Blink: Interdiction (Book 4)

32

Darien was seething.

He couldn't quite put his finger on who or what he was angry at. Amber for defying him? Merlynn for ordering them on this mission in the first place? Smith for sending him back to Ravine? Kyros for his blood-soaked moral crusade? He could lay blame in a lot of places.

Right now it didn't really matter. He cleared everything out of his head; locked those dark thoughts away to be wrestled with another day. He'd been through a lot in the last few years as an operative, but he'd never left a job half done, and he wasn't about to start now.

One more mission and he could leave Ravine and never come back. If he was being honest with himself, that was all he really cared about.

With the footsteps of Amber and Hekket receding into the corridors he sucked a calming breath in through clenched teeth and looked to Niamh.

"Get to the barracks," he told her flatly. "Bring Cath and Gale from Tundra Squad. They can fill in and I'm damn sure they'll want to be here for this."

Flicking a quick salute Niamh gave him a nod and darted from the room. Only once she was out of sight did he allow his anger to slip out, like glimpsing a supernova. With one hand he lashed out, smashing a fist down hard against the display table before turning sharply away, hands on hips as he tried to get a handle on his rage.

"Darien," Uther said quietly. "You shouldn't hold this against them."

He shot the older operative a grim look. "You think I will?"

"They disobeyed orders, but they're right – we're not supposed to be doing the government's wet work. They have their own branch of psychopaths for that."

"So you want to walk away as well?"

The tech shook his head. "No, I'm with you. I want to finish this and go home, but I understand why Amber and Hekket did what they did."

"This is a real shitty planet you have here, Darien," Idas muttered, flopping down into a chair with his arms folded almost petulantly. "You know, I miss when it was just us against the bad guys – nice and black'n'white. Give me a giant spider the size of a city, or an alien parasite that steals people's bodies, but this?" He flapped a vague hand at their surroundings. "Colonial politics is more than I signed up for. What a mess."

Darien nodded. "Isn't it just." He scuffed a boot off the solid metal floor and looked to Uther. "I'm not going to hold anything against them for what they did, but there are going to be consequences that are out of my hands."

The other operative gave him a stiff nod of understanding and Darien felt his shoulders relax just a fraction with the knowledge he wouldn't have to deal with any further challenges to his authority – at least not right now. He shuddered to think of the disciplinary actions that might now come crashing down on the heads of Amber and Hekket when the operation concluded. They had disobeyed orders from both himself and from a military colonel. He knew from experience that at the very least suspension beckoned. More realistically the pair had probably jeopardized their future in Blink altogether with such an act.

They waited in a heavy silence until Niamh returned, the two operatives from Tundra squad close on her heels. The medic, Cath still more a grim expression as she shot a dagger-like glare in Darien's direction from beneath the fringe of her short blonde hair. Still bitter, still angry, just as he'd expected. Behind her was Gale, the stocky boy who'd tried in vain to keep a rein on his furious comrade what felt like a lifetime ago. He had a shaven head and pale skin, sharp blue eyes flickering as he took in the room. They moved up to the table both of them examining the globe suspiciously and for a moment no-one spoke.