From The Ashes (Life After War) (77 page)

“
Two-side attack formation, five teams per. Use the automatics–remember to have them check for those on our list
first
. Then, kill everything he loves.”

“
What about the loose ends?” Hudson asked. They'd observed the movement on the tracker and assumed Adrian's men were more immune to the drugs than most of their prey.

Garret sank down into the comfy army chair that went everywhere he did. “What's the best way to get an ant hole out of your yard?”

Hudson, whose father had been an exterminator, answered easily. “Water, over and over. It drowns the larvae and ruins the walls. They collapse. If you keep it that way, the pests move base.”

“
And we already have that coming, don't we?”

Hudson confirmed it. “Yes, we do.”

Hudson slipped from the luxurious control room and spotted Embry and Lenore gliding down the dark hallway in oblivious joy. His unease over the order was instantly pushed aside.

They didn't know that the dam would blow at dawn, and what was left of this city would be washed away or submerged. It would be him, the Major's personal squad, and their captives.

Which meant all bets were off, didn't it?

Hudson looked at his watch.
Oh, yeah
. He could take a twenty minute... break.

Hudson followed the happily giggling couple toward the garden, seeing Embry's dirty hand tangle in that pale hair and tug Lenore closer. As soon as they were in the green grass, Embry took her to the dusty ground.

They made love fast, with a passion that had their observer hard and determined to be next–now.

As Embry stiffened, groaning in pleasure, Hudson stepped from the shadows.

“
I'm up!”

“
What the hell are...”

Hudson put his gun to Embry's head and pulled the trigger.

“
No!”

Embry fell heavily, blood running.

“
Guess that makes me next in line for you.”

“
Help!”

“
Lenore, Lenore!” Hudson chanted over the screaming, jerking his belt loose. “Let me in, Lenore.”

Lenore felt her mind blur into a gray area where only fear and hatred existed. It had been this way since the War. Only hoping to survive long enough to kill him, the captive woman held in her tears of grief and rage, and opened her legs.

“
Very good!”

As he fell on her, Lenore's hands immediately began searching Embry's body for his gun.

7

“
Message, sir.”

Garret moved away from the window where he liked to spend his waiting hours. The sight of the decay that surrounded them never failed to inspire. Unlike his men, he loved it here, and the deeply overcast skies were perfectly suited to it.

The Major read over the radio man's shoulder.

“
We are under evacuation–radiation levels are critical in the east. The reserve bunker has been activated. Take Mitchel, Jr, and White, Angela, to Utah. Mitchel Sr. is to be terminated immediately.”

“
Tell them I'm happy to comply, as always.” The Major switched his attention to the modified cell on the screen, and then to the sullen teenager in the monitoring chair. “Go say goodbye.”

Conner shot from the chair, almost running, and Garret grabbed his arm as he went by.

He jerked the boy to a halt and gave him a hard shake. “Don't forget our deal, son.”

Conner twisted loose, expression ugly. “And don't you forget it, either, dad. If those kids get hurt, you're the first one I'll kill!”

Conner left the room, and the Major grinned cruelly. This was going to be fun. He got to break the father and the son–at the same time. Moments like these only came around once in a lifetime.

Still smiling, Garret and his guards followed Conner into the basement cells they'd built. The control room was also located in the basement, separated by storage areas that were full. He wasn't one to leave supplies behind.

The wide room held a bank of computer screens and heavy-duty cords that brought in the power and allowed these men to control the entire complex. Under the main home, it would be hard to take over unless the hunters didn't suspect anything, and his men always did. He'd trained them that way.

Chapter Twenty Three

1

“
Time's up,” Angela muttered as the door swung open.

Adrian sensed it, too, but he only had eyes for the son under Garret's control.
“I came back for you both. She sent me away.”

Conner didn't doubt it.
“She was scared of him. She always was.”

“
She needed me.”

Conner shrugged, still answering silently.
“We needed you back then, but the War changed it all. He left and we thought we were free to come find you. He was always watching us.”

Adrian stood up, going to the bars. He spoke openly. “I'm sorry for everything you've gone through.”

Conner found that he didn't have any rage left. Adrian wasn't his enemy. “I know.”

“
I'm also sorry for everything you still have to face,” Adrian stated, trying to prepare him for the ugliness he saw coming in Garret's scornful face.

The Major delivered a sword tip. “You should be, since it's your fault that the kids are dead. Hudson handled them upon our return.”

Conner screamed–realizing the betrayal–and Garret swung low, punching him in the mouth.

“
Dart him,” Garret ordered.

The closest guard shot Conner in the arm, and the teenager groaned, slumping to the floor.

“
One down,” Garret taunted. He pointed at Angela. “Come out.”

The cell door buzzed open.

Angela's laugh was brittle. “So you can hurt me in front of Adrian for your next victory? Yeah, that'll happen.”

She slid off the bunk and backed up against the wall, as Kyle and Adrian stepped shoulder-to-shoulder in front of her. “Come in and get me, Major.”

Garret pointed his gun at Conner. “If you don't come out, I'll kill him.”

“
Your orders say he has to be alive,” Angela sneered. “Nice tr...”

Pop!

“
No!”

Conner's leg began pouring blood, and Angela screamed again, in rage this time.

“
Dart her!” a young voice insisted in panic over the intercom. “She still has her powers!”

“
We have a breach!” the Major's personal guard shouted from the door. In his hand, the scanner was flashing brilliantly.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

“
Major! We need you! Now!”

Gunfire outside reluctantly drew the Major and his guards. They all rushed from the room as Garret threw an angry order over his shoulder. “I want them ready for transport! Knock her out–she goes upstairs.”

2

“
He says he's Mitchel's XO,” the gate guard stated nervously.

There was only one man standing outside the compound gates, but the monitors showed nearly forty green dots in the area. Despite their deals, it would seem that Adrian's loose ends had found some help.

Garret considered the uses and hesitantly stopped the guards from opening fire like they wanted to. “Stand down.”

The hunters frowned, but obediently stepped back.

The Major waved his personal guards along and strode confidently outside. He didn't have a need for Mitchel's right hand as leverage. However, he was always on the lookout for more useful men to add to his collection. Like the Italian killer in Adrian's cell. Garret occasionally made exceptions in race when the man was useful, but the mobster would be gelded. Continuing that line, in this country, was now illegal.

Garret waited for the guards to open the iron gate they'd installed in their first hours here, and then stepped out to meet the lone Marine standing in the middle of his street. The Major would have known what Kenn was without picking out the dog tags and tattoos. It was in those steel blue eyes and firmly planted boots.

He's set to kill me, Garret thought, starting to think he might need to scour Adrian's top people for new hands. Adrian knew how to pick hard men, no argument there.

“
If you kill me, he dies,” the Major warned.

Kenn could feel Adrian somewhere inside that well-fortified building, and the silent order was clear. Adrian wanted this man dead, but Kenn already knew he wouldn't be the one to do it.

“
I'm surrendering.”

Garret frowned slightly. “With your gun in hand?”

“
Surrender, not suicide,” Kenn replied, taking in how many, where to hit, and accepting that his hopes of rushing inside were unrealistic.

Garret chuckled. “Just you? Where are the rest of his men?”

Kenn scowled. “You don't have them in there?”

The Major gloated. “Guess they didn't survive the snakes and vines.”

Kenn took a step forward in mock rage.

Garret raised his own weapon. “Stop.”

Kenn did, playing the role. “I go where he goes.”

Garret shook his head, frowning at the sense of danger. The Italian might be a well-heeled killer, but this man was lethal.

“
I think not.”

The Major pointed toward his tower guard. “He'll kill you in three seconds.”

Kenn was loose and ready. “I only need one.”

Garret hesitated to give the order. His death was in that 9 mm, even if the Marine died, too.

The Major tried to calm things down–recognizing a kindred soul. “You can't save him. He's been marked for termination.”

Kenn growled. “By who? You?”

“
He's been on my list for almost two decades,” Garret stated, subtly motioning his hunters to kill, not capture, when it started. “The official order came down today. The government has declared him a threat to national recovery.”

Kenn took that in with no change in expression, but inside, worry boiled. The government was finally rearing its ugly head. “I can pay a bounty.”

Garret was surprised, but played along. “You can't afford the pound of flesh he owes, let alone the final reward.”

“
Will you trade something for him? I have access to a lot of the old world.”

Garret laughed, scornfully taunting. “I take what I want!”

Kenn had expected that, but he'd had to try. It was what Adrian had taught him. “Then, take this!”

Kenn pushed the button in his pocket.

Booommm!

The front of the shopping complex across from them exploded, sending shrapnel flying over the street to add another layer of debris. Flames and acrid smoke rolled their way.

Kenn hit the button a second time, and the small house next to the compound gushed outward in a violet eruption of flames and wooden slugs.

Garret ran, given cover by his guard, and Kenn unslung his rifle, ducking behind the edge of the alley wall from the firing tower guards. The Major was quickly out of sight, but his men weren't.

Hunters began falling, screaming in agony from well-chosen shots. Garret should have at least listened to the deal. Now, he'd insulted Kenn, and there was a price to pay for that.

Pop-pop-pop!

3

“
Step aside!” Angela hissed, sweating furiously.

The second they were clear, she released the ball of energy and blew the door off of their cell.

Before they recovered from the blast, she was at Conner's side.

“
Help! The prisoners are...Ahhhh!”

Kyle and Adrian were hoping for that sound over the intercom to mean their lost men had found them. They weren't prepared to see the snake clerk from the tunnels come through the door.

Cara rushed to Conner and began helping Angela as she searched for the slug with her fingers.

“
I'm your ride,” Cara told them, holding the cloth where Angela pointed.

Adrian looked around. “I think we're ready.”

Conner stirred, surprising those who knew he'd been darted.

Angela motioned to Kyle. “Grab him, I've got your six.”