The Assault by Brian Falkner Read Free Book Online Page B

son of a butcher in the valley, it’s already too late,” Brogan said.
    “Are we talking about the same dude?” Wilton asked. “Our LT? The fearless leader who’s so tough that he’s already gone for a cup of tea and a lie-down.”
    “Think what you like,” Brogan said. “I’d tell you not to underestimate him, but that’s pointless. The moment you look at him, you’ve already underestimated him.”
    Chisnall grinned. Not entirely true, but it didn’t hurt your reputation with the troops to have your sergeant shovel around a little awe and mystique.
    “As for the lie-down,” Brogan said, “have you forgotten that the LT landed on a deflated half-pipe? Must have knocked the pudding out of his body. I’m surprised he can even walk. But how many times have you heard him complain?”
    “I guess,” Wilton said.
    Brogan tossed the ball to Hunter and stood up, walking toward Chisnall’s position.
    He watched her approach. She had already removed her body armor in preparation for sleeping, and the tight Bzadian battle tunic and leggings were damp from the night’s sweat and the beginning of the day’s heat. They clung to her body like a swimsuit.
    She stood over him and he heard her voice through the fabric of the camo sheet.
    “Awake, LT?”
    “Am now.”
    “How’s the legs?”
    He peeled back a corner of the sheet and twisted his head to look up at her.
    “All good.”
    “Really.” It was clear she didn’t believe him. “Thought I saw you lagging a bit on the last section.”
    “I wasn’t lagging. I was just enjoying the scenery.”
    “I’d better have a look, eh?”
    “At the scenery?”
    “At your legs.”
    “Got nothing better to do?”
    “Nope.”
    She went to her backpack and returned with her own camo sheet. Interlocking one edge of her sheet with his, she wedged a couple of sticks into a crack in the rock to create a bivouac. Her flashlight flicked on and the silver thermal underside of the makeshift tent lit up like a carnival.
    To be safe, Chisnall turned his comm mike off, and she did the same.
    “I’m so glad you’re still alive,” she said in a low voice, and kissed him gently on the cheek.
    “Not in front of the children,” he said quietly.
    “God, Ryan, I was so worried,” she said, lying down next to him.
    “Holly, don’t,” he said.
    “What’s the matter?” she asked.
    “You shouldn’t even be on this mission,” he said. “I specifically requested that you not be included.”
    “And I specifically requested to be on the team,” she said. “Why didn’t you want me along? Got your eye on Price?”
    “You know that’s not true,” he said. “I’m just not sure I could take it if you got killed or injured.”
    “
You
almost were,” she said. “How do you think I felt?”
    “That’s what I’m talking about. That’s why you shouldn’t be here,” he said.
    “I’m the best one for the job, and you know it,” she said.
    He was silent for a moment. She
was
the best one for the job. The best soldier he had ever met and a trained medic, and she spoke the Bzadian dialects like a native. If not for their relationship, she would have been the first one he would have picked for the mission.
    He said, “That isn’t going to make it any easier if one of us gets killed.”
    “Better than sitting back at camp worrying.”
    Chisnall was silent. She had a point.
    They had been going out for six months, but they had kept it secret because of the camp’s strict rules outlawing relationships between soldiers. It was a romance of sneaky meetings and stolen moments. He wondered sometimes if she would have looked at him twice if they had met in another place, under different circumstances.
    “I’d better have a look at your legs. Where does it hurt most?” she asked.
    “Everywhere,” he said.
    “Let’s have a look, then, shall we?” she said.
    “Yes, doctor.”
    She unclipped the body armor from his legs, then gently peeled back the cuff of his