Lewis almost had to bite his tongue to keep from yelling, instead he spoke quietly. “Who’s in charge here?”

The Sergeant stood up real straight. “You are sir.”

“What,” Lewis asked, annunciating each word slowly. “Were my orders in the lobby?”

Thilson stood there like a statue. “Split into teams and search the rooms, sir!”

Lewis took advantage of his six foot six height, moving closer so he was looking down at Thilson. “I said pairs, not teams. And you exceeded your authority when you left the room by the back door. And what’s with pushing the laborers ahead of you?”

Thilson didn’t back up. “Sir, our manual clearly states that peasant recruits are most valuable as front-line soldiers because it keeps the enemy busy, and because of the year or more of training of any uniformed soldiers. And you can’t replace the experience of a seasoned knight with any number of peasants, sir!”

“These persons are not peasant recruits in some grand war, where the land or even the world is at stake,” Lewis told him. “They are civilian contractors who signed up to help us clean up this city. We, all of us, are part of a team and teammates take care of each other. If I had not showed up to check on you, you would likely be dead now. I’m not going to report this insubordination because I’m convinced that my instructions were not clear enough. If you want out, go to your commanding officer and request to be transferred somewhere else. Otherwise let’s go back to work.” Lewis pointed toward the door and Thilson spun on his heels and slammed the door open.

Back at the beach they turned in their computers. Lewis told Dayen about the creatures they had fought; she informed him that they were called raptors. A team was dispatched to retrieve the carcasses and clean up the rooms they had cleared. After lunch Lewis’s team went back to the office building without the two injured team members. The team went up the stairs at ten foot intervals with Lewis on point. The second floor had a balcony overlooking the lobby, with a hallway on either side of the elevators. Two office doors faced the balcony on each side of the building.

“O.K., pairs to the doors and hallways,” he said. “Don’t explore the hallways, just stand guard so nothing is able to sneak in behind us, I’ll take the last door.”

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He had to remove some debris before pushing the door open, because a large section of the ceiling had fallen down and was blocking the door. The room was an office, and it was completely destroyed. There were computers, desks, chairs, and file cabinets all strewn about in chaotic piles. The back door to the service corridor was gone and the room smelled bad. A crash and a single shot came from next door, so he abandoned the computer he was picking up and ran toward the source of the noise. He arrived in a matter of seconds. Two small children tried to run by him as he got to the door. He dropped his rifle and grabbed each of them by their arm. Rollins appeared from behind a room divider with a boy of about twelve years kicking and struggling in his grasp.

“Hey, Lieutenant,” he said. “This little bastard shot Shawn; I don’t think it got through his vest, though.” The expression on his face made it clear that he was amused.

Blair came out from behind the room divider holding his side. “I been hit, Boss.” Everyone else on the team had arrived by then, and Gomez had him remove his shirt and vest. There was a purple welt just to the right of his navel.

Lewis handed off the little ones to Roquette and Blair. He knelt down before the boy and asked, “What are you doing here?” when he did not get a reply, he said to Rollins. “Give your prisoner to Telini and show me what happened.”

Rollins took Lewis behind the divider. “We were looking for computers when we came upon these bedrolls, they looked fresh, so we were on alert. The little ones were under there when we moved the divider off the desk. The boy stood up and shot Shawn and turned his piece on me and it just clicked like it was an empty cartridge. The girls got away and Shawn fell over acting all dramatic. When the boy looked at him, I took his gun away. It’s over there.”

Lewis retrieved the pistol from the desk and opened the cover on the cylinder. He removed three live rounds, one empty and one with a dent from the firing pin. He handed the cartridge to Rollins.

“Man,” Rollins said, as he put it in his pocket. “That was a close one.”

“Alright, we have computers and prisoners,” he told the team. “Make sure the kid doesn’t have any other weapons. Gather their personal effects and put the machines outside. Alice, tie their wrists and transfer them to the DeLeahs, bring Shawn with you and leave him there to get checked out. Let’s finish this floor.”

Roquette came back with Blair and Cope in about an hour. They searched the second and third floors without further incident.

That night there was food and drink around a huge bonfire on the beach and everyone slept secure in the knowledge that the knights were guarding the roads.