by Angela White
Garret saw that her tie had come undone and blood was running freely down her arm. He moved to replace it, not wanting Adrian to find her dead. He had to see it happen.
Even battered, Shannon was still beautiful, and Garret ran a rough finger down her cheek. “Why couldn’t you just be loyal to me?”
She slowly opened her sunken eyes, bracing. “Why couldn’t you let me go to the man I love?”
Instead of a blow, the Major chuckled. “Because he wanted you, too, of course. I couldn’t allow him happiness. You never mattered, except as a way to get to him.”
Shannon already knew that. She’d come to terms with it a long time ago. “Conner’s with his father now. That’s all I ever wanted.”
“Conner is dying in an alley somewhere from my bullet!” Garret shouted.
Shannon screamed, this one carrying an inner pain that Hudson hadn’t been able to draw from her.
“Motion sensors are going off, Major.”
Garret went to the screen and saw multiple alarms flashing in silent warning. Three in the rear, one in the front and six more on their weakest side.
“Back together, are we?” Garret muttered. “Good.”
Cara lingered by the window, tensed for battle. She’d come to salvage what she could for her women, but the Major wasn’t in a giving mood right now. She needed leverage.
Bang! Bang!
The gunfire was followed by footsteps thudding up the stairs.
“We’ve lost the outer perimeter.”
The guard that informed them of that placed himself between the Major and the door, but not until he was directed to do so.
Bang!
This shot was louder, deeper, and came from the rear of the building.
“They’re in the compound!”
“All men to full alert!”
Radios blared with panic, and the Major didn’t bother to calm anyone. If they followed their training, they were still likely to die. Mitchel wasn’t one to take prisoners.
More feet stomped hurriedly up the stairs, and the Major braced for Adrian’s entry. He’d never hated anyone as much.
The door flew open, and Garret saw the person’s enraged face an instant before Hudson fired.
Bang!
Bang!
Only one body thumped to the floor, and the Major chuckled cruelly as Hudson screamed in denial. Talk about irony.
2
Kenn grinned at the sight of Adrian marching through the alley. The smile grew when the rest of the mission team appeared behind him, pointing and laughing in relief.
Adrian didn’t slow, and his men fell in, ready to help him express his displeasure.
As he neared the now unguarded, unlocked back door, Kenn paused. “How do you want to do this?”
Adrian took the extra gun from Kenn’s holster and stepped inside. “Kill them all.”
“Yeah,” Kenn laughed as the battle shield descended over his mind. “That works.”
They ran up the stairs together, over bodies that made them frown in confusion, but there wasn’t time to stop as Garret’s hunters rounded the corner and began firing at them.
“We have a group in the west hall!” one of the hunters shouted into his mike.
Adrian promptly shot him in the head.
Kenn hit the man next to him, and the group of hunters fled down a different hall.
“What the hell...”
Daryl shrugged it off and moved up the lantern-lit stairs on Kenn’s heels, vaguely wondering where Kyle was.
They moved through wooden halls stripped of carpets, paintings, curtains, and anything else that could have bene used to start a fire. In the top corners were dark cameras that they had expected to have to shoot out. Why wasn’t Garret watching for them?
Adrian didn’t pause when they reached the only closed door. One kick sent it banging against the wall for a short glimpse before it slammed closed.
Now, he slid to the side, the images burned into his mind. A bloody Shannon in the chair, three men lined up behind her, but in front of Garret, who was standing at his desk, gun in hand.
Adrian concentrated. What else had he seen?
“Come on in, Mitchel! It’s time we settled this.”
Adrian motioned the Eagles to stay clear of the door, not sure if Garret remembered how he used to set the enemy up by shooting through the walls on each side of a door. It was much more effective than wasting harmless shots through a peephole.
Adrian slid in front of the door, still working the scene. What else had been in the room? Chairs...stacks of books...gun on the floor...a dark puddle under the desk. Garret was wounded.
“Looks like you had an accident,” Adrian called cheerfully.
“There was a...domestic issue as you arrived. It’s over now.” Garret’s answering tone was strained.
Adrian used his boot to slowly push the door open, spotting the body of a woman he didn’t know, and a hunter crouched over her in grief.
“Lenore wasn’t happy about her rapist not being punished. She chose to give herself justice and it backfired.”
Adrian thought of the dozen bodies they’d passed on the way up here. “She got her money’s worth. You’re short two full teams, thanks to her aim.”
“Really?” The Major frowned. “I’m sorry I killed her then. That type of shooting is worth an effort.”
Garret sighed regretfully. “Much too late now. I only need you, anyway.”
“And Conner,” Adrian reminded.
Garret glanced toward the door, expecting the boy to limp in. When there was no movement, he frowned. “Where is he?”
“Dead,” Adrian stated bitterly. “Because of the drugs, I couldn’t save him!”
Garret snarled in denial, but it was lost under Shannon’s scream. She lunged from the chair, grabbing the gun Lenore had dropped when Garret shot her. “I hate you!”
Garret ducked as she fired, but the battered woman had counted on his reaction. Her shot went too low, however, hitting the edge of the desk and taking his hat from his bald head with the ricochet.
Barely able to see, Shannon raised the barrel and fired again.
Bang!
Hudson took the opportunity to back out of the room through the Major’s private door as gunshots echoed.
Hudson ran through their fleeing, chaotic compound, thinking he was on the wrong side. Mitchel’s men were loyal to him because he cared about their lives. Garret’s men stayed from fear or greed, and Hudson recognized the moment. He’d had enough.
Hudson was dry, devoid of humor and imagination, the Major would have said. Just a crew girl, Lenore had inspired strange feelings in Hudson, ones he’d been careful to hide. And he had been extremely patient waiting for his turn.
Unable to love, Garret had underestimated Hudson’s emotional stability, continuing to laugh as Lenore bled out. In that moment, his bond with the Major had snapped.
“Hudson!”
He ignored the call for help. The days of coming when summoned were over.
Hudson stepped over the bodies he was certain had come from Lenore–she’d certainly tried to wipe Garret out–and continued toward the dam. He would set things off early, and go out with a bang.
The furious explosives man headed back to the place he’d been happiest, before Lenore was shot and the future began to appear so grim. Let the Major and his quarry fight it out. What did he care? There was only one thing that would comfort him now, and Hudson moved that way with freedom ringing in his heart.
He wasn’t bound to the Major anymore! It was a dangerous, powerful feeling, and he was sorry he wouldn’t get a chance to grow bored of it. Where he was headed, he wouldn’t return from.
3
Daryl fired at the pair of bounty hunters coming up the stairs and ducked behind the wall as they responded in kind.
Another group of men had them pinned down across the hall from Adrian. They were keeping the Major’s guards from reaching him, but they couldn’t help their leader,
either.
“I hate you!”
The voice came from a dim hall that was alive with gunfire.
It’s almost over, Daryl concluded, firing again as an unlucky hunter popped his head around the corner. We’re almost finished.
“Look out!” Billy yelled.
Daryl threw himself to the floor as the wall exploded.
Grenade, he thought dizzily, ears ringing.
“Come on!” Billy shouted, grabbing his arm.
Daryl helped push himself along, everything distorted and painful to his burning ears.
“Stay down until it wears off!”
Daryl crouched at Billy’s feet, clumsily reloading as blood trickled down his neck.
The room they were in was stacked with metal barrels of ammunition that the Eagles dug into without grins at the find. There wasn’t time for it.
Ping! Pop!
Booomm!
The wall across from them exploded, sending shrapnel through the air.
Daryl grunted as Billy shoved him down, and felt something slam into the brick above him.
“Die, damn you! Die!” a woman screamed.
Kenn directed the Eagles toward the door. “Let’s clean house while Adrian does the same.”
Savage agreement came as the team reloaded, getting into formation. They would roll through the Major’s compound as if they owned it. When it was over, they would.
Kenn raised a hand, waiting for Daryl to give a shaky nod.
“Go! Go! Go!”
4
“Die, damn you! Die!” Shannon screamed at the coward who’d hurt her so much.
Adrian let her pull the trigger. He’d already counted and knew what would happen.
Click!
Shannon flung the empty gun at Garret. “Ahh!”
The Major stood up, remembering to breathe. “You’ll be hunted animals as soon as I call the bunker!”
“You won’t be alive to see it!” Shannon sneered.
Adrian placed a light hand on her arm. “Would you like me to carry the load?”
Shannon’s face tightened. “I’ve got the new sickness, the one they let out during the war. Knowing I killed him will make my last weeks tolerable.”
Adrian’s heart broke as he slid his knife into her hand.
Trapped, Garret once again became dangerous. “Don’t count on so long, Shan!”
“Just as long as you die, pig!” Shannon threw the knife as Garret tossed his hidden weapon.
“No!” Adrian lunged for her, but it was too late.
The homemade disc sent a dozen bullets plunging though the room.
Three of them hit Shannon in the chest and knocked her back against the wall.
Adrian ran to her. This time, there were no bugs or flesh charring into lighters. There was only blood pouring from the first woman he’d ever loved.
“Conner!” Shannon shouted.
Adrian leaned close. “He’s alive.”
Shannon’s face relaxed into the semblance of a smile. “Stay with you?”
Adrian clasped her hand. “Always.”
Shannon’s body arched, death hovering...then it ruthlessly snatched what Adrian couldn’t replace.
He clutched her close, a part of his soul smoldering in his chest. Three of his females in as many months!
Angela would be next.
“You okay in there, Boss?”
Adrian motioned to the Eagles when Kenn slowly opened the door. “Find out where his personal guard and perimeter patrols are. Then, set up a welcoming party.”
The Eagles took in the scene and the grief on Adrian’s face, and quietly went to do as he’d bidden.
5
Cara followed Hudson from a distance. She had slid into Garret’s residence to observe through the open door when Lenore was shot. The Major had obviously underestimated his targets.
Cara wasn’t sure why she was following Hudson, only that if Garret’s main man thought it a good idea to leave, then she should, too. Cara had lost her leadership over the snake women. The Major would provide no protection, even if he was lucky enough to survive, which she doubted the new people would allow. Cara didn’t know what to do. She had also underestimated them and lost it all.
Ahead of her, Hudson stopped, stiffening in the unmistakable stance of discovery.
Cara hurriedly moved closer, feet silent as she half-ran, half-slithered over the debris. What had Garret’s XO found?
Hudson stared in hatred. He lied!
Hudson narrowed in on Conner’s injury, hoping it hurt.
Adrian had goaded Shannon into attacking the Major. She never would have done it without that final push, and Mitchel had known it. He’d forced her to betray her husband. Adrian was just as much an evil genius as Garret.
Hudson slid behind a falling-down greenhouse and waited for the trio to go by, plans spitting themselves out rapidly. Maybe this run didn’t have to be a complete failure.
Hudson felt that heavy sense of the end lift from his shoulders. The bunker would be perfectly happy to accept the bodies from him instead of the Major. They would rather have them all dead than roaming free, and there would still be a reward.
Hudson spun suddenly, raising his gun. “Come out.”
Cara revealed herself reluctantly, eyeing the man with dislike, but no real hatred. Hudson had tolerated her while she was Garret’s woman, and she’d done the same for him. There was no reason they couldn’t work together.
Hudson slowly lowered the gun, aware of Cara staring toward the trio that had missed them in their hurry to reach the compound. Hudson, like Garret, thought the snake mutations were an improvement over females of the past. In this new world, snakes were all that existed in both male and female populations, and that was easier to remember with Cara’s girls.
“What do you want?”
“Conner,” Cara replied promptly.
Hudson stared at her, thinking it would be easier with two sets of hands. “Only until we reach the bunker. Then he goes inside for the reward.”
“Agreed.”
If she couldn’t kill Hudson by then, she would do what she had with the Major–become the bunker commander’s woman so she could wait nearby for an opportunity to grab the gifted teenager. With Conner at her side, her people would survive.
Hudson motioned toward the trio that was almost out of sight. “The drugs should keep them from using their powers for at least another twelve hours. Go be friendly and take them to the Major’s sealed room, huh?”
Cara went without a word, already liking the bravado of Hudson’s plan. Hopefully the new people would make the mistake this time.
Watching her slither along the debris, Hudson pulled the radio from his belt and began clicking the mike.
When he finished, there was an immediate set of clicks in answer. Without knowing Garret’s code or having their mental gifts to rely on, Mitchel and his men would be blind.
6
“They’ve taken over the compound.”
Nuna stopped their march, wanting to see for herself.
The binoculars revealed it to be true, and the snake leader battled with herself over the choice she’d made. I could have had him!
“We missed out on a good moment there,” one of the other women stated. “We might have gotten the supplies and escortsss.”
Nuna wasn’t listening to the mutters and complaints. She was making a new plan.
“It’s not over, isss it?” Nuna questioned, drawing their attention even though it was clear she was talking to herself. “We saw the other group. We know there’s more fighting to come.”
The leader waved her girls back into line. “Get usss to a better vantage point, and we’ll make a group choice on where we go from here.”
That satisfied the others, and the line of snake women began sliding through the moldy trees, hating the way nature felt. They would miss those dank sewers and brutally cold nights underground. Topside was hell.
7
“Let�
�s go. We have loose hunters to round up before burials.”
The team of Eagles left the room behind Adrian, and the others in the hall followed. Shannon had taken the Major’s life and sacrificed her own. She’d known her life was over anyway if Garret won.
Shannon had suffered from night sweats, and they’d gotten to know each other while he calmed her down. Adrian had planned to marry her. At that point, he hadn’t been a hunted animal, but a valued tool to be rewarded.
Adrian stood up, not letting himself dwell on the signs of abuse. Her trials were over now. She could rest in triumph.
Adrian moved outside and through the alley with a bleeding heart. He had to tell Conner he’d failed.
The Eagles couldn’t have been happier. They were back with Adrian. Being away caused a sense of desolation that each man hated, but also depended on. If the time ever came that they didn’t feel this way, it would be time to get out of his army.
Adrian expected to see Conner, on Kyle’s back, with Angela leading them. They should be stumbling over debris... Adrian stiffened. I made a mistake.
“Which way, Boss?” Kenn didn’t like the hesitation or panic he was picking up.
“They should have already been here.” Adrian was running through all the places they’d been, the people they’d had contact with.
Kenn was only a step behind Adrian, but unlike the leader, he skipped the things he didn’t think mattered and managed to arrive at the same conclusion, at the same time. “Another trap.”
Adrian didn’t answer, instead waving tired Eagles into a tight perimeter. Even without contact, it felt detached, impersonal.
“Should we start searching?”
Adrian shook his head, cursing Garret. The sound of Shannon screaming had upset Conner so much that there had been no choice but to come quickly and try to save her life. His mistake had been doing it alone.
“Boss?”
“No. The drugs didn’t stop Angela’s gifts in the cell. She’ll contact us.”
8
Hudson hurried through the dank sewer, mentally counting as his alarm did the same. They had to be on the way out of here when it went off, just in case he’d miscalculated the fuse. For the first time in his career, Hudson couldn’t be sure.
