Blood & Thunder

by Charlie Cochet

  “Structure?”

  “Five floors, including a rooftop court. We’re talking a hell of a lot of rooms. Recreation rooms, dormitories, swimming pool hall, classrooms, lunchroom….”

  “That son of a bitch,” Ash growled, shaking his head. “A kids’ center. When I get my hands on that sick fuck, I’m gonna—”

  “Take it easy, big guy. We know.” Cael gently patted Ash on his leg, and Sloane saw the gruff agent give Cael a sad smile. It was amazing how Cael was the only one who ever got through to Ash and didn’t come out of it verbally pummeled. Even Sloane would get a coarse reply or growl from Ash. Though right now, Sloane knew how Ash was feeling.

  If this really was Isaac’s doing, no matter what rock he tried to crawl under, Sloane wouldn’t give up until he found him and made him pay.

  Chapter 7

  HE COULD do this.

  Dex jumped down from the BearCat after his partner, turned the corner, and was stricken by the sight before him. The air was thick, a muddy gray, with debris, ash, and fragments of burning paper raining down like confetti, the sidewalk littered with crushed glass and branches from the once lush trees now standing crooked and splintered. Humans and Therians alike looked on in horror and confusion. Some huddled together, others helped those around them, some ran in a panic, fear etched on everyone’s dirt- or blood-smudged face.

  Bodies were scattered all around, some moving, some still. Sloane appeared before him, his bright amber eyes behind his helmet’s visor filled with concern as he spoke, though Dex couldn’t hear a word, only see his lips moving, as if someone had pressed the “mute” button. A shake to the shoulder and the world around him exploded with noise and uproar, sirens wailing, car alarms blaring, kids shrieking, adults crying, shouting, utter chaos.

  “Dex! Come on, partner, snap out of it!”

  Dex nodded fervently. “I’m okay. I’m okay.”

  “Good.” Sloane turned, pulling Dex with him as he shouted over the noise into their earpieces. “Letty, Rosa, you know the drill, tag by priority, get the rest of Unit Alpha up here. Calvin, Hobbs, Ash, Cael, we’re going in.”

  They rushed through the main entrance, its three colorful doors streaked with gray, past the clouds of dust and billowing smoke. Dex almost ran into Ash who’d stopped dead cold. Stepping around him, Dex gasped. “Oh my God.” Kids were everywhere, on the floor crying, screaming, some bloodied, some looking dazed, a few who weren’t moving, all scattered among chunks of stone, bits of glass, fallen segments of plaster, and ceiling, waiting for someone to tell them what to do or where to go.

  “Shit.” Sloane grabbed Calvin and Cael. “Start getting these kids out of here.”

  Maddock appeared with a dozen agents behind him. “I put out a call to the other divisions requesting assistance. Emergency services are already here and Beta Ambush is ready for their orders. Where do you want them?”

  “Okay, I want one agent per floor along with my team, the rest down here and outside helping Rosa and Letty until the other squads arrive. I’ll take this floor, Ash you take the second. Dex, you and Hobbs evacuate the third and fourth floors, Beta Ambush, you’re on your own for the fifth floor and the court on the roof. Let’s get everyone out of here. I want updates as you get them and watch your step!”

  They broke off, Dex running after Hobbs as they took the stairs two at a time while simultaneously checking to make sure it was safe. Exposed wires hung from the ceiling, but not low enough to reach them. The fallen ceiling panels snapped under their boots as they rushed through the fire door. Dex tried not to think about what they might find. From the looks of the place, the ground floor was in worse shape, which told him the explosion had originated there. Every time Dex thought about the man behind this, he had to quickly push it from his head to keep his anger in check. If he thought about the sick fuck who’d done this, he’d be no good to anyone. He had a job to do and terrified kids depending on them.

  Kids ranging from young to teens huddled together in small groups or pairs, looking stricken, their dirty cheeks stained with trails from their tears. They were lost, and scared, and when they spotted Hobbs, they flooded over en masse. Hobbs was a huge Therian, a golden tabby tiger in his Therian form, but unlike Ash, Hobbs had a kind face and a tender smile. He knelt down as the kids all tried to talk to him or climb into his arms at once. He hugged them close to reassure them, whispering at them and doing his best to soothe them. Some of them eyed Dex warily, and he couldn’t blame them. They were in this center because they’d been shunned or mistreated by Humans, whether by their parents or other Humans. Hobbs must have said something, because they turned their tearful gazes toward him, uncertain but willing to take Hobbs’s word for it that Dex was one of the good guys.

  “We need to get out of here, okay?” Dex approached one of the bigger boys. “What’s your name?”

  The kid rounded his shoulders, his gaze unwavering, though Dex could see past the bravado to the fear he was trying so desperately to hide. “Kurt.”

  “Okay, Kurt. These fellas need your help. Take the smallest ones, lead them downstairs. Our guys are in the lobby. They’ll make sure you get out safe.” Kurt hopped to it while Dex and Hobbs rounded up the others and saw them down the stairs, waiting while they made their way out to the lobby. Dex tapped his earpiece. “Sloane, we’ve got thirteen kids on the way down. I’d send Cael for them. Anyone else will scare them, especially Human agents.”

  “Copy that. Good work.”

  When the last of them had disappeared out the door downstairs, Dex turned to Hobbs. “Why don’t we start at the west end and make our way down, then take the stairs up to the fourth.”

  Hobbs nodded and they hurried to the other end of the corridor, checking each room. The third floor was all dorm rooms. They were painted in cheerful colors, some with rows of bunk beds, some with rows of single beds, while others had fewer beds. The rooms with bunk beds were clearly for the younger kids, judging by the scattered toys, picture books, and cartoon bedding. The rooms with single beds were most likely for the preteens with posters of young pop stars and superheroes on the wall. And the rooms with fewer beds were for the teenagers as they were mostly solid colors, included desks with computers, and bookshelves piled high with books ranging from Algebra to Harry Potter. Dex was glad to see all the rooms were clean, everything freshly painted. As far as youth centers went, the place was top notch.

  Dex made sure to check under, inside, and over any space where a kid could wedge him or herself. Everything was clear by the time they got to the end. He tapped his earpiece. “Sloane, third floor is clear. We’re heading up to the fourth.”

  “Copy that. From the intel I’m getting, it seems the worst of the damage is down here. Still, keep your eyes peeled up there.”

  “Copy that,” Dex replied, joining Hobbs on the stairwell to the next floor. This one was quiet, and he assumed at this time of day, the kids had been involved in other activities. The fourth floor was mostly classrooms for different age groups. One had a huge rug with a map of the United States with each state and name in a bright color. All kinds of maps were pinned against the walls, waist-high bookshelves running along the walls all around the room filled with books, DVDs, and games. Finding that room clear, they moved into the next room, which was some kind of recreation room filled with game tables—Ping-Pong, foosball, paddleball, a pool table, and air hockey. They checked the art room, library, computer room, and finally reached the last classroom. It was a huge room behind a large set of fire doors at the end of the hall.

  It looked like any other children’s classroom filled with colorful tables and chairs, a teacher’s desk that was made of some kind of durable stainless steel or aluminum, shelves filled with books, chalkboards, corkboards displaying colorful pictures, and science diagrams hanging from the ceiling. There were shelves displaying projects, hooks for school bags, and a section for educational toys. They checked behind every piece of furniture, inside every cupboard, and even behind all the
raincoats. They were about to head out when Hobbs stopped in the middle of the room.

  “Hobbs?”

  Hobbs put a finger to his lips and cocked his head to one side. That’s when Dex heard it too. Faint sniffling. Hobbs walked to a medium sized toy chest filled with stuffed animals and got down on his knees. He picked up two bright bears with numbers on their tummies and smiled. Putting the bears on the floor, he tapped his name badge, his smile making wrinkles form at the corners of his green eyes as he held his gloved hand out. A second later, a small chubby hand slipped into Hobbs’s much larger one. A small boy with big brown eyes, an Iron Man T-shirt, and paint-spattered jeans stood up. He threw his arms around Hobbs.

  Dex tapped his earpiece. “Sloane, we’ve got one more.”

  “Copy that. I’ll send someone up.” Moments later, a Therian agent from Beta Ambush came running, and Hobbs handed the boy over. With a nod, the agent was off, disappearing through the stairwell. Dex tapped his earpiece. “Sloane, Agent Simmons is heading down with the last one. We’re going to do one last sweep of the floor, but I think we might be clear….” His voice trailed off when Hobbs stopped to study the vent up near the ceiling at the far end of the room. “Hobbs?”

  “Dex? What’s going on?” Sloane asked.

  Hobbs pulled off the vent screen, stood on his toes, and peeked in. The rest happened so fast, Dex barely had time to register what the hell was going on. Hobbs sped straight for Dex, shoving him so hard he went stumbling through the fire doors. The last thing he heard was the slam of metal and an explosion that shook the floor beneath him when he hit it.

  Dex curled up on himself, arms thrown over his helmet as the blast reverberated around him. Debris, ceiling panels, chunks of plaster, and brick falling on him, banging against his helmet as a cloud of heavy smoke and dust threatened to choke him. He rolled onto his side, coughing and hacking, his body covered in a layer of gray dust. When he inhaled, his lungs burned, and sitting up made him wince. His left thigh stung. Checking his leg, there was a long gash where a piece of something sharp had sliced through his tac pants, but lucky for him, it wasn’t deep. When his ears stopped ringing, he could hear Sloane shouting through his earpiece.

  “Dex, goddamn it, answer me!”

  “I’m okay,” he wheezed. “Are Simmons and the kid okay?”

  “Yeah, they’re fine. The stairs are blocked. You’ll have to make your way down the stairs on the other side of the building. What the hell happened?”

  “There was another bomb. We were about to sweep the area, when Hobbs—” Realization slammed into Dex’s chest, and he pushed himself to his feet, ignoring the pain in his leg. “Oh, God. Hobbs!”

  Calvin’s anxious voice came over his earpiece. “What happened to Hobbs? Where is he?”

  “That son of a bitch!” Dex slammed his fist into the wall. “He pushed me through the fire door. He… he stayed inside the classroom.” There was silence on the other end of his earpiece until Sloane spoke up.

  “Can you see the room?”

  Dex turned, cursing under his breath. “Negative. Part of the corridor collapsed in front of it.”

  More silence, followed by Sloane’s quiet voice. “There’s nothing you can do. Get down here.”

  Dex shook his head, tears stinging his eyes. No. That bastard was not dead. “Hobbs, if you’re in there, you better answer me, or I swear I will kick your ass.” One of the doors had been blown off its hinges and was lying like crumpled paper to one side; pieces from the corridor walls, cement blocks, bricks, and clusters of wires blocked the only way into what was left of the classroom. Live wires sparked, sizzled, and popped from somewhere to his right. Dex limped over to the debris. “Hobbs, answer me!”

  “Dex….” Sloane began.

  “He’s a tough bastard. He’s not dead,” Dex ground out angrily. “Hobbs, you answer me right fucking now!” He grabbed a piece of cement block and tossed it to one side, shoving and moving bricks. “Hobbs!” Through the silence, there was a low groan. “Hobbs?”

  The softest gasp met Dex’s ears, followed by what Dex could have sworn was his name.

  “I’m coming, buddy. You hang in there.”

  “Negative. Dex get out of there,” Sloane ordered. “We don’t know how stable the building is.”

  Dex shoved at a small pile of debris and thanked whoever was watching out for him. There was a tunnel large enough to get Hobbs through. “I found an opening. I can get him out.”

  “That structure is unstable. You go in there, and you might not come out. Wait for backup,” Sloane ground out, his frustration becoming evident.

  “There’s no time.” Dex pushed tentatively against the makeshift tunnel walls. “It’s stable.” For the most part.

  “You don’t know that. Fall back, Agent, Daley. That’s an order!”

  “I can’t leave him in there to die.” Dex got down on his stomach and crawled through the tunnel with caution, ignoring Sloane’s curses in his ear. His partner was going to tear him a new one, but Hobbs was alive, and if his friend was going to make it out of this, Dex would have to get him out now. He didn’t know how he was going to get the nearly three-hundred-pound agent out of there, but he’d worry about that later. For now, he worked on controlling his breathing and refused to think about the throbbing in his bloodied leg. God, he sure as hell hoped the other end of this wasn’t blocked. It was dark and cramped, leaving enough room for him to maneuver Hobbs through once he did get his fellow agent in here. It was going to be a tight fit, but he’d get it done.

  Something crumbled above him, knocking against his helmet before rolling off. Dex stilled, sweat dripping down the side of his face as he listened for any indication the tunnel was about to collapse on him. Sloane would really be pissed at him, then.

  After what seemed like an eternity, he reached the end. It was dark and he pushed out ahead of him with his hand, letting out a sigh of relief when it gave way. Crawling out into the smoke-filled room, Dex could only be grateful the bomb had been small scale, taking out half the classroom and not the whole thing. He searched through the mounds of debris and thick fog, spotting a bloodied hand poking out from behind the teacher’s desk, which had toppled over, the heavy metal taking the brunt of the explosion judging by its dented and blackened surface.

  Dex limped over, sucking in a sharp breath as he knelt down beside Hobbs. He checked his friend’s vitals before running his hands over and under Hobbs, checking for any broken bones, embedded objects, or bleeding. Hobbs was covered in scratches, dirt, dust, and blood, but he was in one piece, on the outside at least.

  “It’s okay, buddy, I’m here.” Dex unclasped his backpack, removing his coil of rappelling rope, and hurried to secure the rope around Hobbs, looping it through straps on his tac vest, around his chest area, until he got a firm hold. Testing the rope and feeling confident it wouldn’t come undone, Dex slipped his arms under Hobbs. He dragged his friend toward the tunnel and stopped twice to catch his breath. It was hard enough to breathe as it was in here, but Hobbs’s massive frame didn’t help. “Why are you Therians so goddamn heavy?” With some serious teeth gritting and determination, Dex managed to get Hobbs over to the tunnel entrance. He patted Hobbs’s arm and took hold of the ropes.

  “I’m getting you out of here, okay? You think about Calvin. How pissed will he be if you leave him hanging? Where would Calvin be without his best bud Hobbs, huh?” He tied the rope securely around his waist and lay down on his stomach, crawling back through the tunnel. At one point, he had to pause long enough to reach in under his visor and wipe the sweat from his face so it wouldn’t fall into his eyes. It was so damn hot and his equipment was weighing him down, but he kept going. He had to get Hobbs out of there.

  Once on the other side, Dex unfastened the rope from his waist and braced his feet to either side of the tunnel before he started to pull. Calvin’s voice came over his earpiece. “The EMTs will be with you any minute, Dex. We’ve managed to clear a way up the stairs.”


  “Copy that,” Dex replied through his teeth, every muscle in his body straining while he pulled and dragged Hobbs closer. It felt like a lifetime had gone past, although it was only a few minutes. As Hobbs’s helmet came into view, Dex heard the calls of the EMTs not far behind. “Over here!” He gave another pull, relieved when Calvin dropped to his knees alongside Dex and snatched the rope to help him. They both moved out of the way as the half a dozen EMTs grabbed Hobbs and carefully pulled him out from the tunnel and onto a stretcher.

  “Ethan….” Calvin put a gloved hand to his partner’s shoulder and leaned in. “Ethan, can you hear me? It’s Cal.” There was no reply from Hobbs. Calvin’s bottom lip trembled, and his eyes grew glassy, but he pulled himself together.

  “He’ll be okay,” Dex said, putting a hand on Calvin’s shoulder. “You’ll see.”

  Calvin nodded, though Dex wasn’t sure how much Calvin had heard, much less believed. He took his partner’s hand in his, talking to him in soothing tones as the EMTs got to work. When it was time to take Hobbs away, Calvin stepped up to Dex, trying his best to remain composed. “I know I already said this, but thank you. You saved his life.”