“Um…” Unfortunately, his mouth only seemed capable of issuing inarticulate sounds at this moment.
She cocked her head slightly, looking at him patiently. And uncomprehendingly.
Alright, coherent speech was obviously out of the question, the way his tongue felt numb and tied into knots. He had always preferred action to conversation anyway.
Rys felt his hands shake slightly. He hadn’t been this nervous since he was very young. It was like he had been given some new unfamiliar explosive timer to disarm. Sergeant Barrett was breathing down his neck, urging him at one hundred and fifty decibels to get it done right the first time, or they were all going to die. If he had read this situation wrong…a lot in their personal dynamic would change.
And a lot will most certainly change if I’m right.
He wanted desperately to be right.
He slid his hands along Anne’s jaw, cupping her face, feeling the sensation of her smooth complexion make his fingers tingle. She went very still, watching him with parted lips. Gulping in a final breath for luck, he carefully bent his head and pressed his lips gently to hers.
Rys felt his grip on reality slip, then he let go entirely, diving in head first, and the world jolted off of its axis.
This was so simple and basic, just skin touching skin—so why was it so enveloping, making him feel whole, for the first time in his life? Rys felt like he was actually holding a piece of heaven in his arms at that moment.
With a soft sigh as if she had been holding her breath, Anne slid both arms around his neck, returning his kiss. That made everything complete, there was no mistaking her answer to his unspoken question. He turned his head slightly to the right, getting a better alignment by adjusting the angle.
Oh yeah, much better…
When he finally managed to pull away a few moments later, he heard giggling, very familiar giggling. Flushing, his head snapped around, searching for the source—and then he saw them. Celia and Cynthia, were standing like they were cut from bedrock a few feet away, giggling uncontrollably behind their hands.
“Oh, for guardian’s sake,” Anne snorted in disgust, rolling back her head against Rys’s arm. “Will you two scram? I’m having a moment, here!”
“Sorry to interrupt, we’ll send you the pictures we took later! Carry on Rys!” Celia called out cheerfully. With a wave of her hand reminiscent of a salute, she dragged her reluctant twin around the corner and out of sight. There was sure to be a high level twin conference taking place on the subject of Anne and their big brother.
Pictures. There were
pictures?
Rys’s blush darkened, advancing a few notches into the red zone. He had definitely let his guard down. No matter how caught up in the moment he had been with Anne, no one should have been able to sneak up behind him and take pictures!
“Rys.” Anne snapped her fingers in front of his nose, drawing his attention back to her. “Forget the twins, all right? Don’t lose your focus, you’re supposed to be kissing me!”
He was sure that he was grinning like a fool, but he simply couldn’t help himself. “Yes,
ma’am
,” he murmured amiably.
Like any good, well trained soldier, he obeyed orders.
***
The barely audible sound of a well-oiled cloth sliding over a metallic gun barrel was almost hypnotically soothing. Rys had disassembled his pistol and rifle so many times to inspect and maintain them, that if felt familiar and comforting. Sometimes he did it, not because they needed it, but to help him focus when he felt a little out of balance or needed to think something over. Right now he was going for a new speed record, because his instincts were a blaring klaxon screaming out warnings inside his head. He needed something mundane and solid to force himself to settle down.
Cleaning all of his equipment and getting it mission ready was Rys’s particular way of fidgeting, when he didn’t know what else to do with himself. He’d retreated to his room after dinner, closing the door (mostly to discourage Dylan from picking up anything hazardous) and sat in the middle of the floor. He had been at this for so long that the entire contents of his field pack were strewn in a rough semicircle around him. He went over everything that he could, methodically checking and double checking it again.
His restless mind wasn’t as easy to placate or organize. It kept bouncing back and forth between the perfect afternoon with his new girlfriend, to speculation on Nova’s imminent threat. The abrupt switching between the two topics was starting to give him a serious headache.
There was a quick two-rap knock on his door before it opened and Miles’s head popped into view. “Rys?”
Rys’s hands froze and he twisted his body slightly to see Miles over the top of the bed. “Miles.”
Without waiting for an invitation, Miles came all the way in, quickly shutting the door behind him. His eyes took in the gear strewn out over the floor, eyebrows rising slightly. “I see you’re employing your usual manual relaxation exercises. You are going to wear that gun out! What are you worried about this time?”
Rys had been keeping everyone apprised, and in the loop, so he kept his answer short and to the point. “Nova.”
“Ah.” Miles took a seat on the edge of the bed, nodding at him sagely. “So it’s not your new girlfriend that has you polishing that barrel to a mirror finish.”
Rys fumbled with the rifle in his hands, nearly dropping it. “Take another low and slow on that one. Just how, exactly, did you hear about that?!”
“Your Mom told my Mom,” Miles answered, eyes dancing, as if it were obvious. ”Mothers have the most sophisticated intelligence gathering and disseminating network ever devised!”
“How does Sara know about it?” Rys demanded in exasperation, not seeing the connection. “I haven’t told anyone yet!”
“Oh come on, Rys, you come home
late
from school emitting spectral rays like a newborn sun, and you don’t expect her to connect the dots and put a coherent picture together?” Miles was trying to sound matter-of-fact about his observation, but it was obvious that he was reveling in the moment.
Rys felt the skin along his cheekbones start burning. It did not take him long to do the simple math this problem required. All of the foster mothers had of necessity formed a unique bond of fellowship, and talked to each other regularly. Rys wasn’t sure if they were comparing notes, or just sharing wisdom and insights. He did know, first hand, that they passed along information to each other on an almost daily basis. He just didn’t expect
this
to be headline news…although considering that these were all women, he should have.
“I’m not worried about Anne,” he finally responded. There was nothing to worry about with Anne. She knew him well enough now to smack him if he did something crazy. “I just don’t have enough information, Miles. Gremlin is working himself straight into the ground, and it still might not be enough.”
“I know.” Miles gave him a grim nod. “I talked to Aaron on the way over here. I think between all of us, we can analyze and come up with some potential targets. We know how Nova thinks well enough to make some educated guesses. Let’s put our heads together. If we have everything divided up and amass some basic intel on logical targets, I think we’ll all rest a little easier.”
That sounded more reasonable than Rys just sitting here, polishing the same equipment for the fifth time. It was a relief to have something constructive to do. “Sure, I can get behind that. Let’s get all of the teams together. We can go over threat assessment, and do some planning to conduct preemptive strikes when they finally show us their cards.”
Chapter Twenty
Nova struck two days later.
Rys had just stood up from the breakfast table, dishes in his hands, when an incoming call that was flagged
Priority One: Delta
came through on his emergency frequency. Rys dropped the plate and glass back onto the table, momentarily deaf to Sara’s alarmed question.
Savar, go!
“Sir,”
Gremlin commenced a rapid fire down load of information, speaking almost too fast for comprehension.
“Nova has taken over the Capitol Building. Everyone that was in attendance in the negotiation session this morning is now their hostage.”
Rys started swearing. The Capitol Building had figured high on their list of potential targets. It was one of three designated areas that he and Miles were in charge of, if they were hit.
Has Miles been informed about this yet?
“I sent him a tandem priority alert just now, sir. There’s one more thing.”
A cold chill of premonition crawled up Rys’s spine at the inflection in Gremlin’s voice.
Specify.
“Dorian was conducting the meeting, and was at the podium when Nova grabbed the building.”
Rys forgot how to breathe for a moment. Anne’s father was in the middle of this mess, hostage. Any chance that Rys would now step aside and allow someone else to handle this situation evaporated instantly.
Gremlin, scramble the Team. We will assemble at the designated point in five minutes. Notify all of the Team Leaders, it is time to make our presence felt.
“Yes, sir.”
Ending the call, he looked around to find Sara watching him with eyes that seemed impossibly wide in her suddenly pasty white complexion. “Nova has taken the Capitol Building by force,” he told her bluntly. “It is a hostage situation, I have to go.”
“Be safe,” she whispered to him.
He managed a reassuring smile and a nod for her, then spun on his heel, attacking the stairs two at a time. His gear was ready and waiting in front of his closet door as he snatched it up cleanly with a practiced stroke of his arm.
Another call, not on his emergency frequency but on his civilian channel, came in. Rys swore at a new level when he realized it was Anne. Surely she hadn’t heard about what was happening already? He entered the accept code with an anticipatory wince.
Anne.
“Rys,”
there was a strained quality to Anne’s voice, as if she was on the verge of falling apart completely, “
do you know what’s going on at the Capitol right now?”
Affirmative,
he answered simply
. I’m gearing up to go and attend to it.
“…gearing up. You mean you’re planning to break into that building?”
Affirmative.
Rys strapped on his ablative armor, running an automatic mental check as he surveyed his quarters to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything.
Anne, your father is in there. Do you really think I’d sit on the sidelines and just watch this play out? Besides, Bijordan forces have very limited experience on exactly how Nova operates. It is safer if we handle it.
There was a quick, relieved sigh.
“So you’re not planning to do this alone.”
Guardians, no! This is not a one man mission. No, my Team and Miles’s Team are tasked with the coverage of that building.
Everyone else is in reserve, and standing by in case we need them.
“I’m very relieved to hear it. Rys, I know that you are capable of getting my father and the rest of those people out. Just don’t trade your life for theirs, alright?”
I won’t,
he promised her softly.
Anne, don’t worry.
Grabbing up his pack, he slung it on his back, striding with a single purpose of mind for the door.
“That’s easier said than done. I’ll be praying for your safety, and everyone else on the Teams. Go.”
He couldn’t just hang up. He felt like he needed to say one more thing, in case anything happened. He didn’t want it left unsaid.
I love you.
There was a smile in her voice as she answered, “
I love you, too.”
***
It took an average of approximately one hour and fifteen minutes to get from the Bloch house to the Capitol Building. Rys and his Team arrived in a little under thirty minutes. Their use of outrageous speed, professional skill in maneuvering through heavy traffic, coupled with judicious and timely coordination with the police made it possible.
The scene around the Capitol Building was total chaos; nothing like this had ever happened in the history of the planet. The elite Capitol Guard and the Military Police were blanketing the entire area, swarming like agitated insects. Rys observed a myriad of tactical assault vehicles lining the edge of the street, ready to go, with insertion teams awaiting orders to deploy. The majority of the structures surrounding the Capitol Building were an eclectic group of small restaurants and cafes, novelty shops, and hotels. The close confines of the businesses and narrow streets made it more difficult to negotiate the crowded scene.
The Capitol Guard had assumed the responsibility of securing the immediate area and weeding out anyone that didn’t belong there. Unauthorized personnel were not allowed closer than four blocks; the restricted perimeter was as tight as a drum head. Rys nodded in approval as he took this all in, making it part of his initial assessment. Good. The civilians in the vicinity couldn’t inadvertently wander into harm’s way if something went wrong.
He climbed out of the vehicle and headed straight for a pre-agreed staging point, his team falling in rapidly behind him.
Miles, come in.
“This is Miles, acknowledged, five by five. I have your position, head straight up the street due east to the Sweet Aroma Café; we have a temporary command post established here.”
Rys spotted the sign for the café and altered his direction, making a direct line for their location, in spite of the crush of humanity all around them. He caught glimpses of their setup as he moved closer. Capson, Miles’s computer expert, had already commandeered one of the larger outside tables, and had set up shop. It was covered in laptops, communications devices and an assortment of other cutting edge paraphernalia. He didn’t bother wasting any time trying to hack directly into the building’s security, exploring less obvious ingresses. When Rys was close enough, he lifted one hand off his keyboard briefly in greeting.