She didn’t answer.
“What did she say?” Nick demanded.
“Nothing,” Jack said.
Nick grabbed Tabitha’s arm. “Tell her that’s an order.”
“Watch this,” Aubrey said. Jack couldn’t see her through the trees, but he knew she was right next to the group of soldiers.
“Ask her what she’s doing,” Jack said.
“No, damn it,” Nick said. “Tell her to follow orders.”
“Flick,” Aubrey said.
“Chyort!”
“Ask her what she’s doing,” Jack said, but then he smelled it. Aubrey was moving toward the brush on the far side of the road, carrying the cigarette with her.
“Come on,” she whispered. “Come on.”
“What’s she doing, Jack?” Nick demanded.
“I was right. She’s starting a fire.”
Jack heard the Russian say something that sounded like it was probably a swearword, and the two other men laughed. Jack focused on the cigarette. The smell of burning tobacco was pungent and smelled gross next to Aubrey’s perfume.
“Damn it,” Nick said. “Tell her to fire the gun.”
But then Jack smelled it—the softer, subtler smell of burning weeds.
“Too late,” Jack said.
“Distraction started,” Aubrey said triumphantly. “I’m getting tired, Jack. And seriously, tell Tabitha to shut up.”
For a moment—a long moment—everyone was quiet.
“The wind caught his cigarette,” Aubrey said, obviously pleased. “Blew it in the weeds.”
“Pozhar!”
And then suddenly all the Russians were talking at once, and moving toward the fire. Jack heard them getting out of the back of the truck, and the commander in the BMP turret was saying something that sounded urgent.
“Nobody needs to get shot,” Aubrey said.
“They’re all moving to the fire,” Jack said to Nick. “It’s a good distraction.”
“They’re going to put it out fast. There are probably fire extinguishers in all three of those vehicles.”
“What do we tell Josi and Rich?”
“Damn it,” Nick said, pacing back and forth behind the cover of pines. “Ask them if they have a clear path.”
“We do,” Josi said. “But the guy’s still in his turret. We’ll be right under him.”
“They do,” Jack told Nick. “But what about the guys in the BMP?”
“Tell Aubrey to get her butt over to the BMP, and get ready to drop a grenade in the hatch. And tell her that’s an effing order.”
Tabitha nodded.
“He’s kidding, right?”
Jack turned to Tabitha. “Tell her Jack says to do it.”
Nick spun. “What’s that supposed to mean? She listens to you, but not me? Isn’t this the frigging army?”
“Just tell her,” Jack said. He looked at Nick. “We’re running out of time.”
Nick shook his head. “Send in Josi and Rich. And tell Aubrey they’re coming.”
Jack listened as Josi and Rich darted from the wood line and up onto the road. They ran to the base of the BMP; he could tell they were on their knees by the tracks.
Aubrey was moving away from the fire and toward the big vehicle, too. Jack heard her unzip her coat.
“A grenade?” she said. “Jack, I just saved someone from getting a bullet in the leg, and now he wants me to drop a grenade in the BMP? And tell Tabitha that yes, I’m going, and shut up.”
“She’s going,” Jack said.
Nick was looking at Tabitha. “Tell her to be ready to drop that grenade inside if there’s any sign that Rich and Josi have been spotted.”
Aubrey was next to the BMP now, and Jack could hear her unclip a grenade from the vest inside her coat.
“This is a stupid plan,” Aubrey said. “I could drop this in an empty truck cab just as easily and no one would get hurt. And yes, Tabitha, I know we’re at war; people are going to get hurt. But these particular people don’t have to get hurt right now.”
Jack could hear Rich whispering to Josi.
“Eight-cylinder diesel engine . . . fourteen-point-eight liters displacement . . .”
“I don’t know if you can see this, Jack,” Aubrey said, “but I was right. This whole roadside is going up, and they’re chasing it with fire extinguishers.”
“Is she doing it?” Nick demanded.
Jack nodded that she was as Aubrey kept talking.
“Who is being the bigger jerk? Tabitha or Nick? Because I can take it if it’s Nick, but if Tabitha thinks she can boss me around like this then we’re going to have words.”
Something felt wrong. Jack was overloaded with sensory information—the smoke from the fire, the fizzing of the extinguishers, the specs Rich was reciting to Josi, the angry calls in Russian—but something else was happening and Jack couldn’t put his finger on it.
He looked at Nick, staring as he listened.
“What is it?” Nick said, running his fingers through his red hair.
Krezi, who’d been quiet this whole time, stood up.
“Guys?” she said.
Jack looked at her, still knowing that he was missing something.
She pointed a finger toward the endless row of cars heading east on the freeway. Jack turned to see what she was pointing at, and saw that the endless row was . . . ending. Disappearing into the blackness. It was as if the world was falling away, car after car falling off the end of the world.
His eyes adjusted and he saw that the cars were still there, but they had gone completely dark—and the edge of darkness was moving toward them rapidly.
“Nick,” Jack said. “That electronic interference—we’re about to be right in the middle of it.”
Nick stepped forward and watched the approaching line of darkness.
“Tell Rich,” he said urgently, turning to Tabitha. “See what happens to the BMP.”
“Does this mean we’re going to get attacked?” Jack asked.
“We need to give Rich and Josi more time.” Nick grabbed Krezi’s arm. “Get up there in the trees, and watch over them. Shoot anyone that spots them.”
She nodded and stripped off her coat to reveal the black sweater underneath. She pulled on her ski mask and then hurried forward, almost running through the woods.
SIXTEEN
“THE LIGHTS ARE GOING TO go out,” Tabitha said. “That Russian thing is coming here.”
“Is it coming for us?” Aubrey asked, suddenly tense. Her arm was getting tired from holding the grenade out beside the BMP driver’s head.
It wasn’t the high explosive grenade—the M67—that she’d learned to throw in basic training. Instead, she’d chosen an M84, a so-called “flashbang” grenade because it made a deafening noise and a blinding flash. She’d been armed with both types, but Aubrey didn’t want to drop a high explosive into the BMP—and she hadn’t been ordered to. This would have the same effect. It would render it, and the people inside, useless, and she wouldn’t be killing anyone.
She hoped. She was dropping it right into the driver’s lap, and she had no idea what kind of damage it would cause that close.
And now the lights were going out.
“Stay there until we give the order,” Tabitha said, her tone authoritative and annoying. “We have to make sure that Josi and Rich have time.”
Aubrey looked at the fire, which was getting under control. The soldiers weren’t as concerned about it anymore, now that they’d extinguished the bushes closest to the truck. Only three of the nine men had extinguishers, and one man unzipped his pants and began to pee on the flames. The others laughed.
She could take them all with one grenade, she thought, and she was glad Nick wasn’t here to offer that as a suggestion.
“Jack, what does it mean that the lights are going out?” Their team could blend in with the mass of citizens on the freeway, but Aubrey would have to get rid of her grenades and sidearm. The Beretta M9 seemed to weigh heavil
y on her hip, though it was still covered by her long coat.
Everything seemed heavier. She always forgot how much being invisible wore her out until she was forced to do it for a long time.
“We don’t know about invasion,” Tabitha said, finally answering her question. “Hold there until you get further orders.”
And then their lights went out. The dim floodlight that was still running off the remaining charge in the generator flickered out, and the controls in the hatch of the BMP went dark.
“Schto zdyes proeshodit?”
“Prover rahdyo.”
“Jack,” Aubrey said. “The BMP lost power. I thought the whole point of this was that the BMP doesn’t lose power when the electronic interference comes. Isn’t that why we’re here?”
There was no answer for a long time. The driver ducked lower in his seat and began messing with switches.
“Stay in position,” Tabitha said. “We don’t know what’s going on.”
The Russian in the turret stood up taller and called to the men on the side of the road. Everyone except the ones with extinguishers hurried back, the one man zipping his fly.
“Jack,” Aubrey said. “I think they’re getting organized again. Josi and Rich need to get out of here.”
“Roger that,” Tabitha said. “Hold on, Aubrey.”
There was a long pause, and then Tabitha added, “Maybe they wouldn’t be getting organized if you’d shot one of them.”
Aubrey exhaled long and slow to keep her temper, and she tightened her grip on the grenade.
The commander was giving orders, pointing all around. He gestured in a big circle around the BMP.
“Jack, they’re calm. They’re getting in a defensive formation, but they’re calm,” Aubrey said. “What does that mean?”
A moment later Tabitha spoke. “Josi and Rich need to move.”
The Russians started to spread out, and Aubrey strained to see over the BMP to the other side, where Josi and Rich were still crouched. She saw a flicker of blackness against the white line at the edge of the road.
Tabitha’s voice came to her. “We’ve pulled them.”
“Vot oni tahm!” the commander called, and pointed toward where the two had just run into the forest.
“Dang it,” Aubrey said, more to herself than to Jack, but then she spoke out loud. “I think they were spotted. We’ve got two—no, four—soldiers going after them. They’re at the tree line—the soldiers, I mean.”
She wished her eyes were better, and she cursed the darkness. Her arm ached from holding it out, so she pulled it back, clipping the grenade to her vest inside her coat. She took out her Beretta, chambered a round, and flicked off the safety. This was not where she wanted to be.
“What do I do, Jack?”
Tabitha’s response was quick. “Don’t let Josi and Rich get followed.”
Aubrey skirted the edge of the BMP. No one could see her—certainly not the big gun, which was motionless. It sounded like the engine had failed—the Russian commander was shouting down at his driver, and the driver was shouting back at him.
The four Russians stood at the tree line. Aubrey ran past them, hurtling into the darkness, only to catch her foot on something and fall to one knee. Her eyesight was getting worse—she’d been invisible for too long.
But she could see what she’d caught her foot on.
It was Rich. He was less than ten feet from the Russians, facedown in the bushes and holding perfectly still.
“Oh no,” she whispered. “Jack, they’re right here, right in front of the Russians.”
She looked up at the four men. They had their automatic rifles pointed right at her. They’d probably heard her stumble over Rich. Maybe he’d made a noise. She didn’t know.
“Jack, what do I do?”
“You shoot them,” Tabitha said, her words slow and deliberate. “You’re a soldier. This is what you signed up for.”
Aubrey was at a loss for words.
She held her gun up, pointing it at the chest of one of the men. He was wearing a Kevlar vest, and she adjusted her aim to his head.
Her hand shook.
“Jack, Tabitha said you want me to shoot these guys. Can you confirm that for me?”
“You have to trust me,” Tabitha said. “This is coming from Nick. We have to get Josi and Rich out.”
Aubrey still stared. One of the men took a step forward, and the others did the same. They took another step.
There was a brilliant beam of blue-white light that blasted from somewhere behind Aubrey, hitting one of the men full in the chest. He flew backward in what seemed like slow motion.
Krezi.
And then Aubrey’s training finally kicked in.
She fired two shots into the next man, only ten feet from her. He dropped like a stone. Krezi blasted at another, and then Aubrey fired again, dropping the fourth.
She reached into her coat and grabbed a grenade—it was round in her hand, not cylindrical. High explosive. She yanked the pin and threw it toward the BMP and the remaining soldiers.
Aubrey dropped to the ground, covering her head, and the grenade cracked with a concussive whump!
“Go,” she said, shoving Rich and Josi before she realized she was still invisible.
“Jack, get them out of here.” She stood up and pointed her Beretta back toward the BMP. There were no men visible.
Josi moved, and grabbed Rich, shouting, “Come on!”
Aubrey’s hands were shaking, and she could feel sweat dripping down her back despite the cold.
“Take the rest of them out,” Tabitha said. “You and Krezi.”
“Why?” Aubrey asked, staring blankly at the side of the BMP, knowing five soldiers were hiding on the other side, and three more waited inside.
“They can’t call for backup if their radios are down,” Tabitha said, sounding far too calm. “But they’ll be up again soon. We can’t let anyone get that chance.”
Something flew over the top of the BMP, and Aubrey ran forward, slamming her shoulder into the vehicle and dropping to her knees.
The Russian grenade exploded in the forest, and a jolt of white-hot pain seared through Aubrey’s leg. She gritted her teeth, unclipped another high explosive from her vest, and stood up long enough to drop it into the open turret. She ducked again, and the blast was muffled by the heavy steel of the vehicle’s walls.
She’d had to kill three more, she thought. “Three more,” she said out loud. And she started to cry.
But she didn’t stop.
A man appeared around the edge of the BMP, firing blindly into the forest. Aubrey turned to shoot him, but Krezi hit him first. He flew backward and out of sight. Aubrey took a breath and marched around the backside of the BMP to where four soldiers sat crouched.
They never saw her. Probably never heard the pop of her pistol as she tore through them. Together, the four of them slumped against the tracks of the BMP, unmoving.
“Oh God.”
SEVENTEEN
“AUBREY,” TABITHA SAID. “AUBREY, ARE you okay?”
She looked at Jack, whose face was white as a sheet. He shook his head. “No answer. But she’s alive. I can hear her breathing.”
“Krezi,” Tabitha tried. “Honey, are you okay?”
There was a pause and then Jack spoke.
“Krezi’s good,” he said. “She sounds shaken up.”
Josi and Rich appeared out of the trees, black silhouettes in the darkness. Josi had pulled off her ski mask, and her brown hair was a mess in all directions. Rich simply walked to the van and sat down in the open door.
“You okay?” Jack asked him.
He nodded, and then looked up, tears on his face. “You know what?”
“What?”
“There was nothing special about the BMP. Its power went out like everything else. It was hardened for an EMP, the way our tanks are, but that’s it. Just standard stuff. Old stuff.”
Josi stuffed her ski mask into her pocket. ?
??We did all of this for nothing.”
There was silence, then Jack held out his hands. “Do me a favor. Don’t say that to Aubrey.”
“She’s going to find out,” Tabitha said.
“I know,” Jack said, “but she doesn’t need to find out right now, and not like this.” He looked toward the roadblock where Nick had gone to try to round up Krezi and Aubrey. “I’ll be back.”
He took off toward the carnage of battle.
“Krezi,” Tabitha called with her mind. “You coming, honey?”
“I thought we were dead,” Rich said, leaning forward, elbows on his knees. “I thought they had us.”
“I did, too,” Josi said, looking only moderately more composed than Rich.
“What happened out there?” Tabitha asked. Jack had narrated some of it, but everything happened so fast.
“I killed people,” Krezi said, her face expressionless as she emerged from the woods. “Three people. Aubrey killed the rest.”
“The rest?” Tabitha said, stunned. There were twelve Russians up there. That left Aubrey with . . . “Nine? That’s—”
“Amazing,” Rich said, rubbing his chest. “She saved my life. Our lives,” he amended, looking up at Josi.
Josi nodded, and then turned away. “I don’t think that I can do this anymore.”
“Just think of how Aubrey feels,” Tabitha said.
Josi’s eyes met hers for a moment, and she stammered to say something, but rushed to a bush and threw up.
“Krezi,” Tabitha said. “Come sit down. Get warm. It’s colder outside than it looks.”
Krezi smiled an exhausted grin and climbed in past Rich, settling in the middle seat.
“Jack told us what you did,” Tabitha said, coming to stand at the door. “That you took the first shot. If it wasn’t for you, Aubrey might have stayed frozen.”
Rich nodded emphatically, but didn’t add anything.
“You practice this in training,” Krezi said, stoic and calm, “but it doesn’t prepare you. Not really.”
“You did good,” Tabitha said. Then, instead of talking out loud, she entered Krezi’s mind. “It’s a rotten world, and we got stuck with the crap lives. But you did good. You saved Rich and Josi. That’s what matters.”