Blink: Interdiction (Book 4)

25

It had been a long time since Darien had felt this kind of anger towards another Blink operative, but Vass had pushed things too far. It was open insubordination, a virtual mutiny and he wouldn't stand for it. Images flashed in his mind of pulling out his pistol and shooting Tundra's leader dead right there.

He wouldn't have done it, but the thought didn't go away.

Both he and Vass followed Vanna from the room, Rigel's commander moving swiftly from the main briefing room, face impassive. Alongside him, Vass had an expression of virtual boredom on his face, as though listening to Vanna was a courtesy and nothing more. She led them out of earshot of the others, turning into a smaller briefing room that currently lay vacant. Turning, she nodded to Darien.

"Shut the door," she said quietly.

But as soon as the door closed, Vanna's ice-cold demeanour evaporated. She shook her head, gathering in a deep breath, eyes blazing as she looked from one to the other.

"Are both of you completely insane?" she hissed, slamming a clenched fist against the nearest table with a bang that echoed around the room. She pointed towards the door. "What in space was that?"

Darien bristled. "A disagreement."

"Oh, it was a damn sight more than that!"

"So what?" Vass replied, shrugging. "We're entitled to raise concerns about command decisions." And he shot a pointed glance at Darien.

Her eyes narrowed and she took a step towards him. "Of course we are, but if you have to question your commanding officer you show a bit of respect, and you sure as shit don't start a screaming match in front of everyone else!" Vanna's gaze flickered to Darien. "Those operatives in there trust us to make decisions. We're responsible for them, and if we make the wrong call we can get them killed. I can live with that responsibility, but if they see two of their senior officers yelling at each other like a pair of toddlers how can you expect any of them to have confidence in anything we decide?!"

That pierced through the anger that had been clouding Darien's mind. He shifted his footing uncomfortably, his mind flashing through the myriad of life-threatening operations he'd undertaken as the commanding officer of Hammerhead Squad. The others had followed him unquestioningly; decisively. That decisiveness and coordination was what kept them alive. He couldn't lose that. He pinched the bridge of is nose, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment, before nodding slowly.

"I see your point," he relented, looking at her.

"Good. I've got a lot of respect for you, Darien, but you're losing your grip on things here. You're the commanding officer – act like it. Someone disagrees with you, don't start yelling at them in the middle of a briefing – sort it out in private. I'll follow you, but you have to lead us."

"So you're saying you're okay with all of this?" Vass asked her, disbelief clear in his voice. "You know as well as I do that Darien's only in charge because he's from Ravine. Smith's got tunnel vision on that and nothing else. Any one of us could have commanded this operation."

"If that's what you truly think then you're just not paying attention, Vass," she shot back. "There is a very good reason Hammerhead lead these operations. They have more experience than any of us dealing with the extremes. You were with them on Marianas – you should know that."

"That was one mission. All of us had to pull it out there. I'm not saying you're not a good operative, Darien, but you're judgement's all over the place here. You've got a personal stake. Smith seems to think that's a good thing – I think it's a liability. You're not thinking straight."