7
Vivian stumbled, almost sending Craig to the ground. Rev couldn’t hold back, shifting Fint’s body and rushing up to take Craig’s free arm.
“I’ve got him,” Vivian protested, but didn’t otherwise object as the three crossed the remaining twenty meters into the market. Three people rushed to help, taking Craig.
“Where’s Corporal Reiser?” Rev asked one of them.
“The Marine?”
No, the other Corporal Reiser.
But he just nodded and said yes.
“I think she’s at Jeremiah’s Shawarmas.”
<Near the center of the market.>
Punch flashed up an overlay with the place highlighted.
“Thanks,” he told Vivian. “You get some rest, now.”
The place was packed with humanity, and the hubbub was almost a low roar. He caught snatches of speech as he wended his way through them. Some people were scared, some were ready to take up the fight. Most made way for him as he approached, and he was slapped on the back and thanked at almost every step.
“You’re an angel from heaven,” an older man said, stepping out to envelop Rev in a hug.
Rev carefully extracted himself from the man’s grip, mumbled something he hoped was appropriate, and pushed on.
Not all the looks sent his way were positive. More than a few brimmed with anger. Rev didn’t know if that was because they feared the coming battle or were Angel shits caught up in the rush. There had to be some serious screening when all of this was over.
He turned down a major thoroughfare and into a center food court. At the far side, Jeremiah’s Shawarmas dominated, a gaudy blue sign proclaiming them the best shawarmas on the planet.
Rev wasn’t about to test that claim. He made a beeline for the restaurant and through the entrance. Tomiko was just off to the left, arguing with three civilians. She spotted him, and he could see the relief flow over her face.
“Give me a sec,” she said, pushing through other civilians.
Rev thought for a moment that she was going to hug him, but she stopped herself and said, “You don’t know how glad I am to see you. You get everyone here?”
“Not everyone. Courser.”
She raised her eyebrows in a you’re-going-to-have-to-tell-me-about-that-but-not-now look.
“How many here?” Rev asked.
“I don’t even know. Thousands have come in, but the exact number . . . ?”
There were 22,406 registered people living in their two cordons. Some of the people Rev brought in actually lived in the next cordon, and some of those 22,000 had been killed or were not home at the time. Rev had no idea how many more people were out there in what could soon be a hot battle zone, but if there were “thousands” in the market now, then there had to be many more still left to gather.
“Time?”
<Forty-three minutes.>
So, they had forty-three minutes, maybe a bit more as the Drop Marines descended. Call it an hour.
Rev was trying to keep his thoughts off the people who hadn’t made it: McCough, Fint, the rest. He knew the best thing he could do would be to keep busy. And if he could save more people, all the better. It wouldn’t erase the loss of his charges, but it would help.
“I’m going out to see who I can scoop up.”
“And me?” Tomiko asked.
“You need to stay here and control this. The last thing we need is for people to get scared and make a break for it.”
Tomiko set her mouth in a tight line. She wasn’t happy about that, but she’d comply. Someone had to stay in control here. The No Fire Zone ended at the edges of the market and attached parking lot. The buildings just across the street were fair game for the Navy and Marine firepower.
“I’ll be back,” he assured her. “We both need to be in control if the evac ships arrive.”
“You’d better.”
Just the thought of shuttles landing to take people off planet was a scary proposition. Sailors would debark to help, but the shuttles could only take so many at a time, and if things were so bad that they needed to leave, well, people would be in full panic mode.
“I need two of your Morays.”
Tomiko didn’t hesitate, sliding the pack off her back. She popped two of the missiles out and handed them to him. He’d left his pack back at PASCO, so he slid them under his belt.
“No. You don’t need to fry your family jewels,” Tomiko said, handing him her pack and pulling the two loose ones out.
“Thanks.”
“Gather up who you can, but keep your ass whole. I don’t want to manage this madhouse alone.”
Rev didn’t reply. He wheeled around and made his way back through the growing mass of people, many calling out to him asking questions. He ignored them—not out of arrogance, but because he couldn’t take the time. As he left the market, he saw a familiar face.
“Teddy, you’re with me!”
The young man smiled and ran up to him, and together they plunged into the Free Fire zone to round up whoever they could.
* * *
“But won’t so many people just be a big target?” the man asked, his two-year-old daughter on his hip.
Rev wanted to take the man by the shoulders and shake some sense into him. In minutes, this entire area could become a battlefield. True, such a concentration could be targeted by the Centaurs, but they were about to have much more dangerous targets to contend with.
He took two deep breaths, willing his voice into something more reasonable.
“Any minute now, the Marines will be descending. They’ll be supported by Navy space-to-ground fire. Have you seen what a twenty-giga-joule meson cannon can do to targets on the ground?”
“No,” he said in a faltering voice.
“All of this,” Rev said, sweeping an arm to encompass the entire area, “could be gone. Leveled. Hell, it will be leveled.”
“But they’re supposed to be on our side!” he wailed, causing the little girl to start crying.
“Peth, maybe we should listen to him,” the woman standing next to him said, taking his upper arm in her hand.
“The Marines are on your side, sir. That’s why we’re coming. But the tin-asses—I mean, the Centaurs—they’re going to fight. And if that fight reaches here, it’s going to be targeted. I guaran-fucking-tee that.”
The man seemed to consider that for a moment, but then he said, “It’s my right to stay at my home.”
Rev was at the end of his rope. He and Teddy had managed to send forty or fifty people on their way, and there were probably more out there. But this obstinate asshole was putting his family at risk.
<Your blood pressure is rising.>
Rev ignored his battle buddy. He didn’t need a hunk of crystal to tell him that. With everything that had happened over the last two hours, and now with this guy being a moron, Rev was about to blow.
“You have the right to stay, but you don’t have the right to put your wife and daughter at risk. Stay here if you want to, you fool, but I’m taking your daughter. She can’t help having a friggin’ idiot as a father.”
With that, he snatched the little girl before the man could react. She immediately started screaming. The mother let out a yelp and lunged for the girl.
“Your choice. Live or die,” Rev said, easily fending off the woman with one arm.
An explosion sounded in the distance, and Rev looked up. Still high in the sky, the unmistakable sight of Drop Marines appeared. This was the first sign that the assault force had made it into orbit, and a wave of relief swept over Rev.
In a much calmer voice, Rev said, “It’s started. I’m taking the girl. You two can come or not as you wish.”
“Peth, I’m going. You need to come, too,” the woman pleaded.
“But—”
Rev had already turned away and started back to the market.
The woman hesitated only a moment, then rushed alongside Rev. “She’s scared. Let me take her.”
Rev handed the girl over, and she buried her sobbing face into her mother’s shoulder. He felt bad about scaring the youngster, but he wasn’t about to let her be put at risk.
A Navy Shrike fighter screamed over the city, targeting something in the distance. The battle was truly joined, and Rev was a good five minutes from the market if he stayed with Teddy and the woman.
Not that there was a choice about that.
“Sorry, I need to take her back, and we need to run. Do you understand?”
The woman, eyes wide with fear, silently handed him the little girl, and together, the three adults broke into a run.
Rev didn’t hear if the man stayed back as the Drop Marines closed with the planet’s surface.