The Midnight Watch: A Sigma Force Short Story Read Free Page A

impatience irritated her, when smiles turned to frowns; when words, spoken on both sides, became painful. They were both hotheaded, both too easy to bruise. Perhaps with time, they would have learned to settle into each other with more care, but all too often he’d been called away on missions abroad, on pursuits he hadn’t even been able to talk about upon returning. Likewise, she’d been gone for weeks on end: to dusty digs, to laborious scientific conferences. And while apart, their intimate daily calls, which had previously often lasted for hours, had eventually faded to curt text messages.
    And when the end had finally come, it hadn’t been any operatic act of betrayal. It had simply been the tide of their relationship ebbing away, until neither of them had been able to dismiss the inevitable. Ever the smarter of the two, Elizabeth had recognized it first and laid out the facts over a long, cold dinner.
    Still, it hurt.
    At last, a dark door appeared ahead. The frosted glass read A NTHROPOLOGY. Below that, hanging on the door from small hooks, was a black metal placard with silver letters that spelled E LIZAB ETH P OLK, P H D .
    “Here we are,” Kowalski said needlessly.
    Surprised that she had left the placard, he bent down to unhook it. As he did so, the pane shattered above his head, accompanied by the loud retort of a pistol blast.
    J ASON DROPPED TO one knee and spun around, cleanly pulling out his side arm, a SIG Sauer P226. He squeezed the trigger twice, shooting blindly down the hall in the direction of the gunshot, hoping to discourage the sniper from firing again. He wasn’t entirely successful. A second gunshot blasted from the shadows, splintering wood from the doorframe by his shoulder.
    Then a cannon went off by his ear.
    A clipped cry rose from down the hall.
    Kowalski held his smoking weapon and growled at him. “Get inside!”
    Jason dove behind the large man’s bulk, grabbed the doorknob—thankfully, the door was unlocked—and shoved the way open with his shoulder. He rolled inside, drawing Kowalski in his wake. Once clear, Jason slammed the office door closed, dislodging a few shattered panes of glass. Though it offered little protection, he thumbed the lock.
    “Sara,” he called to the dark room, while staying low. “It’s Jason Carter.”
    A small gasp rose from behind the desk. “I’m over here.”
    He spotted a shadow rising from out of hiding.
    “Stay down,” he warned.
    “They must’ve tailed us down here,” Kowalski grumbled, rising enough to peer out the shattered window.
    It made sense. They should have been more cautious. The enemy couldn’t have known where Dr. Gutierrez had holed up.
    Until we led them here , Jason realized.
    Either he and Kowalski had been spotted entering the building, or some small expeditionary force had already been inside and had come upon their path down here. Either way, they were trapped.
    “This way,” Kowalski said and headed away from the door in a hunched crouch. “There’s a small storeroom in the back.”
    Jason followed, collecting Dr. Gutierrez along the way.
    Wearing a white lab coat over jeans, she sidled next to him. She clutched a black leather satchel to her chest with one arm. “Thank you,” she whispered.
    Don’t thank us yet.
    Jason looked around. The office was large, with shelved walls, a large desk, and an old leather sofa against one wall. But besides a handful of stray papers, it had been thoroughly cleaned out. Kowalski led them to a narrow door on the far side, which stood ajar.
    They all piled into the next room, which was twice the size of the office and divided by tall metal shelves. A pair of wooden pallets leaned against one wall. Jason imagined the storeroom had been used as a staging ground for Dr. Polk’s work on her antiquities collection.
    Kowalski closed the door, which was made of solid pine. Still, it wouldn’t give a determined enemy much of a problem, especially since there was no way to lock it