Arisen : Genesis Read Online Free Page B

the paramedic level.
    “I’m totally fine.”
    “I’ve heard guys with six bullet holes in them say exactly that.”
    Zack laughed. “Okay. But let me get myself squared away and caught up first.” He considered thanking the two men again. But he knew they didn’t need it. Instead, he just nodded and carried on to the bathroom, got a whole bunch of hot water flowing, and luxuriated in the delicious feeling of being out of danger.
    Like air and sex, safety was one of those things you only really appreciated after it was taken away for a while. Zack believed that was why a lot of guys did this job, or why they did it for so long. The rush, then the release. It wasn’t great for one’s long-term survival prospects. Then again, we don’t want what’s good for us.
    We want what we want.
    Dugan and Maximum Bob were cases in point – extremely smart guys who nonetheless took absurd risks for decades on end. As Zack lathered up, he thought about the two men who had raced out into danger, to literally pull his ass out of the fire today.
    Maximum Bob was maximal in both body and brain. He went six-five, with hands like catcher’s mitts, arms like legs, and short, spiky blond hair – too short for his huge head. He’d originally spent two years in the fleet, swabbing decks and brawling, before going out to BUD/S, the notoriously brutal 28-week selection course for SEALs. It turned out his keen mind had been an underutilized resource, due probably to him looking like a professional wrestler, and he quickly became a go-to guy, and soon platoon chief, in SEAL Team Ten. He completed a half-dozen tours of Afghanistan and HOA before getting the nod to try out for Team Six (aka DEVGRU). Smart, aggressive, and fast for a man of any size, he sailed in and never looked back.
    Bob’s muscle didn’t turn to flab as he hit middle age, he just got cagier, transitioning straight from the military to the Agency. He seemed to find this work relaxing, spending a lot of time in his rack tearing through military history and politics on his e-book reader, and playing chess across the net on his laptop.
    Dugan was smaller, lean and wiry, handsome with dark features and very intelligent eyes. He was actually even cagier than Bob, though he spent most of his acumen on his stock portfolio. Between the Naval Academy and SEAL training, he had acquired a masters degree in economics from the University of Virginia. In the teams, he gained a solid reputation as being tough, competent, and extremely brave. And reputation is everything in the teams.
    Dugan seemed to take protecting Zack and Baxter as some kind of divinely sanctioned mission, which he’d literally be damned before failing at. Like it would be a black mark on his soul if anything happened to them. He also seemed to know a lot of beautiful women in lots of exotic places around the world, if one judged by peeking at his constant Skype sessions.
    Zack knew these two would never say another word about what had happened today, not if he never brought it up. In their minds, they were literally just doing their jobs. Just a day’s work. Maybe an unusually lively and gratifying day’s work…
    By the time Zack toweled, dressed, and squared himself away, the SEALs were both locked away in that team room of theirs – loading magazines, doing one-handed pull-ups, whatever it was they did in there. But Zack knew they were never more than a shout away.
    Blessings counted .
    * * *
    When he got back on station, Zack found his attention urgently drawn to some hour-old drone footage of a situation at an outlying regional clinic. He had earlier requested, and got, a tiny sliver of the linger time of one of their ISR platforms earmarked for keeping an eye on any social disruption from the most recent mini-outbreak that had just started to be reported locally. Since it was his big idea, it became his job to review and analyze the footage.
    He called up the clip, moved to the first time marker, and