Rhodes closed in on the place where Murphy said Lauer went down. Rhodes revolved The Grid back and forth in front of his own eyes. Lauer wasn’t on The Grid at all. How the hell was he concealing himself?

  He might be dead, but Rhodes didn’t think so. Heath Lauer was just too damn tough. He was by far the toughest man in all of Battalion 1. If Dietz and Coulter stayed alive out here, Lauer must have done the same thing.

  Rhodes found himself sweeping his gaze across the piles of wreckage and mutilated bodies. He wouldn’t have been able to recognize Lauer among them even if he’d been there.

  Rhodes got to the spot Murphy indicated. It turned out to be a relatively flat spot with a bare stretch of pavement fifteen feet wide between a demolished building on one side and another mountain of dead Masks on the other.

  Rhodes paced down the pile of Mask parts. It would have been the perfect place for someone in Battalion 1 to hide. The Masks’ components would hide Lauer’s implants.

  The pile contained plenty of dead Legion soldiers, too. Their organic limbs would work just as well to hide Lauer’s organic skin. Was he here?

  Rhodes got to the end of the pile. He almost turned away when he spotted Elio half-buried under the mounds of stuff.

  Rhodes went over to the ship and touched its sides. Nothing happened. The Striker was completely without power.

  “Can you interface with Elio?” Rhodes asked Fisher.

  “I’m trying. He isn’t responding.”

  “There must be a way. We can’t just abandon him here. Maybe he shut himself down to hide from the Masks.”

  Rhodes stepped onto the wing and modified his hand again to pry the cockpit cover open.

  He wedged it under the rim and wrenched. At that moment, a powerful electric burst erupted from the ship’s fuselage.

  The charge hit Rhodes hard and smacked him off. He went flying and crashed into the building.

  Rhodes shook the stars out of his head and started to pick himself up when Elio appeared on the interface. He had a shaggy, almost spider-like appearance with multiple eyes, jointed, fanged mandibles, and spiky bristles surrounding his cheeks.

  “Captain Rhodes! I am so sorry!” Elio husked. “I had no idea it was you.”

  “Are you….are you okay, Elio?” Rhodes stammered. “We were trying to find Lauer.”

  “He told me to shut down all power so the Masks wouldn’t find me. I am so sorry, Captain! Are you hurt? I feel terrible. I thought the Masks were trying to capture me.”

  “Don’t worry about it, man. You did the right thing. Where is Lauer now? He isn’t showing up on The Grid.”

  “I’m sorry, Captain. I can’t tell you that. He told me to land here and shut down power. Then he took off running into the battle. That was the last time I saw him. I’ve been shut down ever since.”

  Rhodes inched toward the Striker. “Are you damaged in any way, Elio? Are you perfectly functional? Oakes and Rhinehart said you got hit by an invasion ship.”

  “I did, but I landed on my own. Lauer told me to pretend to be more damaged than I was.”

  “Good idea,” Rhodes murmured.

  “I’m only worried that the Masks will be able to find me, now that I’m powered up.”

  “You’re right. I want you to launch and rejoin the rest of the battalion. They’re in the atmosphere. Rio and the others will look out for you. I’ll stay here and find Lauer.”

  “How will you find him if he doesn’t show up on The Grid?”

  “Who the hell knows?” Rhodes growled. “He could be anywhere. I just don’t want you in any more danger. Your signal will bring the Masks running. Launch now, Elio. I’m really glad I found you.”

  “Of course, Captain. Thank you for coming back for me. I wish I could do something to help you find Lauer.”

  “You can. Keep yourself safe and stand ready to come and pick him up as soon as I find him. Once I do that, the other Strikers will lift off Dietz and Coulter. Then we can all go home.”

  “What’s wrong with Dietz and Coulter?” Elio asked.

  “I don’t have time to explain it right now. Get out of here. That’s an order.”

  “Of course, Captain.”

  Elio fired up his engines. Rhodes stepped out of the way and watched the Striker shake off the rubble. Then Elio lifted off and launched into the atmosphere.

  Rhodes watched him out of sight. The other Strikers swooped over to surround Elio and then they all vanished into the distance. That was one person rescued, at least. Now Rhodes had to deal with the other three.

  He turned around to check the surroundings again even though he knew he wouldn’t find anything. Whatever Lauer used to conceal himself worked too well.

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  That was the moment Rhodes noticed Masks ground troops moving through the city. They’d always been there fighting the Legion platoons in other parts of the battlefield.

  Now they headed this way, but they didn’t come toward Rhodes.

  “They’re on course to intercept Dietz and Coulter,” Fisher pointed out.

  “Like hell they will,” Rhodes muttered and took off for Dietz’s and Coulter’s hiding place. “Murphy! The Masks are coming your way!”

  “What am I supposed to do about it?” Murphy asked. “The interface is still showing that we’re concealed. The Masks could be going after something else, though I can’t detect any……”

  He broke off when a single human life sign blipped onto The Grid. It appeared five blocks north of Dietz’s and Coulter’s hiding place. Then the signal vanished as quickly as it appeared.

  “Lauer!” Rhodes whispered. “What the hell is he doing?”

  “It looks like he’s trying to lure the Masks away from Dietz and Coulter,” Fisher pointed out.

  “It isn’t working. They’re still heading straight for them.” Rhodes fired his boosters and launched into the air. He just barely made it back to the hiding place before the Masks showed up.

  They definitely must have detected the two men hiding there. The Masks raised their rifles to aim at the caved-in dome. They didn’t pay any attention to Rhodes until he flew right into their path.

  He unloaded his lasers on them and released a dozen Viper missiles from the ports on his back to take out as many Masks as he could. Vipers and lasers seemed to do the most damage to their outer metal housing.

  He hacked his way into their ranks, blocked them from getting near the hiding place, and battled the Masks away.

  He would have liked to find some way to make them forget that they ever knew any members of Battalion 1 were hiding here, but that was no longer possible.

  Dozens of Masks assembled from all over. They crowded in behind the forwardmost ground troops. More Masks pushed forward no matter how many Rhodes killed.

  He took down fifty of them. His Vipers kept exploding in the back ranks, but he couldn’t stem the tide.

  The Grid showed him more ground troops coming this way. It also showed him Legion platoons heading in the same direction to assault the Masks in this little bottleneck.

  He tried to drive the Masks a little farther away, but they were the ones who forced him to retreat closer to the dome. He bumped into it. He couldn’t retreat any further than this.

  Without warning, a punch of fusion rifle fire struck him in the chest and thumped him against the dome even harder.

  The Masks took advantage of that moment when he stopped firing. They surged forward to finish him off.

  They would finish off Dietz and Coulter, too—if the Masks didn’t throw all three of them back into captivity. Rhodes couldn’t stand that.

  He was just making up his mind to finish off himself, Dietz, and Coulter rather than become the Masks’ prisoners again.

  He brought his weapon around to aim at the Masks one last time, but at that moment, another spray of laser shots belched into the Masks’ horde from the side.

  Rhodes caught one glimpse of Lauer storming into view. At the same instant, four Strikers dropped out of the sky, peppered the ground troops with more laser fire, and drew the Masks away from Rhodes.

  He couldn’t wait any longer. He dove into the hiding place, used the grid lines to change himself into a Striker, and sprouted multiple arms to pick up Dietz and Coulter.

  He put the two men in his cockpit, blasted his engines, and skimmed out from under the dome on the other side—away from the battle.

  Lauer bombarded the Masks with laser fire, but he fought them alone now. Rhodes couldn’t live with himself if he left anyone behind, especially not the man who just saved Rhodes, Dietz, and Coulter.

  Rhodes hurtled out of the dome and started climbing, but he doubled back right away and tilted his nose toward the ground. He fired his engines again—except that these weren’t Striker engines.

  They were his normal boosters. They weren’t designed to carry the weight of three men—much less four.

  Rhodes pushed that thought away. He didn’t let himself think about the problems. He had to save Lauer as much as Rhodes had to save Dietz and Coulter.

  Rhodes let gravity pull him toward the ground, picked up speed, and streaked past the battle, but Rhodes didn’t fly low enough to get anywhere the Masks.

  He extended another long, snaking arm, grabbed Lauer off the ground, and flew off with him before the Masks knew what was happening.

  Their gunfire followed Lauer away, but it was too late. Rhodes took off flying for the rear of the battle—back toward the Legion position. He couldn’t gain altitude until he cleared away from the Ravagers and invasion ships.

  He raced past the platoons moving in to engage with the Masks. Without warning, one of the soldiers raised his Jackhammer and fired directly into Rhodes’s underside.

  That one shot gave permission for all the other soldiers to fire at Rhodes, too. A dozen fusion blasts smashed through his housing and he lost his grip on Lauer.

  “CAPTAIN!!” Lauer bellowed, but he was already wheeling off into the clear blue sky miles over the city.

  Rhodes lost awareness of where he was. He concentrated all his mental power on keeping his shape as a Striker. He had to protect Dietz and Coulter at all costs, but Rhodes couldn’t even right himself.

  He started to fall only to get caught by Lauer. Lauer extended two long, whip arms from his sides to catch Rhodes.

  Lauer had to change his plans when more invasion ships broke away from the battle to intercept him.

  He swiveled his lasers toward the invasion ships, opened fire, and modified his legs to catch Rhodes instead.

  Rhodes stayed in the form of a Striker. His brain finally cleared enough for him to straighten himself out, but he couldn’t fly away with Dietz and Coulter—not with the invasion ships moving in.

  Lauer lowered Rhodes back down to the ground—to a different part of the city. Lauer set the Striker on the pavement.

  “This is no good, Captain,” he muttered. “Everyone knows where we are now.”

  “I don’t dare put Dietz and Coulter down again,” Rhodes panted. “I might have to take off with them again.

  Lauer interfaced with him and they surveyed The Grid for any way out of here. The rest of the battalion joined them in the interface.

  “To hell with this,” Rhinehart snarled. “Just launch and beat it back to the Ero. We’ll defend you. It beats the hell out of farting around on this rotten planet.”

  “The invasion ships are keeping us grounded,” Rhodes replied. “They know we’re here. They’re doing everything to stop us from leaving.”

  “That last hit didn’t come from any invasion ship,” Lauer muttered. “The Legion platoons fired on you—the ungrateful bastards.”

  “Allow me to make a suggestion, Captain,” Wild interjected.

  “Please,” Rhodes replied. “Help me out.”

  “You’re using the shape of a Striker now. You could use Aries’s and Baron’s strategy, use your grid lines to dig under these mountains or scrap metal, and conceal your whereabouts. Then, when you get to a part of the city where the Masks aren’t looking for you, you can launch and make it into orbit before the invasion ships catch up with you.”

  “What an excellent idea,” Murphy exclaimed.

  “I’m no slouch,” Wild mumbled back.

  “All right. We’ll do it,” Rhodes replied. “Lauer, I want you to head off in a different direction from me. Get clear and take off into the atmosphere. Get above the battle and rendezvous with the Ero.”

  “Are you stupid?” Lauer countered. “You think I’d run off and save myself while you’re down here with two of our injured comrades? To hell with that. If you want me to go off in a different direction, at least let me take one of the men with me. Then we’ll be equally loaded.”

  “Fine. Be that way. Use your grid lines to make yourself into a Striker. You can take Dietz.”

  End of Chapter 3.

  ? 2024 by Theo Mann

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