Rock-and-roll music wafted from inside. Riot put the jeep in park, angling the vehicle away from the building in case they needed to get away in a hurry. She jumped out of the jeep.
Her hand touched the cold piece of metal at her lower back. The handle of her Beretta felt like an old friend. It didn’t feel quite as good as having Vet and Wang by her side, but good just the same.
“We go in, get Rizzo, and then get out,” Riot reminded her men. She strode over the dirt ground, her boots making heavy imprints in the loose soil.
Riot opened the door and entered a scene she had been expecting all along. Once you’d been to a handful of seedy bars, you’d been to them all—the poor lighting, the bar on one end of the room with the battered stools, and a mix of tables and chairs throughout.
What Riot wasn’t expecting at the moment was how many people there were inside. A mix of more than two dozen faces stared at them as they walked inside, mostly muscled bikers eyeing them down, sizing them up as victims, or something else.
Riot walked to the bar, not staring at anyone in particular yet canvasing the area, all the same. Besides the bikers, there were a handful of drug addicts with tracks on their arms, sunken cheeks, and ruined teeth. And, of course, a bar wouldn’t be the same without a few alcoholics thrown into the mix for good measure.
Apart from the large, open space, a pair of bathrooms sat in the far corner, while a small room sat in the back.
“What’ll you be having?” the bald bartender asked, eyeing the trio of newcomers with clear suspicion.
“Actually, we’re looking for someone,” Riot started, doing one last quick sweep over her shoulder to make sure she wasn’t missing Rizzo somewhere in the mix. “Have you seen a big black guy? You wouldn’t be able to miss him. He’s built like a linebacker with—”
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Gunshots came from the small room in the back.
“Never mind,” Riot said to the bartender as she drew her weapon. “I think we found him.”
8
After the small-arm gunfire went off in the back room, two things happened at once: the door to the room flung open and Rizzo sprinted for the exit, a battered Glock 17 in his right hand, while nearly everyone in the room stood up, reaching for their own weapons, Riot and her team included. The few crackheads and alcoholics who hadn’t come armed jumped from their seats, only to hunker down and wait out whatever was happening.
Rizzo was faster than Riot remembered, his massive frame moving like greased lightning through the room. He was halfway to the door before he realized Riot and the others were even there.
He wore faded tan pants and a green shirt. The heavy scarring that had taken his ability to speak lined his throat like massive veins popping out of his neck.
“Go!” Riot ordered Rizzo, Vet, and Wang all at the same time, as guns were pointed in every direction.
Adrenaline kicked in as Riot ran for the door to the bar. Rizzo was the first one out, when the gunshots started. Bullets peppered the walls around Riot as she shoved Wang and Vet in front of her.
She felt the recoil of her Beretta as she fired blindly behind her. They were outnumbered and outgunned for the moment. Staying and fighting was not an option.
Wang made it through the door, with Vet following close behind. Riot fell just outside as a bullet caught her in the right calf. Even as the pain lanced up her leg, she contained it in a mental compartment saved for pain. Pain was nothing new to Riot; it was just another day in the Corps.
“Go! Bring the thunder!” Riot ordered, even as she fell. She waved away any help from the others as she slammed the bar door closed behind her. Sitting in the dirt, back pressed against the wood, she emptied her clip through the closed door.
Chips and plaster rained down all over Riot as she steeled herself and weathered the storm. A moment later, her Beretta clicked empty. She braced herself against the bottom of the door, ready for the impact.
Sure enough, a shudder struck behind her as those inside tried to give chase. For all intents and purposes, it looked like they had their prey on the run.
Riot gritted her teeth as she fought for traction. Her nails broke as she dug into the ground. Her right calf screamed in pain, but Riot was looking beyond that. The blood she was losing was mixing into the dirt, making her footing tricky.
“Good to go!”
The scream was from Vet. Riot looked up to see the best thing she had laid her eyes on in a very long time. Rizzo, Vet, and Wang took cover behind the jeep. The first had abandoned his Glock for an M27, the latter two had also traded in their small firearms for a pair of M16A4s.
Each one deadlier than the next, they waited for their leader to roll out of harm’s way.
Something solid bounced against the splintering door behind her, which struck Riot hard in the back of the skull. The door groaned under the pressure, then broke. Even as Riot tucked her head and rolled to her left, the scene erupted with the sound of heavy gunfire.
Riot didn’t wait to see what was happening. She rolled and kept rolling until she was entirely clear of the building. Only then did she look up to gauge their position.
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
The sound of rounds being fired didn’t stop as Riot struggled to her feet. The Marines were possessed now, after seeing one of their own—their leader, no less—go down in a spray of blood.
Bikers too stupid to realize they were outgunned kept coming out of the bar, firing their much smaller caliber weapons. A pile of bodies had already gathered just outside the door. A few of the rounds fired from the inside of The Pit managed to get close, burying themselves in the jeep or in dirt nearby, though none of them found their targets.
Riot limped around to the back of the jeep, placing a hand on Rizzo’s and Wang’s shoulders. Vet was reloading, his single eye alive with a madness Riot had grown accustomed to.
“Enough!” Riot shouted into their ears. She looked up to see Rizzo and Wang finish blasting their weapons into the structure itself. The return fire from the building had completely stopped now. “Into the jeep!”
“Where are you hit?” Wang threw his weapon into the back of the jeep, already going down to one knee to get a better look at Riot’s wound.
“You’re driving, let’s go—now!” Riot ignored Wang for the time being. She threw Vet the keys and pulled herself into the back seat, using her arms. “Move!”
Vet ran to obey, starting the jeep and pulling away, while Rizzo was still jumping into the passenger-side seat and Wang was doing the same in the back.
Vet put the pedal to the metal as they roared away from the bar.
“It looks like it went right through your calf and missed the bone by a few centimeters.” Wang tore apart Riot’s pant leg and used the cloth to wrap her wound tight. “You’ll be better than new when I get done with you.”
Rizzo turned in his seat. He looked at Riot with eyes full of confusion and remorse. He shook his head, mouthing “Sorry” over and over again.
“Don’t be too sorry.” Riot looked at Rizzo with a grimace as Wang made her tourniquet tighter. “You’re going to be piloting us into space, so it’ll all even out.”
9
The next morning, life at the Bulwark was business as usual. Before they made it down to level seven and their first day of training, Riot wanted to get a few things straight. The alarm blared its morning mantra at zero-four-thirty, giving them a full thirty minutes to prepare.
Riot’s unit had been moved into a bigger room to support another bunk bed and the two newest members of their squad. Dull pain ran up her right calf from where Wang had stitched her up the night before.
“Can someone hit that alarm?” Wang yawned from his bunk.
Riot slammed her hand over the button to make the alarm stop its blaring.
“Up and at ’em.” Deborah swung from the bunk she shared with Vet. She grabbed her toiletries and clothing, and hit the lights in the room as she exited. “It’s an important day. Day one o
f training!”
“I’m going to kill her,” Riot mumbled to herself as she pulled off her sheets and sat up in bed. “I’m not dealing with that in space.”
Vet was already up, stretching and searching for his own supplies. Rizzo and Wang, who shared the other bunk beds, were in various states of wakefulness.
“Hey, Wang.” Riot walked over in her shorts and tank top. “You remember anything from when you dated that hearing-impaired girl?”
“Who, Sheila?” Wang sat up in the bottom bunk, letting his bare chest etched with a myriad of colorful tattoos, rise and fall with a deep sigh. The ink on his skin ranged from images of space Marines in mech armor fighting insect-like aliens to dragons battling knights, and even a chubby Winnie the Pooh eating his honey. “Oh, Sheila, the angel that got away. She could have made an honest man out of me. You know, love is a—”
“Wang,” Riot interrupted, “I’m not trying to have a heart-to-heart with you right now.” She motioned to Rizzo, who jumped off his top bunk. “Just do your best at interpreting for me.”
Rizzo stood beside Riot, dwarfing her by a good six inches and eighty pounds. The tank top he had worn to bed showed just how serious his wounds really were. Heavy scars that rose from his skin like snakes just beneath the surface covered his body from his sternum to the bottom of his chin.
Riot was amazed that the man was even still alive. She remembered what he had looked like when she dragged him from the burning chopper. His very existence was a true testament to his will to survive.
“All right, Riz.” Riot made sure he was paying attention as she studied his hands in return. “What were you doing at the bar?”
Rizzo’s hands were a flurry of motion as he signed his answer.
“Slower.” Riot shook her head. “I’m not going to learn like that. When you sign to any of us, it has to be slow so we can start learning. Myself, Vet, even Miss Bubbles are going to have to learn.”
An expression of gratefulness washed over the large man’s features. Riot could only imagine what he had gone through, having to learn sign language, then having a limited number of people to interact with once he had done so.
Rizzo began motioning much slower now.
“He says ‘crap you very much.’ Nope, that’s not right,” Wang shook his head, and Rizzo glared at him. “He says ‘thank you very much.’ Sorry, I’m rusty.”
“Don’t thank me yet,” Riot looked back to Rizzo’s hands. “What were you doing at that bar?”
Rizzo began again, his hands moving slowly, almost like he was conjuring magic. And in a way, he was. What else would you call the ability to summon ideas with a wave of your hands?
“Says he was taking out a crime boss,” Wang began in his normal, hyper-cadence way of speaking. As Rizzo told more of his story, Wang slowed down to a near halt, a sadness in his voice Riot wasn’t used to hearing. “He’s sick of feeling useless. He’ll never be able to do the one thing he was born to do again—fly. He was going to kill himself, but thought he’d take out as many thugs as possible with him.”
“You’re an idiot.” Riot looked at her friend, feeling a mix of anger and sadness for him, but mostly anger. “I never want to hear you talk—no, bad choice of words. I never want to see you like that again. If you need someone, you come to me or Wang or Vet, understood?”
Rizzo’s gaze was worth a thousand words he could never say. His light brown eyes were downcast as he nodded along with Riot’s words. He was about to sign again, the motions for another “thanks” or “thank you” about to come out.
Riot clenched her fist and extended it out.
Rizzo caught the meaning and lightly struck her fist with his own.
“Are we combining our powers to create Captain Planet? Uh, like that throwback reference, Riot?” Wang stood from his bunk and added his fist. “I guess that wouldn’t work. We would need rings first.”
“Hurry up.” Riot moved to her bunk and grabbed a towel, toothbrush, and soap before heading for the shower. “Make sure to get some chow in your stomach before training begins. You’re going to need your energy.”
10
This is the Hazard Room.” Deborah motioned to the door in front of them. “It’s a holographic training area where you can test your new tech and run training operations.”
“Alien tech, right?” Vet’s scowl was nearly gone, meaning he must have been extremely happy at the moment. “This is where we get all the cool stuff?”
Riot and her fire team had been taken down to level nine via a private, well-guarded elevator. This level was made up mostly of massive rooms, with floor-to-ceiling glass walls.
They stood in one room now with Deborah, while an army of white-coated scientists, both military and civilian, worked around them.
The massive room was lined with long, empty tables, and, along the walls, tall closets. The doors of these closets were closed now, but Riot could guess at what was in them.
Directly in front of them was the only section in the open space that was closed off. It was an octagon-shaped structure roughly the length and width of a football field. There were long strips of glass along each of the octagon walls for those monitoring their progress to look through.
“Yes, this is where you get the good stuff,” a gruff voice said behind them.
Everyone turned and saluted Captain Harlan as he walked into the glass room. He returned the salute with a nod. “At ease. You’re in more than capable hands with Doctor Miller, but I wanted to give you a quick briefing before you get suited up and begin your training.”
The captain took a moment to look each one of them in the eyes. His stare wasn’t menacing, but it was far from friendly.
“I’m sure by now you think you know why you’re here. You think you’re going into space, to an alien world to build an alliance between extra-terrestrials and Earth. That’s only part of the truth.” Captain Harlan paced among the gathered squad. He ignored the wide-eyed looks from Wang and Rizzo. “Whatever your views on the Syndicate were, whether you believed them or not when they said they wanted to help, one thing remains the same: We have their tech, and with it, the understanding that there are far worse, far more evil entities that exist in the universe. Without a doubt, these enemies will eventually come for Earth. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next year, but it is only a matter of time. Questions?”
Wang’s arm shot up as soon as the last word left the captain’s mouth.
“Why am I not surprised?” Captain Harlan nodded toward Wang. “Go ahead, Corporal Wang.”
“Sir, what is this ‘more evil threat’ that you see coming?” Wang seemed like he was actually serious for once since Riot had been reunited with the medic. “And where exactly are we going to seek out our allies?”
“All you need to know about the danger coming is that it’s coming, son. You can bet your ass it’s coming. We’re still working out details on when. Could be months, could be years.” Captain Harlan skewered Wang with a hard stare from cold blue eyes. “Where you’re going and who you’ll expect to see there will be revealed to you and your squad as the mission training continues.”
“Yes, sir.” Wang seemed satisfied by the answer.
Riot, on the other hand, sensed something was off. For the first time, information was being withheld. She understood how the military worked. They were soldiers, so they were told where to show up and whose ass to kick. Still, something in the captain’s eyes told her there was pertinent information being covered up.
“Doctor Miller.” Captain Harlan nodded to Deborah before walking out of the glass room. “They’re all yours.”
“Thank you,” Deborah replied, looking directly at Vet’s single eye. “This is the part I know you’ve been waiting for.”
“Alien tech?” Vet said with a sadistic grin spreading across his lips. “Hell, yeah.”
Workers opened the closets on the far wall, exposing the pieces as Deborah explained what the various armor and weapons were and what they did.
“The Syndicate used a variety of armor and weapons during their invasion. We managed to capture large stockpiles of their equipment and repurposed it for our own use. Let’s start with our new outfits.” Deborah waved over to a now-open closet with five black-and-red uniforms placed side by side. “The first layer of armor is made of close-knit but flexible links of black ceramic shaped like scales. It’s called dragon skin and will meld to your body. It’s capable of stopping large caliber rounds, knife stabs, and even small explosions.”
“Did she just call them outfits?” Riot whispered to Vet, but the one-eyed mechanic was so enraptured by what he was seeing, his mouth just hung open. “I’m pretty sure she just called them outfits.”
“The red, larger layering of our armor is called liquid armor. This is straight from the Syndicate. It looks like heavy metal armor but it only weighs a few pounds. A dense liquid-like substance is layered within and solidifies on impact. It will protect the wearer from any serious injury.” Deborah now waved the group over to the uniforms. “Boots and gloves will enhance your strength. Your helmets are equipped with night vision, a heads-up display, interior communication, GPS, and a list of other goodies we’ll get into. Questions?”
Everyone looked over at Vet, who was halfway naked. His boots were off and so was his tan shirt, and his buckle was coming next. Vet’s fingers flew as he raced against himself to be the first one standing in the armor. He paused as he sensed everyone’s eyes on him.
“Take it easy, Vet. Be gentle with her.” Riot walked over to a uniform hanging in the closet and, running her hands over the rough material of the dragon skin armor, she couldn’t help feeling a chill of excitement herself. “And don’t forget to use protection.”
War Wolves: Boxset 1-3 Page 4
