Chapter One
Stefan Andres silently climbed to the top of the watchtower, keeping to the shadows as much as possible, although that wouldn't save him if the mechs started scanning high up. They looked for iron signatures, not things that went bump in the night.
Once he reached the top, he quickly made his way to the far edge and hunkered down close to the partially destroyed wall. He pulled out his binoculars and started looking at the ground beneath him, moving outward in a grid pattern.
From his vantage point, he could easily see the area where his team was supposed to exit the cryogenics facility they were searching. If there were any survivors who could be released from stasis, they would be brought out, as well.
These might be the missions he hated the most. The poor people being brought out of stasis were waking up to a world they had no knowledge of. Nothing was the same, not even the landmarks. As hard as the last ten years had been, Stefan wasn't sure he could handle waking up to a world he didn't recognize. Watching it slowly going to shit was a little easier, but not much.
Stefan froze for a moment when he saw a flash off in the distance. Taking a deep calming breath, he sighted his binoculars in and scanned for whatever had made that flash.
Damn it.
It was a silver flier.
The silver flying mechanized machine had no fighting ability, but it was a communication droid. It could easily call in a firestorm of other mechs that would hunt them down until they were all dried husks. Stefan quickly scanned the rest of the area to see if the silver flier had brought any friends along.
He almost missed the two scarabs making their way through the rubble. They were moving quickly toward the exit where the others were supposed to be coming out. Stefan had two choices— he could shoot the silver flier, or he could shoot the two scarabs. He wasn't sure he could get all of them in time.
He set his binoculars down and reached for his sniper rifle. It was a bolt-action M40A4 with detachable magazine, flash suppressor, and a modified version of the Schmidt & Bender 3–12×50 Police Marksman LP II telescopic scope. It had a muzzle velocity of 2,550 feet per second and a range of up to 1,000 yards.
It was his baby.
He hoped the others in his recon unit heard the gunshots because he needed to take out the silver flier or they'd be neck deep in them after the first shot. He aimed carefully, bringing the silver flier directly into his crosshairs. He slowly blew out a breath and pulled the trigger. The bullet hit the silver flier, sending it to the ground in a ball of fire, before the shot even echoed through the air.
Stefan quickly realigned his sight, looking for the two scarabs. He spotted one and easily took it out with one shot. He couldn't find the other one. He scanned every inch of ground between where he'd seen the scarabs and the doors leading into the facility. There was still no sign of the remaining scarab.
That wasn't good.
Any minute now, the rest of the team would be coming out of the building. If that damn scarab was around, it could be lying in wait for them. They had seemed to be heading for the facility.
There was a part of Stefan that wondered if the scarabs knew humans were inside the building. He wasn't the brains of this outfit, so he'd tell his commander and let him decide what was going on. It still seemed off to Stefan, though. He wasn't a big believer in coincidences.
Stefan continued his search for the scarab until he saw movement near the double doors leading into the facility. It was Raji Dahl, one of the men in his unit. He was easily discernible. Not only did he stand a little over six foot five inches tall, but he had midnight-black hair except for one streak of white, all of which he kept in a long braid down his back. Stefan had no idea how the man got the white stripe, and Dahl never said. Stefan wasn't going to ask.
His heart plummeted when he spotted movement mere feet from Dahl. There was a rusted-out car between Dahl and the scarab, obscuring the man's view of the danger he was in. Dahl wouldn't see the scarab until it was too late, and Stefan didn't have a good enough of an angle to take it out.
He did the only thing he could, knowing it could quite possibly get him killed. Stefan fired a shot into the building right over the top of Dahl's head. As predicted, Dahl dove for cover. Stefan waited a second, then fired off another shot, this time in the direction of the rusty old car. He blasted two more shots into the car, hoping Dahl would get the idea.
When Dahl raised his hand in the air, Stefan stopped firing. He continued to look for a better angle to take out the scarab. When it came, he fired two shots back to back, just to make sure the little scarab was dead.
Dahl raised his hand again then walked over to look on the other side of the car. He squatted down and looked the scarab over. After a minute, he stood then walked over to the door and pulled it open. Stefan was too far away to hear what he said, but a moment later, the rest of the team walked out of the building.
Stefan really wished they had communications devices as they had in the beginning, but after learning how quickly the mechs could zero in on radio transmissions, they had given them up. Commander Anthony Roark had worked a series of hand signals that most of the Allied Defense Forces used, but you couldn't say everything with a hand.
When Roark gave the all clear, Stefan packed up his stuff then climbed down from the tower. He hurried over to his unit's position, giving Dahl a wide berth. He might have saved the guy's life, but he was kind of on probation when it came to shooting a gun.
"Commander," he said a soon as he reached the small group. "I spotted a silver flier and two scarabs. I took them out, but something seemed off about them."
Roark lifted his eyebrow. "Off?"
Yeah, that was kind of saying a lot considering they were talking about sentient robots from outer space.
"They seemed to be heading right for the facility. Now, I don't know if they were after something in the building or if they knew you were inside, but I don't think this was just a routine patrol."
"Did you spot anything else?" Roark asked.
"No." Stefan glanced at the small group of men standing there. "Was there anyone inside?"
