Arisen : Nemesis Read Online Free PDF

townships, helping out the medical expeditionary teams – sometimes doing my own clinics. You set these things up, and sometimes al-Shabaab or other militia dudes, guys who were shooting at us twelve hours earlier, will walk right in.” Kate looked disbelieving. “They know it’s our policy to treat anyone – as long as they’re not visibly armed. They also know it’s the only place in the region they’re likely to get a decent standard of medical care – particularly for something like a gunshot wound, or soft-tissue damage from blasts.”
    Kate shook her head. “Doesn’t it clue you in when they stroll in with a gunshot wound?”
    “Hell, we know already. And lots of innocent people come in with gunshot wounds. Basically, it sucks here. And it’s not black-and-white. Some of the militia guys are basically okay. I’ll say this: at least they’re God-fearing types. Which is more than you can say for a lot of the fornicators on this base.”
    Kate honestly couldn’t tell whether that was a joke, so she kept silent as a slight chill ran up her neck. She didn’t like the parallels between the Islamists here and the fundamentalist Christians in the U.S. Instead she changed the subject. “Hey – who was that other guy? The huge jacked one in the background of the video.”
    “That was al-Sîf – Godane’s lieutenant and enforcer.”
    Kate blinked heavily. “What the hell was that weapon he had?”
    “The one that looks like a medieval halberd crossed with a giant meat cleaver?”
    “Yeah. That one.”
    “Moorish scimitar.”
    “Jesus.”
    “That’s why they call him al-Sîf – “ the Sword .”
    “No points for creativity.”
    “Yeah, well, you tell him that. And you do not want to see what he does with that thing. C’mon.” Elijah started to climb to his feet, saying “Back to wo—”
    —but he was instantly knocked straight back onto his ass as an explosion of gut-shuddering magnitude shook what felt like the entire side of the base. As Elijah got up onto his hands and knees, while Kate reached over to help him, the sound of gunfire ramped up outside, a lot of weapons in various calibers discharging, swaddling the building in buzzing and racket.
    It was obviously game on.

Inside the Wire
    Camp Lemonnier - Med Shack
    They had both just gotten to their feet when the outside door banged open and in surged some kind of vengeful god.
    Kate took a second recognizing him as Jake, the team sergeant. Like her, he wore only a t-shirt underneath his tactical vest, and his muscles looked like they were trying to muscle their way out. He was square-shouldered, well-built, fierce-eyed, and didn’t look like he had skipped a workout in his entire life. His head was bare – even SF guys tended to wear ball caps or something – revealing a full head of wavy black hair, again not quite military short, and as she’d seen before, graying slightly at the temples. He also had an extremely intelligent cast to his glinting eyes, which wasn’t the smallest surprise to Kate.
    As he spotted them and trotted up, Elijah looked up, still steadying himself, and said, “What the heck was that?”
    “107mm rocket,” Jake answered, his voice exactly the right volume for the environment. “Probably shot out the back of a pickup truck.”
    Elijah hefted his rifle. “Can’t they get some counter-battery fire on that crap?”
    “Expect they’re doing it now.” That this man did not rattle was the most obvious fact in an entire extreme and complex situation. He spared a half a glance for Kate, who stood ready and – she hoped – alert-looking, with her rifle cradled, then looked back to the medical sergeant. He said, “Everybody with a working trigger finger is being called out to defend the perimeter.”
    Kate nodded and hefted her rifle.
    “Not you,” Jake said.
    “Where are we?” Elijah asked.
    “We think a-S might be making a play. There’s been coded radio chatter.”
    Kate knew this meant the base was