Veronica Stone

Pt. 10

Veronica breathed deep and trained her eye on the patch of water her shark should burst out of. She couldn't see 369 but she knew it would soon be time.

A few seconds passed before she noticed a slight bulge in the water’s surface.

"Brace!...NOW! DROP!!" 

Shamsiah and the others backing the railing of the ship heard the command as well as the drumming of gunshots in the distance and collapsed themselves in an instant. Not one dared hesitate or look behind as all 3000 lbs of the reason why soared through the space where their heads once were, crashing and sliding onto the deck a few feet ahead of their faces. The impact flung their bodies about 3 feet in the air as if they were on a trampoline.
There was a reason why the area needed to be cleared for this maneuver after all.

"OH F@#%!" Lee exclaimed.

"YEAH I NEVER KNEW IT WOULD BE SO CRAZY!", He replied to someone, probably Khir who Veronica could see laying beside him jokingly patting his shoulder.

"Officer Hin. Check your com!"

"My bad Maam", Lee blushed and fixed the intercom that likely switched on from the impact. Some were faulty like that.

Veronica then trained Mansa Musa’s scope on Rayyan. He was bulging and swollen from the pills, bracing the shark's rattling tail in preparation for extraction as well as stabilizing the gattling gun's recoil.

"Doing good Hamid! Hang in there"

"Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-E-E-", He vibrated. 

"On my signal."

The overdoser was on its knees now, the 50 caliber rounds had stripped most of its clothes off, but it re-grew its flesh almost as quickly as the bullets chewed it away. Veronica knew it would only take a bit more time and then the pill reserves would be depleted. It would be pushing it but 369 was a tough one, it could hold out till then. 

Shamsiah and Lim and the others on pills spread out into the periphery, picking out anyone who slipped through the defensive perimeter the non-pill users had made. Making the most of the pill before it wore off. Veronica glowed. That was how she'd trained them. The blur of a woman watched on too, a satisfied smirk on her face. As long as things kept up they'd be well within their budget. That was proper command! Veronica gripped Mansa Musa in excitement, her heart ramming into her chest. She wished her mother could see this. Something going right for once.

"AKAKKAKAKAKAKA"

Madness! 

Veronica's stomach plummeted. As much as she wanted to keep her cool to focus on the maneuver, she couldn't help but feel as if Madness was about to ruin everything. In a split second all the worst possible scenarios spun through her head. She knew Madness too long not to see these scenarios as vividly as reality itself. This entire mission had been a mess, for once things were going her way and here came Madness to ruin it. She just knew it. Veronica was fuming. She had reached her limit.

"YES SHE TELL ME SHE GET IT FROM DE COMPANY!!!"

Mansa Musa? Veronica put two and two together and it only made her madder.

RASS@%$&!

"MADNESS PART YOU IS!?"

"OH SHOOT RAHHNI MI SORRY TREV MUSS KNOCK DE COM MI GON-"

"TREV!?" Veronica's blood was molten iron. 

She was right.

"LIKE TREVOR? PART WUNNA IS!?"

"Hiiii babeee", a distant voice came across the intercom.

"BABE!??? AH WA DIS!? RHA-"

"MADNESS HUSH YOU C@%#!!! WUH FA#$@!% PART WUNNA IS?? MAN YOU GINE SEN ME MENTAL!!", Veronica snarled. She was practically frothing. 

"IN TEN SECONDS? ROGER THAT!" A struggling Rayyan interjected. Veronica was too heated to register his voice let alone switch off his channel. 

"RUDE MUCH! LOOK PAN DE CONTAINUH", Madness hollered over the gunfire.

Veronica struggled not to crush Mansa Musa as she scanned the ship before spotting Madness on top of a container, hopping across to another with Trevor on her back. She stopped, turned and waved at her friend. Veronica didn't wave back, just sucked her teeth. Her body rattled. The cat was practically out the bag now. Madness was no idiot. Veronica seethed at the thought of what was going through her friend's head. She had to know about Veronica and Trevor now. A commander fraternizing with a Lieutenant, let alone a mere Officer was ludicrous. Unacceptable. They were not teenagers. The blur of a woman just looked at Veronica. Her judgement scalding Veronica’s skin. No one could ever respect her after knowing this. Veronica wrenched her face, her tears teetering on the edge of her eyes.

Then she noticed Madness stopping to adjust Trevors body on her back before leaping to another container in the direction of the overdoser. That's when it hit her. She managed to inhale and speak into the intercom again. All was not lost.

"Madness, how is Trevor? I don't know what he's talking about, must have hit his head dealing with the overdoser. Did you find him?"

"YES MI WENT TO DE COMMOTION AN FIND 'IM AN DE REST PICKING AT A BIG ONE SO ME LEND A HAND"

"Good thinking, you'd make a good Commander someday", Veronica lied trying to mask the teariness in her voice. Madness was already leagues better than her but she had to pretend at least. She also had to pretend that Madness was foolish enough to believe her excuse about Trevor. In truth, she was really pretending for herself, if she could fool herself that she fooled Madness then she could get herself together. 

"EXTRACTING!" 

Wait wah?

Before Veronica had time to piece together what was happening, Rayyan was already in mid-swing. 

"EVERYBODY DOWN!"

She scrambled to whistle for the shark to cease fire and prayed no one got hit by the strays while Rayyan was swinging.

BLOOSH! 

Veronica heard the shark's impact with the water’s surface through Rayyan's intercom. She frantically spotted her scope on where the overdoser lay. It was drawing itself up to its knees. Flesh repairing fast. The extraction was too early, what on earth was Rayyan thinking!?