Finding Valor (31 page)

Josh slipped back inside his tent and sprawled out on his cot. He pulled out his phone and gazed at Channie’s picture. He stroked the screen, over her face, and thought about her and their baby, hoping it would give him the courage he’d surely need before the night was over. He searched for her through their bond, but she was asleep. He’d tried to connect with her several times a day since Vince left with her, but she was always asleep. Pregnancy must be exhausting. Josh had just decided to give her a nudge to wake her up when Hunter’s roar of indignation rent the night.

“What do you mean I cain’t go? You’re taking Shep and I’m a better shot than him.”

“Am not.”

Josh groaned and swung his feet off the cot.
Damn it, Hunter.

“If I can shoot the head off a nail at fifty feet, will you take me?”

Josh stepped outside. It was a new moon so there couldn’t have been less light. But that didn’t stop Hunter. He was hammering a nail into a tree stump by candlelight. A small crowd gathered to watch.
 

Hunter left the candle next to the nail then paced his way back as the crowd counted his strides. He kept going even after the crowd shouted, “Fifty!”

He looked up and winked at Josh. “The extra five is to keep anyone from accusing me of cheating.”

Someone handed Hunter a rifle.
 

“Anything I should know about the way this thing sights?”

“She skews a bit to the left. I’d allow a quarter inch at this distance.”

“Seriously?” Josh couldn’t believe Hunter was even attempting such a ridiculous shot with an unfamiliar weapon. “How come you don’t have your own gun?”

 
Hunter shrugged. “Most folks is willing to let me borrow theirs if I share the meat.”

He lifted the rifle to his shoulder, took a deep breath then slowly exhaled.
 

The bang wasn’t as loud as Josh’d expected, about like a firecracker, but it still made him jump. Would he be able to keep his head straight when the guys with automatic weapons opened up? Especially when it was the bad guys.

Hunter’s whoop of joy snapped Josh out of his downward spiral.
I didn’t freak out when the trackers were shooting at us. I’ll deal with whatever happens tonight, when it happens. No point in worrying about it now.

“Go hammer in another nail.” Shep scowled at Hunter. “I’ll knock the head off at
sixty
yards.”

“No.” Josh had had more than enough of the Feenie brothers’ endless squabbling. “You’re already going. There’s no need to waste ammunition just to inflate your already overblown ego. Deal with it, or stay behind.”

Shep pursed his lips, but lowered his gaze and nodded.

“Let’s take a walk.” Josh pulled Hunter aside and marched him away from the crowd. “I know you want to go, and there’s no one I’d rather have watching my back, but I need you to stay here…in case I don’t make it. Someone has to take care of Prudence.”

Hunter stared at Josh. The intensity of his gaze grew uncomfortable. He blinked then cocked his head to the side and rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t agree with Ms. Wisdom very often, but she’s right about how important you are. You’re the one that needs to stay put, not me. You’re married with a little one on the way. But more importantly, you’re the only one that can defeat Dominance.”
 

“If I weren’t the only elemental mage, I’d agree with you. But my weird magic could be the one thing that tips the outcome of this operation in our favor.” Josh grabbed the sides of Hunter’s head and forced him to meet his gaze. “I know what I’m asking is hard, but there’s no one else I trust as much as you. Will you do it? Will you protect Channie and our baby if I don’t come back?”

“With my life.”

~***~

The plan was simple. They’d land the helicopter four miles away from the prison camp and let Tim’s team out. They’d make their way to the front of the compound, signal their arrival with a single squawk on the radio. As soon as they heard an answering squawk, signaling the arrival of Zen’s team at the bluff behind the compound, Josh would use his elemental magic to blast through the protective spells then blow apart the front gates, causing a diversion so Zen’s team could rappel down the cliff behind the hostages’ barracks and enter the compound. Tim’s team would provide cover while Zen’s team herded the hostages towards the highway where the Veyjivik Enterprises motorcade would be waiting to whisk them all to safety.

It was a good plan. But it took less than a minute for it to fall completely apart.
 

Gunfire, screams of terror and wails of pain seemed to come from all directions. Josh froze. Searchlights scanned the compound and its perimeter, the ground glistened as if it had just rained, but it was blood, not water. The guards were mowing the hostages down like sheep. Josh wrapped an arm around a tree to keep from sinking to the ground. A light blinded him. Someone tackled him from behind as bullets chewed through the tree he’d been leaning against.

“Stay down, you dumb shit.”
 

Josh recognized Noble’s voice. What was he doing in the front? The marines were supposed to be behind the barracks.

Josh whispered, “thanks,” but the guy was already on his feet and running towards the shattered gate.
 

Noble ran in a zigzag pattern. Bullets thunked into the ground behind him. The little puffs of dirt chasing him were getting closer. He wasn’t going to make it.

Bursts of light lit up the interior of a tower near the gate. Muzzle flashes from an automatic weapon. Josh lifted his chest and dug the sapphire out from under his shirt. He clutched it in one hand and pointed at the guard firing at Noble with the other.
Stop it!

The guard exploded, as if he’d stepped on a mine. But there wouldn’t be any mines inside a guard tower. What the hell just happened?

“Nice work.” Zen crouched beside Josh and squeezed his shoulder. He waited for the spotlight to sweep past their position then darted towards the gate.

I killed that guard.
Josh raised himself to his hands and knees. He tried to get his feet under him, but his body didn’t want to cooperate. All he managed to do was rock forward.

A clammy hand grabbed the back of his neck. “Cover me, I’m going in.”
 

Shep?
“No! Wait.”

Shep ignored Josh’s warning and surged forward. He didn’t take more than two steps before the spotlight caught him on its return sweep. A muzzle flashed in the other guard tower. Shep’s body jerked like a puppet on a string as bullets riddled his torso. He was so close that Josh heard the wet sound of metal hitting flesh.
 

Shep turned as he fell. He looked right at Josh with a shocked expression on his face.

“No!” Josh blasted the guard and the tower, blowing them both up with a single burst of magic then ran to Shep. He slung him over his shoulder then ran back to the cover of the trees. He laid Shep on the ground and rolled him onto his back. “You’re going to be okay. Hang on.”

But Shep wasn’t okay. Fear and pain twisted his features into a mask of horror. He coughed once, spraying Josh with blood, then went completely limp. His pupils dilated.

“No!” Josh put his hands over Shep’s heart and
willed
him to live. Magic poured out of him and into Shep, but it didn’t work. He felt his own life force slipping away but refused to give up. “Come on, Shep!”

“Stop.” Arms as thick as tree trunks wrapped around Josh’s chest and pulled him off Shep.

“No. Let me go. I have to save him.” Josh struggled to break free, but he was too weak. And Tim was too strong.

“You can’t. There’s too much damage.”

“No!” He clutched his sapphire and used it to repel Tim. He reached for Shep, but before he could resume his attempts to revive him, Tim’s meaty fist slammed into the side of Josh’s head.
 

When he came to, Tim was gone. Shep laid on the ground beside Josh. His eyes were open but blank, unseeing, dead.

“No!” Josh stood up and screamed, “Stop it! All of you stop shooting.”

Magic shot out of him again. But instead of a focused beam streaming towards a fixed target, it exited his body like a shock wave, expanding in all directions. All around him, people shouted in pain. Weapons clattered to the ground.
 

“My weapon just overheated.”

“Mine, too.”

“What the hell’s going on?”

“Valor? Did you do something to our weapons?”

Josh stared at his bloody hands. “I don’t know…maybe?”

Multicolored bursts of light inside the compound lit up the night sky. He’d disabled their guns, but they still had magic.

A man grabbed Josh’s arm and shook him. “We need your shield, come on.”

Josh tapped into his power well, but he was too weak to raise his shield, much less use it to protect anyone else. “I can’t.”

Gather your army and feast on their power.
This time the Book of the Dead seemed to be shouting its message in his mind.

Josh closed his eyes and pictured each of the faces of the volunteers and marines. He thought about how each of them had pledged their loyalty to him.
 

Light, energy and magic poured into him from all directions. His shield sprang into position just before a bolt of malevolent energy hit him. He absorbed that power, too. He stepped out into the open, inviting the enemy to attack him again.
 

Bolt after bolt slammed into his shield, each one making him stronger. He expanded his shield to cover the men around him. They all marched together, through the gate.

Someone yelled, “sustained attack.”

Josh’s shield pulsed with magic as every hostile mage cursed him. He was going to blow up like an overloaded transformer if he didn’t redirect it soon. He searched for a safe target to unload on. The tower was empty now. He could use that.

Zen grabbed Josh by the back of his neck with one hand and swatted his cheek with the other. “Come on, Valor, fight back! Use your magic.”
 

“Let’s just gather up the hostages and get the hell out of here.”

“They’re too many of them. You’ll never be able to shield them all.” Zen took off at a ninety degree angle while another man ran off in the opposite direction. As soon as they broke through, they raised their own shields and shot bolts of raw energy at the guards attacking Josh, drawing their attention and their fire. Josh tried to extend his shield to cover them both, but it didn’t work.

Another man patted Josh on the shoulder and hunched over, obviously preparing to run.
 

“Wait.” Josh grabbed his arm. “I can’t protect you if you get too far away.”

“I can’t fight from inside your shield.”

“Why not?”
 

The man looked at Josh like he was an idiot.

“Your shield won’t recognize anyone’s magic but yours. If we attack while you’re protecting us, our energy will ricochet off the inside of your shield. We’ll end up killing each other.” The man pried Josh’s hand off his shoulder. “Zen’s outnumbered. I gotta go.”

Josh didn’t want to kill anyone else. Maybe he could steal the guards’ magic the way he had the trackers? He’d have to disable them, first. But there was no time for that. Zen and the other men outside his shield were getting hammered. How long could they hold out against multiple assailants?
 

Open your eyes, Valor. If the ravaged bodies of the slain hostages all around you aren’t proof enough that you’re fighting pure evil, what is? Shep’s blood stained face? The cries of grieving widows?
This is war. People die in wars. Join the fight or lose the battle.
 

Josh pulled even more magic from his army then returned the deadly energy back to the men attacking them.

A series of explosions turned the night to day as Josh obliterated the enemy.

He fell to his hands and knees, completely drained: physically, emotionally, mentally and magically.
 

Well done, son of Vengeance, well done.

The Book of the Dead’s praise sickened Josh. Shep, and countless hostages were dead. This was not ‘well done.’ He searched for Channie through their bond. “Please, Channie. I need you.”

She was still asleep, but she responded. Her love poured into his chest, warming his heart, soothing his tortured soul.
 

But, something was wrong. Confusion and rising panic mixed with her love and concern…which meant she was feeling
his
emotions. Josh craved her comfort, but refused to burden her with his pain, so he closed their connection and dropped his head into his hands.

Channie floated in the twilight space between sleep and wakefulness. She tried to take a deep breath, but her chest refused to expand more than a few inches. She tried to open her eyes. Her brows arched, but her lids remained closed. A tingling sensation tugged at her heart…magic…
Josh
.

“Please, Channie. I need you.”

Love rushed out of her heart as Josh’s love poured into hers. But it was followed by an overwhelming sense of despair.
Something’s wrong.
 

Their connection snapped. An involuntary gasp filled her lungs. The clean scent of wet pine tickled her nose. It must have rained while she was asleep. No. The air was too dry. She tried to open her eyes again, but they refused. She took another deep breath. Something was off. Not only was the air too dry, it felt…
lighter?
 

She licked her chapped lips and tasted Burt’s Bees spearmint lip balm. The honey-mint flavor reminded her of Colorado and…Josh.

She pushed a wave of love and concern towards him and felt his love in return, but he felt so far away. How long had it been since they’d strengthened their bond?

Channie’s eyes fluttered open but her vision was so blurry she could barely see. She locked her gaze on Josh’s sapphire blue eyes and reached for his face, but he jerked out of reach before she could touch him.

Her vision cleared. It wasn’t Josh’s face looming over her, but the hideous face of a monster. She screamed.