Time Alvarez might not have.
The man was brash, brave, and strong—great qualities for a soldier. Terrible for a leader. He had that burnish about him, the kind of effervescence men couldn’t help but follow. A passion that was so infectious, men would die for it. But it wasn’t sustainable. There was only so much vigor could get you, before you looked up and realized you were in a fight strength alone couldn’t win.
It was the folly of many great men. Take Alexander the Great. He had the spark and the brilliance to back it up, but he didn’t plan for the one fight he couldn’t win—death. And after he died, with no plan in place, his kingdom crumbled.
No, the true leaders worth following weren’t the ones history romanticizes; it was the ones who brought their men home. Those who retired with accolades and died peacefully, surrounded by family, and a legacy that stretched past the battlefield.
But that wisdom could only be achieved through sweat, blood, pain, and time. All things Alvarez would never have. Not unless he stopped chomping at the bit and took a step back.
“Tell me, what’s the range on an Off Formers shoulder gun?” Alvarez blinked once, then opened his mouth. Gabriel cut him off. “Or the ordinance a Drone carries? How about the turning radius of a FUD at a full run?” he stepped closer, flushing in pleasure when Alvarez swallowed and looked at his feet.
“Which ear does a Monkey Cat receive its information from? How many usually cluster together when not attacking?”
The silence was painful. Gabriel let him sit in it for a minute.
“Why don’t you let your balls drop before you start throwing insults?”
For a second, Gabriel thought he would swing. He kind of wished he would. It had been a while since he’d put a kid in his place, but years of military training won over, and Alvarez shrank back, his eyes blazing.
Gabriel smirked.
The competition continues.
Irving cleared his throat. “By establishing their life span, we can get a better understanding of the Monkey Cat’s leader’s tactics and troop deployment.” Irving continued, ignoring the outburst. “They only live three days, which means they havesome way of replenishing their troops. Either by cloning or some sort of breeding program.”
Alvarez moved away from Gabriel, crossed his arms, and looked down at the notes and photographs lined up neatly on Irving’s desk. From where he was standing, Gabriel could make out the neat rows of impossibly small block letters.
“So, you think, what?” Alvarez asked, trying to piece it together. “They’ve got some kind ofBeam me up Scottything going on?”
Blake would probably make some reference to Kirk fucking a Monkey Cat, but Gabriel hadn’t had enough coffee today for that visual.
Irving looked like he was thinking the same thing. He pressed his lips together. “Perhaps. But if we can find out what that is?—”
Alvarez threw his hands up. “More pussyfooting around in the name of intelligence?”
“Clearly, intelligence has never been your strong suit,” Gabriel sneered as he leaned back against the doorway.
Whirling toward him, Alvarez snapped, “Fuck you, Lennox. You’re so busy worrying about taking your man on dates that you can’t be bothered to actually soldier up!” his left eyebrow twitched. “Just because you were in DC when the shit went down doesn’t mean you’re better than me.”
With that, he stormed out, slamming into Gabriel’s shoulder as he passed.
“That was productive,” Irving said dryly.
Gabriel shrugged. “Soothing fragile egos isn’t part of my job description.”
“We need him.”
“He’s not going anywhere.”
Alvarez would hiss and spit, but he’d stay. Because as much as he and Gabriel butted heads, they both wanted the samething. And they believed this was the group of people to get it done.
Irving left it at that and started going over every detail of the things Gabriel had seen while in DC. Victoria had kept some good notes as well as taken photos, and that helped. Irving had interviewed them all with varying results—he insisted on speaking to Judd outside because, in his words, ‘his voice is the living embodiment of inbreeding and my office is too small,’ which Gabriel didnotshare with Judd.
His sacrifice hadn’t been for much. Everyone knows that to solve a puzzle, you need to find the corner pieces first. The problem was, as many pieces as they had, they had no idea which ones were the corners. They didn’t knowwhattheir puzzle was supposed to look like. And the indecision was becoming impossible to ignore.
Alvarez was right about one thing—they needed a plan. Something to get them up in the morning. Whether that was making this place a long-term home or continuing to pick away at the aliens, waiting for an opportunity, remained to be seen.
As for making this place a home, it had the foundations. They had water, shelter, and the ability to hunt and fish. The couple of trucks they’d found were holding out with whatever diesel they’d been able to siphon. Even the boat had its uses. The only problem was the proximity to the city. If the aliens began to expand, they would be right in their path.
