How to Love the Stars | Ghost (Simon Riley)

Chapter 10

Ghost turned and spoke into his radio. "Shadow-1, Ghost, visual on flares coming from the rig. What's your status, over?"

Althea heard Soap's accented voice through the comms. "Ghost, they're signaling the ship, they're gonna launch that missile!"

Graves responded. "It's the first stage! There's still time! All Shadows, all Shadows, missile is on the helipad! 2-1, we're moving to secure. Cover us!"

"Check high!" Althea called out.

"Forcing up!" Graves's gun sounded.

"I'll cover!"

Through her sniping lens, she saw Graves open the cargo container doors, only to find it barren. Althea heard Graves speak again.

"Actual, we got a problem, missile is armed- controls are somewhere on the ship."

She heard General Shepherd's voice. "You have your orders, son- Stop that launch."

Ghost spoke, his tone firm and authoritative. "All stations! Visual on the missile controls! I say again, missile controls are on the bridge."

"Copy that!"

Gunfire sounded around Althea and Ghost. This would be more difficult than she'd expected.

Graves spoke again. "Ghost, this is 0-1! Back in the water. Inbound to your position."

"Solid copy. We're taking effective fire! The LZ will be hot!"

Graves and Soap ride the boat to the cargo ship ramp at full speed, making the boat leap onto the ship. They quickly get onto the deck. They join Ghost and Althea and force their way toward the control center on the bridge. As they get there they find that there's a soldier stationed outside the door, and the door is sealed shut.

Althea ripped off her gloves, reached for her knife, and quickly slit the throat of the soldier stationed outside the door of the control room.

Ghost checked his pockets and cursed. "I'm out of C4." Soap and Graves checked the sides of the door, but there was no way in. "Shit. What do we do?"

Althea's eyes glimmered dangerously. She took out a few materials from her pockets, assembling them to make a makeshift explosive. Graves noticed her tinkering with the circuitry. "What are you doing? This is no time for arts and crafts, woman."

Althea looked up at him, sneering. "Shut up and watch." She quickly attached it to the door before motioning for them to step back.

Ghost eyed Althea's makeshift explosive dubiously. "Are you sure that's not going to blow up in our faces?"

Althea grinned. "Hey, I'm not just good with knives. I'm a whiz with gadgets too."

Ghost raised an eyebrow. "Let's hope your definition of 'whiz' isn't synonymous with 'dangerously unpredictable.'" At this, Althea grinned wickedly. "I can't make any promises." With that, she pressed a few buttons on the charge.

"You might want to cover your ears." Althea walked a safe distance away from the bomb, shielding her ears. "And maybe your eyes."

The explosive detonated, a cloud of glitter enveloping them. The door blew backward, standing for a moment before toppling over, revealing a large hole in the center. "Hm. I didn't expect my prototype to work so well." Confused and frightened shouts came from inside the room. Music to her ears. The air shimmered with glitter. There was a large amount in the air already on the outside just from leftovers. She could hardly imagine how much there was inside the room.

Ghost looked at Althea with a resigned glance. "Really? Glitter?"

Althea scoffed in mock offense. "How dare you underestimate the power of glitter." In reality, glitter was a very strategic choice. (Although it didn't entirely mean that Althea didn't use it for enjoyment). It helped generate a moderate amount of chaos, clogging up airways and blinding people. The ones who weren't blinded could barely see anyway because of the cloud of glitter. Besides, every charge needs a little extra pizzazz. Althea could barely hide her smug expression when she saw Graves.

Graves's eyes were wide, his gear coated in glitter. Althea motioned for him to enter. "Ladies first."

Entering the room, it was less of a storm of glitter than a hurricane. Most of the people inside were incapacitated. How disappointing. Althea stepped over a body on the floor. "Hm. Pathetic."

Graves ran forward and seized the controls. "C'mon, baby... C'mon, baby... C'mon, baby... Fuuuck. We can't disarm it."

Althea's head snapped up. "What? There's no abort code?"

"Yeah, well that window's closed on that boys... Gold Eagle, Actual, this is Shadow-1- Missile's in boost phase about to burn, how copy?"

Shepherd responded. "Solid, Shadow. If we can't disarm, then we detonate."

"Roger that, Actual. Stand by... Soap, get on the controls– We're gonna have to do this together. Now the clock is ticking. So, we gotta move, brother. Alright? It's a two-man job, Soap. Tap in, Let's get this done. Yeah?"

Althea's blood pounded in her veins. Ghost ordered Alejandro and the Shadows to clear the rig.

"All Stations— Clear the rig now, I say again- Clear the rig!!"

"Roger- what's the count?"

"One minute."

"Copy, on the move!"

Althea watched Soap and Graves on the controls. After one minute- which felt like hours- they stepped back from the controls.

"Let's enjoy our handiwork, Sergeant. Here we go! All Stations- prepare for the boom!"

The missile launched, and Althea didn't dare to breathe. Without noticing, she had stepped closer to the window, her hand resting on the glass. The missile rose, and for a second Althea was afraid that what Graves and Soap had done wouldn't work, but the missile swung back towards the oil rig in a perfect arc. An ear-shattering sound echoed through the air. The sound waves hammered against the fragile window, but Althea's focus remained unbroken.

Then, the world erupted into brilliance. Flames consumed the night, painting it in hues of oranges and reds that were indescribable. Her wide, dark eyes locked onto the inferno of fire, the fire, and shrapnel reflecting and swirling in the dark irises of them. She could almost feel the blast in her chest, resonating through her entire body, harmonizing with her heart in a gorgeous crescendo. Her lips parted in a silent gasp. The emotions almost felt... familiar. There was something so terrifying but so alluring about it that held Althea captive, unable to tear her eyes away.

A/N: How do you guys get people to read your books?  😭 Nobody is reading mine and I worked so hard on it :(

Nobody's going to get to this part and read this but, thank you so much for reading!!! Have the best day ever if you're reading this <3