Blink: Interdiction (Book 4)

20

Darien thought their return to Parker's hideout might have been a little more triumphant, but things seemed oddly subdued. He knew for certain that they'd at least proved themselves trustworthy in Gazi's eyes, by the fact they'd been allowed to see just where in the Haze the man had fortified himself.

Examining it from the outside for the first time, he found it both impressive and unassuming all at the same time. The thing blended seamlessly with the low, tangled mess of crags and gulleys that infested the region. The coal-dark structures had been built straight down into the rocks, worked through the outcroppings with painstaking care. The square edges jutted out from outcroppings before disappearing into the ground like the top of some oil-smeared iceberg. At a glance he couldn't tell if it was some kind of repurposed structure or built specifically to house the rebels, but whatever its origin, it was impressive.

Moats of lava simmered broodingly through narrow channels, flowing around the buildings like lurid veins of fire. Their bulky transport trucks wound between them on a route barely wide enough to carry them, bumping and grinding in a convoy, precious cargo concealed within. Theirs was second in line, following Gazi's lead vehicle down a slop through one of the gulleys, the ragged walls rising up to loom over them. They descended lower and lower until they reached the deeply buried entrance of the complex. A hangar door yawned open like the gate to the underworld, a row of sickly white lights guiding the vehicles through into the inky dark.

One by one they filed in, and once the last vehicle pass the threshold Darien felt the shudder as the immense doors slammed shut. Then light came spilling through the windows of the passenger compartment as the hangar's main lights flared into life, now safely concealed from any prying eyes.

The operatives rose from their seats in the truck and his eyes were drawn to Amber, her right arm still lashed in a sling. It wasn't much more than a flesh-wound and wouldn't keep her out of action for long, but it still twanged a chord of disquiet in him seeing her injured. He knew he was asking more of his people than he ever had before. He waited and walked beside her as they filed out.

"How you holding up?" he asked as they descended the ramp, moving out into the hangar.

She smiled wryly. "I've had worse days."

"One quick debrief with Parker then we'll get out of here."

"That would be lovely." She forced a smile. A surge of pride welled up in him at the sight. Amber had performed all her duties beyond what he could have expected. He'd expected far more push back from his teams when the plan to assault the convoy had been unveiled, but they'd more or less accepted it. Each and every one of them grasped the larger implications and had shown their willingness to do the hard things this campaign would require.

And a campaign was what it had become. The tensions on Ravine showed no signs of abating. Their communications with Merlynn kept the Blink teams appraised of a deteriorating situation, with more and more of the remote regions bubbling over into open criticism of both the local government and the colonial reinforcements.

Clashes between angry residents, rebels and government troops were becoming more frequent and it was increasingly clear to Darien that he needed to finish this assignment as soon as possible. So far the Beltock Dragoons had done their best to keep order without the threat of live fire, but it was only a matter of time. If they wanted to avoid the eruption of an out-and-out bloodbath they had to find the man behind the mask.

He saw a group of Gazi's troops unloading their prizes, ferrying twelve dwarf missile batteries out of the armoured truck they'd been transported in and loading them into a series of gravity cradles operated by technicians from the station. The weapons disappeared into the machines before being swiftly guided from the hangar, disappearing through passages Darien had not yet had the pleasure of being shown.