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Team Saber instinctively dropped to a crouch. Ash pulled his sidearm.
"Big one," Dante muttered. "Artillery? One of the new four-forties?"
"I don't think the Lieutenant Commander would use artillery on us," Ash whispered.
"Not normally," Holly replied. "But this is the last test. Maybe he's pulling out all the stops to figure out who'll get top honors."
Top honors. Ash had pushed Team Saber to stay on top for the last three years: honing their specialties; learning every lesson Endless Summer threw at them; and thinking, moving, and acting together as a single razor-edged weapon. Only two other teams were even close in the rankings. Gladius and Katana. Top honors would mean bragging rights and respect. It would mean they were the best. That they'd won.
Over TEAMCOM, Ash said, "O, you get a direction on that blast?"
Olivia's status light winked red.
"Okay," Ash said, "we'll assume it's artillery for now. I can't believe the Lieutenant Commander would be using it… but Mendez is another story. You hear incoming, scatter, and take cover."
Four green LEDs lit on his heads-up display, acknowledging the order.
Ash had read somewhere that you never heard the artillery shell that killed you. He had no desire to personally test that battlefield legend.
"What's the plan for Katana and Gladius?" Mark asked.
"Katana's down one," Ash replied. "We'll focus on the weaker of the two. We'll find—"
Another thump and the ground shuddered.
"Closer," Olivia whispered over TEAMCOM. "Vector north."
Ash stepped out of the tunnel and took cover by a large boulder. The others followed and their SPI armor blended into the rocky terrain.
If this was another trap, then they were probably stepping
out right into a sniper's line of fire. But Ash didn't think so. No one would use ordnance that big so close, not even Mendez.
An explosion like that wasn't something you could throw together from rocks and branches and a couple of flash-bang grenades, either… so that eliminated Teams Katana and Gladius.
So who was doing it?
Forty meters to the north v/as the triple fence surrounding Zone 67. Electrified razor wire, motion sensors, and lanes of minefields made an effective barrier. If pressed, Team Saber could have gotten around it—but they wouldn't. The LC's orders had been crystal clear: DO NOT CROSS. It would count as an instant disqualification for top honors.
What about the other teams? Just a quick hop over and lateral move to flank him? No. None of them would risk a disqualification.
There was a dust storm about three kilometers into Zone 67, a wall of sand, swirling smoke… and fire.
A distant mesa exploded—vaporized into a mushroom of glittering quartz dust, a hail of boulders, and roiling flame.
Ash instinctively ducked, and his insides clenched.
He'd seen big explosions before. Nothing like that, though.
"Two kilometers," Dante said. "Felt that one in my bones."
They watched the stones rain from the sky.
"A few Archer missiles maybe…" Mark murmured.