Striker (The Alien Wars Book 2) (10 page)

~*~*~

Logan
knew that
every second he held off the men, the better it would be for Lucy and Jet. So
even though he couldn’t get off a clean shot, he fired a few shots into the air
just to show that he was still there and only stopped when the AK-47 ran out of
ammunition.

He tossed it
aside and grabbed the M-6, waiting for the shooting to cease. A few moments
later, it did.
Logan
inched forward and peeked across the street. He couldn’t see
anyone.

He hurried to the
back of the vehicle and scanned the street. He caught a glimpse of a person on
top of a rooftop. His eyes bulged when he saw the rocket launcher. A second
later, the rocket tore toward him. He leaped up and lunged toward the entrance
of the hospital.

Logan
was midair
when the rocket slammed into the Volvo for the second time. The vehicle was
torn apart this time, and debris scattered everywhere.

Logan
knelt, searching
for his rifle. He spotted it only five feet away, but before he could high
crawl even an inch, a burst of fire tore up the concrete between his
outstretched hands.

He flopped over
as a ricochet tore off his hat and another took a chunk off his left ear.
“Screw this!”

Logan
sprang to his
feet and swan dived into the hospital’s lobby, with more rounds shattering the
glass facade and slashing him a thousand ways.

Glancing back, he
saw several shadows stacked on the door, ready to enter.
Logan
scurried down
the hall to the underground parking lot. What difference did one gun make?

He was a dead man
walking either way.

~*~*~

The Striker
covered a large distance in a short amount of time. Mike attempted to stick to
the trees as much as possible, but as buildings came into view, he had to pull
the controls up so the aircraft didn’t hit anything.

There was a small
screen to the left of the main screen that displayed a rear view of the
aircraft. It also showed the two Strikers, which were still in pursuit.

A siren blared.
Mike pursed his lips at the control panel.

“What’s wrong?”
Kenneth asked.

As the aircraft
slowed down, Mike spoke. “The left engine is failing. We’ll have to land.”

“If we land,
they’ll slaughter us,” Derek said.

“Yes, if we land
normally.”

“What are you
suggesting?” Kenneth asked.

“Just hold on to
your seats and be prepared to run for your lives.” Mike gripped the controls
and threw the craft into a dizzying turn. He throttled the engines down to a
complete standstill. Then, as their pursuers zoomed past, he lowered the craft
onto a grassy field.

Drawing his
handgun, he shot at the glass in front of them. It shattered. Jumping up onto
the controls, he called to the others, “Follow me.”

Kenneth was
already standing. He waited anxiously as Derek and Molly climbed up. Not
wasting a second, he followed them. They sprang to the ground and sprinted
toward the trees at the edge of the field.

A few seconds
later, a Striker flew past and opened fire. Metal flew everywhere as the grounded
aircraft was blown apart.

The force of the
explosion knocked everyone to the ground. As they stumbled to their feet,
Kenneth glared at the darkening sky. The other Striker was approaching.

Kenneth and the
others raced and swerved from side to side as red bolts pounded the grass all
around them.

Kenneth didn’t
know how they’d survived, but they all managed to reach the safety of the trees
without getting hurt. As they huddled underneath a pine tree and gazed up into
the sky, they saw the Strikers turn around and head back toward
Mount Shasta
.

“Good thing they
didn’t land,” Derek said.

“They would have
if they thought we were a big threat, so it’s lucky we didn’t shoot at them.
It’s going to be hard enough getting out of here in the approaching darkness without
someone chasing us.”

“Does anyone have
any idea where we are?” Molly asked.

Kenneth thought. “I
think I saw the ocean just before we crashed, but I’m not sure. What do you
think, Mike?”

Mike pointed
left. “I did see some water. I believe it was in that direction.”

~*~*~

The engine of the
red sedan spluttered to life as
Logan
approached the vehicle. Jet leaped out of the driver’s seat and
climbed into the back.

Logan
looked around
the dark parking lot before he climbed in. He peered at Lucy, who sat in the
front passenger seat. “Everything go all right?”

“I was beginning
to think something had happened to you.”

Logan
smiled,
reached over, and kissed her. “I just wanted to give you two enough time to
find a vehicle.” He turned to Jet. “Good job jump-starting it.”

“Thanks,” Jet
said. “I’m sorry I couldn’t give you a hand up there.”

“No need to
worry. I managed—just.”
Logan
revved the engine, strapped his seatbelt on, and headed for the
exit. “You better duck down. The men will probably shoot at us if they see us.”

Lucy and Jet
ducked down just before the vehicle emerged onto the street.
Logan
swung the
wheel to the right and headed away from the hospital, glancing into the
rearview
mirror as he did.

One of the men
who had been standing guard by the entrance of the hospital rushed onto the
street and opened fire with his shotgun.

Logan
ducked down
as the pellets flew past. As two pellets smacked into the back windshield and
cracked it, he pushed down on the accelerator. As soon as he could turn off the
street,
Logan
did. As the shots faded away, he sat up straight and glanced back
at the others. “Did you get hurt?”

Lucy and Jet
shook their heads.

“I was scared
when the glass broke though,” Lucy admitted.

“We were lucky
that there was only one man by the entrance,” Jet said. “Good thing the others
were inside looking for you.”

Logan
grunted while
staring in the
rearview
mirror. He let out a sigh as
he noticed no one was trailing them and eased off the gas. “I don’t know why
they followed us, but hopefully they have bigger fish to fry. Now let’s see if
the
Golden Gate
Bridge
is still standing.”

Five minutes
passed before they arrived at the structure. They were all relieved to see
that, while it was damaged, it looked in good enough condition to drive across.

Traveling
at a reasonable speed, they
crossed it. Once they were back on solid ground, Lucy smiled grimly. “I wasn’t
sure we were going to make it back there, especially when it started to creak.”

Logan
stretched
back.
“Me too.
Now I don’t want to offer any promises,
but it should be a nice and easy run to
Stinson
Beach
, so
relax and enjoy the scenery.”

Darkness had
fully closed in by the time Kenneth and the group arrived at a small town.
Several lights twinkled here and there. After stopping at the nearest house,
Kenneth banged on the door.

It took a while
to get an answer, but once the owner had ascertained that they weren’t going to
harm him, he let them inside.

After
ascertaining the necessary directions, they left the house and set off on a
brisk march.
 

“Forget about
holing up for the night. We might as well make the rest of the trek now.”
Kenneth huffed, adjusting his gear as best as possible. “I don’t feel like
sleeping outside any longer than I have to, and the lodge does have comfy beds.”

The others grumbled,
but they set off down the road. The moon had now risen in the cloudless sky. Along
with the countless stars, it helped them see where they were going.

Some miles later,
they reached the small town. After Kenneth got his bearings, they set off up a
steep hill. Five minutes later, puffing and panting, they reached the top of
the driveway.

As he came up to
the big steel gate, he couldn’t help but admire the place. The massive property
was surrounded by a ten-foot high stone wall that could shrug off an RPG. As an
added security measure, razor wire covered the top of the wall all the way
around.

There was also a
guard house just inside the property, as well as two security cameras that
swiveled
around twenty-four seven. At least they were
supposed to swivel around twenty-four seven, but not today.

“Here we are,”
Kenneth said, arriving at the gate. He tried to open them, but they were
locked.

“Do you know the
combination code?” Derek said, pointing at a slim, black box.

“Of course.
I forgot all about that.”
He punched in the code.

Nothing happened.
Derek tried prying the gates open, as did Molly and Mike, but still nothing
happened.

“Hmm, I must have
made a mistake.” Kenneth tried again, but it still didn’t open.

“What do we do now?”
Mike asked.

Suddenly, the
gates slid open.

Derek and Molly
hurried in, but Kenneth hung back. Mike saw the anger in his eyes. “What’s
wrong?”

“Someone from the
inside just opened the gates. Is it really such a good idea to just waltz into
the spider’s
parlor
?”

“Maybe the gates
are on a delayed mechanism.” Mike strolled onto the property. Kenneth
reluctantly followed.

They were halfway
to the front door when it opened from the inside. A shape appeared and shined a
flashlight in their eyes.

Kenneth tried to
shield his eyes from the glare. “Whoever you are, we come in peace.”

“Kenneth!”

Kenneth grinned.
He recognized the voice. “
Logan
!”

The brothers came
together in a bear hug, both smiling in delight.

“It feels like
forever since we parted,”
Logan
said.

“Me too.
So much has happened,”
Kenneth said. “Hey, did you rescue Lucy?”

Logan
flashed a
thumbs-up but couldn’t pry his eyes off Mike’s intense gaze. “Who is your
friend?”

“Don’t worry, you
can trust him.
Name’s Mike.”
Kenneth glanced around. “Where’s
Xavier?”

Logan
leaned
against the wall and shut his eyes. “He didn’t make it.”

Kenneth grabbed
his brother’s shoulder, as much to stay on his feet as for sympathy. “Damn. He
seemed so unstoppable.”

“Yeah.
I’ll tell you all the gory
details inside. I thought hell was supposed to be warm? It’s freezing out
here.”

The two shuffled
inside.

Two hours later,
everyone, except for the teens,
were
sitting around a
warm fireplace in the massive lounge room. Derek and Molly had been yawning
ever since they arrived at the lodge and were now snoring in one of the many
guest bedrooms.

Kenneth took a swig
of his steaming cup of coffee. He sighed. “I still don’t like the plan, but as
I don’t see any other option, I suppose you may as well go ahead and do it.”

Logan
flipped his
watch up. “If we get going now, we should be able to get back before dawn.”

“Well, five hours
of sleep is better than no sleep,” Kenneth said. “Are you sure you won’t need
my help?”

“No, we’ll be
fine, won’t we, Mike?”
Logan
asked.

“Let’s just get
going. The sooner we get back to
Redding
, the better.”

“I still don’t
know whether it’s a good idea to tell General Loreto about our plan. What if
something goes wrong?”
Logan
said.

Mike sighed. “I
don’t like this plan any more than you do, but it’s better to work with the
military than against them. Come dawn, they’ll attack. That is a certainty.
What isn’t a certainty is who will win.”

Logan
jerked his
head forward. “Okay, let’s see if the Striker is still where we saw it.”

After Kenneth and
Jet left to get some rest, Logan and Mike headed outside. They climbed inside
the red sedan and left the property.

It didn’t take
long to reach the city. From there, it was a straightforward drive to the
airport.

As they
approached the massive structure,
Logan
slowed down. “We better approach carefully. Last time I was here,
there was a roadblock set up outside the
entrance.
” As
he reached the turnoff, he brought the car to a halt. He leaned forward. “I
can’t see it, can you?”