Up From The Deep by Vaughn Jackson (highly recommended books txt) 📕

“You two, come on,” she said as she strode past her two new, unwanted partners. “Do you have men?”

“Yes,” Cole said. “Many men.”

“I tend to prefer to do my work alone,” Fernandez said.

“No surprises there,” Jia Ming muttered.

“We strike now?” Cole asked.

She ran her hand through her hair. “No, you idiot. It will take time for them to pack up and move out. We’ll attack when we attack.”

“But,” Fernandez started.

“The tooth will still be there. Go prepare. Or more importantly just go somewhere not here.”

Chapter 9

“I’m not leaving him here.” Ashleigh slammed her fist into a desk, snapping Devonte back to the argument that had been going on since the general ordered their move.

“He’s a grown ass man who will have a security and medical detail on him until we return.” General MacPherson’s calm fury made Devonte shiver.

Ashleigh scowled. “I owe him my life!”

“The way I see it, Lieutenant Greenwood, you stole a transport helicopter—”

“On your orders to return.”

“All the same, I could have you court martialed. Instead, I’m asking you politely to follow a single damn order. Are we clear?”

If looks could kill, Devonte thought. The general wouldn’t stand a chance.

Skylar tapped his shoulder. He jumped.

“Should we intervene?” she asked.

“Be my guest,” Devonte said. “I prefer living.”

“True.” She paused, biting her lower lip. “I wanted to say thanks for saving me.”

“Oh, yeah, it was no big deal. Glad you’re safe.” He smiled and she smiled back.

MacPherson’s voice rose to a forcefully punctuated shout. “If we are going to successfully eliminate the threat, I need everyone involved to cooperate. Shut up and stand down Lieutenant, you have your orders.”

Skylar frowned. “Eliminate,” she said. “You want to kill them?”

MacPherson stared daggers at her. To Devonte’s surprise, Skylar returned them in earnest.

“It is a threat to our country. It must be destroyed.”

“It’s a brand-new creature!” Skylar said. “As far as we know, it’s no more malicious than a shark. We need to learn what it needs so that we can protect us and it!”

“I’m already dealing with one asinine argument. I refuse to cater to this one.”

Skylar’s face turned as red as her hair. “You what?!”

MacPherson’s eyes narrowed. “Are we all on the same page here?”

“No,” the other two women shouted back.

Devonte rubbed his temples. This is getting out of hand. He clenched his fingers and felt the knuckles pop. “We’ll stay,” he said.

MacPherson leveled a gaze on him more oppressive than the Eye of Sauron. She said nothing. She didn’t have to.

“I mean, it works right? We’re not soldiers. Neither is Dr. Wagner. But I also owe Raymond a debt, so I can stay and watch over him. So, Ashleigh can go. Skylar doesn’t seem to want to have a part in the death of the creature, so she can stay here and research it. Everyone ends up mostly not hating the outcome.” Devonte shrugged. “Maybe?”

He thought he could hear MacPherson’s teeth cracking from the tension in her jaw. When she didn’t shoot him down, a wave of shock and relief washed over him.

“Fine,” she said. “Nothing else on the subject. Greenwood, prepare to move out.” MacPherson stormed out of the room.

“Ashleigh. Lieutenant Greenwood,” Devonte stuttered, “I know you don’t trust me, but—”

“Anything happens to him, it’s on you.” With that warning, she turned and followed MacPherson out of the room. The door slammed behind her.

“Care to complete the trilogy of being pissed off at me for that suggestion?” Devonte asked Skylar, rubbing his stinging eyes.

“You’re not the one trying to kill an innocent creature,” she said. “And you’re right, I’d want no part of that.”

“Not to start another argument, but you do know that the creature sunk a cruise ship and killed over a thousand people, right? And that the other one burned Hawaii?”

“I didn’t,” she admitted. “But I don’t think that makes it evil. We kill so many animals for food and for sport...does that make us evil?”

“Sometimes I wonder,” Devonte said. He looked at his phone. Zero missed calls. Zero texts. A helicopter falls out of the sky and he doesn’t even shoot me a message. He noticed Skylar watching him. “Sorry, I was somewhere else. You’re right, the creature probably isn’t evil, but it is dangerous.”

“It is, which is why I think we should one up Tempest.” Kurtis sauntered into the room. “Beat them at their own game.”

Skylar looked up. “What do you mean?”

“The device,” he said. “We can finish it.”

“It got destroyed in the self-destruction,” Skylar said. “So did our notes.”

Kurtis fumbled with the pocket on his lab coat and pulled out several crumpled sheets of paper.

“The notes!” Skylar clapped her hands together.

“With everyone gone we’ll have the peace and quiet to get it done this time!”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Devonte said.

Kurtis scowled. “And why not?”

Because fuck you, Devonte thought. He said, “Just seems like asking for trouble to build the thing the bad guys wanted. If they’re as omnipresent and powerful as you say, what if it falls into their hands?”

Kurtis clicked his teeth. “What do you think, Dr. O’Hara?”

Flattery? Really? Devonte thought. He looked at Skylar and what he saw made his stomach drop. She was excited.

“If we can get something done before the creature arrives, we can show General MacPherson that we can drive it away and they won’t have to kill it!” Her smile lit up her entire face.

“My thoughts exactly,” Kurtis said.

“You can help,” Skylar said, grabbing one of Devonte’s hands in hers. “With a more mechanically minded person we can finish it twice as fast!”

Her eyes bored into him, and he felt his face heat up. “I— I should go check up on Raymond,” he said. “You heard what Ashleigh said.”

He’d crushed her excitement. It was written all over her face. Her smile dropped and she gave him a flat “ok”.

“I can join you guys a little later—”

“Don’t worry about it. Him and I did this before, we can do it again.” She didn’t look at him as she left the