Max, unlike his older brother, had served in the armed forces and had once been a captain in Argentina’s elite Special Operations Forces Group before leaving the military to work for his family. Over the past few years, Max had killed dozens of men, mostly in cold blood. Anyone who got too close to his brother and any other member of the Aurora Group was fair game, as far as he was concerned.
It didn’t take long in the pouring rain for Max’s clothes to become thoroughly drenched. Through his NVGs, he could see Carter’s breath hanging like a mist in the cold night air. A hardened assassin, Max ignored the minor discomfort, knowing his family’s future was in his hands.
“Damn, I hope we’re not too late,” said Elena, pointing at the two trucks parked just off the narrow road.
Grant immediately turned off his car’s headlights, slowed down, and parked his vehicle. “Wait here,” he said to his passengers, as he picked up his MP7 submachine gun, flipped off the safety, and opened his door. With his weapon at the ready, Grant crept toward the two vehicles. In the rain, he doubted he would hear anyone moving around in the dark until he was standing right next to them. Grant took a quick look inside each truck and saw they were empty. His gut told him the vehicles belonged to the opposition, so he dug out a knife from his jacket and dashed from truck to truck, slashing their front tires. With a loud hiss, the tires rapidly deflated until the metal rims were almost on the ground.
Grant placed his knife away, and walked back to his car. He gently tapped on the window and waved for Elena and Nadia to join him.
“What did you do?” Elena asked, looking over at the trucks.
“I made sure that our friends, should they decide to come back suddenly, won’t be going anywhere fast,” replied Grant.
“Which way is it to the man’s house?” asked Nadia.
“It’s just up the road a ways, and then a couple of hundred meters through the woods.”
Nadia started to walk down the road.
“Whoa, hold on just a minute,” said Grant, grabbing her shoulder.
She stopped and faced Grant.
“Nadia, we can’t just go walking blindly into an ambush. There are men like me out here, undoubtedly trying to get their hands on your craft or the general. We need to work together. I don’t care how advanced your pistol is, the men we are going up against are cold-blooded killers. They won’t hesitate to kill all of us to get what they want.”
“I’m highly trained in all forms of combat,” replied Nadia. “I can handle myself, should they open fire on us.”
“That’s nice. You can fool yourself all you want about being well-trained and ready for a fight, but all that misplaced bravado goes out the window the instant you realize someone’s trying to kill you. If you think you’re good enough to proceed on your own, please don’t let me stop you. Elena and I will hold back a few paces and use your body as a shield against the hail of incoming bullets.”
“Please don’t run off and get yourself killed,” said Elena.
Nadia shook her head. “Okay, soldier, what are you proposing?”
Grant smiled at Elena. “Did you remember to bring your Taser with you?”
“Yes,” she replied, showing the handheld device to Grant.
“Surprise is one of the principles of war, so here’s what we’re going to do.”
Carter’s hand went straight up beside his head.
Everyone behind him saw the signal, stopped, and silently dropped to one knee.
“What is it?” whispered Max into his colleague’s ear.
“About thirty meters ahead, there’s someone digging in the ground outside a rundown cabin,” explained Carter.
Max moved around his comrade, and peered down the trail. Through his goggles, he could see a light-green shape furiously tearing at the ground with his bare hands. With his back to them, the man wouldn’t see them until it was too late to do anything about it.
“Follow me, and remember…no shooting!” stressed Max to his team. With his weapon tight against his shoulder, Max walked straight toward his unsuspecting prey. He couldn’t believe his stroke of good luck. For once, everything was falling into place. When he was less than ten meters away, he stopped. His men fanned out around him, with all of their weapons aimed at the old man’s back.
“Hey, you!” cried out Max. “Stop what you’re doing, stand up with your hands in the air, and then turn around nice and slowly.”
Sparks’ shoulders drooped. He shook his head, rolled over, and turned to face Max. The old man wiped his mud-caked hands on his coveralls and sat there on the ground, mumbling to himself.
“Hey, Grandpa, I told you to stand up,” said Max, lifting his NVGs up.
“Give me a minute,” said Sparks. “I’m old, and need a minute to catch my breath.”
“Get him on his feet,” said Max to Raoul.
The mercenary stepped forward and grabbed Sparks with his left hand. When he went to pull him to his feet, his hand slid off Sparks’ arm. It was as if the man weighed several hundred kilos. Raoul slung his carbine over his back, grabbed hold of Sparks’ arm with both of his hands, and pulled as hard as he could. He leaned back and let out a deep grunt. Instead of moving, Sparks remained sitting there with a blank look on his face.
“Step aside, Raoul,” ordered Max. “Okay, mister, I don’t know who or what you are, but the order still stands. On your feet, now!”
Sparks smiled at Max and did what he was told. “Would you mind if I had a bite of my plug tobacco? I keep some in my pocket.”
“Yes, I bloody well do mind. Keep your hands where I can see them.”
Sparks shrugged and wiped the rain from his wrinkled face with the sleeve of his shirt. “So what do you boys want with me?”
“Let’s drop the façade, shall we, mister? I know you’re from another planet. I also know your ship must have been damaged when it crashed, that’s why it eventually self-destructed and took most of the water in the lake with it. What I want you to do is show me where that second craft is located.”
Sparks smiled and let out a mirthful chuckle. “My what? Have you boys been drinking too much of the local hooch?”
“Don’t screw with me, old man. You know precisely what I’m talking about. A few hours ago, my men and I saw another ship fly in this direction. Start talking, or I’ll have my associates convince you to tell me what I want to know.”
“You can try. But that would be an awfully dumb move on your behalf.”
Max snapped his fingers. “Dan, teach this old fool some manners.”
“With pleasure,” replied the mercenary. He slung his weapon and drew a long knife from a sheath hidden behind his back. The blade shimmered in the flashes of lightning tearing across the night sky.
“I’d think long and hard before trying to stick me with your knife, son,” said Sparks to Dan.
All of a sudden, Elena staggered out of the woods and stopped next to Max. She placed a hand on his shoulder, as she fought to catch her breath.
Max turned and looked at her. “Ms. Leon, what a surprise to see you. What on earth are you doing out here at this hour?”
“This,” she replied, jamming her Taser into his ribs and turning it on. In the blink of an eye, 1200 volts of electricity shot through Max’s body. He let out a pained moan and dropped to his knees, writhing in agony.
“Don’t anybody move!” warned Grant, as he burst from his hiding spot in the woods and jammed the barrel of his MP7 into the side of Dan’s skull.
Both Carter and Raoul stood their ground and swung their weapons toward Grant. Like a creature coming out of the pits of hell, Nadia stood up between the two killers. She was covered from head to toe in mud. With lightning-fast reflexes, she lashed out at both men, sending them flying back onto the muddy ground.
“Drop the knife, or I’ll blast your brains all over the ground,” growled Grant.
Dan knew when he was beaten and tossed the blade away.
“Good boy,” said Grant as he grabbe
d the merc by the collar and thrust him over to where Max was kneeling on the ground, trying to catch his breath.
Elena ran from man to man and picked up their dropped carbines. When she had them all, she walked to the edge of the woods and tossed them as far as away as she could.
“Thanks for coming to my aid,” said Sparks. “These boys have to be on drugs or something. They said they were gonna carve me up.”
Grant spun around and aimed his submachine gun at the old man. “Last time we were alone together, you knocked me out cold. No more games, Sparks. Step aside. I want to know why you were digging in the mud.”
Before Sparks could move, Nadia screamed at the top of her lungs and charged at the old man. Her eyes were aglow, her face distorted with hate and anger.
Sparks saw her coming, and jumped to a fighting stance. In the instant before they collided, both combatants changed their shapes and became who they truly were. Their human camouflage vanished. Instead, their lizard-like bodies were revealed. Both aliens were at least a head taller than Grant, and had scaly faces with golden-colored eyes. Their bodies were covered from their feet to their necks in form-fitting, segmented body armor.
Grant jumped aside as Nadia plowed straight into the general, sending them both tumbling to the ground. He staggered back. His mind couldn’t comprehend what he was seeing.
Nadia and the general hissed and bit at each other’s faces. She may have had youth and anger on her side, but the older alien was more experienced and a far better fighter than she could ever hope to be. He brought up his right leg and thrust it into Nadia’s stomach, flipping her right off him.
Grant saw Nadia hit the ground and brought his weapon up to fire. He was fast, but not as fast as his opponent. The general reached out, grabbed Grant’s MP7 by the barrel, and yanked it right out of his arms.
“Look out!” screamed Elena.
Grant never saw the clenched fist coming out of the dark. The next thing he knew, his head shot over to the left. The coppery taste of blood filled his mouth as his legs buckled underneath his body. Grant fell on his back in the muddy field. Out of the corner of his eye, Grant watched as the general drew his pistol and fired it. A bright-orange flash filled his eyes. When the light faded, one of the mercenaries was gone, and the alien was nowhere in sight. A split second later, the three surviving killers jumped to their feet and ran for their lives.
Elena ran to Grant’s side and placed her hands on either side of his pounding head. “David, are you all right?”
He slowly sat up, leaned to one side and spat out a mouthful of blood. “What happened?”
“The male alien killed the man who had the knife in his hand, and then ran off,” explained Elena.
Grant moved his aching around. “Where’s Nadia?”
A darkened shape sat up, wobbled, and waved. “You’re right, I guess I’m not as good a fighter as I thought I was.”
With his teeth clenched. Grant struggled to stand. Even in the dark, he could see Nadia’s alien facial features. She had a small snout on her face with two small slits for her nostrils on the top of it.
“So, is this the real you?”
“Yes,” she replied.
Grant blinked. “How did you do that? I didn’t see your lips move.”
“I told you, I can read your mind. I’m using telepathy to talk with you.”
Elena clapped her hands together and let out a small whoop of joy.She had forgotten the horrors of a few seconds ago, and was happily lost in the moment. Her life’s work had come to fruition. Smiling from ear to ear, Elena reached up and wiped the tears from her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m just a little overwhelmed right now.”
“Why didn’t the general kill us all when he had the chance?” asked Grant. “You and I were both down, and the mercenaries were unarmed.”
“He’s in a lot of pain,” she replied.
“He didn’t look hurt to me.”
“He’s strong; I’ll give him that. However, before he escaped to come here, there was a firefight in the laboratory. I thought I had wounded him, but it wasn’t until I saw the scar on the left side of his face that I was sure. Also, he could have suffered internal injuries when he ejected from his doomed ship.”
“Perhaps we can use this information to our advantage when the time comes.”
“I can assure you the only thing on General Nagan’s mind right now is escape.”
“Your ship, where is it?”
“My ship isn’t very large. I was able to land it inside an old abandoned mine.”
Grant ran a hand across his throbbing jaw. “Is it invisible to the naked eye?”
She nodded. “Yes, it’s shielded from view.”
“Do you think the general will be able to find it?”
“Given time…yes.”
“Guys, what’s this?” said Elena, pointing at the hole the general had dug in the ground.
Grant dug out his flashlight, turned it on, and shone the light around inside the hole. A small metal box, with its lid missing, sat nestled in the dirt. Inside were several slender, colored vials.
“It looks like he took a handful of DNA weapons with him when he left,” said Nadia.
“Okay, that’s not good,” said Grant. “We’ve got to go after him. But before we do, Nadia, I want you to destroy what’s left in that box.”
“Gladly,” she replied, as she brought up her phase pistol and pulled the trigger. The box glowed brightly for a second, before disappearing completely.
“Let’s head back to the car and make our way to the mine before the general or any those fanatical mercenaries get there.”
With that, Grant took Elena by the hand. With Nadia in the lead, they ran as fast as their legs could carry them through the darkened woods. The race was on, and it was one Grant did not intend to lose.
Chapter 38
“There…over there, that looks like a cabin to me,” said Hayes, gesturing with his hand at a darkened building just off the dirt road.
“That it does,” replied Maclean, as he applied the brakes. With a loud squeal, the vehicle came to a halt. Maclean picked up his MP7, opened the front door, and stepped outside. In the dark, he could just make out a handful of dwellings and a couple of large barns. Maclean switched on his flashlight and shone it all around to make sure the area was safe.
The rain had begun to slow, and was now only a gentle drizzle.
“Come on, Doc, we’ve got work to do,” said Maclean.
Hayes did up his jacket and joined his colleague on the muddy field. He whispered, “Do you think the creatures will have gotten this far south by now?”
“Probably. Also, there’s no point in whispering. If they were here, they’d have been on us before we got ten paces from the bus.”
“Which house should we knock on?”
Maclean shone his light on a large cabin in the middle of the farm. “Ten-to-one, that’s where we’ll find Mister Munroe.”
At the front door, Maclean balled up his fist and smashed it against the wooden door a couple of times before calling out, “Mister Munroe, are you in there?”
No one answered.
“Perhaps no one’s home?” said Hayes.
“Nah, the old bugger’s probably just fast asleep,” said Maclean, again banging his fist hard on the door.
A light switched on inside the cabin. “Whoever you are, you can stop doing that,” bellowed an angry-sounding man’s voice.
The door swung open, and light flooded out onto the porch. A man with long, unkempt white hair and a full beard stood there in his plaid pajama bottoms with a faded and stretched old blue T-shirt. His bloodshot eyes fixed on the two unwelcome guests. “Who the hell are you, and why are you banging my door at this ungodly hour of the morning?”
“Very sorry to disturb you, sir. My name is Sergeant James Maclean, and this is Doctor Jeremy Hayes,” said the Aussie. “Sheriff Black sent us here to evacuate you and your family back into town.”
; Munroe belched and scratched his backside. “I don’t understand. Why would we leave our homes in the middle of the night and head into town?”
“Sir, let me explain,” said Hayes. “There’s an usually large grizzly bear on the prowl. The beast has already killed several farm animals, and is reported to be infected with rabies. It was last seen heading in the direction of your farm.”
Munroe looked from Maclean to Hayes, and then back to Maclean. “You didn’t have to drive all the way out here to tell me that. Why didn’t you just call me on the telephone?”
“Sir, I know this may all look a little bit odd, but I can assure you that we’re on the level. If you were to try your phone, you would find that it does not work. In fact, absolutely no forms of communication are working right now. That’s why Sheriff Black insisted that we drive up here and evacuate your family before anything horrible happens.”
“We’ve got a school bus waiting to drive you all to safety,” said Maclean, pointing over his shoulder at the yellow-painted vehicle. “All you have to do is wake your family up and get them on board. Please do as we ask. I’ve seen this bear. It’s huge, and it’s not going to stop until the State Troopers get here and bring it down.”
“What’s all the fuss about, Harold?” said an older woman, dressed in a pink housecoat with short, silvery hair.
“Trudy, these men want us to pack up the family and head into town,” replied Munroe.
Mrs. Munroe looked up at the two strangers. “Why, is something wrong?”
Mere seconds after Hayes described the threat, the old couple helped Maclean and Hayes and ran from cabin to cabin, banging on doors and yelling for everyone to get up. People rushed to grab what they could before running to the idling bus. At the last home, they ran into trouble.
A woman in her forties grabbed Trudy by the hand and started crying.
“What’s the matter?” asked Maclean.
“It’s her two boys,” replied Trudy. “They went camping down by the river a day ago, and aren’t due back until sometime after noon today.”
Fallen Star (Project Gauntlet Book 1) Page 19
