by Anna Hackett
Then he let out a string of curses.
Cruz had been with Marcus long enough to know that it meant big trouble. “What is it?”
“The raptors are moving out. They’re loading supplies into those damn vehicles of theirs.”
“What?” Santha snatched up her own binocs and focused on the school buildings.
She didn’t say anything but the tightness in her jaw spoke volumes.
She lowered the binocs. “We have to go in. Now.”
“We don’t know if the prisoners are still there.” Marcus cursed. “They could have moved them already.”
Shit, Cruz knew it was a bad situation. They could go in, risk the team, and find nothing. Or they could go in and rescue the humans, and still risk the team by dropping directly in a hornet’s nest of raptor activity.
But he knew Marcus.
“They’re still there,” Santha said. “They have to be. We have to go in.”
A muscle ticked in Marcus’ jaw. “We go in.”
***
Santha tried to keep her hands from twitching on her crossbow as she watched the raptors continue to load up supplies.
“Reed, you’re up,” Marcus said. “We need a good diversion.”
“You’ll get one.” The tall man caught Santha’s gaze and gave her a small nod. He had rugged outdoorsman stamped all over him—from his athletic body to his tanned skin. When you added a square jaw covered in sexy stubble, hazel eyes and shaggy hair tipped gold at the ends, and she figured he didn’t lack for feminine company. As he slipped away, it was hard not to admire his easy grace.
She looked away and saw Cruz scowling at her.
Her chest tightened. That was the face that really did it for her. Sex and sin wrapped up in a lean, dark package she wanted to lick all over. She winked at him.
His scowl melted away into a reluctant smile. Then together, they turned back to watch the raptors.
They waited. None of the Hell Squad members moved. They stayed still, watchful.
Santha felt like she was going to explode. She hated waiting. She wanted to aim her crossbow and take down as many of the aliens below as she could. She wanted—no, needed—to storm into that building and see if those people were still there. To find that little girl and get her out.
God, what if they had been moved? Her mouth went dry. They’d have to start all over again in the search, and who knew how many of them would be dead by then.
A boom shattered the late-morning stillness.
They all looked north.
A huge blue ball rose into the air and then the heart of it turned a brilliant red. Her pulse jumped. Jesus, Reed was using Backfire explosives.
The secondary explosion detonated, and the shockwave hit them.
Cruz slammed into her, his big body curling around hers. Holy Hell, she’d never seen Backfires used before. She’d only heard of them. They could do a lot of damage, had good pyrotechnics, but the effects were mostly localized.
Which was why they all hadn’t been blasted into tiny pieces.
Santha had barely caught her breath when another huge explosion rocked them. This one was a standard charge. The ground under them vibrated, and a cloud of black smoke rose in the air.
The raptors in the yard below exploded into a chaotic frenzy. One of the raptors appeared to be yelling out orders, and suddenly two thirds of the aliens headed off in the direction of Reed’s explosions.
“The guy is good,” Shaw murmured from nearby.
Santha studied the remaining raptors. Still a large number of them, but it would have to do. She’d had worse odds before.
Cruz touched her shoulder and she felt the burn of his hand even through her borrowed body armor. A silent good luck.
“Emerson, you stay back until I signal you.” Marcus pinned the doctor with a glare.
“Got it.”
“Hell Squad,” Marcus said, “time to do what we do best. Ready to go to hell?”
“Hell, yeah!” all the team responded. “The devil needs an ass-kicking!”
The team exploded into action.
Santha stayed back beside Shaw. His sniper rifle was like an extension of him as he worked to take down as many raptors as he could.
Santha’s crossbow sang in her hands as she sent bolt after bolt into the raptors below.
The rest of the team charged across the yard. Marcus and Cruz worked in tandem, never pausing in firing their carbines. Claudia had a thermo shotgun that boomed when she fired, and Gabe was hot on her heels with his weapon.
They hit the oncoming wave of raptors.
Santha watched Cruz slam into an enormous raptor. Her heart was pounding double-time, but she kept her cool and took down two more raptors trying to get to him. Cruz strained against the alien before getting his gun up. The raptor’s head exploded and its body slumped to the ground.
She released the breath she was holding.
Marcus was…brutal. His blood-splattered face was intense as he took out raptor after raptor. Gabe was just plain scary. He’d switched to two combat knives and he moved so fast the blades were barely visible. He sliced and stabbed anything in his path. No man could move that fast.
Claudia moved with an elegance Santha hadn’t expected from the tough, non-nonsense woman. She pressed a boot to a raptor’s belly and he fell backward. She lifted her shotgun and showed no mercy.
Soon, the remaining raptors were pulling back behind their line of vehicles and into a building across from the school to regroup.
“Let’s move.” Marcus’ gravelly voice came through Santha’s earpiece clearly.
In unison, she and Shaw slid over the edge of the roof to the ground below. Shaw helped Emerson down. They hurried down the street and across the body-strewn schoolyard, joining the others.
Santha moved up close to Cruz and ran an assessing eye over him. He pressed a gloved finger to her cheek, then nodded toward the building. As a group, the squad moved up the steps and into the building.
Inside, it took a second for her vision to adjust from full sun to the dim light. Santha slung her crossbow onto her back and pulled out her laser pistols.
Marcus held up a fist and, as one, the group stopped in their tracks. Waited. Listened.
Everything was silent.
Santha swallowed. No moans or cries. Nothing.
They moved quickly, clearing rooms.
“Too fucking quiet,” Cruz said.
“Usually means a shitstorm is coming,” Shaw muttered. “Just how we like it.”
They moved down the long, main corridor.
A noise. A scratching sound.
They paused.
“What the hell is that?” Claudia’s face was pressed to her scope as she swung her carbine around.
“I’m sure we’re about to find out,” Marcus growled.
Ahead, out of the darkness, came a snarl.
And the sound of claws on wood.
In the next second, the hall filled with canids. Some were running full-tilt toward them, others were slinking along the ceiling, their red gazes trained on Hell Squad.
“Here doggy, doggy,” Shaw said softly, lining up his rifle.
He took down three canids in quick succession. Santha tossed a grenade filled with her anti-canid spray. It exploded, spraying the aliens with a fine mist of the cedar oil mixture. As the lead animals started howling in pain, she swung her pistols up and shot them.
But more rushed forward and leaped onto the team.
Marcus and Cruz worked shoulder to shoulder, cutting through the dog-like aliens with laser fire. Behind them, Claudia and Gabe had switched to knives. They sliced and hacked.
As Santha kept firing, she understood how the team had gotten its name. Soon, they all stood in a blood-smeared hall, surrounded by the bodies of dozens of canids.
“I hate these things.” Gabe gave one animal a kick before cleaning his knife on its hide.
“Come on,” Marcus said. “Let’s get to the lab and then get out of
here.”
It took a few more minutes and they reached the door that led to the lab. Santha swallowed against the large lump in her throat. There was no noise from behind the door.
Cruz pushed it open.
At first, Santha thought the lab was empty.
But then she saw the shapes of bodies lying still and quiet in their beds. No. No!
She rushed inside.
“Santha!” Cruz was right behind her, checking the room for threats. The rest of the team dashed behind them.
She reached the first bed. A man in his mid-thirties lay there, his eyes closed. But his chest was moving. Her shoulders sagged. He was alive.
Then she saw the tube going from his arm to some sort of bag on a stand beside him. It was filled with a yellow sludge that was slowly working its way inside him.
“Doc?” Marcus said.
Emerson moved forward and checked the man’s vitals. “He’s alive. Barely.” She lifted her m-scanner, then cursed under her breath. “Poison.” She yanked the tube out. “They’re being euthanized. Go, get the tubes out!”
The team moved fast, each one going to pull the tubes from the patients.
Santha moved beside a boy in his teens. She pulled the tube out of his arm…and the end of it moved. She gasped. It was part organic and the end had a mouth like a leech, which puckered as if it were looking to suck onto something. She dropped it on the floor and stamped on it.
The boy was frighteningly pale. His eyes were open, and he stared blankly up at the ceiling.
Her heart heavy, she hurried along, pulling out more tubes.
The last bed held a body that was smaller than the rest. Santha’s heart pounded in her chest. “Oh no.”
It was the little girl they’d seen before. Her eyes were closed and she was so, so still. Santha pulled the tube out of her arm and pressed a hand to the girl’s cheek.
Cold. Too cold.
“Doc? Doc, can you help!”
Emerson ran over, and as she checked for vital signs, the girl moved, her eyes opening. They were covered in a milky white film.
“She’s alive. I’ve no idea what damage they’ve done to her brain, but right now she’s in deep shock.” Emerson fitted a snug, stretchy cap over the girl’s head. “That’ll cover her wounds until I can treat her back at base.”
“I’ll take her.” Cruz appeared and lifted the girl into his arms. Santha’s insides warmed at the sight of the big, tough muscled soldier gently cradling the tiny, young girl.
Santha turned and watched the rest of the squad opening up the field iono-stretchers they’d brought. Each small box opened out to produce a canvas hammock between the ends. They used electrohydrodynamics to produce the thrust that kept a loaded stretcher in the air without needing an engine. They were lightweight and easy to maneuver with no more than a slight push.
“Eight patients dead and ten still alive,” Emerson said, her face grim.
Marcus nodded and touched his earpiece. “Elle, we’ve found survivors. Heading out now.”
“Roger that, Marcus. Did you find the scientists?”
Marcus looked over at Doctor Emerson. She was checking the final patients who were still alive.
“No sign of Dr. Lonsdale. It’s likely he’s dead.”
Marcus cursed. “And the other? Dr. Vasin?”
“That’s me,” a quiet, shaky voice said. Santha could hear the light strains of a Russian accent.
Santha turned and saw a woman so painfully thin her cheekbones and collarbones were pressed hard against her skin. Her dark hair had been shorn off. As Marcus helped her onto the stretcher, Santha noted the threadbare clothes and a blood-soaked bandage covering her chest.
Doc Emerson gently pushed the woman down. “Just rest. It’s Natalya, right? We’re going to get you out of here.”
“Randall’s dead?”
“We aren’t sure. But he’s not here.”
The woman sighed. “He wasn’t doing well. He kept holding on, hoping his wife was still alive. But the…aliens removed some of his organs—” The woman shuddered.
“Just be quiet now,” Santha said, trying for a soothing tone.
The woman reached out and grabbed Santha’s arm, squeezing with a surprising strength. “There are others.”
Santha frowned, a horrible feeling rising inside her. “Others?”
“Other human guinea pigs,” Dr. Vasin said. “They were here but the aliens moved them somewhere else. Maybe Randall was with them. Some of these people here also spoke of another lab. A larger one.”
Chapter Thirteen
Fuck. Cruz couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Where?”
The scientist dropped back on her stretcher, sagging with exhaustion. “I don’t know.”
The little girl stirred in Cruz’s arms. “Broken bridge.” Her nose wrinkled. “Scary face.”
She’d spoken! The surprise Cruz felt at hearing the little girl’s voice was interrupted when Elle’s voice sounded in his ear.
“Marcus, you have incoming raptors. Reed led them on a merry chase, but they’ve just left the explosion site and are coming back. Looks like they’ve been joined by another raptor team.”
“Okay, Elle.” Marcus gripped two stretchers and started moving toward the door. “We have to go. Now.”
They hurried through the corridors. Santha pushed a man’s stretcher ahead of her and dragged Dr. Vasin’s behind. Cruz clutched the girl in his arms.
They reached the door and stepped into the fierce midday sun.
There was a whoosh of air and a ship appeared above them like a giant bird of prey.
Shit. “Ptero!” Cruz yelled.
He tightened his grip on the tiny slip of a girl and watched as the raptor ship swiveled in the air above them. On the ground, raptors poured into the yard.
Too many. His gut turned to rock. There were too many.
Suddenly, something flew off the roof of the neighboring building and slammed into the ptero. An explosion engulfed the alien ship and it veered sharply to the left, flying overhead before slamming into the building behind them with an earsplitting crunch of rock and metal.
Ahead, Cruz saw Reed leap off the roof from where he’d fired the missile, his mayhem over his shoulder.
Raptors were running toward them, firing their weapons.
Cruz shoved the girl at Santha. “Pull the patients back behind cover.” He raced with his teammates to meet the enemy.
He didn’t have time to watch if Santha followed orders, but he knew she’d do anything to keep those people safe. He yanked his carbine off his shoulder and started firing.
It didn’t take long for Hell Squad to thin the raptors out. The remaining aliens ducked for cover or ran.
Marcus waved the team into cover behind an overturned van. “We need an escape route, Elle.”
“Working on it. We can’t risk a Hawk landing at the school, so you need to get some distance between you and the raptors. Round everyone up and head out the western gate.”
Cruz swiveled and eyed the gate in the fence across a small playing field. “We can make it.”
Marcus and Cruz jogged over to Santha. The little girl was standing beside her and Santha was cursing. A stretcher had been damaged by the gunfire and Dr. Vasin had spilled onto the ground.
Santha scraped a hand over her head. “I can’t fix it.”
“Don’t worry.” Reed muscled in and scooped the scientist up. “I’ll carry her.”
“All right, Hell Squad. Grab a stretcher or a patient and let’s get out of here.” Marcus took the lead, dragging two stretchers behind him.
Cruz grabbed the girl again and she clung to him like glue. They were moving quickly, but behind them, Cruz heard canids howling. More raptors were coming.
They’d left the school and were moving down the street when ahead, a team of raptors stepped out and blocked their route.
“Fuck,” Cruz muttered.
“That’s a really naughty word,” the girl said.
Cruz blinked. There was clearly nothing wrong with her hearing. He cleared his throat and focused on the threat. “Options?”
Marcus’ jaw was tight. “We’re out of them.”
Suddenly, five Darkswifts flew overhead, each glider a slim-line, dark shadow against the sky.
The lasers mounted on the front of the gliders opened fire on the raptors below, cutting them down.
“Woo-hoo!” Shaw punched a hand in the air.
“Thought you guys might need a little assistance,” Roth’s voice drawled through the earpiece.
Squad Nine had arrived.
“Come on, Hell Squad, let’s get out of here.” Marcus waved them onward.
They all started moving again when the distinctive shape of a velox slinked out of a building ahead.
“Shit,” Cruz muttered.
“That’s naughty, too,” the girl murmured.
“You have to keep moving.” Santha nudged her stretcher toward Cruz. “Take them and get to the Hawk. I’ll hold this thing off.”
“No.” Dammit, she couldn’t take it on alone. He wouldn’t stand by and watch her die.
“I’ll help.” Claudia nudged her stretcher toward Reed and stepped up, shoulder to shoulder with Santha. She glanced at the team. “Go.”
Santha moved in close to Cruz. “Don’t worry, soldier.” She pressed a quick kiss to his lips. “You’ve given me a very good reason to stick around.”
He savored the brief hint of her taste, then tightened his arms around the little girl. Dammit, he wanted to stay and help fight. But he had to get these people to safety. Santha wouldn’t forgive him if he didn’t.
But he couldn’t turn away. It seemed none of the team could. Like they were hypnotized, Cruz and the rest of Hell Squad watched the two woman advance on the creature. Both of them were strong, and while Santha was taller and leaner than Claudia—who was all solid muscle and a bad attitude—she was no less deadly.
They were both holding two guns. Santha’s Shockwaves made a distinctive sound as they fired. Claudia was a pro at using her carbine and her laser pistol in tandem.
The lasers tore into the creature, but barely seemed to affect it. Its powerful muscles bunched, then it let out a high-pitched screech and rushed at the women.
