Page 50 of Her Selfless Warrior (Omega Sky)
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Kostya could barely hearwhat Sebastian was saying in his ear. He pushed the helmet down harder on his head so that it would cover the receiver in his ear and drown out the sound of the tank they were in.
“Repeat what you just said,” he ordered.
“The muPS is still only showing the SUSI up ahead. I haven’t encountered anything else on the road, so I’m broadening my search.”
Well, that was something, at least. Kostya figured it was two more klicks until they reached the SUSI, then they could add that vehicle to their convoy. It would be the most comfortable ride for Iris, and they’d need that if they didn’t get the helicopter extraction.
“How are you holding up?” he asked Linc who was driving the second tank behind him with Sebastian manning the turret.
“It’s all good,” he assured him.
“Landon?” he asked as he looked over his shoulder for a brief moment. Landon slipped down from his perch up in the turret. “All I can see is white. What about you, Lieutenant?”
“Same. That’s why I’m depending on Seb to tell us when we’re close to the SUSI so we don’t drive over the damn thing.”
“Okay, now I’m telling you you’re getting close. You need to head to the right and go past the SUSI,” Sebastian instructed. “Linc, you go to the left; that will leave the Vityaz to get close so we can move Iris and the other scientists.”
Kostya started slowing the Russian tank to the right, and off the road. Even with the infra-red viewer that came equipped with the tank, he could still hardly see.
Snow sucks!
Kostya had the tank clicked into lower gears as he gently applied the brakes. There it was! He could finally see the SUSI. “Linc, you okay?” he asked.
“Yep, coming to a stop now.”
“Mateo, what about you?” Kostya asked the man who was driving the Vityaz.
“Holy God, it’s a damn good thing I started braking a mile back. This thing doesn’t understand the meaning of slowing down. There is something off with the hydraulics.”
Kostya winced. That wasn’t good.
“But you’re stopped now, right?” Kostya confirmed.
“Yeah. Ryker jumped off before this monster was even stopped so he could get to the SUSI. He wants to get ‘er warmed up.”
Good. That was good. What wasn’t good, was that Gideon hadn’t reported anything, but then how in the hell could he when it was a winter wasteland?
They all had to wait much more than a minute. “It was touch and go, but got this damn thing started,” Ryker reported. “It’s going to take a while to get it heated.”
“I can’t have Iris transferred into the cold,” Nolan said. “Let me know when it’s above freezing. He’s going to get it warmed up before we transfer the scientists.”
Again, Kostya wanted to ask a question that really didn’t have an answer. It was going to take as long as it was going to take to get the SUSI warmed up. But it better not take longer than ten minutes!
He sighed. It was a waiting game.
“Lieutenant, I really want to thank you for helping me out of that pickle three weeks ago,” Landon said from behind him. Kostya turned around in the driver’s seat, trying to put an attentive look on his expression. What the hell, all they were doing was waiting around for the heater to warm up in the SUSI; listening to Landon talk could be entertaining, and for the men, too, since they were all linked up on the comm.
“Yeah, well, I’m glad it helped. Did you have any more problems?”
“None at all. I think her brothers drilled it home with her that she would get into trouble with her parents if she didn’t behave. Not that she was underage or anything,” Landon quickly explained. “I mean, I saw her driver’s license when she gave it to the bartender. She’s twenty-two, she just acts like a teenager.”
“That’s probably not the best choice in a girlfriend.”
“Yeah, you’re not the only one to tell me that,” Landon admitted. “I got an earful when I made my weekly call home to Grandma Kathleen.”
Kostya chuckled. “What did she have to say?”
