“Sten.” Isaac’s voice catches my attention, and I look where he’s pointing. I see the flag immediately. It’s on a stand in the back of the room, surrounded by nine soldiers who open fire immediately.
Despite the numbers, we are ready for exactly this kind of interaction. Isaac drops below the table, going for the legs of our adversaries. At the same time, Pike moves left and I move right, dodging the laser blasts and taking the targets out one by one. Each man falls as he’s hit, playing dead as the green lights flash on his chest.
The flag is right in front of us, but as Pike approaches it, I turn around slowly, weapon aimed. Something isn’t right.
This was too easy.
I meet Isaac’s gaze, and I know he feels the same way. Pike reaches for the flag. As soon as he touches it, panels in the ceiling quickly slide back, revealing three groups of men up in the rafters of the tower, all armed. We’ve walked into an ambush.
Where Pike stands is in the center of the crossfire, but his focus is now on two of the “dead” men below him. They grab on and pull him to the ground. Isaac begins to shoot above us, and I join in, trying to maneuver to Pike’s side as I fire. He doesn’t understand how quickly he’ll be hit; his face is a mask of rage directed at those who were playing dead.
Neither of them held their hands in surrender, indicating they’d been hit. There is a lesson to be learned there.
“Target left!” I call out to Isaac as I head for Pike. He’s back on his feet but still grappling with the two soldiers in front of him.
I move to engage, grabbing the arm of one of the soldiers and twisting it backward. I hear his wince of pain, but my actions are only enough to dissuade him, not break his arm like I would have done if the situation were not an exercise. I toss him out of the way as shots ring out.
I see the box on my chest light up before I feel the pain in my thigh. It radiates quickly, sending a shock through my body.
I’ve been hit.
Chapter 9
I’ve been hit during virtual training before, but the pain this time is much more intense. For a fraction of a second, I hesitate, and Pike is hit from the crossfire as well.
He jerks back and shakes his head slightly before narrowing his eyes and focusing again on the last solider in front of him. Pike leans back and kicks his opponent, sending him flying. With one shot from Isaac’s weapon, the soldier’s chest box lights up, and he holds his hands in surrender. All three of us concentrate on the final few soldiers up in the ceiling.
“Report, Sten!” Riley’s voice invades my head.
“Objective in sight.”
“Are you all right?”
“Minor hit,” I tell her. “All is good.”
“Get moving, then,” she says. “You’re running out of time.”
“Acknowledged.”
Pike finishes off the last adversary in the rafters. Isaac grabs the flag, and we’re on our way back. We need a fast pace to get back on time, but I’m slowed slightly by the wound in my leg, and the ambush had taken up more time than it should have.
We engage with two other groups of soldiers on our way back, but they are easily eliminated. It’s a clean shot back to the base now.
“Pick up the pace!” I call out, and we break into a run. I can barely keep up with Isaac’s speed, but I hang on. At our top speed, we’ll be three and a half minutes past our maximum time.
All three of us push beyond limits we’ve attempted before, even without injuries. I hear the heartbeats of my companions and compare them with my own slightly faster pulse. Ahead of us is the entrance to the base, and we push to our top speed, but we all know we’re late.
When we cross the threshold, there is cheering from some of the soldiers who have watched our performance over closed-circuit screens. Captain Mills is smiling and nodding, as is Dr. Rahul. Dr. McCall has a passive expression as Pike moves to stand beside her, but I only care about Riley’s interpretation of my performance.
The bright smile on her face is all I need to see.
I limp over to her, and she immediately makes an adjustment to the box on my chest, eliminating the pain running through my leg. I reach down and rub my thigh, but there is only slight residual soreness.
“You did so well,” Riley says as she reaches up and strokes the side of my face. I feel my pulse subside and my breathing quiet at her touch. “Your instincts kicked in just when they should. The decisions you made to go around the large group and scale the building were sound, and you even took a shot, providing cover for one of the other specimens. I couldn’t have asked for a better performance.”
“We went over time.”