Summer squeezed his hand, hoping for some kind of reaction. “Alex? Please, talk to me!”
Liz listened to his heart with her stethoscope, then shook her head with tears streaming down her cheeks. “I’m sorry, Summer.”
“No! God! No!” Summer said, putting his hand to her cheek. “Please, Alex, don’t go! Please! Not yet! I need you!”
CHAPTER 16
Krista came to a stop when the trail reached the pinnacle of the rise ahead. She held up a closed fist to her point men, then worked herself into a prone position with her rifle at the ready, its barrel just beyond the edge of the ridge. She brought the optics mounted on the top rail of her weapon into position in front of her eyes to survey the area and take a risk assessment. Her men slid in next to her and did the same.
“See something?” Horton asked in a low tone, holding a few yards behind her, still under guard by Wicks and his always-at-the-ready assault rifle.
Krista turned her head, using a whisper to respond. “An old school bus in the wash ahead. Half a click out.”
“Seriously? Way out here?”
“Been there a while by the looks of it. The girl’s tracks lead straight toward it.”
“Do you see her?”
Krista scanned the snow around the vehicle, but the low-powered scope wasn’t helping her identify any more detail. “Not yet, but there may be more tracks in the snow. Hard to know for sure, but there are shadows. Don’t see much else.”
“She’s probably in the bus, staying warm,” Horton said.
“Wouldn’t surprise me, though tactically, hunkering down at that location would be a mistake. The sight lines are a problem and there are too many elevated positions surrounding her. She’d be a sitting duck. If she’s there, it’s more likely an ambush. Trying to draw us in.”
“Orders, ma’am?” one of the point men asked, also in a whisper.
Krista pointed to the right. “You two are on overwatch. Work your way around that ridge and cover our advance. Shoot anything that moves.”
“Other than the girl,” Horton said, his tone filled with urgency.
“Unless she attacks, then put her down,” Krista added.
“Roger that,” the man answered, getting to his feet in a crouched position, then scampering with his squad mate in the direction she’d ordered.
Krista waved Horton and Wicks forward, sliding back a few yards before getting to her feet and meeting them halfway down the hill, their heads out of sight from the bus.
The fourth member of the patrol team arrived, too, and Krista addressed him. “Remain here and cover our six. I’ll bring you forward when it’s clear.”
“And if it’s an ambush, ma’am?” the guard asked.
“Fall back and get word to camp. They’ll want to send reinforcements, but tell them I said not to risk it. They are to hold position and cover Nirvana.”
The man stood without a response, looking confused.
Krista continued. “Make sure they understand. Nobody is to follow us here. If something goes wrong, we can’t afford to lose anyone else. Is that clear? They are to protect the camp at all costs.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“All right, take your position.”
“So it’s just us?” Horton asked, looking at Wicks and then at Krista.
“Time to nut up or shut up. As soon as my men are in position, we’re going to see if you’re as good as you say. Otherwise, this is where we bury your ass, once and for all.
Wicks grabbed Horton by the collar and yanked him back hard. “And the first bullet is from me.”
“Stand down, Wicks. We’ll get to that soon enough,” Krista said.
Horton flared his eyes wide. “You don’t think any of this will work, do you?”
“No, I don’t. It’s a total Hail Mary, if you ask me. I doubt you could track down a drunken toddler in the snow, let alone someone with skills and a decent head start.”
“Then why did you go along with it?”
“Because it’s what Summer wanted. But you and I know what’s really happening here.”
Horton threw up his hands. “I wish you would trust me. I’m a man of my word. I can do this.”
“Look, asshole, you worked for Frost. Not exactly a ringing endorsement about someone we should trust.”
“Not my best decision. I’ll give you that. But a guy’s got to stay alive. At the time, that meant joining Frost.”
“And doing whatever unspeakable acts he ordered you to do along the way.”
“It’s not like I had a lot of choices.”
“We always have a choice, Horton. It’s those tough decisions that define us. One way or the other.”
“I get that, but—”
“For all we know, you’re some kind of plant, sent here to infiltrate our camp.”
“Except Frost obviously wanted me dead when he left me out there for the Scabs. That should tell you all you need to know.”
“Yes, it does. You are not one to follow orders.”
“Actually, just the opposite. I can follow orders. But with Frost, if you fail, you die.”
“What was the failure?”
“Tracking your boss,” Horton answered before a mumbling stutter hit his lips. “I mean, bringing her in. Tracking her wasn’t the issue.”
“That girl made you all look like fools, didn’t she?” Krista said.
“And she cost our team commander his life in the process. Like I said, with Frost, failure is not an option. Not after Summer gave us the slip more than once.”
“If all that’s true, then why should we trust you with tracking the Scab Girl? Seems to me failure is your middle name.”
“Because Helena is not your boss.”
“But you said she’s smart.”
“She is, but there are varying degrees of smart.”
“Sounds like a complete spin job to me,” Wicks said, rolling his eyes at Krista. “It’s all about CYA with this guy. We should just burn him now, beat the rush later.”
“Actually, it’s not about spin. It’s quite simple,” Horton said. “When Summer got away the second time, I became expendable, like everyone else under Frost’s command. That’s how the man rules. Through fear.”
“Ruled—” Krista corrected.
“Yes, ruled. Now that Fletcher’s in charge, there’s no telling how this is going to go.”
Krista smirked. “I trust him a lot more than I trust you.”
“That’ll change, if you just give me the chance. Let me prove it to you.”
Krista pulled her knife again, aiming the tip at Horton. “So I’m curious—what makes you think I’m any different than Frost?”
“Well, uh, not sure.”
“I guess, then, we’ll see what happens. But don’t think for a second I won’t do it. If it were up to me, we would’ve left all of you on that road to freeze to death, so factor that into who and what you think I am.”
Horton didn’t respond this time, clamping his lips together in silence.
Krista put her knife away and looked at Wicks. “Overwatch should be in position. Let’s move out.”
Summer lifted Sergeant Barkley from the medical bed and lowered him to the floor, letting his legs touch gingerly. Once she was sure he could stand on his own, she let go and took three steps back, then bent down and slapped her hands against her knees. “Come here, boy. You can do it.”
“Are you sure about this?” Liz asked.
“Yeah, I need something to take my mind off all the crap going on,” Summer said, seeing flashes of Edison’s and Morse’s faces in her mind. “Besides, he needs to move around a little, like you said.”