Anarchy (Hive Trilogy Book 2) (6 page)

Without hesitation, I started powering along, arms and elbows getting cut to shit but I didn’t care. Ryder had slumped right beneath the front of the grill but Markus was nowhere in sight. Hopefully one of the other guys had pulled him to safety, since he’d been to the side and not dead center like Ryder.

When I reached the prone enforcer, I grabbed his belt and tipped him back toward me, laying him flat. I tried not to break down at the sight of Ryder’s olive skin now as pale as snow, blood seeping from his stomach. He was completely unconscious.

Counting to ten in my head, a technique I’d learned to keep myself calm, I started to slide his body back under the car. As I backed up, I glimpsed the old lady and her psychos hidden behind a food truck. They continued shooting the shit out of our car, but only sporadically, as my boys were firing back. People were running and screaming down the street and I heard sirens in the distance. This was followed by the empty click of a gun that had run out of bullets.

“Shit,” Kyle said.

Acting on instinct, I pulled the gun from behind my back, and with the limited movement I had in the tight quarters under the car, slid it across the ground toward Kyle’s feet.

Without missing a beat, he scooped up my weapon and continued firing.

Placing one hand under Ryder’s belt and another under his armpit, I dragged him under the car. It was rough, slow going. I tried my best to be gentle, but time was a factor; he was losing too much blood. He groaned then, and I noticed he seemed to be semi-conscious now.

I huffed in and out, straining every muscle to move him.

“Shit! What the hell did you eat for breakfast, a small library?”

The mental counting slowed as my scattered mind started shooting questions at me. Was Markus dead? How long could we hold them off? How much blood could Ryder afford to lose? How the hell had all of this happened? This was supposed to be an in and out mission. Shit, I was missing Sam’s crazy-ass presence right now. That dude would have Rambo’d his way through those Deliverance, smacking them down. Hard.

I dug deep into my stubbornness, dragging Ryder six inches at a time. I flinched and almost shrieked as bullets chipped at the ground and ricocheted up under the car. Effing shitheads, they’d finally noticed me. I heard the increase of bullets from the enforcers, and was glad to see the boys had put more than a few of them down. Bodies littered the path.

Finally, by sheer stubborn willpower, I got Ryder out to the safe side of the street. Hunching over him, I fluttered around trying to figure out how to haul his massive frame up into the car. Kyle appeared behind me and jumped up to stand on the edge of the back door, shooting over the roof.

He shouted down to me. “Charlie, I’m going to get Ryder in the back now. Jared and Oliver have Markus. We’ll have to immediately try and stabilize them and control their bleeding, so we need you to get us all back to the Hive. We have to go now before the Deliverance call in backup. Do you think you can pull it together and drive?”

Okay, shit. Don’t freeze up, Charlie.

“Yes.” Because what other choice did we have?

Brave words. No idea if I could follow through. As I dragged myself back toward the door I caught sight of Jared’s blond hair. He was shooting still, hiding behind the open back door. I couldn’t see Oliver but knew he was somewhere close by. This car had to be bulletproof and reinforced, because it had taken a beating.

In one smooth movement I popped into the driver’s side, keeping my head down best I could
. I
waited a few seconds and the suspension lurched as a thousand-plus pounds landed in the back seats. The enforcers shut the doors best they could, but the bullets had twisted them a little, and they didn’t close properly. Oh well, it would have to be good enough for now.

Without thinking twice, I gunned the Hummer and lurched forward five feet, popping off the gutter. The Deliverance took the chance then to leave the safety of their hideout, running at us, guns blazing.

“Go, Charlie!” Jared shouted.

I slammed my foot down on the gas pedal, pulling the Humvee back onto the road. The right side of the car clipped one of the Deliverance on our way out, the tires squealing as I did zero to sixty in record time. My hands were slippery on the wheel, blood and sweat coating them. My heart was beating triple-time; I couldn’t tell what was fear and what was adrenalin. Everything felt the same in my crazed mind.

A few bullets pinged off the back as we made our escape, but that noise faded away as I screeched around another corner. Once we were a safe distance away, I managed to slow the car down and get my breathing under control. A glance in the rear was enough to see that Ryder was in Kyle’s lap. Blood and grime stained the enforcer’s dirty-blond hair and he looked like he was seconds from losing his shit. Turning back around, I refused to think that crazed look in his eyes was because of Ryder. The lead enforcer was going to be fine—he was like Superman or some shit. Bullets could not kill him. Nothing could.

Dammit. A few minutes later I wanted to look again, to make sure that everyone was still breathing. “What’s happening back there, guys?” I shouted. I couldn’t turn at the moment, I was too busy white-knuckling the steering wheel while zooming through the downtown traffic.

“I’m fine, lass, just a few wee holes in me for luck.” Hearing Markus’ brogue was a welcome relief.

“Right, just a few holes,” Oliver said drily. “He has eight bullets in him. He’s just lucky most of them ended up in his right shoulder and leg.”

“That’s only because Ryder jumped in from the side and pushed me out of the way, which I will beat his damn ass for as soon as he’s back on his feet.” Markus sounded pissed, and worried. I knew he would have done the same for Ryder. They were a team, they had each other’s backs, no matter what.

“And Ryder?” my voice shook just a little, but since I was almost totally focused on the driving I was doing, I managed to stop myself losing it too badly.

“I’m counting twelve bullets, six in the abdomen, five scattered about his extremities, and one grazed his temple, which is why he’s out for the count right now.”

I could sort of see in the rearview mirror that Kyle was applying a thick pad or pressure cloth to his best friend’s stomach.

Our eyes met in the reflection. “Just keep driving, Charlie,” he said. “I won’t let him die. We just have to get back to the Hive.”

I slammed my foot down even harder. Horns blasted at me as I sailed through a red light, but I seriously did not give a single fuck right now. I was a woman on a mission, and I was getting our asses back to the Hive in record time.

I still couldn’t believe what had just happened? Massive shootout, dead humans. The six ash we had gone to save were dead. Not exactly the first day on the job that I imagined. Those Deliverance assholes … they were totally insane, and so much more ruthless and deadly than I expected. Ryder clearly had not been expecting it either; the boys might have had their weapons out, but there had been no real urgency, as if they never anticipated the others would retaliate with deadly force.

Fury washed through me again as I wrenched the wheel and pretty much drifted around the corner. The slickness of the roads would have been scarier if I hadn’t been angry enough to set the car on fire. I’d been a bit on the angry side lately. Most of my ire was reserved for the selfish vampires who thought ash were their personal entertainment and slaves. But now there was some space in the Charlie-is-pissed vault for these religious extremist humans.

Everywhere I looked, ash were being shit on and killed by others who thought our lives were not important, that we didn’t warrant the basic rights of survival. I knew that once upon a time I had been someone who cared very little for ash or the Hive. It was something I regretted. The ash were my friends and my family; the discrimination had to stop, and it had to stop right now, because as the Hives around the world filled further, there would be less and less room for ash, and even the few rights we had would disappear.

Guess there was now at least six spots freed up in our Hive, assuming those six had been from Portland. Gah, I was turning into a psycho. Seemed the moment my shock had faded out, I was less of the “human shaking and crying” and more of the ash “pissed and ready to kill”.

As the Hive came into view, I was relieved to see the gates were open. One of the boys had called ahead. Which was good because I wasn’t stopping. I screeched up the path and into the garage, my instincts urging me to go as fast as I could and slam on the brakes to stop. But knowing that might cause more injuries to the guys, I curbed those instincts and took my time to slow smoothly.

I threw it into park, and by the time I was out the door Kyle and Oliver were already moving. It took two of them to carry Ryder; they held him between them and were sprinting for the entrance. Jared and Markus were slower, but at least the Scottish enforcer was only limping. He didn’t seem to be in mortal danger.

“Go, Charlie, I’ll be fine. Ryder needs your support.” Markus waved me off and I threw him a quick smile before I scrambled across the concrete garage.

The second the door to the Hive opened there were medical staff with a stretcher ready to care for Ryder. All vampires. WTF? Were ash not smart or something? Why were all of the medical staff and scientists full-on bloodsuckers? I’ll bet it was because they didn’t want us to be in control of any of the top-secret lab stuff. Wouldn’t want us figuring out what bullshit was going on behind the scenes.

The vampires took charge, heaving Ryder onto the stretcher and hauling ass down the hallway and to the medical wing. Since I totally did not trust these vamp bitches, I followed close. There was no way I was leaving my man crush Monday with them. Oliver had dropped back to help Jared with Markus, but Kyle kept pace with me and the medical team.

Once we reached the door to the operating room, a tall blond woman put a hand out on my chest, stopping me.

“You’ll have to wait outside.” She was polite but glaring with her squinty-ass eyes.

I pushed her hand off smoothly. “Not a chance.”

I stepped forward as she stood there with her mouth open. These people treated us like shit, put cameras up to spy on us, bugged our rooms. There was no way in hell I was leaving Ryder weakened and alone with them.

One of the male vampires that had begun cutting Ryder’s shirt open narrowed his eyes at me as well. Still I refused to move, secure with the heat of Kyle at my back.

“Operating room is for the patient only,” the male vampire growled.

Kyle and I moved further into the room, pushing the blonde out of the way. She didn’t try to stop us.

Kyle was all casual as he leaned against the wall. Despite his stance, I could see the determined fierceness in his gaze; he would not be leaving his best friend either. “We’re not leaving, and if he dies I’ll kill you all, so I suggest you stop talking and start saving his life.”

I heard the enforcer’s teeth clank as he slammed them together. His eyes were wild, and the way his right hand was twitching over his gun should have been worrying the doctors. Even if it was a bit of a suicide run trying to take on three vampires, for Ryder, Kyle and I would not even hesitate. Striding to his side, I put on my best tough-unicorn face, leaning on the wall and crossing my arms.

The male vampire’s nostrils flared as he prepared to retort, but the third scrub-attired vampire in the room, a female who looked kind of familiar, placed a hand on his arm. “You’d do the same. Besides, this one is the Quorum’s favorite. We better do all we can to save him.”

I remembered then where I’d seen her. She was one of Lucas’ confidants. Often seen with the Quorum leader. That sort of had me feeling like we might have a slight ally in the room.

The male vamp looked like he was going to ignore her. He paused with a scalpel in hand and continued glaring at us.
You mother effer!
If he didn’t start patching Ryder up in two seconds, I was going to go postal.

He sighed and shook his head. “Let’s do this, he’s bleeding out fast.
”

The breath I had been holding left me and I nearly burst into tears. As the first cut was made, I decided to find a spot in the room to stare at because there was no way in hell I could watch this. Even the knowledge they were slicing into Ryder had me on the verge of losing my shit and falling to the ground in tears.

I felt a strong warm hand take mine, a lifeline which pulled me back from the edge.

Kyle.

I wasn’t alone. Holding on to him as tightly as I could, I decided on two things. One: life was too short to live half-assed. If you wanted something, you needed to go for it. And two: I was a hundred percent most definitely falling in love with Ryder. And who could blame me?

The next twelve hours were some of the most painful and scary of my life. The medical team kept asking for more blood to be hung. Not to mention all the cursing as Ryder’s stomach continued closing over the surgeon’s hands before he could patch up the damage inside. Even with the ash’s advanced healing, the organs needed to be properly stitched together, bullets removed. Just like my broken leg had to have the bones set properly before healing or it would have fused together crookedly.

Kyle and I sat on the operating floor, against the wall. We were slumped together in a ball, my head on his shoulder. The surgery seriously felt like it had been going on for years, when the doctor finally stepped away from Ryder and rolled his neck to work out the kinks.

He met my eyes. “He’ll be fine.”

He turned then and made his way to a hand-scrubbing station. That was it, all the information I was getting, but it was all the information I needed.

I jumped up, my heart slamming against my chest as relief flooded me.

“Thank you!” I said, as gratefully as I could. Still hated the assholes, but they had saved Ryder’s life.

I followed as the vampire female whisked Ryder down the hall and into a recovery wing. There were three other ash in there, all hooked up to blood and curtained off from each other. A wheelchair was set up next to Ryder’s bed.