The Primal War : First Elements Saga Book 1

Chapter 10: Null and Void Canal

To say the ride to the safehouse was tense was a vast understatement. Despite his hardened exterior, Raymond quickly confessed that his troops, a mix of 75th Regiment RRC Rangers and Delta Force, were seeing the Soulless for the very first time and were taking heavy losses.

“We’re overmatched here, agents,” the colonel grimly announced from the front seat of the armored, bulletproof black SUV that was so popular with covert operations. “SOF assets are generally used in direct action missions, not manning a defensive line. JSOC just doesn’t have the experience in managing a combat situation like this attack! After being briefed on the Descendants and their capabilities, I determined that only your full team would help us see success here. However, only two of you show up.”

Raymond twisted to look at Val and Marcus sitting in the back seat. “Please tell me that one of you is the stone elemental, Jay Bamfield, at least.” “Water,” Val said, holding up her hand.

“Fire here,” Marcus added, then frowned. “Look, Colonel Raymond. Both Agent Alvarez and myself have more than enough experience fighting hyper humans in various theaters across the globe. The two of us are all you’ll need to beat these guys!”

“Says the kid that looks barely old enough to shave!” Raymond replied with a grimace. “No disrespect, Agent Gray, but we need heavy firepower to handle this. We need Agent Bamfield.”

“No disrespect, Colonel, but since this is the first time you’ve actually faced Soulless in battle, how can you possibly know what you need?” Marcus countered tautly. Man, this jarhead was starting to get on his nerves!

The determined fire primal went on before the sputtering colonel could respond to his hard question.

“While I understand you’re JSOC and have seen some shit in your day, we’re the experts on hyper humans. Not JSOC. Just get our team to the safehouse to rearm and we’ll take care of this problem for you!”

Thankfully they had just about reached the safehouse by that point so the two primals didn’t have to sit and listen to Raymond’s teeth impotently grinding in frustration and anger for too long. As soon as the SUVs carrying them and the RedSky operators skidded to a stop in front of the nondescript safehouse, doors were being thrown open and the RedSky personnel quickly trooped into the building.

Once inside, the CIA officer that was there minding the house, quickly led them to the armory, having been advised beforehand of their arrival. Clothing was changed, plate vests and tactical helmets put on, and weapons selected. Then they stepped back outside to find Raymond and the SUVs gone, but two Blackhawks were sitting in the street in their place, their rotors already spun up in anticipation of a quick takeoff.

“Colonel says we’re your ride to the line, RedSky,” said the helmeted airman with a 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment badge on the chest of his plate vest and on the shoulder of his flight suit that was standing on the edge of the street and out of the rotor wash.

“If you’ll follow me, we’ll get you situated, then into the fight!”

“Lead the way, Staff Sergeant!” Marcus directed, with Val on his hip and the rest of the team right behind her.

A quick run through the rotor’s downwash and they were scrambling on board and strapping in, the team divided between the two helicopters. Then the Blackhawks were jumping into the air at full downward thrust to swing out over the city and make for the fires burning in the distance.

As expected from 160th SOAR pilots, the team wasn’t dropped off at the fringe of the battle. Instead, the experienced pilots took them deep into the heart of the fighting. With weapons fire and elemental energies splashing all around them, the 160th pilots eased them to the ground within twenty meters of a raging gunbattle.