Beasts of Byron (Silvers Invasion Book 2)

by Alex Mersey

  Sean shook his head. What was there to say? He didn’t know. He didn’t know a damn thing.

  And then he did.

  They all knew.

  Two Silvers emerged from the recess between the other two buildings. Tall, narrow, milky white, long limbs carrying them with silken grace. Sean held his breath, but his thoughts shouted loud enough to wake the dead. For a paranoid second, he wondered if they’d hear. Sweat curled above his upper lip and it wasn’t dread. It wasn’t all dread. Heated anger rose inside him like a fever.

  What had Captain Davis done?

  The simple answer, the one staring right at him, was not an option. Davis was not a collaborator. He was not a sympathizer. Even with disgust and horror curdling his gut, Sean’s belief in the stalwart captain couldn’t sink that low.

  Beth’s fingers laced his wrist, her grip tightening like an iron brace. All color had blanched from her face, whitening the ring around her mouth and making her pale blue eyes pop. She started to say something, cut herself off without a single word or sound as her gaze flickered to the pair of Silvers on the gravel path that hugged the contours of the buildings.

  Clasping his other hand over hers, Sean ground down on his back teeth and watched, waited for the Silvers to pass on through to wherever they were going. All the way to the farthest reception room, then they turned the corner.

  Before Sean could wonder what was around there, a burst of automatic gunfire crackled within the depths of the buildings. Delayed shock rippled along his spine like the aftermath of an earthquake. Williams.

  Just that one burst, then nothing.

  The Silvers didn’t come running back around the corner.

  No armed men flooded the courtyard or swarmed the flat-topped rooves.

  The shadows didn’t crowd near the window again, hoping for another glimpse of Williams.

  “We have to go after him,” Beth said. “Williams could be in trouble.”

  “We have to be smart about this,” Sean corrected firmly. “If he can’t get himself out of whatever he’s walked into, we’re it. All those people, your sister, are relying on us.”

  Beth’s eyes blazed with fury and fear, but she didn’t contradict him when he directed everyone down from the tree, drew them away from the wall so he could speak freely, speak quickly.

  Time weighed heavily on his shoulders.

  “They’re alive, maybe even safe for now, but that could change from one second to the next.” His gaze left Beth to anchor Jackson. “We’ve witnessed the destructive nature of the Silvers firsthand. They hold absolutely no value for human life.”

  Jackson’s features darkened. “Is this your idea of a pep talk?”

  “Shut up,” Beth snapped.

  Sean rubbed a hand over his dry mouth as he looked from one to the other. He trusted Beth with his life, but now he had to place some of that faith in Jackson. There wasn’t time for handholding. They had to split up, work their way around the perimeter, climb trees, peer over walls, gather as much intel as they could without being discovered or—in Jackson’s case—losing their shit and doing something stupid.

  An hour later, they were back and huddled in a clearing, sharing what they’d seen.

  Beth started with, “Davis’ men are everywhere.”

  “There’s a concentration in the forecourt at the main gate,” Sean said, but he had something more disconcerting to add. The place was spread out in a warren of low-lying, sprawling buildings with secluded gardens tucked in between and connected by glass passageways. “I saw Doc Nate through one of those glass tunnels. Him and two other men, they were being marched, being led somewhere, by three Silvers.”

  “Was the doc okay?” asked Jackson.

  “So far as I could see.”

  “Three Silvers?” Beth sucked in a breath. “The same ones we saw earlier?”

  Sean gave a dry laugh. “They all look identical.”

  “Yeah, you’re right,” she sighed, then cursed. “So what? We assume there’s at least three Silvers inside there, but more likely five? And the whole of SPU 14.”

  “I found another room with barred windows,” Jackson said, looking from Sean to Beth. “What does that mean?”

  “I didn’t see any others,” Beth said.

  Sean broke a twig off a nearby branch and drew in the ground, a rough outline of the perimeter wall. He marked the main gate where the road ended, the courtyard that Williams had dropped into and the barred room he knew about.

  He handed the twig to Jackson. “Where?”

  After looking at the drawing a moment, Jackson marked a corner wall directly opposite where Lynn was being held.

  Sean rocked back on his heels. “That means we have two likely cells we’ll have to rescue our people from, on opposite sides of the complex. And no viable entry point that’s not covered by Davis’ men.”

  A collective silence strained the air until Beth broke it. “I don’t understand. Why would Captain Davis work with the Silvers? Why would he do that?”

  “Maybe he didn’t have a choice,” Sean offered. He’d thought about little else while he’d been scouting. “Maybe he found himself in a situation and he struck a deal with the Silvers to keep his unit and the town safe.”

  “Some deal,” Beth snorted. “His men are armed and walking around free while the townsfolk are locked away.”

  “Yeah, there’s that.”

  “Or maybe he really doesn’t have a choice,” Jackson said. “We know they’re capable of messing with the human mind. Look what happened to Williams.”

  “I thought of that, too,” Sean admitted. “But I haven’t seen anything to indicate they’re acting like robots or being controlled.”

  “It doesn’t matter if their minds have been wiped or if they’ve struck a deal,” Beth said. “I’m not leaving my sister in the custody of Silvers and I’ll go through the entire bloody SPU 14 unit if I have to.”

  “We’re not leaving anyone in there,” Sean reassured her. “There is one problem, though. We won’t be able to extract them swift and silently. The bars caging them can’t be bent or unbolted, we’ll have to blow them out with C4 and that will bring every available soldier, and Silver, down on us.”

  “Then we’ll fight our way out.” Beth pushed to her feet, looking set to charge in right here and now.

  “You and what army?” muttered Jackson.

  She turned on him with a venomous look and bitter sarcasm. “If it’s too much of a bother to you, please, feel free to sit this one out. We’ll take care of it.”

  “No, he’s right.” Sean stood, ran a hand through his hair as he considered and reconsidered and kept coming back to the same dead end.

  He looked at Beth, dug his gaze into the steely blue antagonism locked on him. “If Williams was with us, maybe we’d stand a chance. But we’re not a SWAT team, Beth. I’m a damned white-collar worker. You’re a college kid. Sure, we can rush in there guns blazing, but that would be a suicide mission and everyone ends up dead.” He bent his head to level their locked gaze, softened his tone. “No one gets saved. Do you understand?”

  “What are you suggesting?” Her expression fisted. “That we walk away?”

  “Jesus, no,” Sean said, but she wasn’t listening.

  “That’s my sister in there.” Her eyes flashed to Jackson. “And your brother, in case you’ve forgotten.”

  “I haven’t forgotten,” Jackson said. Their stares locked, Beth’s hot and blurry, his cool and reserved. “I would give my life for Jake.” He broke the stare to look at Sean. “What’s the plan?”

  The fury simmering off Beth paused Sean, but the best way to reassure her was to set the wheels in motion.

  “We need ammo, more guns, we need more numbers to stack our odds and we need it quick.” He glanced at Beth as she sucked in a deep, audible breath. “Maybe we get lucky and Colonel Ainsley’s waiting for us back at Little Falls. Either way, we return by nightfall and do what we can, with what we’ve got. But we have to give
ourselves a better chance. The people counting on us deserve that much, at least.”

  She rubbed a hand over her eyes, pushed her fingers through her short curls and kept dragging in those deep breaths until she finally conceded with a ragged, “By nightfall.”

  It was decided. They’d return to Little Falls to load up and recruit. Jackson stayed behind to keep watch, just in case. The townsfolk had disappeared once before, they weren’t taking any chances.

  The jog down the hill took longer than the drive back to Little Falls, especially with Beth behind the wheel.

  She wasn’t happy, about the delay, about deserting her sister under Jackson’s watch, but the bare truth was impossible to dismiss. Williams’ skill and experience far exceeded theirs, and he’d failed. They had one shot at this and reckless hotheadedness would just see them all dead and no one saved.

  Sean let her stew in silence. He had his own concerns to mull over. If Colonel Ainsley came through, all good and well, but he wasn’t counting on it. They’d been waiting two days now for the south command base to send word, to send a unit, but things just kept getting worse and no one heard from them.

  He did have an alternate proposal, call it a backup plan, and he suspected Beth wouldn’t be too happy about that either.

  Cassie must have heard them coming a mile away, one of the dubious benefits of this new, uncluttered world. She stood on the stubby partition wall at the gas station, feet braced, rifle slung over her shoulder, cap drawn low to shade her eyes from the afternoon sun. Behind her, the main road fed into the town that was as ghostly quiet as they’d left it. The lack of activity in the camp across the field spoke volumes.

  Still, Beth pulled up, poked her head out the window. “Any news from Colonel Ainsley?”

  “Still waiting,” Cassie said with a shake of her head. “What about you guys? Did you find anything on the road?” Her gaze sharpened on the rear passenger window. “Where’s Williams and Jackson? God, please tell me you haven’t lost them too.”

  “We haven’t lost anyone,” Beth muttered.

  Sean leant across her to meet Cassie’s gaze. “Ritter hasn’t returned?”

  “You don’t think I would have mentioned that?”

  Beth shoved him into his own space and Cassie climbed in at the back.

  “Good,” Beth said, “you can show us the way to where you stashed the weapons and tactical vehicle. Some warehouse, right?”

  “Auto body workshop and it’s a left turn, just passed the church.” She pushed forward between the front seats. “Where the hell is Williams and Jackson and why do you need the tactical?”

  Sean shifted to face her. “Do you want the long or short version?”

  Taking matters into her own hands, Beth revved the engine and sped off.

  “Captain Davis is in cahoots with the Silvers. They’re holding the townsfolk captive at some lavish spa retreat about fifteen miles east of here. Williams went in to check it out and never came back. There was gunfire. We’re trying a more strategic approach.” She hooked a left at top speed, then pumped the brakes to stop alongside a storefront with a toothy-smiled pickup truck spray-painted on the window. “Oh, and Jackson stayed behind to make sure no one disappears into thin air again.”

  They climbed out and Cassie led the way down a narrow alley to the back of the shop. There, she yanked on a chain to raise the roll-up door. Sean sent her puzzled glances, wondering how she’d swallowed all that without choking up a hundred questions.

  Of course she hadn’t.

  “Let’s get back to that part about Captain Davis and the Silvers,” she said as she hooked the chain to keep the door rolled up.

  “It doesn’t get better in the retelling,” Beth said, walking into the cavernous workshop. “You’re confused, astounded, disgusted, horrified? Join the club.”

  Sean smiled to soften Beth’s attitude. It came out more like a grimace. “We don’t actually know more than that. The townsfolk are locked in rooms, caged with the same black metal we found at the fort.”

  “That’s why you think the Silvers are involved?”

  “We saw them,” Sean said, shaking his head. “Three Silvers that we know for sure, possibly five, maybe more. Let’s call it a round half dozen. Captain Davis and his men appear to be patrolling the place. The truth is we don’t know what’s really going on and we don’t have time to figure it out. We need to get our people out of there.”

  Her eyes creased into him, searching. “How?”

  “Anyway we can,” Beth shouted from the interior, eavesdropping without shame.

  Cassie’s searching eyes never left him. “You’re planning to attack a Silvers compound?”

  “And SPU 14, it would seem,” Sean said. “From what we observed, we’ll have to go through them, too.”

  Silence followed. The bizarre turn of events was hard to digest and Sean gave her a few moments until the rasp of canvas being drawn aside grated that silence.

  “The vehicle’s empty,” Beth yelled. “Where’s all the supplies?”

  Cassie blinked, straightened her shoulders. “There’s a door to your left leading into a storeroom. I packed everything in there.” Her attention zeroed in on Sean again. “You don’t seriously think you can take on my entire unit and however many Silvers by yourselves?”

  “Yeah, well, we’re not waiting around for your Colonel Ainsley to show up,” Beth said, emerging from the shadows to stand on the threshold.

  “There is another option,” Sean spoke up. “Clint.”

  Beth’s brows speared. “Clint?”

  “We need an army.” Sean shrugged. “You said he had one.”

  “Did I also mention he stole our jeep?” she quipped tersely. “There must be someone else willing to help us. What about Sunrise Farm?”

  “Have you met Martha?”

  “He’s right,” Cassie said. “Martha’s not big on charitable causes, and anything that doesn’t directly impact her farm is charity.”

  “The town gave her that farm and all her farmhands,” Beth muttered.

  “And she’s not going to sacrifice it to a lost cause,” Cassie said.

  Beth glared at her.

  “Don’t shoot the messenger,” Cassie retorted. “I’m just saying it the way she’ll see it. Besides, a couple of farmhands isn’t going to cut it.”

  “Fine, what about the neighboring towns?”

  “Half of them are women and children,” Sean pointed out.

  “And what am I?” demanded Beth.

  Cassie’s hand shot into the air. “Standing right here.”

  Sean just looked at them, then went on, “And the other half are shopkeepers and retired city businessmen.”

  “You said we needed numbers,” Beth said. “You said nothing about the quality and caliber.”

  “We can ask for volunteers,” Sean said, thinking of the townsfolk he’d met. Good, strong people, for the most part, like those of Little Falls. “They’ll probably even come. But we’ll be asking them to take up arms against a combat-ready army unit and half a dozen Silvers. It would be slaughter and we don’t even know if it will be enough. It may come down to that, if we have no other choice, but maybe we do.”

  He moved a step closer to Beth, tipped his head. “Clint has the kind of ruthless men we need.”

  She released a noisy sigh. “Mercenaries and bandits!”

  “Exactly,” he said smoothly. “Men who know how to handle a submachine and aren’t afraid to use it. That’s the plain truth. Clint is our best hope.”

  “He won’t help us.”

  “He’ll sell his soul for the right price,” Sean said confidently. “And we know what he wants.” He waved a hand over the rear-end of the tactical. “A working vehicle.”

  “Captain Davis will have a fit,” Cassie declared.

  Beth turned on her. “Captain Davis can kiss my ass.” Back to Sean. “You do realize he’ll just as likely take the tactical and run.”

  “I don’t think so,” Sea
n told her. “Clint has a code of honor.”

  “The kind of honor that runs amongst thieves,” she huffed.

  “We can’t afford to be fussy.” He sent Cassie a look. “Feel free to weigh in on my side any time.”

  She gave him a sugary smile. “I don’t know this guy, but he sounds like a real charmer.”

  “It makes no difference,” Beth snapped. “Clint would sooner shoot me on sight than lift a finger to help us.”

  “That’s ridiculous.”

  “No, it’s not.” The steam deflated from her irritation. “I killed one of his men, Sean.”

  Sean’s head buzzed. “Jesus, Beth, you killed a man?”

  “Hey, there.” Cassie backhanded a slap on his upper arm. “Slow down on that judgement. She probably had her reasons.”

  For the first time since he’d met Cassie, singular and frustrating as she could be, Sean lashed out in uncontrolled emotion.

  “You have no idea what Beth and I have been through together.” The angry words scraped his throat and turned his voice hoarse. “I’m not judging her, I’m concerned. She’s twenty-one years old, for God’s sake, not a seasoned soldier.”

  Between one blink and the next, Cassie’s surprise at his outburst hardened to indifference. “Cool,” she drawled.

  Sean’s gaze returned to Beth. “You should have said something, Beth, you can’t keep something that big bottled up inside. You’ll go slowly mad.”

  “We’ve been a little preoccupied.”

  “Yeah, we have, but some things you make time for.” He looked at her pale face, ragged hair growing out in choppy curls, cheeks drawn gaunt, and knew he’d been at fault, too. He should have taken better notice. Her erratic temper, her frazzled energy and dull eyes, she was fading away into herself, behind dark walls. “I’m always here, Beth, always ready to listen.”

  “I didn’t pull the trigger,” Beth explained, either missing the point or deliberately brushing him off. “Ritter did, but it was my fault, my plan to get our jeep back, and it all went wrong.”

  Not great, but better. “Things went wrong long before then. You were only taking back what was rightfully ours, what those men stole at gunpoint, don’t forget that. They started it, and you simply finished it. I wish it didn’t have to be that way, wish you weren’t exposed to all this, but don’t take too much blame upon yourself. Life and death isn’t the same black and white it used to be. Now, a vehicle, a jug of water, a bowl of food, a pack of pills, those could make the difference between living and dying.”