The Glorious Becoming (50 page)

For the first time, the man seemed to be listening. “You know Scott Remington?” He asked the question as if to reaffirm the statement.

Wiping back her wet bangs, she nodded. “Yes. He is my commanding officer.”

For several seconds, the man did nothing. He didn’t move, he didn’t speak. He simply stared at her. Finally, he lowered his guard completely. “Get outta here.”

All of a sudden, several black men emerged from the surrounding tree cover. All of their hands were in the air. As soon as Lilan saw them, he shouted blatantly, “Hey! Get back to your cover—”

“Uhh, coach?” one of the men tactfully interrupted him. “We kinda didn’t have a choice.”

No sooner than the statement was made, the Nightmen made their presence known. There was one behind each of the survivors of Falcon Platoon, their collective assault rifles lifted and ready to fire. Spinning around, Svetlana saw Krylov approaching from behind her, the sniper’s rifle aimed at Lilan’s head.

“Lower your
stick
,” Marusich said to Lilan as he emerged with his brethren.

Lilan’s eyes gleamed. Hurling the stick into the water, he spat, “Why don’t you just kill us now and get it over with?”

“If we wanted to kill you, you would already be dead.”

Fuming, Svetlana shoved the barrel of Krylov’s rifle another direction. Whipping her head to the Nightman collective, she went off on them in Russian. “You want to earn their trust, yet
this
is what you do? You ignorant oafs!”

“Shut up, woman,” said Marusich. “We just got what we came for.”

She turned back to Lilan, speaking English again. “Forget these men, listen to me. Everything I told you is true. Tiffany did come to us, and she told us where to find you. She has a friend, her name is Cat. She has a broken leg. I know this because Tiffany told me.”

Lilan said nothing.

“I am a medic. I can help her.”

“I don’t want you touching her,” he said back.

Growling, Marusich lowered his rifle and stepped forward. “This is wasting time. Take them into custody.”

Grabbing her shoulder, Svetlana rolled her head back in frustration. Leveling her gaze at Lilan, she glared bitterly. “Just do what he says. I will explain when we board the ship.”

“What ship?” Lilan asked.

Behind Lilan, one of the survivors looked skyward. “Hey! It stopped rainin’ over here!”

Lilan looked back at the operative, then at Svetlana. They were both still getting saturated. Setting her hands on her hips, the blonde offered a look that screamed
brace yourself
.

“Your operatives may want to move!” Marusich shouted.

The Nightmen within the void of rainfall pushed the captive survivors forward until everyone was back under the storm. Moments later, the branch snapping began, descending through the trees until it reached the mire’s surface. As the Noboat’s shape pressed into the water, the Falcon survivors stared wide-eyed and speechless. There was an arc of electricity, and the ship materialized.

Oleg screamed over the comm. “Everyone, board, quickly!”

Lilan was awe-struck. “What the hell is this?”

“We must go!” said Svetlana, urging him forward. “Hurry! Someone carry the girl with the broken leg!”

In the bridge, Tauthin shouted loudly.

“He says EDEN fighters are approaching!” translated Petrov.

Oleg ran to the antechamber to frantically wave on the away team. “In! In! Come in now!” The Nightmen ran full speed into the vessel, the hostages in their midst. “Dematerialize!” As the last of the away team entered, the antechamber ramp lifted.

Her damp hair tossed wildly, Svetlana was bustled forward with the throng.

“Put them in the brig!” someone shouted.

“Wait!” the medic turned around. “Let me go with them.” Weaving though the Nightman traffic, she followed the survivors into the brig area. There was a loud crack like thunder as dematerialization happened again. The interior lights returned to dark blue. None of the survivors were talking. They looked wild-eyed.

Oleg’s voice emerged over the comms. “Brace for evasive action!”

The crew barely had a chance to grab onto something. The Noboat’s thrusters engaged at full power, ramping the vessel skyward then spinning it to the west. The motion threw nearly every person inside off their feet. In the next second, the vessel burst forward.

The chaos lasted for almost two minutes before it subsided, distance and invisibility putting the Noboat safely out of harm’s way. For the first time, stillness came for everyone. Except for Svetlana. The medic sought out Catalina immediately, and while the other survivors observed, she began the process of treating the Canadian’s broken leg, at least as best she could in the brig of a Bakma Noboat.

“It’s Svetlana, right?” Lilan finally asked after several minutes of nearsilence. The only sounds that had emanated in the brig prior to then were those of whimpers and brief screams from Catalina as Svetlana tended to her. Strapping a splint to Catalina’s leg, the blonde nodded in response to Lilan’s question. Observing her for several moments longer, Lilan said, “This is my crew—at least who’s left.” He nodded toward each person. “Javon Quinton, Donald Bell, Tom King, Catalina Shivers.”

Looking up from Catalina’s leg, Svetlana smiled weakly.

“I got about ten thousand questions right now,” Lilan said quietly, “but I guess I’ve gotta start with this one. Why’d they shoot us down?”

Leaning against the wall—her first comfortable moment since leaving Room 14—Svetlana propped her elbow on her knee. Her fingers disappeared beneath her damp strands. “We think EDEN is framing us.”

“‘Us?’”

“
Novosibirsk
.” When Lilan said nothing, she went on. “One of the ships that attacked you used to be ours. My unit’s, the Fourteenth’s. It was damaged several months ago and sent off for repair. We were told it was too damaged to be fixed.” She lifted her fingers blithely. “Obviously, it was not.”

Lilan seemed to contemplate the explanation. “So EDEN attacked us, in your ships, to make it look like you?”

“I know how it sounds,” she said.

“It sounds nuts.”

Svetlana sighed. “The questions you have, we have, also. This caught us all unprepared.”

Silence hung again, until Lilan moved on. “And you said Feathers is okay?”

Tilting her head, Svetlana asked, “Feathers?”

“Tiffany.”

“Yes,” she smiled softly. “She is fine. She is with the rest of my unit.”

“And Remington’s your commanding officer?”

Smile lingering, she nodded her head.

It took a moment, but a small grin escaped from Lilan, too. “Well, hot dog. I thought
Novosibirsk
would be the end of him. How’s he doing? Are we about to see him?”

“He is on assignment now,” she said. “But I am sure you will see him soon.”

“On assignment?” asked Lilan scrupulously. “How does an EDEN operative go on assignment?”

Looking down, she played awkwardly with her fingers. Her mouth opened for a full five seconds before anything came out. “I do not want to lie to you. It may be best for you to know before you see him...”

“Know what?”

She lifted her eyes. “Scott is a Nightman.”

The look on Lilan’s face revealed every emotion. Shock. Disbelief. Nothing at all good. His expression was mirrored by Catalina.

“He was lured in by them. They...forced him to make a mistake. Now he wears their armor.”

Tom raised his hand. “What the hell is a Nightman?”

“They’re good-for-nothing murderers, that’s what they are,” answered Lilan. “And if Remington’s one of them, he’s a good-for-nothing murderer, too. There’s no other way about it.”

A defensive glare appeared on Svetlana’s face.

“He’s a Nightman?” Lilan asked again. “He’s really a trashing
Nightman
?”

“It is not how you think,” she said.

Lilan was red-faced. “When I had Remington, he was something special. He was the best young soldier I’d ever had. I knew that place would kill him.”

“Please, listen—”

“What the hell is a Nightman?” Tom asked again.

Lilan answered, “You kids are too young to even remember. They’re terrorists. Instigators, a fanatical cult.”

“It’s those guys out there?” asked Donald.

“Yeah, the ones with the guns to your backs. That’s what a Nightman is. And Thoor was the worst.”

Svetlana gleamed murderously. “Do not even
compare
Scott to Thoor.”

“He had to kill someone to get in, didn’t he?” Lilan asked. The other survivors raised their eyebrows.

“Yes—” Svetlana said, getting cut off before she could continue.

“He had to take an innocent life, didn’t he?”

“
Yes
, but—”

Lilan never backed down. “Who was it? An innocent woman? A guy down the street?”

She slammed her palm on the floor and screamed, “The person he thought murdered his fiancée!”

Lilan started back. He tilted his head.

“Scott’s fiancée came to visit him, and she was murdered by a Nightman. They gave him a name and claimed it was the man who murdered her, but it was only the name of who they wanted him to kill. And because of his passion—his
love
for his woman—he naïvely took that innocent life.

“He wears their armor so that he’ll never forget what he did. So yes, he is a Nightman, and yes, he is one by choice.” She pointed her finger at him. “But you will not judge him—I don’t care who you are. Scott knows what he did, and God knows his heart. And if you are going to
Novosibirsk
to bring more judgment upon him, I will throw you out of this ship right now, without regret. Are we clear?”

No one else said a word—not a single person. They simply stared at the blonde who’d just laid down her law. Settling back down, Svetlana pushed her hand hard through her hair.

“He’s more than just your commanding officer, isn’t he?” Lilan asked quietly.

Her eyes gave her away.

Nodding slowly, Lilan leaned back himself. He watched her for several seconds before speaking again. “I apologize, Svetlana. I didn’t know.”

Looking away briefly, her fury simmered down. She closed her eyes again.

For the duration of the flight, no one else spoke in the brig. Their only companion was the hum of the Noboat’s engines. And that was fine with everyone.

Midway back to The Machine, word was given to Oleg and his crew not to return to
Novosibirsk
. Instead, they were instructed to fly to a safehouse in the Nightman recruitment city of Krasnoyarsk. There, Lilan and his surviving crew were to be hidden away, in order for EDEN to perpetuate the lie that all of Falcon Platoon had been killed in a transport crash over Lake Drummond. Only then would Thoor gain the upper hand. As typically, human lives were the general’s leverage. It was just as well to the Falcon survivors. They were alive.

For the moment, that was enough.

25

THURSDAY, MARCH 15
^TH
, 0012 NE

2323 HOURS

NOVOSIBIRSK, RUSSIA

T
IFFANY’S BROWN EYES
narrowed at Travis in the bunk room. She leaned into his face from beside one of Room 14’s several shower curtains. “Okay. Repeat the rules.”

Sighing irritably, Travis moved to place his hands on his hips. When her cuffed hand awkwardly followed along, he relented. “I don’t need to repeat the rules, I know the rules.”

“Noooo, no, no, no, buster,” she said, “I am about to be—hello—naked behind this curtain. And whether I like it or not, your right hand’s gonna be with me. You are
going
to repeat the rules.”

Travis cleared his throat harshly. “No touching—”

“Ah, ah, ah! That’s not what I said.”

“It is what you said! Verbatim!”

“No, I said don’t even
think
about touching.”

Irritably, he groaned. “Fine. I won’t
think
about touching.”

“Continue.”

“I will not walk away from the shower stall.”

“Yes,” she affirmed, nodding. “That one’s important.”

He went on. “I will not ‘enjoy’ this.” He scowled. “Which, by the way, is the stupidest rule of them all.”

Ignoring the comment, she motioned for him to continue.

“I will not look, and lastly, I will not adjust the temperature knobs... as tempting as that may be.”

“Do it and die.”

“I still fail to understand why you
have
to take a shower tonight.”

She grabbed her hair with her free hand. “Umm...hello? Can you see this?” She motioned to her body. “Are you here on planet Earth, seeing what I’m seeing? I look disgusting.”

Grumbling with disdain, he looked away. “Whatever. Just get it over with. This is retarded.”

Glaring murderously, the dingy-haired blonde stepped into the stall and jerked the curtain closed, taking everything from Travis’s right elbow on down along with her. As the
Pariah
pilot blew up at his hair, his arm was jerked back and forth as the Valley Girl squirmed. Clothes were unzipped as the jerks and movements became more forceful. Then Tiffany stopped.

“What?”

She hesitated. “I’m having some problems here.”

“Oh really?”

“Sarcasm is totally not needed right now.”

“What’s the problem?”

She fidgeted again. “I can’t take my clothes off. Well like, I can take some, but like, I’m having some trouble where we’re cuffed. Like...I don’t think I can get completely undressed.”

He stared ahead with stoicism. “Well like, maybe you should have, like, you know, thought about it, before you, like, hopped in the shower.” Jerking out her hand, she made him slap his own face.
“Ow!”

Fidgeting violently for a short while longer, Tiffany finally proclaimed her nudity. “Attention, Travis: I am officially mostly naked. Repeat the rules again.”

“Take your frikkin’ shower!”

Out of view, the nozzles gushed forth.

The door to Room 14 opened; William and Derrick stepped in. As soon as they saw Travis standing by the stall, they tilted their heads. “What are you doing?”