Arisen : Genesis Read Online Free Page A

got to the Company, they generally had an entire career’s worth of operational experience, not to mention several million dollars worth of training. Plus they’d survived it all. And on top of that, they were volunteering to go again!
    Zack paused to wonder where these two hard men had been when he was in grad school at Princeton. Probably not New Jersey.
    Finally, the Tahoe slipped into the narrow streets of north Hargeisa, then peeled around the side of the safehouse, dust billowing. They drove under the covered awning, all piled out, and closed and locked the goddamned gate. Some part of Zack was disappointed, or at least surprised, not to have been a human target marker for smart bombs in that al-Shabaab stronghold.
    Get ’em tomorrow , he thought.
    For today, he would live on.

Back from the Dead
    It was only after they got back that Zack remembered his tablet, the one the a-S guys had taken off him. Oh, well, fuck it , he thought. It was probably shattered from the crash, or covered in blood, or both. And he had more where that came from. Later, when he had time, he could get on the net and see if it was still running; and, if so, remotely wipe it.
    When he stuck his head back in the TOC, Baxter looked at him like he was back from the dead. Baxter’s cropped, sandy, curly hair, his square head, oval-framed glasses, and absurdly youthful features all made Zack feel like he’d just warped back in to the freshman dorm. Baxter was also effortlessly lean and lanky in that annoying twenty-three-year-old way.
    Give it time… Zack thought.
    “JSOC team extract?” he asked
    “Yes,” Baxter said, looking up at him. “Back to CLUVille.” That was the nickname for the residential area of Camp Lemonnier in nearby Djibouti – endless rows of Containerized Living Units. Lemonnier was the headquarters of CJTF-HOA, as well as of the entire U.S. Africa Command. In addition to hosting humanitarian and demining efforts, Lemonnier served as the home planet for virtually all CT, drone, and shadow-war activities for the entire region.
    “JSOC want a formal debrief on the busted op?”
    “Not at this time. I gave them the high-level. They said they’ll let us know, when and as.”
    Zack laughed once, not even sure whether he was amused by this. It was like that more often than anyone would guess.
    “What else?”
    “Nothing. The a-S Victors are being tracked, persistent eye-in-the-sky. I went ahead and briefed the desks at Langley, plus Foggy Bottom. They’re considering just doing a drone strike, while we’ve got eyes on. Lock in the gains, instead of going for live captures.”
    Zack nodded. “Makes sense. I’m going to shower.” He mustered up a weary smile, then started to withdraw.
    “I saw it,” Baxter said, drawing him up short.
    “…It?”
    “I didn’t see you get taken. Though we do have that on one of the feeds. But I saw Dugan and Bob take down the truck you were in. I saw them get you back.” He was still looking at Zack at a slight angle, like he was trying to work out if he was really alive.
    Or if I’m maybe just the zombie version of me , Zack thought. He also remembered that Baxter had been a Georgetown man. Zack found that Baxter could be, alternately, and seemingly contradictorily, a bit of a policy geek – and a bit of a frat boy. Zack considered him young and nearly totally clueless… but also a really good sort. That breed of young person attracted to a career in the intelligence services, or military or law enforcement. Lives of service.
    Professional good guys.
    Zack smiled again, more genuinely now. “All’s well that doesn’t end with a video of my ass on a jihadi web forum.”
    The two exchanged solemn nods.
    It’s all good.
    * * *
    In the hallway, Zack ran into the SEALs, who were just back from checking the perimeter, and now heading to their team room to kit down.
    “You should let me look you over,” Maximum Bob said. Like most experienced spec-ops guys, he was trained up