Freedom, Humanity, and Other Delusions (Death's Handmaiden Book 3) by Niall Teasdale (best summer reads txt) 📕

right shape for an enhanced Magic Burst, she launched it out toward the tower, some eight hundred metres away. She had a brief impression of a man reloading a rocket launcher before her senses snapped back to her body and she watched the quintessence explosion expand to consume the top of the tower. That would be no further trouble.

Swapping Flight into the slot left by the improvised spell, she lifted into the air and accelerated over the camp toward the vehicle park.

~~~

Melissa was dimly aware of the watchtower’s platform vanishing into a ball of light, but she was still a little too surprised at her own reaction to know what that meant. Then Nobuyuki was speaking to her.

‘Inside,’ he said. Melissa looked at him. ‘Inside, Mel. Quickly.’

‘R-right.’ Melissa climbed back into the van, moving aside to make way for Nobuyuki and then Courtney half-carrying Kyle, and Mitsuko half-carrying Kory. ‘Oh,’ Melissa said in a slightly moaning tone. ‘C-could you take them to the back of the b-bus? I know it’s dried blood, but… Uh, there are some bench seats back there they can lie down on.’

‘Good excuse,’ Mitsuko said. ‘That was a neat trick you pulled there. With the missile.’

‘It was,’ Nobuyuki said, ‘quite masterful. You’re a schoolgirl, you had seconds to react, and you did exactly the right thing, successfully.’

Under her helmet, Melissa went scarlet. ‘I j-just reacted the way Nava taught me.’

‘You certainly earned your pay for this trip,’ Mitsuko said.

‘Wait. We’re getting paid?’ Melissa shook her head. ‘Stupid thing to… Where is Nava anyway? She took out that watchtower, but–’

Nava appeared as she stepped up into the van. ‘I’m here,’ she said, somewhat redundantly, ‘and I suggest we get out of here before the angry villagers arrive with the pitchforks and torches.’

Straightening from laying Kyle down on one of the seats, Courtney looked toward the front of the van. ‘On it,’ she said, starting their way. ‘Close the door.’

‘Not yet,’ Nava said. She stepped into the doorway, grabbing a bar set there to help people step up. ‘There’s some possibility they may try to shoot us down when we take off. So, I’m going to be ready to shoot back, and Melissa is going to be ready to put a wall between us and anything they may launch.’

‘I am?’ Melissa asked. ‘Oh, yes, I certainly am.’

Pulling off her helmet and replacing Rochester at the pilot’s console, Courtney checked the controls and then put her hand on the throttle. Below them, the contragravity system whined as it was given power. ‘Buckle up, folks,’ Courtney said. ‘We are going home!’

Hausman City.

‘Are you seeing this?’ Nava asked Nobuyuki over a closed channel. Her ketcom had alerted her to an incoming message, so she had put her helmet on to read it. It had been… interesting.

‘Not an entirely unexpected turn of events,’ Nobuyuki replied. ‘Admittedly, the person involved was not something I could speculate on, but that there was a mole in the militia seemed quite obvious.’

‘Huh. Yeah. I suppose you’re right. And considering that missile strike, there were a limited number of people it could be. It had to be someone with authority.’

‘And this does explain why the clan has had so much trouble dealing with Befreit.’

‘Yeah… We’ll be landing in a couple of minutes.’ They could both hear Courtney talking to Hausman City’s traffic control.

‘Expect trouble.’

Nava gave a shrug, reaching up to unseal her helmet. ‘I was trained to expect trouble in my sleep.’

The trouble was, in fact, waiting for them as they touched down on a landing pad outside Militia Headquarters. Stefan was there with a squad of soldiers. His subordinates had assault weapons and bulletproof vests. Stefan had only a pistol, but then he looked like the type to avoid getting his own hands dirty. From the look of him, he was affecting an authoritative, confident demeanour, but Nava thought he looked nervous. The early-evening sun was glistening on the sweat on his brow.

‘I’ll handle this,’ Nava said. ‘The rest of you stay in the van.’

‘Nava?’ Mitsuko asked.

‘It’s not a problem. Not really. Nobuyuki will explain. Close the door behind me, Courtney.’ She hit the button to open the van’s main door and stepped out to face Stefan’s squad. The door slid shut behind her with a soft hiss. ‘Oberstleutnant,’ she said, ‘how nice of you to come out to meet us.’ She was not wearing her helmet and the evening breeze lifted her white hair into a streamer. She looked relaxed, which she was.

‘Second Lieutenant Nava Greyling Sonkei,’ Stefan said, ‘I am placing you under arrest for–’

‘Please don’t give me the made-up charges,’ Nava said. ‘Whatever it is you’ve come up with, it won’t stand up to a minute of investigation, so why bother? Were you hoping we’d give you an excuse to open fire and you could actually get out of this?’

Stefan’s jaw tightened. ‘Unteroffizier Sebastian Schenck, if the subject resists arrest further, you will shoot her.’

A man who had sergeant written all over him looked at Stefan with a slightly incredulous expression. ‘Sir, she hasn’t–’

‘You have your orders, Unteroffizier!’

‘I don’t think they’re going to be willing to follow someone who’s betrayed his clan,’ Nava said. ‘Rhianna dug up all the data we need to prove it.’

‘This woman has collaborated with the enemy!’ Stefan barked. He was definitely losing his cool. ‘We have evidence of her treasonous acts. Don’t believe her lies. She is the traitor! You will–’

‘Years of making sure the militia never got close to bringing Free Beherbergen down,’ Nava went on calmly. ‘We have all the emails. Never leave emails lying around when they could incriminate you. Not even if they’re encrypted.’

‘Espionage! You’ve conducted an illegal search of–’

‘Rhianna will be putting it before your clan’s leader right now. Leave this too long and your men will get orders to arrest you. You’re done for, Oberstleutnant. Not that they’ll let you keep that rank. Dishonourable discharge is going to be the least of your worries. As I was saying, you’re done for, Stefan