Avenging Angels (The Seraphim Chronicles Book 1) Read Online Free

his chair; she followed his lead and stretched as she arose from the sofa. He took her in his arms and embraced her. He held onto her long after she was done hugging him in return. “I love you, little star,” he said with a tear in his eye. Seeing her dad cry was a common occurrence, but she had no idea it would have been the last time.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
    THREE
     
     
    Evangeline’s attention returned from her memories as her HUD refreshed with new information.
    “DESCEND INTO OPENING AND INVESTIGATE. WEAPONS FREE. ENGAGE AT YOUR DISCRETION.”
    She hated the vague orders from Graham. They may as well have said, go into that room and check it out. Oh, and by the way, there may be people waiting to kill you, so go ahead, and be ready to defend yourself, or just go ahead and kill everyone if you feel like it .
    The disposable nature of her existence was one part of the military that got under her skin. Millions of dollars’ worth of equipment, years of training and in the end, she still felt like cannon fodder. If she had a better option, she never would have enlisted. It was either a life in the corps or a life in the LTZ. She had chosen the option where she understood, to a degree, what to expect from the world around her.
    “Okay, ladies and gentlemen, it’s time!” she grumbled into her headset. “Our mission is to investigate this sinkhole.”
    “Captain, are you serious? We fly all this way to check out a hole in the ground on some rock in space?” It was Corporal Paul Harper. He was young, the newest member of the team and the undisputed ‘voice’ of the squad. Always saying what everyone else was thinking. Training could never disconnect the constant stream of unfiltered verbal diarrhea that spewed out of his mouth. “Why not just send down a drone or something?”
    Harper’s analysis was over-simplified, naïve and, as usual, accurate.
    “Because,” Weston growled, “a drone can be fooled.” Lt. Eric Weston was second in command. He was older than Evangeline, but she out-ranked him because of his lack of ambition towards advancement. He was a simple man. Content to serve in whatever capacity asked of him. “Drone sensors can be tricked easier than you, dummy. And that’s not saying much. Martian said we investigate, so we investigate. Now, stow it, soldier.”
    Weston was the only one, aside from Evangeline, that Harper did not sass back to no matter what they said. Perhaps it was the scar across his face that he refused to have fixed. Perhaps it was his quiet stare without saying a word. It made you feel like he was deciding to whether to fix someone a sandwich or step on his or her throat.
    “Exactly, Harper,” Evangeline sighed into her headset. “So, we’re going to go down there and investigate. Olympus thinks it’s important enough for an eyes-on mission, so that’s what we’re going to do. Is everybody ready? Sound off,” she ordered.
    The five other members of the team spoke into her ears. “Weston, ready.” “Lennox, ready.” “Dunbar, ready.” “Hicks, ready.” “Harper, ready, willing, and able.” Everyone chuckled. Typical Harper , Evangeline grinned to herself, always needed to put in one last remark .
    Sam Lennox, Tishia Dunbar, and Riley Hicks were quiet. They never said much, even for soldiers on alert. Beyond what was in their files when they transferred to her unit, Evangeline knew little about them. What she did know was they were good soldiers nearing the end to their tours of duty.
    Hicks had made it into the TRTV program with the lowest score on record. Despite his low scores, he was a skilled technician. He was brilliant when it came to getting past security systems and demolitions.
    Lennox, a man, and Dunbar, a woman, grew up in the LTZ together. Cousins who were neighboring farmers or something like that. She guessed they just wanted a better life than the LTZ had to offer. They worked hard, obeyed orders, and never seemed to sleep. They were