"Not that I'm aware of," Liz answered, then she rocked on her feet as if her physical balance had gone awry. "Major, we have to get upstairs."
"Yes, colonel. Let me lock up and I'll meet you there."
The fact that she turned around and marched away without offering to wait told Thom a lot more than any of her words. Of course, like everything else at Red Rock, he did not know what her actions suggested, leaving him again with nothing but questions.
Twiste followed him out of the room. Gant shut the door and sealed it with a padlock.
"Well, you heard her, I have a meeting to attend. I believe my ass is going to get chewed off."
Twiste did not find any humor in the situation at all. In fact, he reached out and grabbed Gant's arm.
"Thom, I know I've heard her name before. I just can't place it. But I've got this sick feeling in the pit of my stomach."
"Yes, this place has that effect."
"No, look, I mean it," he said, locking his eyes on Gant's. "I have this feeling that trusting her would be a big mistake."
Lieutenant Colonel Thunder and Major Thomas Gant stood at attention, Liz behind her desk and Gant to the side.
The expression on General Borman's face made Thom think of an angry Texas sky about to spawn a twister.
"Let me try to understand this. You took an unauthorized trip to discuss your—" he glared at Thunder, " — top secret facility and his—" a head motion toward Gant, " — classified mission with a woman who isn’t even cleared to know either of you exist. You left Corporal—Corporal—Sanchez in charge of this facility for several hours?"
"Sir," Thunder replied despite the obvious fact that Borman was in no mood for replies. "Given the lack of information available to my command in regard to the nature of the threat here at Red Rock, I took action I deemed necessary to enhance security at this facility."
"Don’t try that bureaucratic bullshit with me, Colonel. I’m not a fat-ass senator at a subcommittee hearing where we can dance like a couple of whore-lawyers. This is a military operation, not the goddamn girl scouts. You’re not my priest — either of you — and I don’t have to confess to you, do you understand?"
"Sir, yes, sir," came the dual chorus.
Borman's anger seemed to increase, but instead of his voice growing louder, it became deeper, making him all the more menacing. Anyone could shout, but it took a master of intimidation to sound calm while at the same time unleashing a hellish fury.
"You have only one job here and you still managed to fuck that up. Should I be surprised, Colonel? Isn't that on your resume — she fucks things up. I pulled your sorry ass out of the closet and put you back on the front lines and this is the shit you pull?"
"Sir, trying to do my job."
"Don't you do it. Don't you pull that with me. Your job was to stay at this desk and make sure the men on this base keep their heads in the game. Instead, your head wasn't in the game. Let's get one thing straight, Lieutenant Coloneclass="underline" you are a mother hen sitting on eggs. Your ass doesn't move. I'm of the mind to throw you back to the wolves. How would a charge of insubordination sound?"
Gant felt compelled to speak.
"Sir, I am as responsible for that excursion as the colonel. I needed intelligence for tomorrow's entry."
Borman swiveled around, sending the twister crashing into another barn.
"Who the hell are you, Major? You are a military asset. Nothing more. You go where I tell you to go. You do what I tell you to do. If I think you need intel, I pick up a spoon and feed it to you."
The general circled Gant and leaned in close, his nose nearly touching the side of the major's face.
"You and your little group think you're above it all, don't you? Look at you. Task Force Archangel, Friez's little darlings who get to walk around without any rank on their collar, sideburns and mustaches, and fancy equipment straight out of DARPA. You act like you're in some kind of goddamn fraternity."
Thom stood straight and still, but as he listened to Borman's rant his mind raced back to the Darwin facility a few days ago. He and Twiste had witnessed General Albert Friez arguing on the telephone and Frieze had not seemed comfortable with Archangel's new orders. Now Thom saw why.
It became clear his unit was here for reasons beyond the mission. Borman's choice of words … his tone … the disdain frothing from his lips as he growled … Archangel was Borman's prize.
"Albert protected you and covered for you and kept making excuses for why you could never come to Red Rock; how you were too valuable. Not this time. This time you belong to me. Tomorrow morning you and your men are marching downstairs to that vault door and going in. I will tell you what you need to know. Not Friez; me. And you'll do it or so help me God I will bury the entire Archangel program so deep they'll have to add ten more sublevels at Darwin just to find your bones. Are we clear?"
Gant mumbled, "Perfectly."
"I can't hear you, Major. I asked if we were clear."
"Sir, yes, sir, my ears are fully functional and I comprehend the meaning of your words, sir. We are clear."
Borman backed off, apparently satisfied that his browbeating had obtained the necessary results.
"This is what you need to know, Major. Your unit will enter the quarantine zone tomorrow morning at 1100 hours. Captain Twiste will take with him a package that you will safely deliver to the Red Lab on sublevel 8. That is your target zone. Twiste has been trained to operate this package. All other considerations are secondary, and all team assets with the exception of Captain Twiste and his package are expendable. Do you understand, soldier?"
"I understand, sir."
"As for your speculation as to the cause of the quarantine or the status of the quarantine zone …" Borman hesitated.
Thunder seized on that momentary hesitation to take the initiative.
"Sir, with all due respect I wish to formally protest this mission."
Borman gaped at her, incredulous. He had just walked up one side of her then down the other, yet there she was still pressing forward.
Thunder hurried before she could be cut off: "Without understanding the nature of any hostile activity or conditions inside the zone, Major Gant’s team is almost certain to fail. I request additional information as to the nature of the threat and the estimated odds of success."
Borman replied to her, "Major Gant is the element leader. You are in no position to request further information. If the major feels that he is not capable of carrying out this mission without additional information then he's free to say as much," the general said, but the look in Borman's eyes told a much different story. There would be no questions and no answers.
"Sir, we can handle it."
Borman nodded approvingly. "Then that’s that. Prep your team, Major, You’re going in tomorrow morning."
Borman stepped to the door and opened it.
Liz broke from attention and gasped, "That's it? You're just sending him in there without any information, without any reason to believe things have changed since those first teams disappeared? It's a suicide mission."
"You stand down, Colonel," Borman shot back, but it appeared that his previous outburst had sapped his strength to fight. Nonetheless, he still threatened, "The only reason you're still standing in this office is because I don't want to waste my time getting another replacement in here. But don't push me or you will be on the first chopper out of here."
Thom saw that this was going nowhere, so it made no sense for her to get thrown out on her ear for a lost cause. He had received his orders and would do as commanded. Not because he agreed with the mission, not because he felt good about it, and certainly not because he enjoyed working under General Borman's command.