RISE

by R. D. Brady

  “Everybody needs to stay low and head for the door. We’re going to— Oh shit! Everybody down!” Chris threw himself over Alvie and Snap. Greg pulled Luke farther from the door and threw himself over him as well. Maeve dove to the ground as an explosion sounded from the other room.

  Everything was quiet. Dust and debris filled the air. Alvie crawled up to her side as she made her way to the edge of the doorway and peered in. Maeve’s breath came out in pants as she hugged Alvie to her.

  Sammy lay on the other side of the room, the Draco ten feet away from him. He was crumpled to the ground, his neck at an unnatural angle. From here, Maeve had a perfect view of Sammy’s back. His spine was a series of ridges that she could count. His back moved forward and back with his breaths, but they were labored, uncomfortable to watch.

  Alvie broke away from her and sprinted across the room with a cry. He circled Sammy and then fell to his knees in front of him. Greg stood up slowly. “Are you sure that’s safe?”

  “No, but Alvie is.” Maeve hurried after Alvie, slowing as she approached Sammy.

  He was even more fearsome looking close up. His wings had a leathery appearance up close, which made them look tough and invulnerable. And they had been. The Draco had been unable to cause any rips that she could see.

  She slowly moved around toward his front, careful to keep out of striking distance. She knew that Sammy was protective of Alvie and Luke. But she wasn’t sure how protective he would be of her. And besides, when people were injured, when animals were injured, they tended to lash out.

  She rounded his head. Alvie was kneeling on the ground next to him, his hands on Sammy’s face. “Alvie.”

  Alvie looked up, tears streaming down his cheeks. Help him. Help the Sentinel.

  The Sentinel. It was an apt title for him. Her eyes scanned Sammy’s body. She sucked in a breath as she saw the gaping wound in his abdomen. His wings might be invulnerable, but apparently his skin wasn’t. She hurried forward, just then noticing that Greg had followed her over.

  “I need your sweatshirt,” she said.

  Greg slipped off his sweatshirt without comment, handing it to her as she knelt down. She shot a quick glance at Sammy, surprised to see his eyes open and focused on her. In shock, she realized his eyes were a bronze color.

  She swallowed down her fear. “I have to stop the bleeding. This may hurt a little bit.”

  He gave the smallest of nods.

  Taking a breath, Maeve pressed the sweatshirt to the wound, trying to staunch some of the bleeding. It quickly became clear that rudimentary first aid wasn’t going to cut it. Chris appeared from the side of Sammy, his face a mixture of joy seeing Maeve and Alvie and concern at what they were doing. Maeve wanted to run into his arms and hug him and tell him how much she loved him. But she couldn’t stop the pressure on Sammy’s wounds.

  She looked up at Chris. “We need to move him. We need to get him somewhere where there’s medical supplies.”

  Jasper appeared next to Chris. “Let’s get him to the plane. There’s a special compartment in the cargo hold set up for just this kind of occasion.” Jasper glanced at his watch. “And we need to make it quick.”

  Chapter One Hundred Eight

  Norah’s whole body was soaked with sweat. She stared in wild-eyed fascination at the fight at the end of the hall. Adam swiped out at Tatiana, his hand connecting with her cheek. She let out a yell as she threw a fake at this face before landing a rib-breaking hit to his side.

  “Ig!” Iggy yanked on Norah’s back, pulling her to the doorway.

  Heavy footsteps sounded from the lower levels. Norah tucked herself into the side of the doorway and prayed there weren’t many. Two Draco appeared. Using the doorway as leverage, Iggy flung himself at the first one, his talons aiming for its throat. But the creature saw him coming and ducked out of the way at the last second. Iggy went flying over him, hitting the ground, landing in a roll. He whirled around, showing his teeth.

  Both Draco turned toward him. Dammit. Norah had no shot and she’d already gone through all her armor-piercing bullets. There was absolutely nothing that could take them down from the back. The Draco let out a bone-chilling scream before they leapt down the stairs toward Iggy.

  Norah slid her baton from its holder. With the snap of her wrist it extended to its full length and snapped into place.

  God help me. She sprang down the steps. She slammed the baton into the back of the Draco’s lower back before stomping on the back of its knees. The creature wobbled, his shoulders lurching back. She grabbed it by the shoulders and yanked it to the ground, pulling her M4 around and letting loose before it could regain its feet. The first two shots missed the eyes but the third was a winner. The creature’s head fell back. Norah stepped forward and quickly put a bullet in the other eye as well, figuring there was no sense in taking chances.

  Iggy had taken his guy down as well. Blood poured from the creature’s neck. Norah walked up and put another bullet into its eye. Then she hurried back up the stairs.

  At the end of the hall, Adam was on the ground. Tatiana straddled him, her fist pounding away at his face.

  Norah didn’t think, she just acted. She sprinted down the hall toward them. Iggy galloped after her.

  “Hey!” Norah yelled.

  Tatiana paused for a second. Norah took her shot, and Tatiana ducked. But that was all Adam needed. He bucked her off of him with such force that she crashed into the rock wall. He grabbed her by the front of her face and slammed it into the rock wall three more times. She crumbled to the ground.

  Jasper’s voice burst through Norah’s earpiece. “Norah? Norah, where are you? This place is going to go! You need to get to the surface now!”

  Adam reached for Tatiana again.

  “Adam, we need to go!” Adam looked down at Tatiana one more time and then turned toward Norah. His knees buckled, and he staggered, grabbing on to the wall.

  Norah sprinted toward him and threw his arm over her shoulders. She hurried him down the hall. Iggy bounced up and down in front of them, his agitation clear.

  “Go, Iggy! Get upstairs!” Norah yelled.

  But Iggy would only go a few feet in front of them.

  A figure burst through the stairwell door when Norah was only six feet away. She aimed her weapon at the intruder.

  Mike dove to the side, his hands over his head. “Good guy!”

  Norah lowered her weapon. “Next time give me a heads-up that you’re coming.”

  “Noted,” Mike said as he pulled Adam’s other arm over his shoulder. “How the hell did this happen?”

  “Sibling rivalry.” Norah glanced over her shoulder. Draco littered the hallway … all except one. Tatiana was missing.

  Chapter One Hundred Nine

  They were in a rush, but they had a big problem: Sammy’s size. He wouldn’t fit in either of the SUVs, not with his wings. So they commandeered the white truck sitting outside the warehouse.

  The second problem was getting him into it. He wasn’t exactly light, and he was struggling to walk. Jasper and Maeve took one arm while Greg and Chris took the other, and they slowly walked him toward the door.

  “Man, we could really use Adam and some of that extra strength right now,” Greg said, his face red from exertion.

  Chris grunted in response.

  “Where is he?” Jasper asked.

  “Behind you,” Maeve said as she helped guide Sammy to the ramp.

  Chris glanced over his shoulder as Adam walked out of the building, Norah and Mike supporting him. Blood soaked his shirt. “Damn.”

  Alvie sprinted over to him.

  Alvie, is he okay?

  Hurt. Hurt bad.

  Sandra hurried over to the other SUV and opened the back door, flattening out the seats so Adam would be able to lie down.

  They got Sammy into the truck bed and as gently as they could, lowered him.

  As soon as he was down, Jasper hopped out and leaped into the driver’s seat. “Haul ass, people!
”

  Greg jumped from the truck bed and sprinted across the open space toward Adam.

  Maeve sank down next to Sammy, rummaging through the first-aid kit from one of the SUVs. “I’m staying with him.” She looked up at Chris.

  Chris tossed his keys to Mike. “Go.”

  Mike wasted no time leaping from the back of the truck. He climbed into the other SUV with Sandra and Luke. Norah already had her SUV moving, with Alvie and Greg in the back with Adam, Iggy riding shotgun.

  Chris stumbled as Jasper got them moving. He moved to the end of the truck and pulled down the door. He didn’t need any of them being flung out the back.

  He crouched down next to Maeve so the lights from his suit would let her see what was going on.

  Maeve was applying bandages to Sammy, but he was bleeding out. She didn’t look up as she spoke. “What’s the hurry?”

  “There’s an attack planned on the Draco sites, including this one.”

  “An attack?”

  “The U.S. government is going to bomb them out of existence.”

  “How much time do we have?”

  Chris checked his watch. “Five minutes.”

  Chapter One Hundred Ten

  RAF Bentwaters, United Kingdom

  All air traffic in the western half of the United States had ground to a halt. Flights that were supposed to take off within an hour of the planned detonation were delayed, citing weather. Law enforcement agencies across the nation as well as the National Guard had been put on notice, although few details were provided. They couldn’t chance anyone learning about the bombing until it had been completed. Any hint and the Draco could slip from their net.

  Tilda looked up from her desk as DNI Director Harrison stepped into the room. “William.”

  William closed the door behind him before stepping to the desk. “We may have a problem.”

  “What?”

  “No one’s seen Martin Drummond in hours.”

  Tilda sat back, her mind racing. Drummond had provided them with the intel on the Draco. He’d had the information for years, she had no doubt. But he’d dribbled it out. And if he was missing, it was entirely possible that he’d kept a few nuggets of information for himself.

  Dammit, Martin. What the hell are you up to?

  William knew Martin as well as she did. He knew he was always playing an angle. That there was always another card up that man’s sleeves. But she’d be damned if she could figure out what the hell the card was this time.

  “Should we postpone?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “No. The longer we wait, the better chance the Draco will be warned. We move ahead.”

  “Very well. Would you like some company?”

  “No, I think this is better done on my own.”

  William inclined his head and then stepped from the room. Pearl stepped out from the computer room at the back of the office.

  Tilda glanced over at her. “Three minutes,” Pearl said quietly.

  “Any word?”

  Pearl shook her head. And there were no longer any satellite feeds of the area. Tilda had instructed Penny to divert all satellites so there was no image of the bombing that could make it to the media. The explosion would be explained as a gas leak and nothing more.

  Tilda’s hands shook, and she clasped them in her lap. Adam had promised he would get them out in time. He had promised he would get himself out in time, and he’d never broken a promise to her.

  Be safe, Adam. Please be safe.

  Chapter One Hundred Eleven

  Edmonds, Washington

  The SUV jerked to the left. Greg fell forward, managing to catch himself on the other side of the car before he fell on top of Adam. He pushed himself back. “Give a guy a little warning, would you?”

  “We’re in a bit of a hurry,” Norah said, her voice tight.

  Greg unrolled the tape, ripping it with his teeth. He placed it on the side of the gauze he’d placed on Adam’s wounds. Adam lay with his eyes closed, his breathing even. He hadn’t made a sound or even a twitch since he’d been laid inside the SUV.

  Greg had this weird feeling he was meditating. That he’d somehow put himself into a trance. He glanced through the rear windshield. “Are the Draco following us?”

  “No.” Norah paused. “They’re going to bomb the Draco holdout. It should be any minute now.”

  Greg’s gaze shot to the sky. Sure enough, the unmistakable sight of a missile heading toward the coast appeared over the water. “Oh my God.”

  The missile hit, and for a second it seemed like there was no explosion. Then light burst out from the point of impact. Greg shielded his eyes, turning away. A large mushroom cloud blew up over the site. Wind raced along the ground, followed by fire.

  “Faster, Norah, faster!” Greg yelled.

  “I’m going as fast as I can!”

  The wind reached the SUV, first pushing it along the ground and lifting up the back wheels for a split second. And then the fire kissed the back bumper. Greg held his breath, praying for everything he was worth until the fire receded. Then he was issuing a new prayer as the car was bombarded with debris.

  Norah had to jolt the wheel from side to side to avoid the larger pieces of debris that crashed into the road ahead of them. Greg let out a yelp as a fishing boat, an actual fishing boat, flew overhead and landed to their left.

  “Did you see that?” Greg demanded.

  “Saw it.” Norah swerved around a large piece of concrete. Other cars pulled off to the side of the road. Two cars crashed into one another, their attention no doubt on the fireball by the coast.

  Ahead, Greg saw the vehicles of the other members of their group getting pelted as well. The back windshield shattered as a metal shard crashed through. Greg let out a yell as Adam’s hand slammed into Greg’s chest, flinging him against the side of the car. The metal impaled the seat right next to Adam’s head. If Adam hadn’t moved him, it would have gone right through Greg’s chest.

  “Thank you,” Greg whispered, his heart racing.

  Adam merely nodded, his hand dropping back to his side.

  Norah looked up and through the windshield. “I think that was the worst of it. I think we’re in the clear.”

  Greg let out a breath, his gaze falling on the white truck that held Sammy. God, I hope so.

  Chapter One Hundred Twelve

  The ride back to the airport was hair-raising. Maeve wasn’t sure what was going on outside the truck, but it sounded like they were under assault.

  “Is that the Draco?” she asked.

  Chris shook his head. “No. The United States government just bombed the warehouse.”

  Maeve’s hands stilled. “They were cutting it kind of close, weren’t they?”

  Chris met her gaze and then looked away.

  Maeve sucked in a breath. “They had no intention of saving us, did they?”

  Chris shook his head and then reached out and squeezed her hand. “Good thing the rest of us don’t listen to bad plans.”

  Maeve nodded, feeling a little lightheaded. The U.S. had okayed their deaths. She, Alvie, Snap, Iggy, Greg and Luke—they were acceptable losses.

  “Maeve?”

  She shook her head. She’d deal with that later. Right now she needed to focus on Sammy. “I’m okay.”

  There was a medical kit in Jasper’s SUV, but they quickly worked their way through all the bandages provided. Maeve was worried about the amount of blood Sammy was losing. She wasn’t sure how she was going to replenish it. It wasn’t like she could do a transfusion. She couldn’t risk giving the wrong blood type. His blood was red. It looked like human blood, but she knew looks could be deceiving.

  Greg jumped into the truck bed as soon as the door was opened. “How is he?”

  “Not good.”

  “Adam?” Maeve asked.

  “He’ll be fine. Sore, but fine.”

  Mike was already running for and opening the cargo doors at the back of the plane, where Maeve g
uessed the medical unit was.

  “We’re going to back right up to the plane. It’ll make it easier to transfer him,” Chris said.

  Maeve nodded. Getting Sammy into the truck had been difficult. His weight and size had made it awkward. She didn’t think getting him into the plane would be any easier.

  Chris walked behind the truck, waving to direct Jasper, who was driving toward the hold. Maeve kept the pressure on the wound, her mind already running through what needed to be done.

  Greg knelt down next to her. “He’s going to need blood,” Greg said softly.

  “I know. But I don’t know where we can get it from.”

  From Luke.

  Maeve tore her gaze from Sammy to stare at Snap, who’d sat with Sammy’s head cradled in her lap the whole ride. “What?”

  Sammy says Luke has the same blood.

  “What’s going on?” Greg asked.

  “I’m not sure.”

  Maeve stared at Sammy, who looked back at her.

  It is close. It will work.

  “Sammy said that he and Luke have the same blood.”

  Greg looked shell-shocked.

  Maeve looked at the powerful creature in front of her. She did not understand his connection to Luke. But she did know there was one. If Luke was somehow genetically related, that would explain how Sammy was able to find him. There were reports of creatures being able to find their pack from miles away. Perhaps Sammy had some of that same ability.

  Maeve looked at Greg. “What do you think?”

  “I think we don’t have a lot of options. I’ll go speak with Sandra.”

  He patted Maeve on the shoulder before climbing from the truck bed. It had pulled to a stop only a few feet away from the cargo hold. Chris, Jasper, Mike, Norah, even Adam, all stood waiting to help transfer Sammy to the cargo hold.

  Maeve took a deep breath and sent up a prayer. God, or whoever’s listening, please help us save him.