Roth(Hell Squad 5) (13 page)

He grabbed her hand and together, they stood. “Comms are down and we are a long way from Blue Mountain Base.”

She studied the surrounding area, her gaze lingering on the destroyed Darkswift. “Options?”

“I’m going to leave a coded message with the craft. It’s likely my squad will find it. I think we need to start moving back toward Blue Mountain.”

She gasped. “We’re hundreds of kilometers away from base, Roth. It’ll take us weeks.”

“First things first. I’ll leave the message, let them know which direction we’re heading. Then we’ll take what we can that’s useful from the craft.”

“Why not stay here?”

“Because every alien in range will know we went down. And if anyone comes looking for these bugs, we’ll be sitting ducks. Besides, we need shelter, and I want to take a look at those ribs you’re babying.”

She straightened. “Only bruised. I’m fine. I’m damn lucky to be alive. I’m just glad I didn’t get tossed out of the Darkswift until we were close to the ground.”

Roth felt his muscles harden. “You should never have taken off your harness.”

“We’d both be bug chow if I hadn’t. Don’t go all macho alpha man on me. Come on, we need to strip the craft of anything useful to us.”

As she strode over to the Darkswift, Roth scowled at her back. The competent CCIA agent was back.

He followed her, and watched as she knelt on the undamaged wing of the craft, reaching in to pull out equipment. Her position gave him a perfect view of her ass. He closed his eyes. He had to get this under control. They were in hostile territory, and far from base. He needed to focus…and not on Avery’s attractive assets.

“Here.” A dark-green backpack slapped against his chest. She spun around, holding a small, red first aid kit in her hands. “Let me clean the blood off your face and take a look at that cut.”

With a reluctant nod, he sat on the wing. The Darkswift moved a few inches, but settled. Avery pulled out some wipes, knelt, and started wiping his temple and forehead.

She made a humming noise. “A nasty little cut. It’ll need some med glue.” She kept swiping.

Roth was staring at her chest. She was wearing armor, and he couldn’t see anything tantalizing, but he was well aware of what was under the carbon fiber.

She dabbed a little too hard at his cut. “Ow.”

She pulled back. “Ow? You’re a badass soldier who takes on invading aliens, and this makes you go ‘ow’?”

“It stings, smartass.”

She went back to cleaning, moving down the side of his neck. “Well, it’s clean now. I’ll put a bit of med glue on it, and you’re done.” She leaned over him, gently squeezing the glue into the scrape. It stung for a second, but eased instantly. “There.” Then she bent down and pressed a kiss just beside the cut. “All better.”

He grabbed her wrist, met her gaze. “Who are you, and where’s my ferocious little special agent gone?”

Her smile was crooked. “Guess getting attacked by alien bugs and being tossed out of a crashing aircraft mellows a girl.”

“Most people would be freaked out and curled in a ball.”

That crooked smile again. “I’m not most people.”

He cupped her chin. “No, you’re not.” He drank in her face, her strong features, and that always-fierce glint in her eyes. “Come on. Sun will set in a few hours and we need to find shelter. Let me leave the coded message and we’ll get moving.”

***

Avery had enjoyed the walk at first. The fresh air and the scent of lush grass and green trees had made her feel…fresh, and free.

But now, her backpack straps were digging into her shoulders, and her hip and ribs were aching. No, throbbing—like a sore tooth.

“There’s a town a couple of kilometers ahead. We’ll be there soon,” Roth said.

“I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine.” He grabbed her backpack and pulled her to a halt. “I’ve asked you three times to give me the pack.”

“I can hold my weight, Masters.”

“Never said you couldn’t.” His voice lowered. “I’m not some jerk you need to prove yourself to, Avery.” He opened her pack and yanked out the first aid kit, stuffing it into his own.

The lightened pack instantly felt better. “Thanks,” she muttered.

He looked like he was fighting a smile. “Gee, that was heartfelt.”

She trudged on. “I don’t do heartfelt, Masters.”

They came to the end of the field and climbed over a sagging fence. A cracked, two-lane highway with a faded white line down the middle stretched out before them.

“All right.” She hitched the backpack higher. “Just a couple more kilometers…piece of cake.”

Suddenly, green raptor poison sprayed across the road. Avery gasped, just as Roth tackled her. They rolled onto the verge and into the grass. When she sat up, Roth was already on one knee, returning fire with his carbine.

Avery shook her head and snatched up her weapon. Looking down the sights, she saw the raptors, four of them, firing their ugly, scaled weapons that spewed paralyzing poison.

She returned fire. Her focus zoomed in, blocking out the whine of the laser and the buck of the carbine in her hands. The raptors were huge, over six and a half feet, and all muscle. Gray, scaly skin covered their bodies, and their faces were dominated by large jaws and burning-red eyes.

Something inside her trembled, and flashbacks peppered her like shrapnel. Small micro-memories of the lab, of huge raptors dragging her, trapping her in a cage, of pain.

Avery’s jaw tightened and she pulled the trigger. Anger was a hot bubble in her chest as she fired at the aliens.

One went down. The others were crouched behind an abandoned car.

“Cover me!” Roth yelled.

What? Avery felt a spike of fear and watched him leap up and sprint toward the raptors. He kept firing, his powerful body moving in a way that was almost graceful.

Almost. There was too much pure power in him to be graceful.

Avery focused back on the raptors. She needed to make sure they didn’t hit Roth.

She kept the laser fire focused on them. One ducked back down, another was returning fire, and the third, a really big one, stepped forward to meet Roth.

Roth kept firing, aiming at the alien’s relatively unprotected chest. They wore armor-like trousers and boots, but their upper bodies were just tough, scaly skin.

The big one swung out to hit Roth, but he ducked and jammed his carbine under the alien’s chin. One shot and the creature fell backward.

Roth planted a boot on the abandoned car, jumped into the air and aimed his carbine down. Avery watched one alien sprint out from cover, trying to escape. Roth kept firing on the other side of the car.

Avery fired at the escaping alien, and he let out some grunts, dodging and slowing down.

Roth landed on the road in a slight crouch, and chased the final retreating alien. As he ran, he swung his carbine onto his back.

Avery swiveled, keeping her weapon aimed. What was he doing?

Another few long strides, and he pulled a large gladius combat knife from his belt. He leapt onto the back of the retreating raptor and took him down.

It was a short, bloody struggle. Sunlight glinted off the long, sturdy blade of the combat knife. She saw no pleasure in Roth’s tough face. Just determination. He stood, cleaned his blade on the grass, and strode back toward Avery. She got to her feet.

“You are a badass.”

That earned a slight grin from him. “Thanks for the backup.”

“Pretty sure you didn’t need it.”

He shook his head. “Backup is important. Working together is the way we’ll beat these guys. They’re bigger, they have advanced tech, but we stick together, we look out for each other.”

She stared at him for a second. She’d thought he was arrogant, a driven man out to prove how big and bad he was. But he wasn’t. From what she could tell, his squad loved him, and he took care of them right back.

He was really just one of the good guys. A man who wanted to protect those who weren’t as strong, a man fighting for what was right.

“Come on,” Roth said. “These guys won’t be alone.”

She nodded, and after Roth hitched his backpack on his shoulders, they headed off.

“I think we’ll walk through the trees. Raptors don’t like them.”

They left the road, walking among the trees lining it. “Why?” she asked.

He raised a brow.

“Why don’t they like the trees?”

“We aren’t sure, but we think there’s something the trees give off they don’t like. You know Santha Kade, right?”

Avery nodded. “Head of spies.”

Roth barked out a short laugh. “She’d love hearing her recon team called spies.”

“I’ve met Devlin Gray.”

Roth scowled. “Oh? You’ve spent time with Gray?”

She recognized that tone. Devlin was a handsome, cultured, former British spy, and Santha’s right-hand man. Not that he’d shared his past with anyone at Blue Mountain Base, but Devlin and Avery had run into each other once or twice in their former lives. “We’ve chatted.”

Roth made a skeptical sound and Avery rolled her eyes. “You were saying? About Santha’s team?”

“Right. Anyway, while Santha was holed up in the city fighting the aliens all by herself—” there was admiration in his voice “—she discovered that the alien canids hate cedar oil. We’ve created some cedar-oil grenades since then, and they are a great deterrent.”

Canids were the ugly alien hunting dogs she’d heard about, but never seen. “In the negotiation meetings, they mentioned their planet is volcanic and rocky. Didn’t sound like there was much vegetation, let alone trees.”

He stared at her for a second. “That’s good intel. Make sure you pass it on to Santha when we get back.”

If
they got back. Avery looked up at the sky. The sun was just starting to turn the western horizon orange. Darkness was coming, and so far, there’d been no sign of Squad Nine’s other Darkswifts in the sky.

A big hand grabbed hers, long, strong fingers twining with her own. She looked up, and the tightness she hadn’t realized had crept into her chest eased. She wasn’t alone. She and Roth were together. They’d get through this.

They kept walking, and soon they passed a few abandoned houses. They were almost at the town.

Then a chilling sound in the distance made them both pause.

Howls.

“Shit. Canids.” Roth looked at her. “Run.”

They broke into a stumbling run. The grass was long, tangling around their knees.

The excited yips and howls got closer. Avery fervently wished they had some of those cedar-oil grenades.

“Fuck, they’ve got our scent,” Roth muttered.

They were being hunted.

Chapter Twelve

“Onto the road,” Roth barked. “We’ll be able to move faster. There’s no point being in cover. The canids can sniff us out.”

Avery raced up the small embankment and onto the pavement. She glanced behind them, and her heart stopped.

The pack of creatures was loping toward them. They were large—larger than regular dogs—with a row of sharp spikes along their backs. Their glowing red eyes and mouths full of sharp teeth were the stuff of nightmares.

“Avery!”

Roth’s shout made her whip around and start running.

She pumped her arms and legs, running as fast as she could, until her lungs were burning.

They rounded a curve in the road. The canids were gaining. They were so damned fast.

The town appeared ahead—or what was left of the town. Some houses were dilapidated or burnt out, just black piles of rubble. Others looked in perfect condition, except for broken windows and overgrown yards.

Roth and Avery sprinted into the town. “We need to find somewhere to hole up. Preferably somewhere high.”

Right. “Maybe a roof?”

But most were sagging or missing. They bolted down what she guessed had been the main street. Long-abandoned shops had been looted or boarded up months ago.

At the end of the street, they spotted something that made them both skid to a halt.

“What the hell?”

The street was blocked off by a huge wall of rubble and junk that rose at least ten meters above them. It consisted of old cars, sheets of metal, chunks of concrete, old refrigerators—apparently whatever the residents had been able to get their hands on.

Avery swiveled and saw the canids sprint into view.

“Shit.” She spun back. “We’ll have to go around it.”

They both knew the canids would be on them by then.

“We can try and climb it?” Roth suggested.

Avery could tell it was too unstable. They’d slide right back down, or get swallowed by the junk.

A low growl made them step closer together and turn.

A huge canid slunk forward on its belly. Its mouth was open, showing off those wicked teeth. Drool slobbered from its jaws.

Avery and Roth whipped their weapons up.

The rest of the pack moved in behind the creature.

The lead canid leapt. Avery and Roth fired, but even under the barrage of laser fire, the creature kept coming.

“Fuck.” Roth dropped his carbine and pulled out his knife.

But the canid’s gaze was fixed on Avery. It pounced. Her heart pumping, Avery kept firing, saw green laser tearing into alien flesh.

The beast slammed into her. She felt the sting of claws on her side, smelled rotting meat on its breath. Roth rammed into the creature and she saw him stabbing it with his knife.

The canid’s vicious jaws snapped inches from Avery’s face. She turned her head, and tried to heave it off her.

Then it let out a squeal, and Roth shoved it away. It fell into the dirt beside them, dead.

Chest heaving, she sat up.

“You okay?” He wasn’t looking at her. His gaze was on the rest of the pack. He helped her get to her feet.

The remaining canids were growling and pacing, a few beasts crouching, ready to attack.

Avery swallowed and stepped closer to Roth. Her side was burning, but she could walk, that was the main thing. “I’m fine.”

They couldn’t hold them all off. Not with two laser carbines.

“Hey,” a voice called from above.

Shocked, Avery glanced up and saw a small, metal ball fall from the sky. It hit the ground in front of them.