by R. D. Brady
He knew how strong she was. He wasn’t sure she even realized how strong she was. But these two losses . . .
He’d seen her with Drake. Seen how Drake had looked at her. To be honest, the irreverent archangel was not who Patrick would have chosen for her. But he also knew Drake would have stopped the world to protect her. And that had given Patrick comfort. But now Drake was gone too. He didn’t really understand that part. Drake being Michael? He couldn’t see that. Michael was God’s sword, the ultimate warrior. He’d seen no indication of that in Drake. But could he turn completely against Laney? Wouldn’t a part of him still hold on to the love he had for her?
He laid a hand on Tiger’s. “Come on, boy. We need to get back.” Tiger lifted his head, moving slowly. Patrick leaned down and pushed against the wheels of his chair. They squeaked. He managed to turn himself around, but the trip back was a rocky one. Luiz’s ranch was not exactly wheelchair accessible. Bas had taken it upon himself, with the aid of a few others, to create some wooden paths and ramps through the ranch to allow Patrick to get around on his own. Patrick appreciated it. He did not want to be a burden people had to help get from point A to point B. But wooden paths were not the smoothest.
Ahead, three of the cats were lying down in the shade of a tree. Tiger stopped, looking up at Patrick. Patrick nodded. “Go on.”
Tiger held his gaze for a moment before heading toward the cats. He had the gait of a much older cat now.
Patrick stopped twenty feet from the entrance ramp to Luiz’s main house. He took a breath, flexed his fingers, and then headed forward, trying to pick up speed. He crested the ramp, feeling the small thrill of victory. The main ramp was a little steeper than most. Pulling the long shoehorn from the back of his wheelchair, he hooked the door handle and pulled it open. Pushing himself inside, he replaced the shoehorn, wondering why he hadn’t been carrying one around before. It had been Luiz’s idea, and it had made some things a lot easier. He rolled down the long hallway, the smell of food making his stomach rumble.
“Ah, Señor Patrick!” Luiz smiled from behind the large colorful island. “Perfect timing. We are about to eat. I thought we could all eat outside tonight. It is beautiful, yes?”
“It sure is.”
Mary Jane washed her hands, then dried them on a towel. “Do you think Cain will be able to join us?”
Patrick shook his head. “I’ll ask, but I doubt it. He’s in research mode.”
“I thought that might be the case.” She walked over to the island and picked up a bamboo tray with plates loaded with food and a thermos. “I’ll go take this to him.”
Patrick reached up his hands. “You know, I think I’d like to take that. I want to check on him anyway.”
Mary Jane eyed his chair. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Mary Jane handed him the tray. Patrick looked down at it with a little concern. Perhaps he’d spoken a little too soon.
“I have just the thing.” Luiz rounded the island, pulling two small bungee cords from his pockets. He wound one through one handle on the wheelchair and then the other through the handle on the tray. He did the same for the other side before stepping back with a grin. The tray was now secured to Patrick’s chair. “What do you think?”
Patrick smiled. “Luiz, we are going to have to talk about your ideas. I think I need you to make me a little bag with things you think I can use.”
“I would love to.” Luiz headed back to the island.
Mary Jane stepped a little closer, dropping her voice. “How are you doing?”
Patrick shrugged. “I guess as good as any of us.”
“Yeah. I tried to call Jake, but I couldn’t reach him.”
“Don’t read into that. Knowing him, he’s turned his phone off or he’s in a spot with bad reception. Don’t worry until you have to.”
“That’s not so easy.”
“No, it’s not.”
Mary Jane seemed to shake herself into action. “Well, let me start getting this food out. Will you be joining us?”
“Yes. Nyssa is . . .”
“With Molly and Susie. She’s fine.”
“Okay. I’ll drop this off, make sure he eats a little, and come join you.”
She smiled before heading back to the platters of food. Patrick turned around and headed down the hall. He turned at the first hallway. Luiz had handed over his study to Cain. Patrick made his way to the door at the end of the hall. It was closed. He knocked.
“Cain, it’s me.” Patrick turned the handle and started pushing himself in.
Cain’s head jolted upright from the desk, his eyes wild. “I need a phone.”
“What’s wrong?”
Cain ran a hand through his hair. “I need to warn her.”
Patrick’s heart started to pound. “Warn her about what?”
“The sacrifice. I know what the sacrifice is.”
“What?”
Cain’s bloodshot eyes met Patrick’s. “It’s her.”
Chapter 76
Giza, Egypt
Laney had managed to avoid the snipers on the other dune, but she sensed a dozen Fallen between her and her people. She diverted east to avoid them, then she paused on a dune. Four trucks were barreling down the road. They were identical to the truck with the explosives. She pictured the explosives already placed on the Pyramid. They would need a lot more to take it down, and it looked like they had come to the same consensus.
She sensed four Fallen per truck. Sixteen versus one: not great odds. But then she smiled. Of course, I don’t have to fight them directly. Laney knelt on one knee, casting a glance at the bright blue sky above her. Clouds rolled in across the sun, darkening as they grew.
Lightning lashed out, striking each of the trucks.
“Laney, is that you?” Jake asked, but she didn’t answer, needing to focus on her targets.
A few soldiers stumbled from the back of the trucks. Wind yanked them from their feet, tossing them into the sky before flinging them across the dunes. Laney crept toward the nearest truck, sensing only two Fallen left. She peered into the first cab. The two occupants were crispy. She blanched.
“Laney, what’s going on?” Jake demanded.
“Do you have my location?” Laney asked.
“Yeah.”
“They’re bringing in more explosives. I’ve stopped them for now, but we can’t let them get through to the pyramids. Can you take out the trucks?”
“It will take a few minutes to arrange.”
Tingles rolled over her skin, and her head snapped up, her gaze narrowing as she looked toward the east. “And I’m going to need some reinforcements. I’ve got incoming.”
She dropped the radio. The first dozen soldiers crested the dune and swept down toward her in a wave.
One soldier broke free, his gaze locked on Laney. She intercepted him as he threw a punch at her face. She slipped the punch, catching him with a hook to his stomach as she moved to his side. A second blow had him screaming as it landed on his kidney. An uppercut from underneath his arm sent him flying off his feet.
Laney had no time to appreciate the arc of his flight as the rest reached her. She back-kicked the first guy near her before lashing out with side kicks to two soldiers flanking her. Someone grabbed her shoulder, and she reached back, contorting his wrist. Turning, she kneed him in the face.
A side kick to her ribs sent her flying. She managed to roll as she hit. As she did, she heard the first truck start up and head down the road. But there was nothing she could do as a soldier charged her. She got to her knees and, lunging forward, she buried her shoulder into his knee. She hit so hard she heard the kneecap dislodge. He screamed, and she crawled up him and whipped her elbow across his chin.
A bullet crashed into her shoulder. The bulletproof vest stopped it, but it still hurt like heck. She rolled, pain charging through her as she jolted her shoulder and grabbed the man she’d taken down, using him as a shield. She crouched down, wincing at the thud
s against the man’s body.
Gunfire sounded from a different position. “That you guys?” Laney yelled into her earpiece.
“Yes,” came Jake’s terse response.
She peered out and saw muzzle flashes from a nearby dune. The bullets aimed at her stopped. Laney peered out as Henry blurred to a stop in front of her. He hauled her up.
“One of the trucks got away. We need to—”
Henry’s face paled.
Laney whirled around. Half a dozen armored vehicles were heading toward them from the same direction the truck had disappeared. Another three gunships were behind them. A whistling noise sounded. Henry grabbed Laney and dove to the side as an explosion erupted thirty feet away from them.
Laney spit out sand as explosion after explosion rang out. She grabbed Henry. “We need to find where that’s coming from.”
“I’ve got it,” Matt yelled from somewhere to her right.
Matt blurred toward a truck with a large missile attachment along its back. Without stopping, he leaped for the bed of the truck. He grabbed the front of the missile launcher just as the trigger was pulled. Instead of going airborne, the missile slammed into the bed, sending shrapnel spiraling out in a giant ball of fire.
Laney ducked down as shards of metal littered the ground around her. She looked back in shock at the remains of the trucks as the gunships opened fire. Matt was gone.
The dying had officially begun.
The next hour felt like it lasted years. Part of the U.S. forces converged on Laney’s spot while the rest initiated their assault on the perimeter around the plateau. Each time they seemed to gain an inch, another group of enhanced soldiers appeared out of nowhere. The U.S.’s intelligence had been correct: So far, she’d come across Chinese and Russian soldiers who seemed to be working in tandem. Even worse, they had created Omni bullets as well.
Laney tried to keep track of her people, but it soon proved impossible. She had also used almost all her Omni bullets. She crouched down low. “We need a better plan.”
The one silver lining was that a U.S. gunship had managed to intercept the truck that had gotten away. The engine was destroyed, so it wasn’t going anywhere, so at least they were getting no closer to destroying the Pyramid. Of course, they could just decide to go with what they had and detonate what they already had strung around the Pyramid. Or they could just launch missiles at the damn thing. Laney was wondering why they hadn’t already done that. But she was betting they were holding off on that. She had to assume blowing up the Pyramid was a last resort.
“Got a problem,” Danny’s voice came through the radio.
“What?” Laney yelled as she jerked back just as gunfire tagged the truck she was hiding behind.
“A second truck has reached the first. They’re transferring the explosives to the other truck.”
“Is there anybody in front of us that can intercept?” Jake asked.
“Fielding here. Someone’s moving on it.”
Laney frowned. “What? Who?”
Jake’s voice came back heavy. “It’s Lou and Rolly.”
Chapter 77
The battle had begun. Jen could hear the fighting in the distance. She rolled her hands into fists, hating being on the outside but also knowing that she needed to protect her little one for as long as she could.
Jen slipped into the back of the control center and watched footage in real time. She managed to pick out Susan Jacobs on one camera. That woman had guts. But soon Susan became lost in the blur as the group she was with clashed with a group of soldiers who appeared as if by magic. The sound was off, but Jen imagined the screams and yells. She kept trying to figure out who the figures were on screen, and it was making her nuts. She slipped out of the tent just as quickly as she had slipped in.
She made her way over to the intelligence tent and peeked in. Danny was in the corner, an array of monitors around him, his focus shifting from the keyboard in front of him to each of the monitors on his sides. Another half dozen people were scattered around the tent with similar setups. An additional four moved from analyst to analyst, checking something off on a tablet.
Jen didn’t step in. Danny didn’t need the distraction. She walked toward the edge of the camp, passing two soldiers standing at a jeep.
“I don’t know how we can trust them,” one of the soldiers said. “I mean, what is Fielding thinking?”
“That we can use all the help we can get?” the other offered.
“I guess, but I still think when this is all over, we need to lock them all up.”
Jen blew out a breath, trying not to yell at the idiot soldier. She’d heard more than a few similar comments since they’d linked forces with the government. Some ranged from basic curiosity to downright hate. None of the soldiers ever stopped talking when Jen was near. She figured her belly was throwing them off from figuring out she was also enhanced. But it angered her that the enhanced got no credit for laying their lives on the line, just like the regular soldiers were doing.
Jen climbed a sand dune at the edge of camp, looking toward the fight. She could see flashes of gunfire and occasionally a bigger explosion. Please let them be all right.
“Dr. Witt?”
Jen turned as a young soldier stood at the base of the dune, panting a little. She looked down at her. “Yes?”
“Um, Danny sent me. He said you have a phone call.”
Jen’s eyebrows raised. A phone call? Who would be calling her in the middle of all this? Everyone she knew was aware of what was going on. Most of them were in the middle of it. “Who is it?”
“Some man. He says his name is Cain?”
The Tome. Jen blurred toward the soldier. Her eyes went wide, and she stumbled back. “Where?”
“The-the intelligence tent.”
Jen blurred back to the tent, scaring the heck out of a soldier carrying a tray of coffees toward it. He dropped all of them on the ground when she appeared almost right next to him. Jen ignored the poor soldier, striding into the tent. Danny glanced up as she entered. “Take my headset.”
Jen grabbed the headset from his outstretched hand and settled it on her head. “Cain?”
Cain’s voice had a desperate edge. “Jen, thank God.”
“What is it? What’s going on?”
“I’ve learned more about the sacrifice. I— You need to help her.” Cain spoke quickly, and Jen listened in increasing horror. She told herself she’d known Laney would be at risk. But this, this guaranteed she would die.
“You have to help her.”
“I will.” She disconnected the call. Ripping off the headset, she tossed it at Danny before running out of the tent. She stopped in the middle of the camp, her eyes scanning the space.
Come on, think. The red cross on the white backdrop caught her attention. An idea began to form. Would that work?
She wasn’t sure. To be honest, she wasn’t sure anything would. But she had to try.
She headed for the tent, knowing she was going to need help. She ran through the list of people she knew, discounting all of them one by one. Henry, Jake, her brothers—they would never agree to what she had planned.
But she knew one person who would. She stepped into the med tent, spying Gina sitting at a desk. Gina looked up from checking supplies off on a checklist. She looked up. One glance at Jen’s face, and she placed the checklist on top of the cart and hurried over to her. “Jen? What’s wrong?”
“I need to reach someone on the battlefield.”
Gina didn’t bother asking Jen any questions. She tugged her outside and two tents over. Pulling back the tent flap, Gina waved Jen in. Jen stepped in, her eyes taking a second to adjust to the dimmer light. Two rows of consoles were set up, a dozen people with headsets sitting in front of them. Jen made her way to the first one. “I need you to reach someone for me.”
The man looked up at her. “Uh . . . ?”
Gina stepped next to Jen. “Do it.”
With a quick glance at her rank,
he nodded. “Yes, Major. Um, ma’am, who do you need to reach?”
“Someone with the Chandler Group. His name’s Yoni Benjamin.”
Chapter 78
A new wave of enhanced had broken over Laney and her group right after Jake’s announcement. She had barely time to process it before she fighting again. But as soon as she cleared the soldiers around her, taking one bullet to the thigh, she grabbed her mike. “Fielding, clear me a path to that truck!”
“We can’t! All our resources are committed elsewhere.”
“I am going. So if you want me alive for the end game, I suggest you change some commitments.”
Throughout the fight, Laney had been asking Fielding and central command for air support for five minutes, and they had refused. She didn’t know if it was because they were telling her the truth, because they didn’t want to risk her, or because they were just a-holes. But Lou had let out an ear-piercing scream two minutes ago, saying Rolly had been shot and she was out of Omni bullets.
Mustafa sprinted up the dune, panting heavily as he landed next to her. He had a large bandage wrapped around his right upper arm. Dirt and blood were sprayed across his face. She glanced past him. Jordan and Mike Witt were supposed to be with him. But it was David who looked back at her, a bandage on his arm seeping blood. She didn’t ask where the Witt brothers were. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know.
“What do you need?” he asked.
“I need to get to Lou and Rolly.”
Mustafa nodded, grabbing his radio. “Danny, Laney needs a path to Lou and Rolly.”
Of course. Why they hell hadn’t she thought of Danny?
“On it,” Danny said. “Follow the drones.”
Laney crouched low, spying the three drones heading for her. One was blasted out of the sky, but the other two evaded the enemy fire.
Laney tensed, ready to move. Mustafa gripped her forearm. “Take care, Laney.” She looked into his eyes, seeing the grief and commitment there. She nodded as the first explosion sounded. Then she was running flat out, praying she wasn’t too late.
