Fireteam Delta by J. Halpin (ebook reader that looks like a book txt) 📕

woman by his side. Even from a distance, Summers could see something was wrong with him. Half of his face was a ruined mess.

Summers’ wagon passed through the gate, and the man turned to regard them. His eyes met Asle’s, and he waved. The girl waved back, and the man paused.

Then a shout came from the crowd, and a man stepped toward the line of guards, shouting something. Seconds later, a guard shoved a spear through his chest.

“Jesus.”

Summers watched as the man fell. He didn’t get a chance to see what happened after that, as they passed under the gate and into the city itself.

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Screams sounded in the distance as the wagons came to a stop. He did his best to ignore them.

Summers started to turn when he found Synel at his side, her hand outstretched toward him. He took it.

“Appreciate it.”

As Summers hopped to the ground, the huge gate behind them slammed shut, and the guards moved almost immediately to inspect the wagons.

It was at that point that Summers realized their mistake.

“Sarge, we may have a slight issue.”

If they’d remembered what the last city was like, he’d have realized that they checked their wagon coming in. That hadn’t been a problem, since no one recognized a gun or even a grenade for what it was. However, that was not the case here. Here, it was a big problem.

“Shit.” Nowak watched the guards checking the wagon in front of them. They were moving fast. “Right.”

His eyes immediately went to the very big, locked gate at their backs.

Summers’ scrambled for a solution while Synel watched him, a deadpan expression on her face. That was probably the most emotion he’d seen her show.

“Uh.” Summers tried his best to think of how to phrase what he was going to ask. “Can’t. Look.” Summers gestured to the wagon.

Synel considered him a moment before she moved closer. Reaching behind Summers to their coin pouch, she fished out a single stone. “I will take care of it.”

“Uh.” Summers didn’t quite know how to react as she moved to the guards who were finishing with the wagon beside theirs.

He watched as the woman spoke with the guards for a moment. They seemed to get riled up, something that the caravan guards beside Synel noticed, standing straighter themselves.

Synel waved a hand, calming her own guards as she reached forward to the man in front of her, placing the single stone in his hand. Then, she nodded to Summers. The man walked over to their wagon, glancing at it only a moment before ordering more guards to move on to the next wagon in line.

Summers let out a breath of relief as Synel strode back to him, pressed her lips against his, and then turned away, heading off.

“What . . . ?” Summers wasn’t sure how to process what just happened, but he noticed Synel’s eyes briefly flit up to the top of their wagon.

“Did that bitch just try to mark her territory?” Cortez hopped down. She still had one hand on the butt of her rifle, hidden behind her cloak.

“Territory?” Summers asked.

“Forget it. Apparently, your girl’s the jealous type.”

“Oh . . .” Summers coughed into his hand. He’d done his best to convince Synel that he and Cortez were not a thing. As it turned out, she hadn’t fully believed him. Summers watched as the guard he assumed was a captain continued to wave others on from their wagon.

Well, jealous or not, it was nice to have someone like her working on their side.

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The port was busy, or rather, it was a clusterfuck. Ships of all sizes covered the docks, but they still weren’t having much luck.

“He said that unless you have an order from the . . . Ying, he can’t take you.” Asle looked to Summers.

“She means the council, I think. Like a group of people that calls the shots.”

The man said nothing as Asle spoke again. They’d decided they could pay double, if that’s what it took to get them where they needed to go, and out of whatever war was on their doorstep. The man shook his head in response before turning to leave. That left them with no options whatsoever.

“We could try stealing one,” Cortez observed. She was eyeing a ship on the dock that was being built. It seemed like the city was ramping up production in response to the coming war. The ship was reminiscent of a longship, only much bigger than he would have expected.

“Do you know how to sail? Because I sure as hell don’t. And we still need food.” Nowak looked back to the city.

“What do we do now, then?” Summers asked. “We can’t wait here while there’s an army on the way.”

Nowak just sat in thought a moment.

“One problem at a time. We’ll find some food, or failing that, some way for us to forage. Bait for animals—maybe fishing gear, if it’s not too expensive. I’m not giving up on finding a ship, either. There have to be at least a few traders still in the city.” Nowak gestured to Summers. “You talk to Synel?”

“She’s looking for a way out of the city herself, and said she’d keep an eye out for wherever those guns went.”

“Good. We’ll play this by ear. If it means getting out of here, it might be better to just ignore whoever’s operating nearby. If those guns came from casualties, it wouldn’t surprise me if they were already headed back home. If there is word on any survivors, or any intel we can use, we’ll deal with it then.”

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Back at the wagon, Summers tossed a pair of notched pegs to Nowak and Cortez.

“No luck on the food. Synel did manage to find some rooms, though. So we won’t