Black The Sun, page 33
part #9 of Quentin Black Mystery Series
“Where is he now?” Black said, following my shift to speaking out loud. “Can you feel anything about him now?”
Letting my eyes fall out of focus, I concentrated on Nick.
I thought about him, pulling every scrap of “Nick-ness” from my mind and memories, focusing on each one, individually and collectively.
I remembered him from Afghanistan, when I first met him and he hit on me the first time we got drunk together. I remembered running together at Land’s End, surfing at Ocean Beach, working out at the martial arts studio, going swimming here in Thailand.
I remembered our coffee dates at my favorite coffee shop below my old office on Fillmore, hanging out with him and Angel in Gecko’s bar and Lucky 13, getting sushi at the mall in Japantown. I remembered Christmases at Nick’s parents’ house in Potrero Hill, and driving down to Santa Cruz to go hiking and drink beer around a campfire.
At first, I felt nothing.
Then, suddenly, his presence slammed into mine.
He came into focus so abruptly and clearly, I jumped.
I examined him with my light––where he was, what condition he was in, who he was with. I didn’t get answers to all of my questions, nor could I read his mind, at least not directly, but I was shocked at how much of him I could feel.
“They’re out,” I said, still looking at Nick in that space. “Not entirely, but he’s outside the immediate shield of that… whatever it is.”
Frowning, I continued to look at him, now seeing through his eyes periodically, if only in brief glimpses.
“I think he’s in a fucking tree,” I said, disbelieving.
I didn’t realize I’d said it out loud until I let my eyes refocus on my immediate surroundings. I saw people in the circle of faces smiling at me, exchanging looks that had an element of knowing to them, in addition to the humor I clearly saw.
“What?” I said. “Is that funny? That he’s stuck up in a damned tree?”
Kiko glanced at me from where she’d been exchanging looks with Ace and Javier. Her expression remained relatively sober compared to most of those I saw, but a flicker of humor shone in her dark eyes, as well.
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “It wasn’t the tree part. Well… not exactly. You just really sounded like Black. The way you said that, I mean.”
“You really sounded like Black,” Lawless echoed, even as he exchanged looks with Lex, who chuckled with him. “Like a lot.”
“A lot,” Lex thirded, smirking at me.
I glanced at Black, scowling a little, but mostly bewildered.
Black just smiled, raising and lowering his eyebrows suggestively at me a few times.
At that, I couldn’t help bursting out in a laugh.
Without thinking, I threw an ice cube at him, fishing it out of the lemonade sitting on the low table in front of me.
“My oldest friend is trapped up in a fucking tree!” I said, still half-laughing in spite of the growl in my voice. “What. Are. We. Doing. About. That?”
I pelted Black with ice at each word.
Then, thinking about what I’d said, my humor abruptly faded.
“What are we going to do about that?” I pursed my lips. “I think Nick’s okay… for now. But I didn’t feel Angel with him, and at least one person in their party is injured pretty badly. They’re still pretty deep inside Nachtsonne territory.”
“Do the Nachtsonne know where they are?” Black said.
I refocused on him from where I’d gone back to looking at Nick with my seer’s sight.
“I don’t know,” I said.
“Who else is with him?” Kiko said. “You said Angel isn’t there. Did you feel who is?”
Trying to answer her question, I went deeper into that space, focusing on Nick.
“Cowboy… I think,” I said after a pause. Grimacing, I added, “Brick. I feel Brick there. He’s close to Nick. And Dex. The injured person… I think they’re unconscious.”
“Who is it?” Black said.
“I don’t know.”
“That’s it?” Kiko pressed, when I didn’t go on.
“It’s all I can feel,” I admitted. “But I don’t know Mika that well, and she could be shielding from me. I also don’t know Somchai, that Thai park ranger. I don’t feel Alice… or Jem. But it’s possibly one of them could be the injured person.”
“Or they could be dead,” Manny said, grim.
My eyes clicked back into focus.
Biting my lip, I fought not to bark at him. I didn’t want to think about the possibility that Angel might be dead. I couldn’t go there.
Then something else occurred to me.
Once it had, hope bloomed hotter in my chest.
“Nick didn’t feel sad,” I said triumphant. I looked at Black, who was watching me worriedly with his gold eyes. “He felt worried, annoyed… probably with Brick, let’s face it… and hungry. He didn’t feel sad. If Angel died, he’d be sad.”
I saw a flicker of relief touch Black’s eyes at my words.
“He would be sad,” he said, his voice more forceful than mine.
I nodded, agreeing. “Definitely. He’d definitely be sad. Very sad.”
That relief in Black’s eyes bloomed.
He smiled at me.
“So maybe she didn’t get out,” Lex said, pulling my eyes back to his. “Maybe the vampires only got some of them out. That might explain why they didn’t leave Nachtsonne territory. It might also explain maybe why they’re hiding out in a tree. Maybe they’re planning on going back in… freeing the others.”
Black and I exchanged looks.
It’s possible, he murmured in my mind.
I nodded, frowning.
Something didn’t feel quite right with that, but I wasn’t sure what, and it wasn’t worth arguing the point until we knew more. I hadn’t felt anything on Nick that suggested to me he was readying for a military op, though.
If anything he felt bored.
He felt stuck, like he had a lot of time to kill.
He also felt worried, but that could easily be explained, too. If Angel was still inside and one of them was injured badly up in that tree, either or both of those things would be enough to make Nick worry, whether they had a rescue op planned or not.
Having Brick and Dorian there probably wasn’t helping.
I looked at Black. His gold eyes were on me again, studying my face.
He looked about to speak––
When a shout went up.
It came from behind the cafeteria building, in the direction of the jungle.
Heads turned. The group of soldiers who’d been loosely guarding our small gathering, wearing combat gear and holding automatic and semi-automatic rifles, turned their whole bodies, raising their guns, even as I saw two of them touch their ears, probably to get info on what was happening from their headsets. The rest of us just sat there, bodies tense as we waited for someone to tell us what was going on.
Then Lex turned to Black, his fingers also touching his ear.
“Breach!” he said. “It’s a perimeter breach! Radios are down at the outposts near the property border, so we’re only getting it now.”
Black rose to his feet. He moved so smoothly and quickly I didn’t realize I’d moved with him until I was already standing up. By then, I’d turned in the direction of the sounds along with everyone else, looking up towards the jungle just past the pool.
Then I heard gunshots.
Another voice rose from the same direction.
I’d recognized the voice by then.
It was Dog, one of the Natives from New Mexico.
Bare seconds later, I could see him.
“Breach!” He yelled it as he pelted towards us down the slope, wearing camouflage fatigue pants and a black, form-fitting T-shirt. His long, brown hair was tied back in some kind of thong, but half of it had fallen out, covering part of his face as he took the stairs two at a time to reach us on the lower deck.
“Breach!” he said, panting. “…Easton and that new seer, Zairei… they say it’s those Nachtsonne guys. But they’re like army dudes now, wearing combat uniforms and shit.”
He stopped at the edge of the circle, gasping, fighting to catch his breath.
His eyes never left Black as he panted, resting his hands on his thighs as if he’d run the whole way from the lookout post.
“How many?” Black said.
Dog sucked in a breath, still fighting to control his breathing.
“At least thirty,” he managed between breaths. “With guns. Jules sent me down. The radios are being weird, so he sent me. They just broke the perimeter in the north.”
Black glanced at me.
Fury rose to his gold eyes.
Seeing the expression there, I only nodded.
Enough was enough.
It was more than enough.
Feeling my agreement, Black turned to Kiko without a pause.
“Gear up,” he said. “This shit ends. Now.”
24
CONSCIENCE
“ARE WE SHOOTING to kill?”
Lex, who was clearly speaking to me, yanked the strap of a M16 assault rifle around his shoulders and over the kevlar vest he wore. Adjusting the length of the strap once he had it more or less in place, he gave me a quick glance before he began checking over the weapon, going on without waiting for my answer.
“…Given how your guy is reacting to this, I’m assuming that’s a yes,” he said, reaching behind his neck to tie his long dreadlocks back with a piece of black cloth. “…But how the hell do we square that with Thai law enforcement? Or their damned military, for that matter? There’s no way all this ordnance crap Black’s got out here is legal. Or do we all just risk ending up in a Thai military prison?”
Pulling a kevlar vest down over my own torso, I found myself dismissing his words.
I caught him staring as I drew on a shoulder harness, velcroing it to the front of my chest and sides over the kevlar vest. Ignoring that, too, and the fact that he was probably waiting for an answer, I looked for a SIG Sauer P320 on the racks of handguns in the armament shed.
Lex and I were getting suited up along with about forty others of Black’s team, including a few new seers I didn’t recognize.
I found a P320 with the handgrip I liked and grabbed it off the rack. Pulling out the magazine, I checked the chamber, then the firing mechanism. I reloaded it a few seconds later, still thinking about Lex’s question as I shoved it in the holster just under my armpit.
“Don’t worry about jail,” I told him after another beat, stuffing a few more magazines for the P320 into the pockets of my combat pants. “That’s not going to be an issue. For multiple reasons. Black’s connections down here are old. Also,” I shrugged, giving him another glance. “We have seers.”
Lex frowned. “It wasn’t only prison I was worrying about, Miriam.”
Seeing his expression, I sighed, then nodded.
“Gotcha. Well, I can’t wrestle the moral demons for you, Alexander.”
“But clearly yours are silent,” he retorted.
I gave him a harder look. “They took my friends. They came into our camp with automatic weapons. My conscience is clear.”
Watching him frown at me, it struck me again how much he looked like his late father. It was strange glimpsing the Colonel, who I’d only met as an old man, as he may have looked when he was in his early forties, like Lex was now.
I knew, on some level, the emotions I felt as I looked at the other man weren’t only mine.
Black had viewed the Colonel almost like a father.
Maybe the only father he’d had––at least the only one he cared to remember.
Thinking about that, remembering that Black’s sister was wandering around this camp somewhere, I scowled, grabbing a few more magazines for the M4 and stuffing them into a small backpack I’d grabbed off another set of shelves, along with a few flash-bangs, a flare gun, and a number of grenades.
“Look.” I subdued my voice, glancing up to find him watching me, a wary look on his face. “I mean it when I say you need to make up your own mind on this, Lex. If the whole thing doesn’t sit well with you, then by all means, walk away.”
Seeing his eyes lose some of their wariness towards me, I added,
“I can’t do that… I can’t, for multiple reasons. But if you’re asking me for permission to put down the gun, you have it. You have Black’s. You don’t have to be involved in this at all.”
I saw him think about my words. As he did, a tighter frown came to his full lips.
I didn’t read him to determine what the look meant.
Without waiting for his reply, I grabbed the M4 I’d pulled off the rack earlier. Hoisting the backpack over one shoulder, I turned, walking out of the shed to make room for others wanting access to the weapons stores and trying to get geared up.
Walking back out into the blistering Thai sun, I saw Black right as I was throwing the strap of the rifle around my shoulders.
I began walking towards him, shoving the brief conversation with Lex out of my mind.
I hadn’t lied to him, but that didn’t mean I wanted to think about the broader implications of starting a war with the local weirdos living in a Thai National Park, either. I particularly didn’t want to think about the fact that those weirdos might be mentally ill, and may not fully understand the hornet’s nest they’d kicked by screwing with Black.
I hadn’t really seen the point of bringing that up with Lex either, even if he and I might be more alike in that respect than a lot of those on Black’s team.
In the end, Lex had to make up his own mind.
I already had.
Those fuckers took Nick and Angel.
There was no room for compromise around that. There was no room for compromise on Cowboy, Jem, Dex, Mika or Alice, either.
Shoving the last of my own misgivings from my mind, I approached where Black stood, looking hot as fuck in combat gear, hands on his waist just below the kevlar vest, his long legs in black combat pants and combat boots.
He was talking to Kiko, expression taut, his sculpted lips set in a hard line as he listened to her speak. Kiko was geared up as well, and wore an elaborate-looking headset she clutched with one hand where it rested on her ears.
I didn’t want to interrupt them, so I just walked up and stood there silently, aiming my rifle at the ground where my hands rested on the barrel.
Giving me a once-over in the combat gear, Black motioned me closer to where he stood with a few flicks of his fingers. Once I within range of his hands, he wrapped his muscular arm around me, pulling me roughly and tightly up against his side.
Immediately, his heat flooded into my light and body, bringing a hard coil of pain.
I wrapped my arm around his waist without hesitation, gripping his belt and closing my eyes longer than a blink.
Opening them an instant later, I forced myself to refocus on Kiko.
Something must have shown on our faces.
Kiko looked between us, her expression borderline wary.
Catching my stare, she flushed, glancing away.
Shaking her head as if to shake it off, she aimed her words at Black.
“As I said… they’re already in retreat.” Her eyes hardened. “Jules and his team opened fire as soon as they got the go-ahead from you. The intruders are well-armed, but apparently their training, or lack thereof, made it a pretty short first skirmish. We took down five of theirs, and not long after, Jules’ people heard the command in German to retreat.”
Glancing at me, Kiko frowned up at Black.
“Jules wants to know if you want them to follow.”
“Yes,” Black said. “Tell him to keep them in his sights. If he loses contact with them, or with us––for any reason––he’s to head straight back here.” His voice dropped to an angry mutter. “I’m not going looking for any more fucking people. And we can’t risk them circling back to flank the camp. There are too many civilians here.”
Kiko nodded. “Understood.”
Black’s mind was still moving.
“Also, route A.J.’s team to meet up with them,” he said, frowning as he gazed up the hill into the jungle. “I want overwhelming numbers. Do you hear me? Overwhelming. Fucking. Numbers. I’m done screwing around with these crazy pieces of shit. They need to understand they’ve gone about sixty steps too far outside of my good graces. If Jules can communicate with them in any way, tell him to demand they return our people to us. All of them… every last one. Now. That includes those tourists from Bangkok. Tell him to emphasize the now part of that message. I want them all back, in pristine fucking condition. If they do that, I might… MIGHT… not burn their whole camp and everyone in it to the ground.”
Kiko glanced at me, quirking an eyebrow.
Looking back at Black, she only nodded.
“Right,” she said.
“How far out is A.J.’s team?” Black said.
“About twenty minutes.”
“Good. Tell them now. They should be able to catch up with Jules without him having to wait for them.”
Kiko nodded, touching her earpiece again.
Turning away from us slightly without walking away, she began speaking in a low voice through the transmitter’s microphone, which wrapped around the side of her face.
Black looked at me.
“We’re going into their territory,” he said, gripping me tighter and squeezing me. “You and me. I want to find that tree of yours. We’ll have drone and access to air support if we need it, but I’d prefer a small team. I’m thinking Dog, Frank, Devin, Ace, Javier. I want Yarli to stay here and support Kiko and Manny, and I want most of my military people with A.J. and Jules. I’d like you and me to get ahead of that bunch, if we can.”
I nodded, thinking as he spoke.
“Do we need Devin?” I said.
Black inclined his head in a seer’s polite yes. “He’s a good tracker. Him and Javier are probably our best. I’d like them both with us.”
I nodded slowly, thinking.
“Is there someone else you wanted?” he said, nudging me. “We can take one more. Especially if they’re fast. And quiet.”
