Arden moaned.
The sound broke the spell.
Dom broke the kiss and stepped back. The space between them suddenly felt like a chasm. Arden pressed a palm to her racing heart, trying to catch her breath.
“I shouldn’t have done that,” he said.
She licked her lips. “Why?”
He shot her a dark, searing look.
She lifted her chin. “I liked it. I wanted it.”
She saw his jaw tighten and one of his hands curled into a fist.
Suddenly, the firing range door opened and Griff strode out. “Dom. Squad’s been called out.”
Dom stiffened. “What’s going on?”
“Tracker on the bomb stopped moving.”
Arden gasped, just as her communicator beeped. She pulled the small device out of her pocket. Then she looked up. “Squad Nine’s been called out as well.”
* * *
“Approaching location now.”
Arden heard Indy’s murmured words as they sat side by side in the Command Center. Squad Nine was currently flying their Darkswifts west of the tracker location, waiting to see if the berserkers needed them.
She prayed they didn’t.
Indy wore her headset over her dark hair, her eyes glued to her comp screen. Arden, her throat tight, leaned over to see Indy’s screen. It showed feed from Tane’s helmet camera. He was walking, and she caught a glimpse of Hemi’s broad shoulders.
As Tane moved again, she spotted Dom.
Arden’s belly clenched. So dark and dangerous, carbine clutched with ease in his hands. His face was focused on the mission ahead.
He’d kissed her. She reached up and touched her lips. He’d set her body alight and made her ache.
Dom Santora was attracted to her. So why was he fighting it?
Indy’s voice broke her out of her daydream. Arden cleared her throat. “Where are they exactly?”
Indy glanced up at her. “Just outside the town of Lithgow. About forty kilometers north-west of Katoomba.”
Where they’d last seen the Gizzida bomb. The berserkers and Indy had barely survived with their lives.
The aliens hadn’t moved very far.
“We’re here,” Tane said.
Arden gripped the edge of the table. She spotted the glimmer of water ahead.
“It’s Lake Lyell.” Indy tapped her screen. “Used to be a popular recreation spot for fishing, camping, water-skiing.”
Arden could guess why the Gizzida had picked the location. While the northern edges of the lake were deeply forested, at the southern end, most of the trees had been cleared away. The raptors hated the Eucalyptus trees and the cineole chemical they emitted.
“What the fuck?”
Tane’s curse made Arden glance back at the screen. She saw…something. Frowning, she leaned closer, staring at the large mounds lying at the lake’s edge.
“What the hell?” Indy murmured.
Arden suddenly realized what she was looking at. She gasped. They were piles of decomposing bodies. Her stomach turned over. Heaps of bones, scales, skin.
“Shit, the stench,” Levi muttered.
Tane turned his head, and Arden could see the piles continued into the distance along the water’s edge, in both directions.
“Masks,” Tane ordered.
Arden watched the berserkers pull small masks off their belts and slip them on. Then they moved closer to the piles of bodies. Some had spilled into the water and Arden pressed a hand to her mouth.
So many bodies.
Indy sucked in a breath, shaking her head.
Tane moved closer, aiming the camera downward. “The piles contain animals, humans, and raptors.”
As Tane glanced around, Arden even made out the decomposing body of a rex. The carcass of the huge, tyrannosaurs rex-like alien was bloated and partially decomposed.
“It’s a graveyard,” Dom said. “Lots of human bodies have raptor scales.”
“My guess is that they were test subjects who died in the Gizzida labs,” Ash murmured.
Indy’s face was pale, and Arden gripped the table harder. So many people had died in the Gizzida’s horrible labs. To know they’d ended up here, tossed out like trash, was horrifying.
“Indy, how far away are we from the tracking signal on the bomb?” Tane asked.
“It’s just a hundred meters west of your current location,” Indy answered.
“I don’t see anything,” Tane said.
Arden kept watching, her body tense. The place was creepy. Wrong.
“Fuck,” Hemi uttered.
“What is it?” Indy demanded.
“Some of the dead bodies are moving.” Tane’s voice was sharp. “Something’s coming out of the piles.”
Indy’s screen flared to life with heat signatures. A lot of them. Arden gasped.
“Squad Three, you have—” Indy made a frustrated sound “—a fuckload of medium-sized heat signatures incoming.”
“We see them.”
Tane’s voice was cool and controlled. On screen, dark shadows leaped out of the piles of bodies. They moved across the ground in a lightning-fast wiggle. They looked like giant worms.
They rushed at the berserkers.
Arden watched one of the creatures leap right at Tane. Indy and Arden had a clear view of the bottom of the alien—it had a wide, red sucker mouth. The thing looked like a giant leech.
Carbine fire erupted.
All around, more of the alien leeches were flinging themselves at the berserkers. The squad was cursing and fighting.
Arden touched her screen. “Roth, Squad Three are under attack by leech-like aliens.”
“Acknowledged,” Roth’s deep voice responded. “We’re headed their way.”
“One touched my armor,” Hemi yelled. “It’s sizzling. Saliva is corrosive or poisonous, or something.”
“Fuck.” Indy was tapping furiously on the keyboard.
Arden watched more laser fire light up the sky. “They’ll be okay, Indy. They’re tough. And Nine’s on the way.”
Indy nodded, but her face was pinched.
Watching the fighting, Arden tried to keep her own worry hidden. Come on, come on. She knew that the berserkers were tough, excellent fighters. They fought hard and dirty. They’d be okay.
She searched the screen for any sign of Dom.
Then she heard Hemi’s deep shout. “Fuck! Help.”
“There’s a sucker on Hemi,” Levi yelled.
“Get it off me!” Hemi bellowed.
Tane was sprinting toward his brother and, on screen, Arden saw Dom leap over several bodies, knives in both hands.
Dom reached Hemi first. The bearded berserker was on the ground, wrestling with the giant leech attached to his chest. Dom dropped down, slashing at the sucker. As soon as he cut into it, it exploded. Gore flew everywhere.
Hemi sat up, roaring.
“Three more suckers incoming, Dom,” Indy said frantically.
Arden pulled in a shuddering breath. She saw the horrible creatures slithering across the ground, honing in on Dom and Hemi. Oh, God.
Chapter Five
Dom gripped the neck of Hemi’s armor and dragged the man aside. Hemi grunted, the side of his neck covered in nasty burns.
“Watch…out,” Hemi bit out.
Turning, Dom saw another sucker rushing across the ground at them. He slashed out with his knife, the blade cutting into fleshy skin. It exploded.
Another creature leaped into the air, hungry mouth opening and closing. Dom thrust the knife in deep. Splat. He spun again and saw a third one slithering across the ground. He kicked it and when it flipped, he threw his knife at it.
Another explosion of gore. Dom scooped up his knife and shoved it back in its sheath. Then he gripped Hemi’s armor and dragged the man away from the danger zone.
Ash raced over to help. The taller man grabbed Hemi from the opposite side, and together they set him down on the grass. Dropping to his knees, Ash yanked open his
small med kit. He leaned over to treat Hemi’s injury.
“Hang in there, my man,” Ash murmured.
Dom straightened, scanning for more suckers. The front of his armor was splattered with gore, and steaming lightly.
The rest of the squad was firing. More suckers were racing across the ground from the piles of bodies. Dom tightened his grip on his knives. He’d always been good with the blade. He’d trained with knives ever since Salvatore had given him his first one as a boy.
Striding forward, he saw Tane and Levi spraying carbine fire. Griff kicked one of the suckers into the air. Then aimed his carbine and unloaded laser fire into it.
“There are more of them in the bodies,” Griff yelled.
“Indy, we need back-up,” Tane barked out.
“Squad Nine is on the way,” Indy said in their earpieces.
Dom glanced over to check on Ash and Hemi. Ash had the other man on his feet, but Hemi looked like he’d been on a three-day bender, then lost a boxing match.
“Anyone see the bomb?” Dom searched the area.
“Dom, you’re right near the signal.” The voice in his earpiece didn’t belong to Indy. It was Arden.
Her cool voice moved through him. He could easily picture her sitting in the Command Center. Hell, he could smell her, still taste her. He closed his eyes for a second. He was so weak.
When he opened his eyes, another sucker came at him. He bent low, his knife flashing. As the sucker’s body disintegrated, he scanned the ground again.
“I can’t see a bomb,” Dom said.
“Motherfuckers.” Suddenly, Hemi stepped forward and aimed his carbine. He sprayed laser fire around.
“Painkillers kicked in,” Ash said dryly.
“Dom, behind you,” Griff yelled.
Dom swiveled and spotted a sucker coming up behind him. He slammed his boot down on top of it. It twisted and made a hissing noise. He brought his knife down through its head.
It exploded.
Wincing, he yanked his knife out. He’d had enough blood and guts for the day.
Something glinted in the remnants of the sucker. Cazzo. He toed his boot through the mess.
“Indy, Arden. I found the tracker. It was in one of the suckers.” It was corroded from being inside the alien. He crunched his boot down on it. They tried to never waste tech, but the tracker was damaged, and who knew if the Gizzida had hacked it. “The bomb’s not here.”
All around him, his squad mates cursed.
“Squad Three, mission fucking aborted,” Tane said. “Let’s get out of here.”
“With pleasure.” Levi stomped closer, his carbine still aimed at the corpses.
They all closed in, backing up together and moving away from the lake.
“I have the Hawk en route,” Indy said. “Get back to the rendezvous point.”
“I see the Darkswifts,” Ash called out.
Dom glanced to the west and saw the dark shadows of the powered gliders in the sky above the far end of the lake. Then, as he took a step backward, his boot hit something wooden. He heard a splintering sound, and his foot dropped through.
Cazzo. His leg was stuck up to his knee. He jerked on it. It looked like someone had once dug some shallow tunnels that had been covered with wooden planks.
The wood cracked, and he fell down into the trench. Dom slammed onto his back, winded for a second. “Fuck!”
“Dom,” Griff yelled.
His team mates appeared above him.
Dom sat up, then he froze. Something shifted in the darkness at the other end of the trench.
“Dom, get the fuck out of there.” Griff’s urgent voice.
Before he could get his feet under him, a mass of suckers rushed out of the darkness. His heart hammered in his chest. There were too many, and they were too close.
“Dom, get up.” Arden’s voice in his ear.
A sucker leaped on him. Dom slashed out with his knife.
But there were too many and they all landed on top of him in a writhing mass. Burning pain hit his face and neck. He heard his squad mates shouting.
“Get them off me!” Dom yelled.
One was right in front of his face. He grabbed it, tugging on its squishy body. Its flesh squeezed under his gloved fingers.
He sensed his squad close, fighting to free him, but he couldn’t see a fucking thing. Another sucker latched onto his neck.
Dom shouted. Fiery pain tore through him, like being dipped in battery acid. Salvatore had liked to burn his enemies.
Blackness threatened, splotches dancing in front of Dom’s eyes. His knife slipped from his hands.
“Dom, hold on!” Arden urged him.
Bella. It was a soundless whisper.
Then his familiar mistress, the darkness, sank her sharp claws into him and pulled him under.
* * *
With nausea churning in her gut, Arden clutched Indy’s hand. They were running toward the Hawk hangar.
She knew her friend was worried about her entire squad. Arden sucked in a short breath, trying to ease the pressure in her chest. She was so worried about Dom.
As they reached the entrance to the hangar, Doc Emerson appeared. Behind her stood several of her nurses, pushing two iono-stretchers that floated above the ground.
Together, they stood in a small group.
“We’ll get them all patched up.” Emerson tried for a smile, tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. “These berserkers are tougher than carbon fiber.”
Arden couldn’t smile back. She squeezed Indy’s hand tighter. Dom was hurt badly. The others had pulled him out, but he’d been buried under a pile of suckers and unconscious.
And Tane had cut the camera feed, not letting them see him.
A moment later, the general joined them. He gave them a quiet nod, his face serious. “Squad Nine?”
Arden cleared her throat. “They provided cover for the berserkers to get back to the Hawk. They’ll be landing shortly.”
Alarms echoed through the cavernous hangar, followed by the clang of the doors above retracting. A second later, a Hawk quadcopter descended. The aircraft swiveled, and its skids touched the concrete floor.
Heart in her throat, Arden stared at the side door of the Hawk.
Be okay. Please, be okay.
The door slid open, and she instantly spotted Tane. He was always impassive and unsmiling, but now he looked downright grim.
Levi appeared, helping Hemi off. The man had nasty burns on his neck, and the chest plate of his armor was burned and twisted.
Then Ash and Griff followed, carrying a body between them.
Arden stopped breathing.
As she looked at Dom’s limp form, flashbacks peppered her head. The night of the invasion. That night on the street, her family dead, so many injured, dead bodies all around her.
“Here.” Emerson rushed forward, pushing an iono-stretcher. “Get him on here.”
The men laid Dom out flat and a second later, Indy threw herself into Griff’s arms. Without thinking, Arden moved closer to the stretcher.
“I gave him a dose of nanomeds,” Ash told the doctor.
Emerson clasped his shoulder. “Good work. We’ll take it from here.”
Arden pressed a fist to her chest, watching the doctor check Dom over and pressing medical monitoring patches to his skin. As Emerson shifted, Arden got a clear view of him.
Nausea rushed into her throat. His armor was completely ruined. What was left of it was peppered in burns, looking like it had melted. His face and neck were badly burned, all raw and red.
“I’m not lying on the damn stretcher,” Hemi grumbled.
Emerson looked over and rolled her eyes. “Hemi Rahia!”
His face turned belligerent. “No.”
Indy straightened. “I’ll go and get Cam. She’s on patrol.”
Arden nodded, as her friend rushed off.
“All right, let’s get Dom to the infirmary,” the doctor ordered.
As
the nurses started pushing the stretcher toward the door, Arden followed.
Once they reached the infirmary, Arden stayed to the side. They shifted him onto a bunk and she sat down beside his bed. The team worked around him—stripping his armor and cleaning his wounds. Arden reached out and touched his arm.
Emerson appeared. She eyed Arden, but didn’t say anything. She checked a scanner, making a few noises. She called out orders for some meds.
A moment later, the door opened and Hemi came in, sitting on a stretcher. A tall, dark-skinned brunette in armor was striding beside him.
“You’re injured,” Cam McNabb snapped. “You don’t get to be an idiot. Whatever the doc tells you to do, you do it.”
“Baby—”
“No way, Hemi Rahia. You’re not babying me right now. I want you better.”
As some of Emerson’s team moved to work on Hemi, Emerson stayed close to Dom, checking his neck again. She glanced down at Arden.
Arden saw the silent question in the doctor’s eyes. “I wanted to sit with him. He…helped me out recently.”
Emerson nodded. “The nanos are working fine. His vitals are good. He’s going to be okay.”
The air shuddered out of Arden’s lungs. “Thanks.”
Finally, the medical team moved off, and there was quiet around Dom’s bed.
Unable to stop herself, Arden reached out and stroked his face, where it wasn’t injured. “The doc said you’ll be fine.”
She continued to murmur quietly to him, mostly nonsense stuff, but also letting him know he wasn’t alone.
Suddenly, his dark eyes opened. They weren’t very focused, but his head turned toward her.
“Bella.”
This close, she could see that his eyelashes were very long for a man and inky black. “I’m here.”
His eyes closed and he was asleep again.
“How is he?”
Arden turned her head and saw Hemi—now fully healed—leaning heavily on Cam.
“He’s resting. Doc Emerson said he’s going to be fine. You?”
Hemi thrust a thumb against his chest. “I’m too tough to be down for long.”
From beside him, Cam rolled her eyes.
Dom: Hell Squad #18 Page 4