Team Omega Read Online Free PDF Page A

rogue superhuman.  But Grimes probably wouldn't be impressed by that point.  The test, if it was a test, was rigged to see how he would react to each question.  Grimes, he suspected, wasn't the real judge.  That would be the operatives of Team Omega.
     
    “So,” Grimes said, “after a moment.  You have a sister?”
     
    “Yes, sir,” Jackson said.
     
    There was a long pause as Grimes waited for him to say something else, before looking down at the papers on the desk.  “Quite a pretty girl, your sister,” Grimes observed.  “Just about to enter college on a scholarship from Harvard.  Not too bad for a girl from a lower middle-class family.”
     
    He looked at Jackson.  “What would you do for your sister?”
     
    Jackson looked back at him, evenly.  Gayle had been a pain in the ass when she'd been young, but they’d come to a truce as they both grew older and matured.  He’d once had to convince a prospective boyfriend to look elsewhere, only to discover that Gayle was quite prepared to do the same to his girlfriends.  She wasn't the sort of person to take such an insult lying down.
     
    “Whatever I had to,” he said, evenly. 
     
    Grimes shrugged.  “There’s a Level 5 superhuman who has taken over a building on campus and is holding several students as hostages,” he said.  Jackson remembered some of the students who had demonstrated against the Marines at Camp Pendleton and wondered if that would be a small loss.  “Those hostages include your sister, but your CO doesn't know it.  Would you tell him that you have a personal stake in the operation?”
     
    Jackson fought down his anger, once again.  A Level 5 superhuman was powerful enough to knock down the entire university.  Taking one out required advanced weapons and a great deal of luck.  The crossfire might kill all of the hostages and destroy Harvard before the superhuman either escaped— as most Level 5 superhumans could fly—or was brought down by Team Omega.  It would only become more complicated if other superhumans showed up to help...
     
    “I would have to,” he admitted.  Rescuing hostages was a tricky business, even at the best of times.  “And I’d be withdrawn from the team until the mission was completed.”
     
    Grimes nodded.  “You may return to the Sergeant,” he said.  There was no clue in his face about just how well Jackson had done on the test.  “Thank you for your time.”
     
    His head spinning, Jackson left the office.
     
    “Welcome back,” von Shrakenberg said.  He grinned, evilly.  “You’re just in time for another run around the track.” 

Chapter Three
    “All right, ladies, the shit has just hit the fan,” Lane said.  He looked calm and focused, despite the situation.  The nine men of Team One – counting Jackson—stood ready for action.  They’d donned body armour, checked out their weapons and completed their good luck rituals.  “We're going into action in one hour precisely.”
     
    Jackson kept his face expressionless.  It was a drill.  He knew it was a drill.  But they had to treat it as if it was a real deployment.  There could be no slacking, even on drills.
     
    His gaze swept over the group.  Unlike the others, he hadn't expressed any doubts about Jackson, the Fucking New Guy.  But then, they’d all been running him ragged over the last week, pushing him right to the limit.  Team Omega operators were supposed to remember a colossal amount of trivia on superhumans as well as keeping up with their exercises, both physical and mental.  A FNG had no place among them until he had either proven himself or died heroically.
     
    “As you may have heard,” Lane continued, “Dilbert Corporation has been threatened by the Green Warriors, a radical band of ecoterrorists who believe that Dilbert has been taking the lead in paying bribes to factions in the Congo who can secure the mines and allow the corporation to make vast profits over the last five