“I literally saw it happen. Then he went over and tossed them to Penn and Moss.”
“Didn’t.Fucking. Happen.” Reeves was inches away from Habib now, hissing in his face. Habib’s shoulders rolled and Noah tensed—Habib’s self-control would only go so far.
“Did anyone else see this?” Noah scanned the soldiers, meeting as many eyes as possible. Everyone shuffled uncomfortably.
“Just look in the box, Noah. There’s two missing,” Habib said.
“Confirmed.” Vitt stepped forward. “There’s definitely two less than there should be.”
He turned to Penn and Moss—unmoving, eyes averted. At least they had the sense not to smile at him.
Noah, in a calm, detached voice, said, “Fine. You two won’t be receiving your breakfast allowance.”
Tobias let out a chilling laugh. “Absolutely not. Are you saying your man’s word is worth more than mine?”
Noah turned to him, feeling every eye on him.
“Keep your men in line, Newman, and I won’t need to do it for you.”
Tobias barked a laugh. “Get back in your ownline, Forrest. If you can find it.”
Fighting back a smirk—was that really the best Newman could come up with?—he shook his head and stepped back, deciding the best way to diffuse the situation was to leave it and speak to Lowenna.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the end of Reeves making a hand gesture.
And then the fight began.
While Noah would like to think Habib didn’t throw the first punch, he’d got to know him very well over the last five years. Habib’s patience towards Squad C was now wafer-thin, and they would suffer the consequences.
As the majority of Squad C launched themselves into the fray, Noah dodged several rogue elbows as he dived towards Zeke, frozen motionless in disbelief. He dragged him up the aisle and pushed him to the side.
“Stay there,” he ordered, wincing at Zeke’s expression of pure fury for a second before sprinting back to the carnage, standing on a bench to survey the scene. Penn had fashioned a weapon out of part of a broken wooden pew and swung it at Habib, who narrowly dodged the attack and countered with a punch to Penn’s gut. Aoife, never one to sit on the sidelines, grabbed a battered hymnal and hurled it at Moss, who stumbled backwards but quickly retaliated by grabbing a candlestick and swinging it at her. Florence, the woman Aoife chatted up earlier, grabbed Moss’s arm, trying to pull him away.
“Stop!” Noah shouted, but his words fell on deaf ears. Squad K stood gawking in a semi-circle, acting almost like a wrestling ring barrier, enclosing the brawling idiots within. Krish glanced his way, giving him a look that said ‘dosomethingfor crying out loud!’. Tobias—standing to the side, arms folded—watched the scene unfurl like it was something vaguely amusing but not worth his time.
It was only when Frankie, who’d kept to the edge, hit the floor—with Squad C’s Gemma Osborne on top of her—that it came to Noah’s attention that Zeke hadnotremained where he left him.
Zeke lunged for Osborne, pushing her off Frankie before dragging his friend away from the scuffle.
Goddamn Tobias, goddamn Habib, goddamn every one of these idiots.
Noah dropped off the bench, beelining straight for them, but Osborne got there first, slamming her fist into Zeke’s face. Blood instantly erupted from his nose, dribbling down his pale chin and neck.
Noah roared, forgetting his earlier self-restraint, and charged towards Osborne, knocking her to the floor with his shoulder.
The loud crack of gunshot froze the commotion, leaving them in a tableau of chaos.
Of course Lowenna chose to arrive at the exact moment he’d joined the fight, breaking the first and foremost rule of leadership—don’t punch your men.
The church fell deathly silent, bar the sound of panting, pissed-off soldiers.
“What in the actual…?” Lowenna started, eyes darting between them. “I left you for ten minutes.Tenfucking minutes. And you descend into this… this ludicrous madness. You are soldiers of the Eighth East Regiment. The last line of defence between humanity and the end of everything.Everything. We cannot afford this sort of immature behaviour.” She shook her head as if they were schoolchildren who’d disappointed her. “Forrest, Newman, with me.” Her eyes scanned the crowd. “And you, Krish. I need somebody with more than half a brain cell to explain to me how the fuck it got to this.”
Noah risked a glance at Zeke, who was futilely wiping the pouring blood from his nose with his sleeve. Frankie, standing beside him, put her arm around him and nodded at Noah.
He trailed after Lowenna, eyes downcast, as she led them towards the tower. Each step of the spiral staircase further deepened the abyss of his plummeting mood. The cramped and musty space of the bell chamber housed a colossal brass bell suspended from the ceiling. After ordering the watch team to wait downstairs, Lowenna arranged the three of them into a firing line with her glare.
Krish recounted the whole sorry tale—leaning towards siding with Squad E—and stated that Noah at least attempted to stop the fighting, whereas Tobias did nothing.
