Do No Evil (Aeon Trilogy Book 2)

Chapter 10

Bob Eckers turned to Olivia Freeman as the two exchanged watches at noon. "I can't believe Willy turned traitor. I want payback."

"He was a traitor from the very start. We just didn't know it. He said his competition would identify the most elite of us, the best of the best, the tip of the spear. But in reality he perverted the competition in order to select the weakest candidates. The whole thing was a sick joke."

Bob looked over his shoulder towards the lake where Sarah and Michael were camped for the day. He lowered his voice, knowing that the Ghosts had augmented hearing. "If Willy's competition was a joke, then his choice of Sarah was the punchline. I saw Willy watching Sarah during the competition, here changing the rules for her, there making an exception, everywhere giving her the benefit of the doubt. He tilted the scales in her favor so he could select her."

Olivia shrugged. "What a disaster she's been. In her first real assignment she fell head over heels for the man who was supposed to be her target, and compromised her mission so badly it had to be aborted."

"Aborted by Jaeger, not by Willy," interjected Bob. "Willy probably wanted it to go that way."

"And remember that day we were going to raid the Aeon temple in New York and take down Laura Mayer in the open? Somehow, just before we struck, the mission was called off by someone in Washington. I wonder how they found out about it? Must have been Sarah sending transmissions on the wrong channel."

"I almost took Laura down anyway. Who knew she'd learned how to block a knife with magnetic waves."

"And I haven't even mentioned how Sarah choked and got half our team killed at Sanctuary. Or maybe she screwed up on purpose. Who knows what's going on inside her computer mind? Maybe the Aeons hacked into it and control her like a robot slave."

Bob gesticulated angrily. "I saw Sarah right after that slaughter, when she was surrounded by injured Demons. Sarah ignored her own comrades so that she could save Nick instead. The guy was the goddamn enemy and she threw her body over him to protect him. I nearly shot her myself. Next time I won't hesitate."

Olivia shook her head sadly. "I remember it. And since the raid, Nick Lal's been walking around the ranch in his shackles with that silver cross necklace, the one that Sarah used to wear all the time. How could she dare to flaunt their affection so brazenly? And why didn't Jaeger imprison Sarah for her obvious disloyalty?"

Bob spat. "Enough about Sarah. We're also babysitting that fool Michael. He hasn't exactly distinguished himself, either. You know he wasn't at Sanctuary because he was actually rated lower than Sarah for tactical work. It's hard to believe that after all his training, Michael might have messed up the Sanctuary raid more than Sarah did."

"Supposedly Michael's strength is in the computer infiltration and spying work that supposed to be the main mission of the Ghosts. But if he's so great at computer infiltration, he could have gathered evidence against the Aeons without the need for a raid on Sanctuary." She looked around the desert. "And if he's so great, why are we here now?"

"Sarah and Michael can't even walk through a desert without nearly killing themselves in a well shaft. There's no doubt that Willy's selection of them as the Ghosts was his crowning betrayal. For this and his other crimes, he deserves to die."

"But that's not the mission we're on."

"The mission we are on is doomed. We're just going to get ourselves killed babysitting the Ghosts while they try to use some computer virus inside a heavily fortified facility. We're not trained or equipped to go up against these odds this far in enemy territory. Not without support. Not without an exfiltration plan."