Holmes

by Anna Hackett

“I’m listening.” He surreptitiously glanced at the roofs of the nearby houses, wondering where Marcus and the others were.

  “The deal is you may keep your life and select twenty of your people and leave. In return, you hand us the rest of your convoy.”

  “What?” All the air rushed out of Adam’s lungs.

  “Your group has angered the wrong people. My leaders do not wish for you to run around killing our troops, destroying our assets. So, you may go, General Adam Holmes, and take the twenty people you…care for, or need the most.” The alien said care like it was a word that made no sense to him.

  Adam almost wanted to laugh. “I am not President Gregory Howell.”

  “The man was smart enough to take the deal we offered him.”

  “The man was a coward.” They didn’t realize Adam didn’t consider his life any more important than the life of any single member of his convoy. “Humans can be selfish, especially when they are afraid.”

  The raptor cocked his head. “You are not afraid.”

  “I’m afraid of many things,” Adam answered. “But not of you.”

  The alien considered him for a second, and when the creature’s gaze moved to Liberty. Adam tensed.

  “And if I hurt her?” The raptor’s guttural voice had lowered. “Then you will be afraid?”

  Adam felt a muscle tick in his jaw. He didn’t answer. But he knew he didn’t have to.

  The raptor shook his head. “You humans are so confusing at times.” The leader lifted a clawed hand. “Take the woman.”

  Two raptors stepped forward and grabbed Liberty’s arms.

  She didn’t curse or spit at them, but she fought, struggling and kicking at her captors.

  Adam moved without thinking. The raptor leader nodded and another soldier stepped forward and pressed the end of his weapon to Adam’s chest.

  It forced Adam to stop. He watched, helpless, as they moved Liberty over by the cage. Someone brought a rope and her hands were tied, the rope tossed over a lamppost. She was jerked upward, her arms were above her head and her toes barely touching the ground.

  A raptor soldier moved in front of her, then slapped her.

  Liberty spat blood on the ground. “I had someone try to break me once.” She smiled, blood on her teeth. “It didn’t work.”

  Adam felt his muscles straining. He wanted to attack the raptors. He burned with the need to do something to save her. He glanced around again, hoping Marcus got the message that it was time to act.

  “Be quiet,” the leader growled at Liberty.

  “Screw you,” she retorted. “You can kill me, it won’t break him. He’ll still fight you to the end. He’ll still find a way to beat you.”

  This time it was the leader who slammed a fist into Liberty’s belly.

  Adam heard the air rush out of her, saw her grimace of pain.

  She was both wrong and right. Her death would break him. He’d been numb before Liberty. He’d married a woman he’d liked but hadn’t loved, because she’d been what he thought was right and perfect for him.

  Instead, their marriage had been lukewarm at best and cold at worst. It had taken this lush, vibrant woman to bring him to life. To make him realize he didn’t have to hold himself apart.

  So, yes, her death would break him…but she was right—he would still fight until he couldn’t fight any more.

  He’d do anything for the woman he loved.

  Think, Adam, think. He had to do something.

  Suddenly, laser fire broke out. The aliens all dodged, lifting their weapons to return fire.

  But the shots were coming from two different directions, which confused them. Adam crouched down, leaping to the side, as raptor poison splattered the ground. He sprinted toward Liberty.

  ***

  Liberty watched, heart in her throat, as Adam sprinted through laser and raptor fire.

  Come on. Come on.

  When he reached her, she didn’t get a chance to catch her breath. He yanked a huge knife from a sheath on the side of his thigh and attacked the alien closest to her.

  It was a short, but brutal, fight. Liberty wasn’t surprised to discover Adam could fight as well as his squad soldiers.

  “Are you all right?” He reached her, slicing through the rope.

  She nodded, but as she fell into his arms, her stomach ached and her face was stinging. Still, she’d been beaten enough to know none of her injuries were bad. “Let’s get the others.”

  “We won’t have long.” Adam’s face was the grimmest she’d ever seen it. “They’ll soon realize they have the greater numbers…”

  And once they did, the aliens would be all over them.

  She nodded and turned to the cage.

  “Liberty.” Adam grabbed her arm. “I need you to lead these people out. Keep them calm and keep them moving. Get them to the Hawk.”

  She pressed her lips together. “And you?”

  “I’ll cover you and then help Marcus.”

  She wanted to argue, but there wasn’t time. More weapons fire smacked into the ground near them. Hurrying beside Adam, they made it to the cage.

  It took them precious moments to get it open. Adam pulled a mini-laser cutter and cut off the ugly bone-like lock.

  The door swung open.

  The prisoners surged toward them.

  “Stay calm,” Adam urged.

  Liberty squeezed in front of him. “Everyone, if you want to live, you listen. Now.”

  Everyone paused.

  She saw they were all holding on by a thread. “Pair up. Take the hand of the person next to you. There are people here who need your help to get out of here.”

  She watched everyone grab the person beside them, checking them over.

  “You are brilliant.” Adam’s warm breath brushed her ear. “You’ve fired them all up to take care of someone else.”

  She tilted her head back. “I learned from the best.”

  “Lead them out that way.” He pointed up a side street. “Get to the edge of the town and then run into the fields.”

  With her throat feeling like it was filled with rusty barbs, she nodded.

  “General?”

  Devlin Gray’s crisp, British accent caught their attention.

  He was standing, Santha in his arms, resting heavily against him. She was panting and drenched in sweat.

  Liberty’s gut clenched. “Oh, no.”

  “Santha’s in labor,” Dev said.

  The woman moaned. Liberty hurried forward and grabbed her arm. They all knew it was far too early. She was only about halfway through her pregnancy. Maybe in a high-tech hospital everything would be all right…but hospitals were long gone and they still had to escape before they could get her to Doc Emerson.

  “I…can make it,” Santha pushed out between her teeth. “I will make it.”

  “You can.” Liberty kept her tone positive. “And Cruz is out there, making all this distraction so we can get out of here.”

  But at that moment, the laser fire stopped. The aliens were running in all directions, hunting down the squad soldiers.

  Liberty glanced toward the leader, who turned and spotted them. He shouted to his men.

  No! Liberty looked at Adam.

  The aliens turned en masse, and started sprinting toward them.

  Chapter Seventeen

  God, they weren’t going to make it.

  Adam herded the people out of the cage. “Run! Up that street. Get out of town.”

  They took off running, some stumbling. Some were faster than others. Some of the older and injured were far slower.

  A woman tripped, tumbling into the dirt. Adam held his breath, but when a young man stopped and scooped her onto her feet, Adam felt a sense of pride.

  Whatever happened here, their humanity remained intact.

  He turned back as Liberty and Devlin helped Santha out.

  Another contraction hit, and Santha groaned, biting her lip. “You guys go, please.”

  Liberty sl
ipped Santha’s arm around her shoulders. “Good try, Santha. You have two alpha males from hell here, and you know what? I don’t have anywhere better to be.” She looked at Adam.

  God, even here, in the middle of the worst circumstances, their lives on the line, she smiled at him.

  “Aliens are almost here,” Dev said, his voice full of quiet urgency.

  Adam raised his laser pistol, knowing it wasn’t nearly enough. The aliens would overrun them before he could take many down. But he still fired. He had to give his people enough of a head start, so they could have a better chance of getting away safely.

  He kept firing and a second later, Liberty stepped up beside him, firing her own weapon.

  Suddenly, there was a deafening crash, and the loud rev of an engine.

  A huge fuel tanker truck burst through the old gas station building, smashing windows and collapsing the roof.

  The large truck swerved, and the tanker trailer skewed out, knocking over a line of alien vehicles.

  Adam spotted Cruz behind the wheel.

  An explosion boomed, and a house at the end of the street went up in a ball of flames and smoke.

  As he watched, more houses burst into flames, all across the small town, ignited in stealth by Marcus and his small team.

  The aliens all turned, firing at the new threat.

  Cruz mowed down as many aliens as he could. Then he opened the driver’s side door.

  Adam frowned. What the hell was he doing?

  Santha’s eyes were glued to Cruz, a faint smile flickered on her face. “My badass alpha soldier.”

  Cruz leaped from the moving truck, tossing something back into the cab. The Hell Squad soldier hit the dirt, rolling over twice before coming back up on his feet in a smooth move. He instantly lifted his carbine and started taking down aliens.

  The tanker truck crashed into the alien soldiers and a second later it exploded.

  Adrenaline charged through Adam as he watched the flames rising. The explosion had taken out most of the aliens.

  Then a roaring noise caught his attention, and he turned. More aliens were rushing at them from the far end of the town.

  “Come on.” Spurred into action, Adam herded the small group of them back. “We need to get out of here.”

  Santha looked torn, but as another contraction tightened her belly, she nodded.

  Then, Adam heard the unmistakable sound of the raptors’ heavy electrical weapon. He froze. There was no way they could outrun the high-velocity electrified poison.

  He turned, stepping in front of Liberty in a vain attempt at keeping her safe, and he blinked in shock.

  The weapon was spraying poison…all over the alien soldiers.

  Adam’s eyes widened.

  “Oh, my God,” Liberty whispered.

  Tane Rahia was moving the large alien weapon from side to side, cutting down the enemy like blades of grass. His brother stood beside him, hefting up the heavy ammunition and feeding it into the weapon.

  Running footsteps sounded. Adam swiveled, bringing his pistol up.

  Cruz and Marcus appeared. “Don’t shoot,” Marcus growled.

  In an instant, Cruz swept Santha up into his arms, pressing his lips to her temple, murmuring.

  “The baby, Cruz. The baby’s coming.” Santha’s voice was tortured.

  “We’ll get you to the doc,” Cruz murmured. “Just hold on.”

  Santha nodded.

  Adam grabbed Liberty’s arm. “Let’s move.”

  “Tane and Hemi?” she asked.

  Marcus snorted. “Believe me, those guys will make it out in one piece. Don’t worry about them.”

  Together, they jogged up the street and out of the town. The fields opened up, and ahead, Adam saw the hill where the Hawk was hiding.

  Holding tightly to Liberty’s hand, he pushed on and they crested the hill.

  All the survivors were milling by the Hawk, Finn talking to them, distributing water.

  “Thank God,” the pilot said. Then he spotted Santha. “Shit.” He caught Adam’s eye. “Can’t take everyone at once. We’ll be over the Hawk’s weight limit.”

  “Injured and elderly first. We’ll stay here and wait for Tane and Hemi.”

  Finn nodded and got to work herding people into the quadcopter.

  Cruz climbed aboard with Santha, and soon the Hawk lifted off. Its illusion system flickered on, leaving it just a hazy shimmer in the sky.

  Marcus stayed alert, his carbine up. “Everyone stay down.” His gaze went back toward the direction of the town.

  Liberty was moving among the remaining people, working her magic. She stroked arms, smiled, laughed. Soon, everyone was more at ease, huddled together.

  A huge boom sounded.

  Adam turned and watched a huge mushroom cloud of smoke and flames rise into the sky.

  He and Marcus strode to the top of the hill and waited. Where the hell were Tane and Hemi?

  The minutes ticked by, and Adam fought the urge to worry.

  A minute later, he saw two silhouettes appear out of the smoke. Both had carbines slung over their shoulders, steadily strolling up the hill like they had nothing better to do than go for a walk. They were both covered in blood, sweat and soot. Hemi was laughing and a slight smile broke on Tane’s face for a second.

  “Those two need cigars, or something.”

  Adam glanced down at Liberty. He put his arm around her and pulled her in close. He soaked in the warmth and life of her.

  “I know what I need,” Adam said.

  She looked up, smiling. “Oh?”

  “You.” He touched her face. “Just you.”

  There was a sudden gust of wind and above them, he saw a second quadcopter appear, dropping its illusion.

  “Let’s get out of here,” he said.

  ***

  Nikolai

  Nikolai Ivanov ran quietly through the trees. Beside him, two of his Enclave soldiers ran with him.

  He crested the hill, careful to stay in the shadows of the trees. He made a hand signal and the soldiers stopped. Niko lifted his binocs, zooming in, and got a good look at the incoming vehicles.

  It had been one of the Enclave drones that had picked up the huge illusion heading their way. He knew the Blue Mountain Base convoy was on its way here…but Niko had a responsibility to the people who called the Enclave home to protect them.

  He’d snuck under the illusion with a small team. He needed to make sure this convoy was the Blue Mountain survivors and that they didn’t have aliens trailing them.

  “Sir, it looks like the Blue Mountain Base convoy,” one of the soldiers said.

  “Yeah, it does.”

  But all their intel said the aliens were getting better at deception. At first, they’d used brute force, still relied on that, but Niko suspected they were starting to understand they’d need something else to beat good, old human grit and determination.

  “Spread out.” He jerked his head at the man and woman. “Get a closer look. If anything seems off, and I mean anything, report back.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The soldiers melded into the trees.

  Quickly, stealthily, Niko made his way up the next hill. It had been a while since he’d had to use the skills of his past life. Before, stealth and sneaking had been his norm.

  A muscle ticked in his jaw. He wasn’t that man anymore. Now he was a survivor, a leader, an artist, a community member. His top reason for being was to protect the Enclave and its people.

  He shimmied down on his belly and crawled to the top of the hill. He lifted the binocs again.

  A second later, he felt the cool brush of a gun barrel at the back of his neck. He stiffened.

  “Want to tell me why you’re sneaking around here and spying on my people?’

  Female voice. Tough. Cool. Meant business. Niko had no doubt that whoever was holding the weapon, she wouldn’t hesitate to pull the trigger.

  “I’m making sure they are who I think they are,” he answe
red. “Making sure they aren’t aliens in disguise.”

  A pause. “Turn around.”

  Niko rolled over. Taking her in felt like a kick to his gut.

  He’d thought she’d be tall. Instead, she was tiny. Dark hair was tucked under her combat helmet and he wondered if it would be a long fall of silk or short, sexy wisps around her angular face. She wore her combat armor and held her carbine in a way that said she did it every day. No newbie soldier here.

  But it was the hard, steady look in her dark eyes and the tough tilt of her chin that he found most fascinating.

  “Who are you?” she asked.

  “I’m from the Enclave—”

  “We’ve heard that before. Name?”

  Yes, this one had tough running through her veins. Damn, he found it sexy. “Niko.”

  The woman touched her ear. “Roth? Come in. I’ve run into someone claiming to be from the Enclave.”

  Niko straightened. “Roth? Roth Masters?”

  His captor studied him.

  “Tell him Nikolai says hello.”

  She tapped her earpiece, then cursed. “Damn. The aliens are jamming everything.”

  Holding his hands up, Niko got to his feet. “I’m Nikolai Ivanov.”

  Her dark gaze drifted over him. “Mackenna Carides. I’m Roth’s second in command.”

  So, she worked side by side with the tough, muscled Masters. “Looks like Roth has all the luck. I’ve met his beautiful and competent Avery, and now I see he works with a beautiful second in command as well.”

  Mackenna lifted her carbine up an inch. “I’m not in this job because of how I look.”

  “I don’t doubt it.”

  She touched her ear. “Roth? Arden? Do you copy?”

  Niko shifted to grab his own comms device off his belt.

  A hard shove to his gut had him grunting. Mackenna kicked his knees out from under him and a second later he found himself flat on his back, a knee pressed to his sternum.

  “You’re a bit twitchy, Mackenna.”

  “It’s Mac. And after two weeks on the run, aliens dogging your every move, you’d be a little twitchy too, pretty boy.”

  Niko was sick of being on the back foot with this woman. He slapped her knee away, surging upward.

  She swung her carbine around, but he anticipated that and knocked it away. She threw herself at him and they shared a short, sharp scuffle. Fuck. She had an exoskeleton in her armor that made her stronger than him.