Read Online Gears of War: Jacinto’s Remnant by Karen Traviss - Free Book Online Page B

can’t send troops to Tyrus or anywhere else. I have millions of refugees pouring over the border, and the best I can do is try to hold the north.”
    “You still have chemical weapons.”
    Deschenko fell silent. The Coalition of Ordered Governments was a strange beast to control. Prescott was its chairman, and its heart was—and always had been—in Ephyra, in Tyrus, but the operational reality was very different. It was a global alliance. Heads of COG states had to want to cooperate, or at least fear the wrath of the others if they tried to break ranks. Unilateral enforcement—the kind that didn’t require extreme measures, at least
    —wasn’t in Prescott’s gift.
    And he was on his own now. He knew it.
    Where was the coalition? Every state had been hit hard by Locust attacks, and each was fighting its own war for the privilege of being the last to fold and die.
    You’ve all given up. You cowards. You parochial little cowards .
    “Yes, I have weapons,” Deschenko said. “But they’re my last resort, to defend Pelles. And they’ll kill us along with the grubs. They’re for the endgame, Richard.”
    Oh yes. They are .
    Apart from the names of cities and precise numbers of dead, this was a script that Prescott had almost learned by heart over the past few weeks, because every COG leader so far had taken the same position. They couldn’t think beyond their own boundaries. Nobody was ready to sacrifice the defense of their own citizens to support a combined strike.
    They’ve given up. They’re just letting these bastards pick us off .
    This wasn’t about Pelles, or Ostri, or Tyrus, or any other member state. This was about Sera, the entire world. This was about the survival of humankind.
    “I realize I’m asking a great deal,” Prescott said carefully. “And I know I’m seen as the boy who’s just taken over the family firm and has to learn how things are really done around here. But I don’t have time, and neither does Sera.”
    “Spell it out, Richard.”
    “I’m asking you what I’ve asked every member state. Agree to this—a joint and coordinated assault on the main Locust infestations. Break their back.”
    “Many of those locations happen to be in Tyrus…”
    “There are no national boundaries now, Yori. The Locust don’t give a damn about our petty administrative detail. We’re all the same to them. Are you with me?”
    Deschenko sounded as if he was swallowing repeatedly. He might have been grabbing a coffee, or just agonizing over a choice between disaster and apocalypse. But Prescott knew the answer would be the same either way. He just needed to know he’d done all he could to carry the argument.
    “No, Richard,” Deschenko said at last. “I’m afraid I’m not.”
    It was such a polite way to usher in mass destruction.
    “Thank you, Yori. I understand your position.” Prescott paused, almost automatically wishing the man well, or luck, or some other banal blessing that would never come to pass. But it felt like a lie. He hadn’t yet learned to lie that easily. “Goodbye.”
    Prescott stood staring out the window for a few minutes, aware of the TV screens on the walls on both sides of him, sound muted, spewing news bulletins that never seemed to change, but focused instead on the physical world he could see with his own eyes. Helicopters tracked across the sky. It was a beautiful sunny day, at odds with the ugly work that had to be done. If he switched off those TV sets, he could almost believe that life was going on as normal. He didn’t. He walked to the other window, the one that overlooked the rest of Ephyra, and stared at a view that stretched for twenty miles. Palls of smoke were visible, and old skyline landmarks had vanished. The Locust were almost at the gates.
    One more try?
    They’ve all turned me down, except the South Islands, and they’ve got nothing to contribute except Gears. This is going to take more than manpower .
    “Jillian?” He held his finger on