Free DeathWeb (Fox Meridian Book 3) by Niall Teasdale Page B

entrance building with its ground vehicle bay was still standing and fairly intact. Fox walked toward it remembering the last time she had seen it: three years earlier when she had been running out of it leaving death and destruction behind her.
    There was a side door which looked like it had been broken open and Fox switched her visor to infrared before pushing through and checking the room. It had been a reception area and there was still a counter for receiving visitors. Behind it was a set of double doors leading to a corridor filled with concrete rubble.
    ‘Looks clear,’ Fox said.
    Jackson entered carrying a large lamp. ‘Yes, this should do. It’ll keep the winds off for a while at least.’
    Terri followed, dragging the crate they had brought over. ‘Yeah, this should do. To be honest, though, now I’m here, I’ve no idea what to do…’
    Turning, Jackson flipped open the box and pulled out a couple more lamps, checking the floor by them as he moved over to the reception desk. Infrared was good for finding many things, but a dormant snake might be missed. ‘We have the flowers to lay. It’s clichéd, but it’s something to show we haven’t forgotten them. And the thing they died for has finally come to fruition.’
    ‘Yes,’ Terri said, her voice soft. ‘Finally.’
    The first order of business, which Fox wanted it done quickly because it would take time and make noise so it was best handled first, was the plaque they had had made. Jackson had actually programmed the Yliaster unit in Sam’s house to make it since that seemed appropriate. It was a simple, plastic rectangle which had been manufactured to look like brass with letters cut into it. It said ‘Never Forgotten’ and they fixed it to the wall behind the reception desk, next to the door, with bolts which had to be drilled into the concrete.
    With that done, Jackson and Terri took bouquets of roses from the box and placed them under the plaque. Both of them looked like they wanted to say something but could not really come up with anything that worked. Terri gave the plaque a frown and then swallowed, and said, ‘At least I can say now that none of you died for no reason.’ She looked like she might say more, and then shook her head and stepped back, looking at Fox.
    Fox took her own gift of flowers from the box and walked around the reception desk. There was, in fact, only one flower in Fox’s hand: a single red and gold tulip which she placed on the ground and stepped back. ‘When I first met Pieter and asked about the accent, he said he was Dutch. And I said, “That’s clogs and cheese and tulips, right?” And he laughed, and he bought me tulips after that.’ She looked through the broken glass of the door at the rubble. ‘I finally got them all, Pieter. Mission over. We can move on to the next.’ She grinned. ‘You have no idea how hard it was to find that damn flower.’
    There was a rumble of subdued laughter from Jackson and Terri, but Fox was moving again, picking up her rifle from where it was resting on the counter. ‘We need to go. There’s something on radar moving up from the south-west.’
    ‘They’ve got a ground vehicle?’ Jackson asked, connecting through to the jet and the feeds from the airborne guardian frames.
    ‘Looks like it. I’ve tasked one of the units to give us a closer look, but we should get that crate back on the jet.’
    By the time they were pulling the door shut, the cyberframe was in visual range of the ugly-looking truck that appeared to be carrying maybe ten men in outfits which would have looked right for some sort of post-apocalyptic survival movie. The truck itself had no hood and then Jackson looked over the feed from the frame and said, ‘They’ve adapted a gasoline engine to run on alcohol. Clever for someone like that.’
    ‘They’re clever enough. Most of the gangs have at least basic internet via those high-altitude, wide-area drone relays. A lot of them are pretty busy on the