Arkdone had been yelling from the moment he leaped out of his Jeep having come directly from the airport—though his yelling had far less to do with being sensitive to everybody’s ability to hear than his fury over the turn of events.
“How many metamonarchs are left, Andrews?” he hissed.
“Half, sir. Our numbers were cut in two.” Michelle stared at her master with absolute obedience clearly etched in her expression.
“Half? Who did this?” He flung the papers detailing their losses directly at Michelle’s face. She leveled her gaze but knew better than to flinch.
“One of our people tripped an explosive. From the looks of the explosion and the devastation it created, I would say there were several blocks of C4 triggered when he opened what had looked like an abandoned weapons case.”
“C4, set by whom?” he seethed.
“Preliminary recon confirms it. Williams’ 17th Company has changed allegiances. They’re fortifying the Winter ranch house now.”
Arkdone narrowed his eyes leaving obsidian slits.
“Get Williams on the phone now!” He bellowed and hurled his phone at Michelle.
She reached out and snatched it from the air effortlessly. Her stoic, obedient expression hadn’t changed.
“Yes, sir.”
She manipulated the phone and had it ringing within seconds.
“Please hold for Senator Arkdone,” she spoke smoothly into the phone and stepped toward Arkdone, to pass him the device.
He snatched it from her hand and started yelling even louder.
57 Retaliation
Looking through a night vision scope, Meg swallowed hard at the carnage left in the wake of the explosive.
“How many did we get?” Valen asked for the second time.
Meg was trying to count the bodies, but was having difficulty. “I’m estimating fifteen, though it’s difficult to,” she winced at the bile threatening to rise in her throat, “identify the pieces.”
Beside her, Valen was lying on her belly carefully studying the Monarch’s new position in the east.
“Excellent.” Valen grinned into her scope.
“It looks as though their new base is pretty well established. I still haven’t seen Arkdone since he arrived. How far away is Williams?”
Though Valen quickly adjusted to having access to Meg’s psychic abilities, she wasn’t any less impressed every time she saw her eyes glass over as she zeroed in on the other players in this war.
Meg forced herself to drop her scope and take a slow, deep breath.
“Williams and his team are about twenty minutes away.” She blinked several times as she mentally backed away from the connection and added, “He just got off the phone with Arkdone. They’re both furious at the turn of events.”
58 Up, Down, Arch!
“How exactly are we going to do this?” Theo asked the cabin as he watched Margo and the others secure the parachutes on their backs.
“While I agree it’s not the ideal aircraft for a jump, it’s still doable,” Jacobi explained. “Basically we reduce airspeed to fewer than 200 knots, adjust our altitude to 4,000 feet depressurizing the cabin, open the emergency doors behind the wings and jump.”
“You make it sound so easy,” Cole frowned incredulously.
“Well, I won’t lie. It’s not a walk in the park. The forward velocity is still going to thrust them along. It’s dark as dirt out there and they’ll be landing in the middle of a battle zone. So no, not so easy.” He pursed his lips together and nodded once. “I’d better get up front. Trainer’s never piloted a craft with jumpers.”
Margo was checking each of the others’ equipment, tightening and securing where needed. Decades had passed since her last jump, but it didn’t matter. Her military training was engrained.
“We’re jumping at 4,000 feet so when you exit, start counting ‘one-one thousand, two-one-thousand, three-one thousand’—until you reach ten. Then, yank this cord to release the pilot chute—it is a small auxiliary chute. It will catch air and deploy the main canopy. Use the toggles connected to the edges of the chute to steer. Our goal is to land as close to the house as possible, while avoiding Meg’s IEDs. She already went over where those devices have been planted, just don’t get caught up in the moment and forget them.”
Creed, Farrow, Evan and Alik stood stone-faced and ready.
“Yeah, I take it back. There’s nothing easy about what you guys are about to do.” Cole shook his head, wide-eyed.
“Everyone needs to meet in the house to gear up. 17th Company will be standing by with weapons and comm.”
“We haven’t talked about what happens if something goes terribly wrong,” Sloan spoke up in front of everybody for the first time in hours. She had been trying to wrap her head around what they were about to do. Cole inched closer to the girl with steel-gray eyes and reached out to hold her shaking hand.
Sloan had never seen combat before and wanted to help, but felt useless. She and Kylie had shared a quiet discussion about their desire to help. The two had decided they would do whatever it took to travel back to the house with Cole and Maze. They agreed they may not be able to fire a weapon, but they were good at stitches and bandages. Every war needed medics.
“Even Evan can’t see what will happen tonight. We go into this with firm objectives, a solid plan and determination. We stay in communication and above all, we pray. This could be over in the next twelve hours. When the battle does begin, go into it knowing we will prevail—we will because we have to.”
The intercom overhead squawked to life. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have less than five minutes until drop zone.”
“What do you think, Evan? Any last words of advice?” Alik asked. Evan reached out and touched his brother’s shoulder, trying to get a vision of his immediate future.
He paused and closed his eyes.
“I got nothing,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m so worked up, I couldn’t predict what letter comes after X in the alphabet.”
“Y,” Alik smiled good-naturedly at his little brother.
“You boys ready?” Margo asked. Her usually warm brown eyes crackled with adrenaline.
“Yes, ma’am,” they chirped.
“I love you so much and I’m so proud of you.” She leaned in to hug each of the boys.
She continued the hugs to Creed and Farrow. “I’m so proud of each of you for your courage and strength.”
“Love you too, Mom.”
“Thank you, Dr. Winter.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“It’s time,” Jacobi’s voice came on over the intercom. “Open the back door and get to jumping.”
“Let’s do this,” Creed breathed as he reached for the emergency handle of the door and yanked it wide. The wind ripped through the cabin. Everyone instinctively gripped anything bolted down to steady themselves.
“Remember to wait three full counts before the next person jumps,” Margo yelled over the roar of the wind. The other four jumpers nodded, tears leaping into their eyes as they squinted.
Creed moved into position first, wanting to model how to exit for Alik and Evan. He crouched at the open doorway, held the frame. He moved his body up, down and then pushed out of the plane arching his back immediately stabilizing himself. He cleared the plane and resisted the urge to turn around to watch for the others.
Alik, then Evan each stepped up next and mimicked Creed’s movements exactly. Margo gave Theo one last kiss before following Farrow out of the plane.
The five skydivers hurtled through the night sky.
59 Inverted Love
On the ground Meg heard the plane well before she could find it in the ink black sky. She knew they would have to lower their altitude but still found herself cringing at the engine rumbling through the otherwise quiet night.
Knowing she couldn’t reach out to Arkdone to determine whether he was suspicious of the low-flying aircraft, she channeled her sensors toward Ermos. The simpleminded chauffer wa
s busying himself making coffee on the other side of the base tent from Arkdone. He wasn’t thinking of anything beyond measuring the coffee and bottled water just right to please his master.
Meg’s attention was torn between watching her family and feeling for an attack from their enemies. Through her night vision scope she caught sight of each canopy as they unfurled one after the other. She and Valen had moved closer to the metamonarch’s new base so they could provide cover. Valen’s sniper rifle looked for movement from the camp indicating that they spotted the plane and its jumpers.
“Anything?” Meg asked.
“I was about to ask you the same thing.” Valen said without taking her eye off the scope of her rifle.
“Five chutes just opened,” Meg offered.
“So far so—”
Pop, pop, pop!
“Shit,” Meg frantically looked for the source of the gunfire. More concerned about the safety of her family than herself, Meg leaped from her hidden spot, yanked her weapon eye-level and threw her sensors out. She felt the shooter immediately.
“North side of the tent,” she hissed, flipping the safety off her rifle. She exhaled and squeezed the trigger. Her aim was surgical. The Monarch spun, his shoulder hit.
“There are more,” Meg warned as she crouched back down behind a rocky ridge and aimed.
Semiautomatic gunfire echoed off the terrain.
“They’re gunning for us, now,” Valen grunted.
Meg risked dividing her focus between returning fire and feeling for her family as they continued their descent.
A bullet whizzed past Meg’s ear just as she felt Creed cry out. She looked up through her scope and saw a corner of his chute flapping free of its cord. He was falling fast.
Instinctively, Meg bolted. “Cover me!” she yelled over her shoulder as she sprinted toward Creed’s likely point of impact. She felt him struggling to regain control over his chute. More gunfire burst from both the Monarchs and Valen.
“Winter, Valen. We’re at your five o’clock,” Rhett’s voice came in clear through her earpiece. “You two secure the jumpers. We’ll draw fire.”
“Copy that,” Valen responded immediately. The moment she heard gunfire coming from behind her, she began running after Meg.
“Please be okay. Please be okay,” Meg chanted under her breath..
She was close enough to imagine she would feel the thump of his impact into the ground, and with every frantic step, she grimaced in anticipation. But it never came. Instead, there was a loud crash. She rounded a grove just in time to catch sight of him. Creed had intentionally aimed his chute into a grove of wild trees. She saw him careening into the branches. His fall finally stopping abruptly as his chute tangled in the limbs. For a breathtaking moment, Creed hung upside down, swinging like a huge rag doll, thwacking repeatedly against the thick trunk of the oak tree.
Meg never stopped running. She bounded onto a boulder near the base of the tree and leaped to the first branch. In one fluid motion she swung herself up into a crouched position and clambered the rest of the way until she was face to face with Creed. At first glance she noted several deep scratches and a pretty thick goose egg on the back of his head, but that’s not what had Meg reaching up with panic. He was out cold.
“Creed!” she yelled over the staccato gunfire.
“Do you need help?” Valen called from below.
“Go check the others,” she managed. Into her throat mic she added, “Rhett, four of my family have landed safely. Creed wasn’t so lucky. The others need an escort back to the house.”
“Creed’s sitrep?” Rhett asked over a barrage of gunfire.
“Stand by.”
Meg yelled, “Creed! Wake up! We have to get you out of here!”
He didn’t respond.
Meg reached up and rubbed her knuckles hard into his breastbone.
Nothing.
She tried flicking his face. As much as it pained her to hurt him, she had to rouse him one way or another. Only it didn’t work.
Her heart was bruising itself as it bashed against the inside of her rib cage in panic.
“Please Creed!” she screamed into his motionless face.
Nothing.
Knowing what she would have to do, she yanked her hunting knife from its sheath and started sawing the harness straps. She knew she wouldn’t be able to catch him once she cut the last strap and even if she could catch him and flip him upright, there was no way she could carry his weight while standing fifteen feet above the ground on a branch—but she was running out of options.
She spoke into her mic, “Rhett, I need help evacuating Creed. His chute was damaged and he landed in a tree.”
Gunfire burst just on the other side of the ridge.
Rhett wasn’t responding.
“We’re so close, baby. Please.” Meg hesitated before cutting the last strap. Instead, she leaned in and gently kissed his purpling lips. Her breath caught in her throat when she felt him move to kiss her back.
Gasping, she pulled away from Creed to see for herself. And there he was, glistening blue eyes alight against his red face, grinning adorably at her surprise.
“I missed you so much, Meggie.”
Meg couldn’t help it, she blushed and smiled widely. Her hands still held his face. “Oh, wow. I missed you, too Creed.”
“Wait,” he frowned and looked around them in a daze. “Am I dreaming?” he asked.
Meg had to stifle a giggle, “No, you’re upside down in a tree and we’re about to take gunfire. Can you help me get you down?”
Creed looked around and blinked. “I think so,” he said, the smile already returned to his handsome face.
“Stop smiling and cut yourself down!” Meg ordered and hurriedly handed him her knife. “Only you would find something to smile about at a time like this,” she teased, unable to wipe the smirk off her face.
Creed easily pulled himself up to slice the last cord gripping his leg. At his last cut, he held onto the branch and let his legs drop smoothly to stand beside Meg.
She threw her arms around him, overwhelmed with thankfulness for their fragile moment suspended in the air during a gunfight.
Creed hugged her back, burying his face into the beautiful scent of her hair, just as he’d always done.
“We have to go, Meggie,” Creed hated to break the moment, but as the blood rushed back into place, his grip on their dangerous reality made his heart race. “It’s not safe here.”
“You’re right.” Meg nodded and hurriedly began scampering down the trunk of the tree.
“Squirrel,” Creed whispered down to her.
Creed’s descent was much more catlike as he landed crouched behind her, using his body to shield her against any further gunfire.
“If we weren’t about to be killed, I’d tackle you to the ground and smother you with kisses,” Creed whispered into her ear over her shoulder. His hand slipped around her waist and pulled her into a crouching position.
“Not if I tackled you first.” Meg resisted the urge to make good on her threat.
They began running crouched toward the bright lights of the ranch house.
“Gotta warn Rhett,” Meg said over her shoulder before talking into her throat mic. “Rhett? Are you there?”
“Rhett here. Sitrep?”
“Solid. How’s my family?”
“Secure and getting geared up at the house. They’re waiting for you.”
“I have Creed and we’re headed there now. Haven’t heard gunfire in five minutes.”
“Bad guys sustained heavy gunfire but did not pursue. Their numbers are too low, and they know it.”
“Not for long. Williams has just arrived on the scene with his Company. I sense they’re regrouping. We won’t have a long reprieve.”
“Copy that. By the way, we left the front door unlocked for you.”
“Thanks. See you in three, Meg out.”
“Rhett Hays?” Creed asked softly.
“The lea
der of 17th Company.”
“I remember him. Good kid.”
“He remembers you, too.”
They picked up their pace and, true to her word, let themselves into the house through the front door three minutes later.
60 Reunion
Meg was tackled the moment she stepped over the threshold.
“Meggie!” Her mother threw herself at her daughter wrapping her arms around her neck, resisting the urge to sob in relief at seeing her little girl whole and healthy.
Meg had no qualms about bursting into tears in front of a roomful of strangers. This was her mom and just seeing the unconditional love in her vibrant, warm eyes had Meg quivering with joy.
The metasoldiers of 17th Company hung back respectfully but watched the reunion with rapt attention. They’d never seen affection like this displayed in person before and were in awe of the moving scene.
“Mom! I missed you so much!” Meg gushed. Her strong arms wrapped around her mother’s back—a child’s embrace.
The family held back for just those precious few moments before rushing in for hugs of their own.
Impatient, Evan pushed his way through first. “Meggie, I’m so sorry I put you in harm’s way. Everything you went through, it was all my fault. I’ll never forgive myself for—”
“I’m fine, Evan. Don’t you dare blame yourself for anything!” She pulled back to look up into her little brother’s worried honey eyes. “We’ve done what we had to do to survive. Tonight we’ll finish this—as a family.” She reached out with one arm to hug him then yanked Alik close, too.
“Wow, I missed you guys.” She pulled the boys closer to her and smiled widely.
“Your memory—it’s completely restored?” Farrow asked from around Alik.
Meg glanced back over her shoulder at Creed, who stood protectively near, but not too near. She blushed at the intensity in his eyes.
Winter's Legacy: Future Days (Winter's Saga Book 6) Page 24
