“We’re Echoes,” she said. “I swear.”
“Let’s see if you’re telling the truth,” the Warden said. His weapon fired, and the woman cried out.
Dani assumed the Warden had shot the brother, since the woman continued to sob. She glanced back at the tree, still waiting for her attempted leap. With a curse, she pulled her body back into the house. She soundlessly moved through the third level of the house and tiptoed down the stairs. She planned to continue down and slip out while the Warden was busy with the other woman.
Sneaking past the Warden wasn’t going to be possible. He stood between Dani and her exit, but at least his back was turned toward her. A bluish light glowed from the body of the man on the floor in the hall. His sister knelt beside him. Dani picked up a length of wood from the broken stair railing, considering her options.
“He’s an Echo, and a young regen at that. He’ll make a fine reconditioning candidate. What about you?” The Warden aimed his weapon at the woman.
She glanced past him to Dani, who was now approaching him from behind, and the Warden turned.
Dani swung the piece of half-rotted wood, splintering it across the side of the Warden’s head. He stumbled back, and she smashed what was left of the rail across his wrist, dislodging the plasma pistol. She hit him in the head again on the upswing. The Warden crumpled to the floor.
Dani groaned and cradled her burned, throbbing hand as she released the piece of wood.
“Thank you! Thank you,” the woman said, sobbing with relief. She remained kneeling by her unconscious brother, now a boy no older than fifteen in oversized clothing.
Dani tried to ignore the pain in her hand. She reached for the Warden’s plasma pistol and left her hand suspended an inch above it. Jace’s words about her dying with a pistol in her hand made her stop. She pushed the weapon along the floor to the woman. “Take that,” she said, already pawing through the Warden’s gear. She noticed the name on his uniform.
Blood matted his dark hair from her first strike and swelling formed on his cheek from her second swing. Dani stole his knife, food, and water before taking the communication device from his jacket. She considered killing him. She and every other Brigand would be safer with one less Warden. But she wasn’t a murderer.
The woman picked up the weapon and stared at it. “I don’t know how to use this thing.”
“It’s not for you to shoot. Use it to trade with an MP in exchange for safe passage through their lines. Here.” Dani shoved the food and water into the woman’s pockets.
The boy’s body shivered, a common result after an Echo reset to a younger age. Dani removed her jacket and wrapped him in it. She pulled his upper body upright, and his eyes fluttered open.
“Take him and go. Your other brother is likely still alive if he’s with the MPs. It’s the best you’re going to get out of this shitty day.”
The woman nodded.
Dani shifted to leave, and the woman grabbed her arm. “What’s your name?”
“Dani.”
“Thank you, Dani. I’m Rebecca. We won’t forget this.”
If I die, I will, Dani thought, but all she said was, “Good luck.” She stood and, raising her voice, said, “Any other Brigands in this house, leave now while the Warden is out. When he wakes up, he’s gonna be pissed.”
She was amazed by the volume of scuffling sounds. Three Brigands scurried down the stairs from the third level and two more crawled from beneath floorboards on the second level to leave the house. The woman lifted her young brother to his feet, and Dani led the way out. Once outside, they parted ways. The woman’s chances of getting her barely walking brother out of C Block safely were slim, but with that plasma gun, they at least had a chance.
Before leaving the house, Dani threw the Warden’s comm into the tree she’d almost jumped into just a few minutes earlier. It bounced among the branches a few times before becoming lodged in a thick batch of leaves high in the tree. As she was fastening the Warden’s knife to her belt, a quake grenade exploded, leveling half of the larger, abandoned houses up the street. Dani sprinted away from the destruction and toward the raid.
CHAPTER
7
MPs emerged from the ground level of a building to join other officers in the street. A few MPs herded their captured Brigands away while the rest gathered to talk. Dani crouched behind a dilapidated, rusted car frame on its side in the street. She was out of breath and wished she’d taken a drink of the Warden’s water before giving it to Rebecca. She peeked around the edge of the car, and her chest tightened when she recognized Miles.
He spoke briefly with two other officers, gesturing sharply; then, with a quick nod, he broke away from the officers and began barking orders to the MPs who had just returned from loading their prisoners into transport trucks. The MPs started dragging objects from around the block to form makeshift barriers.
Dani groaned with frustration. Instead of fleeing C Block, the MPs were going to fight the Wardens, despite not even knowing how many they had to battle. They would die trying to hold the block.
Miles and his officers headed back into the building. Fighting from inside a building when the Wardens carried quake grenades was suicide.
Idiots!
Her head turned at the sound of a quake rifle’s high-pitched whine. As she lunged for the other side of the car, the blast struck the car. She scrambled to escape the wreck as it tipped over, threatening to crush her. She got her body clear of the wreckage, but a piece of the car’s frame snagged her pack on the way down, jerking her to the ground with it. Pain shot through her shoulder when she fell, but she was still alive.
She maneuvered her way out of the pack and knelt beside the car, simultaneously working to free the pack and looking for a place to run to. She quickly realized, however, that the sprint to reach any cover better than the car was too far and too open. She was fast, but she couldn’t outrun a quake rifle. The Warden who had just shot the car would shoot her in the back as she fled.
She considered running to the MPs—a few of whom had just materialized back outside the building at the sound of the gunfire—and hope they’d protect her and that she could also later escape them.
That was a lot of hoping.
“Shit.” Dani was right between the MPs and the Warden. At least the MPs were too busy worrying about the Warden to have even noticed her yet.
They opened fire on the Warden, who shot back at them. Dani left the car and her pack. The quake rifle obliterated one of the makeshift barriers the MPs had set up with one blast, sending debris into the air. Dani used her arms to shield her head as the debris scattered, but she didn’t slow. Her arm and cheek stung as pieces of shrapnel bit into her skin. She ignored the pain and turned her body to lead with her shoulder. She leapt and crashed through a partially broken window on the ground floor of the same building she’d seen Miles disappear into.
Dani rolled and pressed her back against a wall. Her chest heaved as she pulled in deep gasps of air. She’d thought Miles was stupid for entering the building, and now she was inside it too. But given the circumstances, this was her best choice. Any sane MP would ignore her presence right now, since she wasn’t a threat. A much bigger threat was busy blowing holes in the MPs who were making their stand in the street.
Plasma pistols fired from a few floors above Dani. She crawled back to the window and poked her head up. Just as she located the Warden on the street, MPs fired down on him from somewhere above, killing him.
Dani eased her head out the window, looking up now, and recognized Miles leaning out from the third story. Smart man to take the high ground, but don’t stay there.
The remaining officers in the street cheered the small victory, but Miles ended their celebration with more orders. “Strip him and reinforce your bunkers,” he shouted down. “More Wardens are coming.”
The street MPs left their positions, and five of them rushed to the car that had almost crushed Dani. They lifted the rusted frame and c
arried it back to use as cover. Another pair of MPs took the gear from the Warden, marveling at the quake rifle and body armor.
Look who’s scavenging now. Fucking hypocrites.
The Warden’s body turned blue, and one of the MPs shot him in the head with his own plasma pistol, ending his life forever. They left an almost-naked Warden lying in the street after stripping the corpse of the rest of his gear.
A movement across the street caught Dani’s eye. It took her a moment to identify it. A Warden moved along the roof of a church, carrying what looked like a thick pipe.
Dani’s eyes widened. “Miles!”
He didn’t hear her, and he was still barking orders. The street MPs turned at her shout, but she was more concerned for Miles. He was right in line with the Warden who was preparing to launch a quake grenade.
She prepared to shout for him again, but a strong forearm slipped around her neck from behind, cutting off her air. The MP dragged her away from the window and threw her to the ground.
She landed hard, but she immediately rolled to a crouched position and put up a hand.
“Stop! There’s a Warden on the roof of the church across the street with quake grenades.”
“Liar,” the MP said. He reached for I-cuff on his duty belt.
Dani read the name on his shirt. “Mitchell, I’m not lying. Miles and the others will take a direct hit if they’re not warned.”
Mitchell stared at her. “How do you know Miles?”
“Uh.” She couldn’t truthfully answer the question without jeopardizing Miles. “He’s almost caught me before.” His last name was on his uniform, not his first name. Any moron would spot her lie, and Mitchell was at least at moron level.
“Brigand vermin,” he said as he approached with the I-cuff.
She rushed him, driving her knee into his groin. He collapsed with pain, and Dani returned to the window. Several hands grabbed her and dragged her out through the window and into the street.
“Miles!”
Finally, his head turned at the sound of her voice. He stared down at her. “Shit.”
Dani pointed. “Church. Incoming!”
Miles’s gaze turned to the church. “Take cover!”
He and his troops fled the corner of the level they occupied. The quake grenade struck the side of the building seconds later, tearing a massive hole in the structure and raining chunks of concrete, glass, and beams down into the street. The MPs dropped Dani and fled. She scrambled to her feet and dove back through the window.
As soon as she landed, she curled into a ball and covered her head with her hands. Deadly debris crashed to the street, and the building shuddered with the impact of the grenade. A choking dust billowed from the street in through the window, forcing her to flee the area.
She crawled until she reached a place where she could breathe better. Coughing against the dust, she tried to wipe it from her face and eyes.
The ringing in her ears obscured Mitchell’s return. He grabbed her arm, and she twisted it free of his grasp. He sank to his knees. Blood poured down the side of his face. More blood spilled from his abdomen, where a piece of metal had impaled him.
“Help me,” he said weakly, gasping for air.
She wanted to spit a retort back at him for asking Brigand vermin for aid, but instead, she knelt beside him. “Sit still,” she said calmly. “Rest.”
He kept his eyes fixed on her and nodded. His breathing grew more ragged until his breaths stopped altogether. Even after he was gone, his dead eyes stared her.
She’d seen men die before. The war had killed this man, and it would kill her too. She found his flask and drank the last of the water in it. He had a newer-model plasma pistol in his holster. She eyed the weapon for a moment before taking it and his tranq pistol. She intended to tranquilize any MPs or Wardens that got too close. She didn’t know what to do with the plasma pistol yet.
The Warden named Rowan had mentioned reconditioning the Brigand Echo. She didn’t know what that meant but was certain she wanted nothing to do with it. The plasma pistol was a last resort, possibly to use on herself if cornered. Maybe that’s what Jace meant by her dying of friendly fire. Jace’s old revolver, if she had it, would only put a hole through her skull. She could heal and be a ten-year-old kid again. A plasma pistol would take her head clean off, and an Echo couldn’t come back from that.
Deciding that she would worry later about what to do if she were cornered, she resumed moving through the ground level of the structure. Shots were fired from an upper level somewhere, and no additional quake grenades hit the building. The MPs must have killed the Warden on the church roof. Only twenty-eight more to go.
Dani found an actual hole in the wall and crawled into it to hide, rest, and think. She heard Miles’s voice and wanted to go to him, but she forced herself to remain hidden. From her location, she could tranquilize anyone who ventured too close to her position. She peered through a tiny crack in the wall and waited. As soon as she had a clear path, she planned to make a dash to leave the structure, avoiding the part of the street from which the sounds of MP weapons were now erupting again.
CHAPTER
8
The fighting moved from the streets into the building, and Dani remained undiscovered inside the wall. A pair of MPs cowered near her location.
“Where’s our backup?” the male MP asked.
“Rani’s platoon is pinned and can’t get to us,” the female MP said. “Half of Kipp’s crew was flattened in the street. We’re on our own.”
“Jesus.”
“Pray if you want. I’m fighting until I can’t.”
Several blasts from a quake rifle shook parts of the building from the interior as the battle intensified. For now, Dani was hidden and away from the worst of the battle. She planned to remain where she was until it was safe to leave—except Miles was somewhere out there, still fighting … and losing. Could she really leave him to die?
The woman grunted as she stood. “We need to get closer, see if we can flank the Wardens inside the ground floor.”
Miles’s voice came over their comm, and Dani was startled to hear his voice so close by.
“This is Jackman. We’re pinned by at least three Wardens, one is acting as a sniper. Four of us left, one is wounded.”
While he spoke, multiple shots from plasma pistols and quake rifles sounded over the comm, making it difficult to hear him. Dani shifted and pressed her head closer to the wall separating her from the MPs.
The woman spoke. “Location, sir?”
“Coulson! Northwest quadrant. Part of the upper floor is collapsed. We have cover, but it won’t last once the sniper finishes blasting everything apart with the quake rifle.”
“We’re on our way,” Coulson said.
“How many with you?” Miles asked.
“One. I’m with James.”
“Aeryn?”
“Killed by the quake grenade from the church.”
“Mitchell?”
“Missing, sir.”
“Hurry, Coulson.”
“We’re on our way, sir,” she said.
Dani listened until the sound of their boots diminished to faint thuds, then unfolded her legs and emerged from her hole. She spotted the two MPs climbing over rubble as they moved toward the fiercest fighting. Dani followed at a distance, constantly turning and scanning behind her to confirm she wasn’t being followed. The increasing noise of weapon fire as they neared the fighting hid any sound Dani might be making.
As she picked her way through the debris, there was a break in the cacophony of shots fired for a few seconds. The noise of something behind her collapsing halted her steps. The fighting resumed, and she scurried into an opening between chunks of concrete and metal. A few minutes passed. She held her breath as a pair of Wardens marched past.
Coulson and James would be dead before they saw their attackers. Worst of all, two more Wardens would join the fight against Miles, assuming he was still alive. Three uninjur
ed but pinned MPs couldn’t survive long against five Wardens.
Dani slid out from between the concrete blocks. She crept around the larger piles of rubble to move parallel to where she suspected the Wardens were walking. The firefight continued to hide any noise she made, and she was careful to avoid venturing into their peripheral vision and being discovered.
As she passed another pile of rubble, she spotted the Wardens—still stalking Coulson and James. She pulled the tranq pistol from her belt. The weapon’s hiss as it fired wouldn’t give her position away like the plasma pistol would.
She changed her path to circle around to her right, making frequent glances down to make sure she didn’t trip on anything. After stepping over a dead Brigand, she decided to stop and take aim. The Wardens raised their weapons to fire on Coulson and James, but Dani squeezed her trigger first.
The first Warden gave a shout of surprise before collapsing. The remaining Warden fired his rifle nowhere near Dani’s location. The two MPs fired on the Warden, but one shot from his quake rifle sent them scrambling away from the falling debris he created. Dani’s tranq pistol hissed again, and the bolt struck the Warden in the thigh. He spotted her, but his steps faltered as he tried to shoot at her. His body struck the floor, unconscious from the sedative.
The MPs glanced around for their ally but didn’t find Dani; she’d already ducked back into the shadows. They left their cover to kill the Wardens and steal their gear while Dani observed them from between cracks in the debris. As soon as the Wardens’ bodies began to glow, James stabbed them in the neck, dispatching them permanently.
This was Dani’s best chance to escape the fighting and the building, but she remained. Miles was still in danger. Of course, her own peril grew each second she lingered around the battle, too. Jace’s words of warning repeatedly echoed in her mind, but her legs refused to carry her away from Miles. She wasn’t sure if she loved him, but she knew she didn’t want him dead. The MPs left with their new gear, and with a curse at her foolishness, Dani followed again. If I don’t die today, Jace will kill me anyway. Death by half-sibling must qualify as friendly fire, right?
Echoes of War Page 4
