Children No More-ARC Page 12

  Black Two scrambled up the tree as if born to climb. He paused a few times to point at Black Three and shake his head. I could see why: Black Three moved like a great beast clawing his way upward.

  I felt guilty for having so little to do. The evening air was cool enough that I was sweating only moderately as the humidity took its toll; the working teams had to be soaked. I walked among the tree and launcher teams, checking their work, listening for bursts from Lobo, and generally being useless. We'd agreed not to give the commanders specific duties and instead to train them as backups for everything, in case anything went wrong, but our unit was intact and so I was unnecessary. I hated it. I wanted to help, but I also knew that interfering would be both insulting to my squad mates and a sure way to slow them.

  "All present," said the comm burst from Lobo. "No dead, two casualties, all operational. Stick to plan."

  I checked the mission timer in my right contact. We had eighty-eight minutes to launch time, which would be three hours before sunrise, when everyone in the complex except late-night security patrols should be sleeping their deepest. We'd finish early, but even if the others had just arrived, they should be able to meet this schedule.

  I inspected the inside of our perimeter. The outward-facing guards were in position and watchful, no one talking or sleeping or messing around. None of them had signaled the alarm, and Lobo hadn't sent us any alerts, so as best we could tell, we remained undetected.

  All the launchers were on their marks. The two guys from my trio were loading the first one.

  The six on the trees were nearing their marks. Most of the climbers were only five or six meters off the ground, but one was twice that high, and another was two meters higher still. The trees were tall enough that we'd known we'd have to cut them at points fairly far off the ground, but it was still odd to see these people moving up the sides of the trunks, transforming from humans into dark shapes that blended with the jungle night and, when they were high enough, faded to invisibility.

  I returned to my central observation point and checked the time again.

  Eighty-two minutes before we went hot.

  Chapter 24

  In the jungle right outside the rebel complex, planet Tumani

  Two minutes to go.

  A burst from Lobo blasted through my comm. "All green," he said. "On the schedule."

  I checked our positions one last time. All five trios had formed up outside our previous perimeter, behind and to the side of the target trees and the launchers. Most of us were on the safe side of the action in shallow holes we'd scraped with the spare minutes available to us. If a trunk fell the wrong way or a launcher blew up or anything else went wrong, we wanted to be as far away and as protected as we could be without unreasonably slowing our assault.

  Per our plan, I activated the comms of our whole team. This close, even if the rebels detected the transmissions, it would be too late for them to retaliate. From the darkness around me I heard the soft snick of helmets closing and locking out the world. I shut mine, and all I could hear was my own breathing and my pulse pounding in my ears. When we set off the launchers and cut down the tree sections, the sounds would be deafening if we didn't protect ourselves. The helmets would also, of course, filter the gas, though as an added precaution we'd all taken an antidote before we'd left the hangar.

  One minute.

  "Like we planned it," I said to the team. "Helmets locked, stay on comms, go crisp and easy, remain on the trees throughout your approach, hope not to have to shoot. I want everyone standing at the end. Go on the mark." They knew all of those things, of course, but the review was as close to a pep talk as I could manage with people I didn't know.

  Fifteen seconds.

  I checked the sky over the complex to make sure no one had gone earlier; all clear. I focused on our launchers.

  Ten.

  I took a deep breath and twisted my head a bit to relax my neck and shoulders.

  Five.

  One.

  The launchers shook slightly as they fired the gas grenades. The mission timer on my contact changed direction and counted upward. The grenades shot into the air every three seconds, so for half a minute I watched, the world eerily silent thanks to the helmet, as we filled our sector of the complex with gas. I glanced at the huge wall across the clearing, but it was still dark enough and the gas was heavy enough that I couldn't see any of it in the air above the buildings.

  At forty-five seconds, the top of the first tree began its descent. It was big enough and encountered enough resistance from the branches of the others in front of it that its fall was initially slow, almost stately, like a drunk gentleman lowering himself into his own bed. The tree section accelerated as it crashed through the last of the branches in its path, slammed onto the ground, bounced, and settled.

  Dirt and rock and wood chunks flew through the air. Between the darkness and the amount of debris the tree's crash had caused, I couldn't tell whether we'd set off any mines.

  A second tree hit the ground. While focusing on the first and its aftermath, I'd missed this one's descent. It lay three or four meters to the left of the earlier one. This time, the air near the tree flashed orange-white for several seconds; we'd definitely triggered something. Flying fragments moving too fast for me to see cut through the branches and underbrush in front of us.

  Another tree fell between the first two. More dirt, more branches, more flashes of light, one of them a meter or so inside the jungle from the cleared area. I was glad we'd stayed way back.

  A fourth landed and notched into place between the third and the second as if we were building a floor with trunk-size planks. It caused fewer flashes than the third, but this time something nicked into the tree closest to me and leaves rained all over me. Sweat made the wicking fabric in my uniform work harder; I hated being a passive observer in a fixed position with explosions in front of me.

  The fifth didn't hit its mark as well as we'd hoped. It ended up stretched across part of the central third tree and a section of the first one, but that was acceptable; we'd dropped so many to make sure we had multiple pathways to the goal.

  The sixth and last tree landed to the right of the first, almost touching it at the cut end near us, a couple of meters apart from that earlier tree at the complex wall. This one triggered a long chain of flashes; the rebels had been lazy and planted a bunch of mines on a diagonal we'd accidentally hit.

  "No significant damage to the complex from your trees," Lobo said, the comm now live and going to all of us.

  We were up and running toward them as he continued, our helmets' night-vision displays activated.

  "Take the leftmost two; their branches reach all the way to the wall."

  We reached those downed trees. Black Two and Black Three led their teams onto the left and right downed trunks, respectively. Black Two swung onto the tree, crouched, pulled his rifle to the ready, and moved forward three meters to make room for the other two. Black Four's and Black Five's teams followed them but stopped in the shadow of the trees, pulled their rifles, and scanned the complex, ready to provide covering fire should anyone try to shoot their squad-mates on the trees.

  The six on the trunks kept a meter between each of them as they walked quickly but carefully across the downed trunks. They slowed when they reached the thick branches that ran the last several meters to the complex's outer wall. They dropped and crawled the rest of the distance, descending into the thick, fallen canopy and out of our sight as they drew closer to the wall.

  As soon as those first six were out of sight, the guard trios ascended the trees and my three advanced to provide covering fire. The other two covered the outer, leftmost tree; I took the right one. I could feel the rough texture of the bark through the thin gloves. We'd had no way to drill this process, but everyone here was a pro, and the passage continued to proceed smoothly.

  "At the wall," Black Two said. "Preparing entrance."

  The six now on the trees picked up their pace
, eager to be in position for the breach of the wall.

  "Switch to twenty-five-percent audio," Lobo said over our comms. "Maintain gas protection."

  Sound leaked through the helmet's filters. Even though it was only the faintest whispers of the scraping of boots on trees and the rush of air through branches, it was a welcome taste of the audible world.

  A few seconds later, a loud boom broke the quiet. Four louder explosions followed it.

  "Entrance open and additional gas away," Black Two said. "Holding for cover teams."

  As the sound of our blasts faded, much quieter rumbles filled the air. The teams at the other corners of the complex were doing their work, but I didn't pay any attention to them. My job was here; Lim would relay new orders through Lobo if she needed us elsewhere.

  "At the wall," Black Four said, "and giving cover. Come on over."

  "No hostile contact," Black two said, "as per plan." Though everyone inside should be unconscious, he was to hold his position until we were all there and ready to go.

  The three of us on my team shouldered our weapons, climbed onto the trunks, and started across, our focus on the wood below our feet. It wasn't a bad surface, but I didn't want to be the first to slip, so I moved carefully. The canopy was denser than I'd thought: Almost immediately after hitting it, I had to climb down and crawl along one of the thicker branches. The ones who'd gone before me had left an easy to follow trail of bent and broken smaller branches, so I made good progress and was quickly in sight of the wall. I followed the path of the others down to the ground and stepped in their footprints. The others remained in position near the entrance.

  "Still no signs of movement in the open areas," Lobo said. "Reminder: I can't read IR signatures through the roofs of the corner guard buildings. Proceed with caution."

  If this had been a normal mission, we'd have addressed that limitation by blowing up those four structures, or at least shooting enough rounds into them to kill anyone inside. Here, though, we couldn't be sure where kids might be, so we had to clear each building and capture all the hostiles. We also didn't want to lose any of our team, so we were carrying live rounds, not tranks. I hoped we didn't have to use them.

  Gunfire sounded in the distance. Either some rebels had avoided the gas, or someone on our side had gotten too excited. Either way, not my problem, not right then.

  "Go," I said.

  Black Two and Black Three lead their trios through the entrance in alternation, Black Two's group going right, Black Three's heading left. The teams moved like their leaders: Black Two's in quick, staccato motions, Black Three's slowly and carefully.

  The rest of us took up positions on either side of the entrance and at different heights and aimed our rifles toward the guard building.

  The six on point rushed to the left and right edges of the building, staying low as they ran, and leaned against the walls as soon as they reached them.

  We could spot no sign of activity in the guard building.

  "Black Team!" Lobo said. "Roof!"

  We were sloppy to need the warning, so focused on dealing with the possibility of people being awake inside the building that we hadn't checked its roof. I glanced up in time to see a man, his silhouette barely visible against the night sky, crawling along the peak of the roof. Another's torso emerged from an access hatch. Both appeared to be wearing masks.

  Our six at the building flattened themselves further against the walls.

  "Four," I said, "on my mark. Two and Three, enter on same. Go."

  Black Four's led her team inside and opened fire, each of them squeezing off a short burst. The men on the roof twitched from multiple impacts and stopped moving. One of them hung partway out of the hatch.

  At the same time, the six of us at the building ran to the door facing us and kicked it open. We cleared to the sides as soon as it started to move.

  Gunfire sounded from within.

  Our teams pulled back.

  Black Five dropped to the ground, crawled forward until he could aim through the opening, and squeezed off three short bursts. He lifted his fist, then his thumb.

  His teammates headed in, one on his left and one on his right. He stood and followed them.

  "Inside clear," Black Five said. "One down, one unconscious and now secure."

  "Roof clear," Black Four said. "Two hostiles down."

  "Black Team," Lobo said, "no external motion in your quadrant."

  Black Four fanned out her team so they could guard the other three sides of the building's exterior.

  I had my helmet display a map of the six remaining buildings we were responsible for securing. Three were small, structures we'd guessed held supplies or quarters for senior staff. Three were almost certainly barracks for kids. We'd clear the small ones first, and then we'd secure the barracks.

  "Let's go visiting," I said over the comm.

  Chapter 25

  In the rebel complex, planet Tumani

  The smaller buildings housed only sleeping guards, their open windows perfect entrances for the gas. We secured all of the people and left them where they slept; we'd round them up later, after we'd cleared the rest of our area.

  Windows were also open all along the side of the first dorm we approached, so we peeked through them to verify that no one was moving. The third or so of the beds that we could see were occupied, and all the occupants appeared to be asleep. I considered trying to save time by sending in one trio to secure the kids and taking the rest of our unit to the next dorm, but I rejected the notion: Sloppy work way too often proves to be its own reward.

  Instead, we went in properly, Black Two slithering in first. He and his team quickly verified that the main area was indeed secure, every kid in it asleep, but it wasn't the only room: The space also contained a pair of large closets, one at either end, and a bathroom that ran two-thirds of the way across the rear.

  Black Three's team joined to provide cover fire if necessary as Black Two's cleared those three rooms. I doubted a single person in either trio believed they were going to encounter resistance, but they did their jobs properly and precisely; they were pros.

  The front closet was empty. So was the rear.

  As they worked, the rest of us fanned out in the main area and secured the sleeping kids with ties on their hands and feet. The gas must have hit them hard, because none of them even stirred.

  Black Two, standing well to the side of the bathroom entrance, knocked on its door. A shot blasted a hole right where his hand had touched the wood. The sound echoed despite the open windows. Two more shots followed the first blast.

  Black Two motioned to Black Three to return fire.

  The big man raised his rifle.

  "Hold," I said over the comm. "Black Five, check for other exits from the bathroom."

  That trio ran out of the barracks.

  "We're on a schedule," Lobo said to me privately. "You need to deal with this quickly."

  I ignored him.

  "Black Two and Three, force open the door, toss in gas, and keep your teams to the sides."

  The two trios spread along the bathroom wall. Black Two pulled a small charge from his pack and stuck it to the door's handle.

  Ten seconds later, it blew with a loud pop. T

  The door flew inward.

  Black Three stooped and rolled in a gas grenade.

  Two more shots from inside the room smacked into the wall at the opposite end of the barracks. Five seconds later, a small, thin boy ran out of the smoke, a damp rag tied over his nose and mouth. He carried his rifle like a club and swung it to the left as he cleared the doorway.

  Black Three grabbed the weapon at the same time Black Two caught the boy's arm.

  The kid let go and tried to spin free, but Black Two maintained his grip on the kid.

  "Government assassins!" the boy said. Black Two looked to me for instructions, so the boy stared at me, too. "You can't mess with Bony, no, not with me. I'll show you."

  I pointed to the bath
room.

  Black Two nodded and pulled the rag away from the boy's face.

  The kid kicked and screamed, wordless animal sounds ripping out of his throat.

  Black Three picked up the boy and carried him into the bathroom as easily as if he was a sleeping baby.

  "You'll see!" the boy said. He coughed several times. "You'll see." His voice trailed off.

  Black Three reappeared a few seconds later, the unconscious boy looking even tinier cradled in his arms. "Tough, clever little bugger," he said. "You gotta give 'im that." He set the kid on first empty bunk.

  The boy didn't come close to filling the small bed. Maybe a meter and a half tall, with short hair, a body so thin it might have been composed of sticks, and skin as dark as the bark of the trees we'd create our path over the mines, he looked like a starving child, not a soldier.

  Black Three shook his head. He secured the kid's hands and feet anyway.

  I stared at the child, at all the other bound and sleeping boys in the barracks, and helpless rage rose in me, fury that made me want to kill those who had turned these children into fighters and the leaders who had decided that doing so was a good idea.

  "Bathroom clear," Black Two said.

  I nodded, shoved down the rage, and headed out of the barracks. We weren't done. "Two more to go," I said. "Move out."

  The first stains of daylight were oozing along the horizon when Lobo touched down in a large landing area near the center of the complex. As my body consumed the last dregs of adrenaline, aches and fatigue flooded through me. The nanomachines would remedy the pains soon enough, but in that moment they seemed appropriate, even necessary; violence should never come without cost.