. Pyotr released a slow breath as he relaxed and met Chris in the eye this time. “You’re right. You’ll be more useful in Crystal City. Your platoon will be going to Prague next week to work with Command before shipping out.”

Chapter 26

LIEUTENANT DERRICK ELDRIDGE

BATTLE PLANS

Derrick watched the shield test with interest. “It’s the waves. That is what is causing the shield to ground out. It makes sense really.”

“It does,” Jared said in a tone implying nothing he was watching made sense.

Derrick snorted. “If the shield doesn’t
ground
out over dirt, it shouldn’t ground out over water.”

“Over ...,” Arinna said from the interior of the plane. “That does make sense.”

She cut the power to the shield and the hissing field that surrounded Jared’s dactyl fell silent.

“Of course,” Jared grumbled. Arinna shoved him in jest as she joined them on the back hatch. “So you have these things scanning the ground to avoid touching it?”

“Not on purpose,” Arinna admitted. “It must be something a tech added while we were running tests trying to get them to work. I never really thought about it. I’ll have to look at the code to see how it is reading what is ground and see if I can add an algorithm for waves.”

“Or it could be a natural repulsion between the stable electrical field of the ground and the shield?” Derrick suggested. “But you could enhance that, although it does leave the problem that even if you could account for waves, anything in the water could swim under the shield. Unless ...”

Derrick looked up at Jared’s snort. Both Arinna and Jared regarded him with curious stares, Arinna’s holding a good dose of warmth.

“You know that how, Lieutenant?” Jared asked.

“I installed the solar electricity at Kesmere,” Derrick said with a shrug.

“Why didn’t we bring him in on this sooner?” Jared asked, tossing an arm around Derrick’s shoulder.

“I was avoiding him,” Arinna said.

“Which led to the natural conclusion of marriage,” Jared said as he rolled his eyes. “Speaking of which, you still leaving in the morning?”

“Unless something else happens at the border. Something more serious,” Arinna said in response to the doubtful glance on Jared’s face as they walked up the back hatch. “We’ve put this off long enough between the memorial and then the FLF testing the border. If we want Argentina’s help and time for them to be in place, we need to go.”

“Take some time for yourself and get lost for a few days,” Jared said as he settled into the pilot’s seat, waving for Arinna to sit with Derrick in the back.

“Because it doesn’t bother you a bit you won’t have a clue where we are and have no way to contact us?” Arinna asked.

Jared stared hard at her before resuming take off procedures. “Shit. Whose idea was this?”

“Yours apparently,” Derrick said with a grin.

“Kehm has got to find a means of long distance contact,” Jared said, tossing a very serious look over his shoulder to Arinna.

“Do you want to wait years to figure out communications, maybe build a new satellite, or do you want to end the war?”

Jared didn’t answer. Derrick released a slow breath, thinking of two battles half a world apart and no way to speak to the forces on the other side of the planet.

“You don’t have any ideas on that?” Arinna asked him, resting against his chest.

He brushed her hair away with his cheek, kissing the warmth along her temple. “What were we talking about?” he whispered in her ear. She nudged him in his stomach with her elbow, flashing him a laughing glance at the same time. “It isn’t fair I can’t fight back. I’m too worried about stressing your injury.”

“I’m fine. Healing and sore, that is all,” she promised, turning in his arms to face him.

He kissed her, pressing his lips into hers until she responded back with equal passion. Until he was lost in the warmth and the touch of her tongue against his, keeping her wrapped in his arms around her. He wouldn’t tell her that half the urgency he felt when he held her stemmed from the far too recent fear of losing her. As much as he loved how things had worked out, the shock of Arinna’s near death hadn’t worn off yet.

“Yeah, the two of you need to leave for your honeymoon as soon as possible,” Jared said from the cockpit.

Arinna laughed against Derrick’s lips, tucking her forehead against his neck when the kiss ended. “Maybe we will fly slow.”

“I heard that,” Jared said. “I think we need to determine a schedule before you go off.”

“Now he’s worried. Didn’t he just encourage us to get lost a few days? There is this island we’ll fly over on the way ...”

Arinna kept her laughter silent, the effort of which caused her to wince. Every glance Jared sent toward the rear was fuming until Derrick couldn’t take it anymore either and broke down as well.

“I can’t wait until you both leave,” Jared groaned, which doubled Arinna over.

Both Jared and Arinna were far more serious in the morning. Arinna looked to have not slept at all, though Derrick knew that wasn’t true. She’d been curled next to him for at least four hours although certainly not much more. The Argentinian volunteers who had finished basic training stood on the floor of the hangar, waiting orders to board Arinna’s dactyl. No matter what Raoul Caverra decided on providing Argentina’s help, the four youths he’d allowed to go to Europe for training would be returned to their families.

“A week, no longer,” Jared said as he halted his pacing on the viewing platform of the hangar. “Any longer than that and I’ll send Lieutenant Assad after you.”

Arinna shook her head. “Nine days. I need time to actually speak to Raoul and possibly plan some strategy. I know damn well the only reason you aren’t sending Lieutenant Assad with me now is that you need him and Lieutenant O’Dell on the border.” Jared didn’t reply. Arinna sighed. “If we can’t convince Raoul to help, we’ll need to come up with a new plan.”

“If the FLF makes a stronger offensive against the border, we’ll need to come up with a new plan really fast. Eight days. I need you back here as much as I don’t want to worry about you,” Jared said.

“Good luck with Europe, Captain,” Arinna said, giving Jared a salute.

Despite the eye roll, there was a spark in his green eyes as he saluted back. “Good luck in Argentina, Captain.”

“I told the Prime Minister this morning that you would keep him informed while I was gone,” Derrick said when Jared turned to him.

“Thanks, Lieutenant,” Jared replied.

“That would be Secretary of Defense,” Arinna pointed out.

“You are both a pain,” Jared said under his breath as Derrick and Arinna headed across the walkway to her plane.

The four Argentinian Guard relaxed in the rear, chatting in Spanish as Derrick took the plane vertical. He, Jared, and Arinna had debated the route for hours, but Derrick wouldn’t have been surprised if Arinna changed their flight path as soon as they cleared the city. She was as maverick as Jared that way. But as he nosed the plane into the safer route south toward Africa, at least as far as being able to make an emergency landing went, Arinna remained silently absorbed in the shield coding she’d pulled up on a monitor.

Less than an hour into the flight, she flicked off the screen and rubbed her eyes with a yawn. “At the moment, none of that makes sense to me,” she admitted.

“Oh, the blood loss, healing, and lack of sleep catching up with you?”

“Hah, you actually sound like a husband,” she answered with a smile. “Yes, unfortunately it is. You forgot worrying about Jared handling Europe and us having no way to find out what is happening.” She leaned back in her chair.

“Catch some sleep. I can handle the flying. We have at least two days of it where you can code to your heart’s content.”

“Maybe Jared will win the war while we are gone,” Arinna murmured as she closed her eyes.

“If that’s the case, I’ll turn the dactyl around as soon as we hear of it and we’ll go on a less regulated honeymoon.”

“I’d be happy just to go to Kesmere,” Arinna said, placing her hand on his leg.

He held hers until he knew she’d fallen asleep. Then he folded her arm across on her lap. She didn’t stir. To keep himself from fretting over her, he gave his attention to the dactyl. Without the satellite link, the computer maintained a constant state of panic as it attempted to locate where it was. So Derrick tried different techniques to input location, from manual to having it track the flight path by cross referencing aerials from onboard cameras with saved flights from previous missions captured during the time the dactyls could talk to each other. By the time Arinna woke, the dactyl had as good a feel for where it was as he did.

“Nice,” she said, looking over what he had done. “That will be useful to get equipment into Canada without someone getting lost. How do you think it will handle an ocean crossing?”

“It knows our speed and the compass heading ... we’ll have to see how accurate it predicts when we’ll be over land,” he answered.

Arinna ordered them west and to head over the Atlantic as the sun dropped toward dusk. She took over the controls, adding speed to keep them in daylight. The day stretched to unreal lengths as the ocean rolled beneath them. But the push bought them time. When they set down in South America, hesitant to fly in darkness so far from home and with the barest of saved maps in the computer, Derrick and Arinna were both exhausted. The four Argentinians in the rear were already asleep.

They arrived at Free Argentina by mid-afternoon the next day, landing near a quickly growing crowd. First off were the four returning home, giving Raoul a salute as they stood at attention and waited his permission to join eagerly waiting families.

“I worried what had happened when you were called to return so quickly,” Raoul said as he shook Derrick’s hand.

“The peace talks with the FLF collapsed ... very badly as you might imagine,” Arinna said, offering her hand as well.

Derrick handled introductions as Raoul led them into the village. Not much had changed while Derrick had been away. It felt like a year had passed and not a mere month. But most of the events and changes that made the preceding month feel so full had occurred in Europe, not here in a place tucked far enough away that the FLF hadn’t bothered to track down these rebels and refugees. Yet. It was a fact that was an advantage to Free Argentina, but put Arinna’s soon-to-be-made request in a poor frame. Argentina had no reason to help them other than good will.

“A pleasure to meet you at last,” Raoul said to Arinna as they entered the building used as the community’s center of government. “Both Captain Vries and Lieutenant Eldridge have spoken highly of you. Knowing how things go with the FLF, I imagine the end of the peace talks was very decisive.” He held the door to his office, which held little more than a scavenged desk and chair. Three windows looked across the village; the sound of children shouting carried through the thin glass.

“That is one way to put it,” Arinna said. “They killed one of my seasoned Lieutenants and over half of the European delegates. Now there is fighting on the border of Europe along the Wasteland that stretches into old Russia.”

Raoul stared at Arinna a moment after her frank statement of affairs. “Then I feel very grateful that you returned the volunteers who went through your military training. I am also happy to hear it wasn’t you, Derrick, who was killed.”

“It was over by the time I made it back to Europe,” Derrick replied. “I swore that we would return the sons and daughters of Argentina that you permitted to join us.”

“Even though I am sure your intention is in keeping your promise, I don’t believe that is the only reason you made the flight here,” Raoul said carefully, gaze sliding from Derrick to Arinna.

Arinna smiled with a half laugh, warmth in her eyes as she returned Raoul’s gaze. “You are correct. Events that I feared but hoped wouldn’t come to pass have occurred.”

“I cannot offer you more volunteers to fight with you in Europe. I will not stop any from joining you, but every loss hurts our community.”

“It isn’t to fight the FLF in Europe that we want to ask of you and your people,” Derrick said.

“I’m going to attack the FLF in their homes, both Crystal City and Isle Royale,” Arinna said. “I want the threat they pose over.”

Raoul took a slow breath, sitting in his chair behind the desk. He waved for Derrick and Arinna to take seats as well. “That is an alluring idea. You, however, are limping,” he said to Arinna. “You were hurt?”

“At the failed peace negotiations, rescuing the Prime Minister,” Arinna said casually.

“Yet you still want to attack a beast that has altered the structure of every government on this planet?”

“Do you think nearly dying makes me any less determined to end this?” she asked. “I have a plan and I’d like to share it for you to consider, because your help would be of aide. You should know our advantages, as well as disadvantages. I won’t lie to you. But time is short. Europe is under attack and we don’t have much longer to make a move before one is made for us.”

Raoul glanced out the window, but before he could say anything Derrick spoke. “But it can wait until tomorrow. Greet the Cadets, ask them how their training went, and we will rest. It was a long flight.”

The worry on Raoul’s face fell away as he rose to his feet. “I’ll have rooms in the village made ready.”