ADAM

 

Wednesday January 15 - 0012 MST

Two hours and eighteen minutes until Turbocharger activates

 

"I'll be right back." I had to unwrap Jessica's arms from around my own arm. It was obvious she needed someone to hold onto and couldn't care less what anyone thought of the gesture. "It looks like they need me."

She relented and let go. "Okay. Just hurry back please."

"I will."

Then I was off and jogging towards the huddle that Colonel Sterling was holding. When I saw who it was he was meeting with I got that knotted feeling in my belly that told me I was about to be sent off on something bad for my health.

The Colonel waved me in as I arrived. "Adam, we don't have much time so I'll be brief. You're going with Captain Grider and Captain Priestley on a special mission."

Priestley kept his face impassive, but Grider looked like he was fighting back some choice opinions about the Colonel's plan. Then he let loose with one of those opinions. "Sir, Alpha and Shadow can do the mission without any outside assistance."

The Colonel nodded like he was in agreement but that was just him being professional. He didn't want to slap down Grider in front of his peers. But I knew it was coming. "David I respect the skill of both of your teams. But they've taken four Primes. You need one of your own, and Adam's proven himself time and again. He's going."

Grider's unblinking, defiant stare made me want to be anywhere but there. "Sir, they took the Primes to do God knows what. I think its a monumentally bad idea to bring them another one."

"They only need four." And right as I said those words I cursed my stupid mouth for speaking without permission. Everyone stopped and stared at me like I was that guy that ripped one in a crowded elevator. "There's only four horsemen. So they won't need a fifth Prime. I think it's alright if I go."

Sterling spoke up first. "What was that about horsemen?"

I shrugged and could already feel my cheeks burning from the coming embarrassment about sharing Doctor Arden's crazy theory. "Rick Arden and I were just chatting about it. He thinks the Praetorians and their boss set us up just to kidnap the Primes. He also thinks that they needed exactly four because they plan on implanting four powerful demons into them…the four horsemen of the Apocalypse." I shrugged again. "But it is Rick Arden we're talking about. He might have just been high when he said it."

"No, Adam. He might be right." Sterling made eye contact with Grider. "Kuzmin told you they needed four."

Grider nodded imperceptibly like he was ashamed to admit that fact.

"Okay, that settles it. Adam is going."

The Colonel elaborated on the plan he had in mind for us. Grider's Alpha team and Priestley's Shadow team would be taking the CTTC's lone cargo plane to some site in the middle of the Nevada desert. We assumed that was where this Turbocharger place was because it matched up with a lot of traffic Larry had been working on. There had also been a lot of confidential flights to that part of the country as well. Like Arden's speculation that this was about the legendary Four Horsemen, it was a whole lot of assumption with very little in the way of concrete evidence.

But it was all we had.

So much had changed while I was away, and it had all led to this great mess we were in now. One good thing had come out of it though, and she was standing about a hundred paces away. Even in woodland camo BDUs she looked amazing. But it also marked something new in my life. I now had someone else I was responsible for. And here I was about to abandon her in the middle of a demon infestation to go on a super secret mission.

Colonel Sterling saw it too and after the group split off to go get ready he pulled me aside. "Something troubling you, Adam?"

I nodded at him and then over towards Jessica. "Yeah. I told her I would protect her. Now I have to leave her in the middle of all this."

I hated to ask the Colonel to help out in my romantic life but I also didn't want to leave her hanging. Then the Colonel surprised me. "I'll watch over her while you're away. She's going to be safe. I promise."

With that emotionless facade he liked to put on it was easy to forget that he was human sometimes. Times like these reminded me that he was a lot better at reading people than I gave him credit for, and I was glad for it. Jessica would be safe in his care.

And with that knowledge I felt ready to go on my mission.