Page 33 of Her Selfless Warrior (Omega Sky)
“Toy. Now,” Kostya grumbled.
Gideon pulled his backpack onto his lap, then took out a block of plastic and aluminum, with two rubber stubs coming out of its sides. He flipped a switch on the side and the obligatory green glowing screen appeared.
“So that brick is actually going to help us? How in the hell is it going to do that?”
“Cosmic rays, my man.”
Kostya rolled his eyes, then something triggered in his brain. Shit, he’d been briefed about this at least a year ago. It was after all the goatfucks in the Kandahar mountains in the middle of Afghanistan when they couldn’t get any GPS signals.
“This is the one that means we’re not dependent on radio signals from satellites. Instead, it uses whatever the fuck a muon is that is made from cosmic rays.”
“That’s the basics,” Gideon nodded. “But it gets better. Muons are a natural source of radiation that can pass through rock and be used at high altitudes.”
Kostya felt his spine tingle. “Water too?”
“Yep, they’re testing it now in submarines. Kostya, this is going to be a game-changer. This blizzard, it’s nothing.” Gideon pointed to the screen. “There’s your lake. Let’s see if it can find the Loch Ness Monster.”
Kostya slowed to less than seven kilometers an hour and glanced over at the screen. “Dumbass, that’s in Scotland, not Finland.”
What Gideon was holding in his hand was downright magical. “Zoom in, I want to see the road.”
Gideon did, and Kostya finally had a clear idea of where he was going despite the fact he was almost at zero visibility with the snow coming directly at them.
“Is that a semi I see damn near crossways on the highway coming up?” Kostya slowly took his foot off the accelerator and lightly tapped the brake.
“Dammit, looks like it to me,” Gideon answered.
The truck came into view, but they stopped meters before they would have hit it. “Magical,” Kostya breathed.
“You and your maps suck ass,” Gideon grinned.
“The day’s going to come when you and your computers just don’t cut it. You’re going to have to depend on your gut, and you are going to be so fucking screwed.”
“Not going to happen,” Gideon assured his friend. He turned to the back of the truck. “Up and at ’em. We’ve got work to do.”
Kostya glanced back and saw that all of his men were already awake and ready to rumble. Of course they were, that’s how they operated. All of them knew that when their truck stopped, they were needed.
“Throw on your headgear and turn on your comm systems, we’ve got trouble outside,” Kostya said.
They immediately put on their helmets, facemasks, and goggles, and if Kostya hadn’t taken note of where they’d been seated, he wouldn’t have been able to tell them apart.
“What’s up?” Nolan asked through their comm system.
“Trouble,” Ryker answered with a laugh. “The question is, how bad. So how bad, Lieutenant?”
“Nothing that should require a gun,” Kostya answered as he climbed in the back and grabbed his goggles and face mask. He’d already been wearing his comm device around his neck, he just hadn’t activated it.
Kostya heard Lincoln mutter, “Should.” That was Lincoln Hart; his man was as pessimistic as he was. He liked that about the man. He and all of his men would be locked and loaded as they vacated the truck, becauseshoulddidn’t mean jackshit.
“We’ve got a semi blocking a good part of the road. The good news is it isn’t tipped, the bad news is, we can’t tell if other cars or trucks are involved, or if there are injuries. Don’t see any emergency vehicles,” Gideon explained.
It didn’t matter how fucking sweet their arctic gear was—the second the doors to the SUSI opened, it was fucking cold. Kostya jumped out and led the way to the semi. They spread out, Gideon took the right followed by half the team and Kostya took the left. It took just moments to assess the situation and realize there was nothing they could do for the driver of the truck, or for the family of three in the car that had been partially crushed underneath the backend of the full trailer.
Kostya insisted on handling the body of the little boy who couldn’t be more than ten years old. As he held the fragile figure surrounded by the swirling snow, it was as if he was back in time, seeing the snowflakes crystallize on Roman’s eyelashes, the only color on his face the blue of his lips.
Sebastian broke open the lock of the trailer and his men pulled out boxes of appliances to make room for the bodies.
“I got ahold of the authorities in Joensuu,” Gideon told them over the comm system. “Come daylight they’ll send someone to pick up the bodies and notify next-of-kin.”
The men were all subdued as they climbed back into the SUSI. Kostya drove around the wreck and continued down Route 74. The snow had tapered off, just a little. Now Kostya was able to increase his speed to eighteen kilometers an hour. Who knew, he might get to the Koivusuo Strict Nature Reserve within the week.
Okay, fine, we’ll be there by tomorrow evening, it’ll just feel like a week.
