Page 5 of Trigger Discipline
Judd mulled that over. He was the best reconnaissance man Gabriel had ever seen. If anyone could do it, he could. But that didn’t mean it would be easy. Or even possible, before they lost all satellite coverage. He had seen the damage; the attackers hadn’t just disabled communications with an EMP—they had destroyed them.
“How many casualties so far?”
Gabriel didn’t answer. He didn’t have to; the look on his face said it all.
As they drew closer to the city, he could smell smoke. It was thick, but he supposed if an entire city was on fire, it would be. They all tried to look out the window, but it was still too dark to see anything.
Gabriel withdrew a map of DC from his pocket. “Aboutsix clicks from our drop zone is a cell tower. Before we lost our satellite, it looked like it was in pretty decent condition. We’re going to make our way to it. Once we’re there, we’ll try to utilize it to reestablish communications.”
His team didn’t look convinced.
After leaving the Army, Gabriel had found himself adrift. Lost without the rigid structure that had been such a big part of his life for longer than it hadn’t. Purposeless, with a head full of knowledge that was useless to the outside world, he struggled. It was a chance meeting at a grocery store that changed everything.
He’d met Irving—whether that was his first or last name was hotly debated—in the cereal aisle. It had been so brief, a mere half smile and shrug after they had nearly run into each other, but in those few moments, Irving had seen something in Gabriel. Something that had him extending a matte black business card between two fingers.
Kinetic Solutions was a private security group run by Irving. Who owned and funded the operation was a strict secret, one Gabriel had never felt the need to know.
The pay was good, the perks were better, and Gabriel finally had the structure he needed to keep himself grounded.
It didn’t take long for Irving to trust him when it came to picking out new recruits. Judd Briggs had been a no-brainer. The scout was loud, brash, and Southern. But he was damn good at his job. If you could tolerate the bad jokes.
Phin had been a little more difficult. He came with a criminal record and PTSD. Irving hadn’t been keen. Gabriel had pulled his one and only favor with the man.
So, dubious or not, there was no one he’d rather have by his side.
No one had asked them to be here. Irving had told him there would be no help. The government, if they still had one, was in shambles. The White House was a smoldering ruin,and no one knew if the President was even alive. The National Guard was operating based on theirtraining and the desire to protect civilians, but the chain of command was limited to whichever field command was on the ground.
They needed to get some form of communication up. If they could communicate with the various pockets of resistance, they might be able to set up a coordinated defense.
“Where are they evacuating? Ft. Detrick?” Phin asked.
“Ft. Detrick is gone,” Gabriel said, trying not to think of the enormity of his words. “So is Andrews and the Naval base. They’ve hit all large military strongholds. As of a few hours ago, the official evacuation was north, towards Bethesda.”
That was hours ago. No one knew what the situation on the ground looked like. After the first wave of attacks, the official evacuation went out the window. It became a mad scramble. Last he checked, the National Guard had been splintered across the city, desperately trying to keep the attack towards downtown and away from the suburban neighborhoods.
Gabriel never expected to be having this conversation. Not just because of the whole ‘alien’ thing, but he never imagined he would be discussing an attack on his home soil. He remembered the pain of 911. Of seeing all those people in desperate need of help and being unable to do anything about it.
Against his parents’ wishes, he joined the Army the moment he turned eighteen. Starting at the bottom, he worked his way up to Delta Force. Gabriel’s late twenties were spent under a bushy beard, working, and living in countries he had never heard of. Completely black ops, he knew if he died there would be no one claiming his body. He would never make it home.
Which was fine by him. He had something to prove.
He had been stationed in the Middle East shortly afterDon’t Ask, Don’t Tellwas repealed. Phin told him not to. Begged him not to come out, but Gabriel did it anyway. It had to start with someone, and he was strong enough to pave the way. The abuse was bad. But Gabriel proved just how capable a homosexual man could be when he put on his uniform every day. He let his work speak for itself, and by the time he retired, he had the career to prove it.
Gay or not, he left the Army with the respect of his fellow soldiers.
Judd wiped the back of his hand, staring at the front of the helo where their pilot was expertly navigating through the darkness.
“So what?The Enterprisebelched out a bunch of fucking orcs to take over DC?” His Southern accent got thicker when he was emotional, and right now, Judd sounded like he was ready to boot scoot boogie with his tactical boots.
Phin glared at him. “You don’t even know how fucking stupid you sound, man.”
Judd was about to rise to the insult when Gabriel lifted a hand. “It was cloudy, but reports said there was an unidentified flying object?—”
“UFO,” Judd said, his lips curling into a shit eating grin.
Gabriel clenched his teeth. “Yes, a UFO, floating just across the river from the Pentagon. People thought it was a low-flying aircraft or a weather balloon.”
“It’s always a weather balloon,” Judd muttered.