“Fire is the one thing we’ve got plenty of.”
“You ever have a pet cat?”
“Yeah, why?” Masters frowned.
“You ever give that cat a bath?” Alex asked wryly.
Masters grimaced involuntarily.
“Shit.”
Alex smirked. “Yeah, now think about how much this little kitten will scratch when you try to bathe her in those flames down there.”
Black smoke curled into the dark sky, only visible for an ephemeral instant in the flickering firelight as the chopper hovered low over the ground to let men and women pour out. The team dropped into the watery slush that covered the ground, boots ankle deep in the runoff from the burning wells.
Hawk waved them forward as the chopper lifted again into the darkness, leaving them on their own as they moved toward the closest building that seemed mostly intact. It was a trailer, a cheap, prefab building that had seen its better days well over a decade ago, but it wasn’t in cinders, and that made it a good first stop.
Hayes and Turner took the door, breaching like they’d been born doing tactical entries. For all Masters knew, they had been. Their file didn’t say much on what they’d done before joining the navy.
“Clear!”
He and Alex followed them in, tearing through the place quickly. There was a computer plugged into an uninterrupted power supply, and Masters dropped into the cheap desk chair in front of it.
He tapped away at it for a minute, opening files and checking the history as well as the trash bin.
“Nothing. Just bookkeeping files.” He snorted, getting up. “I don’t think they could fit a coffin in this place anyway, not through those doors.”
“Storage building, then,” Eddie offered up. “There’s a couple of them nearby that haven’t been torched.”
“Yeah.” Masters nodded. “Let’s go.”
They could feel the heat pouring off the nearest well fire, though it wasn’t really all that close. Still, it was near enough to make them sweat as they approached the first of the storage buildings, eyeing the darkened windows carefully.
“Looks dead,” Eddie said as they moved toward the doors.
“I’d appreciate it if you’d use a different word; thanks so much,” Alex growled, his eyes flicking back and forth. He wasn’t only expecting trouble, he was pretty sure it had already arrived.
The Asatru duo chuckled between themselves, seeming a little too gleeful for the comfort of the rest of the group, save perhaps Hannah.
“Death is but another step in the journey of life, Black,” Perry Rand said.
“Yeah. The last step,” Alex rejoined sourly.
“I find it both interesting and ironic that someone of your stature in the communities seems to be such a nihilist,” Rand told him, honestly bemused. “You don’t believe in an afterlife?”
“Never met anyone who could prove it exists,” Alex shrugged, “and I live in a world where I know gods exist, so frankly I find the lack of evidence all the more compelling.”
“Come on, Black, do you want to live forever?”
“Another sixty years would be nice.”
“Can the chitchat.” Masters finally stepped in. “We have a door to breach.”
It wasn’t much of a door, as such things went. Security was lax, but there was no reason for it to be tight in such an area. Probably the worst the company expected to deal with out here was bored teenagers from Barrow, drunk and looking for something to do in the long night.
So they didn’t bother wasting what little other ammo they did have. Mack just mule-kicked the door while Derek performed the entry, leading the group into the darkened shed.
Lights flicked on as they swept the room, finding nothing hidden in the shadows as best any of them could tell. In fact, there was nothing there at all.
“Empty. You’d think there would be something in here.”
Masters didn’t like it, not at all, but then he didn’t much like anything about the entire op. There wasn’t a lot to like from where he was standing, pop culture’s obsession with zombies and their ilk notwithstanding.
“Clear the corners,” he ordered. “We have another building near here to check, and one stone-cold bitch to put back in her grave.”
The group nodded, clearing the area as best they could. The building was expansive, filled with junk and material that had probably been scrapped from equipment repairs on site.
“We’re clear.”
Masters nodded. “All right. Next building.”
With Eddie on point, the team crossed the slush-filled terrain and made their way to the second large storage building on site. The door was locked, which Masters took as a good sign, but it was when Norton raised a hand that he knew they’d hit pay dirt. Alex cocked his head to one side as he felt along the door and then the wall with his hand, stopping and nodding slowly.
Masters looked over at his friend and gestured, palms up, but stayed silent. Norton nodded, showing two fingers, then pointed to the door.
Two just inside. Good, must be guards, he thought, looking over the scene. Finally Masters nodded and stepped back, waving Keyz forward. He pointed to the hinges and pantomimed an explosion with an opening fist. Robbie just grinned and nodded, white teeth gleaming against the dark of the twilit night.
They moved back, leaving the EOD specialist to his work. Robbie managed to keep from whistling while he worked, but it was pretty clear that he was just about as happy as he ever got. He used what was left of his stash and shaped charges that weren’t intended for antipersonnel use.
The small but powerful explosives made use of the Munroe effect to direct the force of the blast as needed. When he had finished rigging the heavy door of the storage building, he stepped a couple feet to one side, detonator in hand. Keyz glanced over at Masters, who just nodded, then turned his head away from the door and thumbed the switch.
The explosives made a distinct crump, the low thump felt even more than heard as the concussion passed over them. The door itself remained in place, oddly perhaps, just smoking slightly around the edges as Masters smoothly stepped into place and slammed his boot into it.
It flew inward, no longer held by hinges, and Mack and Derek stormed through, crisscrossing in front of Masters, their Heckler and Koch rifles barking sharply as they took out the sentries.
Masters was partway through the door, a “borrowed’ ” forty-five auto in one hand and his new best friend, the equally “borrowed” kukri, in the other. The team secured the other side of the door and paused just inside as they caught sight of their quarry.
“Well, that sure looks like a coffin, Alex,” Masters said as he walked around the object, eyes darting around the room intently.
It seemed too empty for his liking.
Way too damned empty.
Norton nodded, grimacing as he visibly steeled himself and began to approach the coffin with his Bowie blade drawn. Eddie dropped a big hand on his shoulder, shooting him a look that clearly questioned his sanity.
The master chief nodded to the others, and they all aimed their weapons at the coffin, only for Norton to grab Eddie’s gun and push it away and up.
“What the hell are you doing?” Eddie demanded.
“You’ll just piss her off.” Norton scowled. “This is going to be a big enough pain in the ass without making her even madder.”
“Madder than when Hawk hacked her arm off?” Eddie asked incredulously. “You’ve got to be shitting me.”
“You think your bullets are going to do anything useful?” Norton shook his head. “Just cover me and try to distract it if it gets the edge on me.”
“Distract it? How?” Eddie demanded. “You just said bullets would only piss it off!”