The gate cracked open the breadth of a man’s shoulders. A peacoat deader guard stepped through. He eyed the markings on the outside of the van. Guppy had prepped the van with lettering that read Drake Industries. The guard carried a small Uzi in his hands that was strapped over his shoulder.
“He’s got some heat,” Cort whispered.
“We aren’t expecting any deliveries,” the deader said. He searched out their faces. “This is an awfully big delivery crew.”
Russ lowered his voice down to a threatening tone. “Yeah, well, Mack Black knows we’re coming. And I think you know what this crew is all about. We just happen to be a late arrival. These hard faces got caught up in customs.” Russ held up a fake Drake ID badge. “Go ahead. Check it.”
The deader’s eyes slid over the badge and hung on Cort. “I don’t even want to know what you turn into. Give me a sec to sort this out.” The guard moved back to the gate and started talking to someone on the other side of the opening. He gave a nod. Holding his hand up in a stop signal, the guard put his shoulder on the gate and walked it open. The chain links rattled.
Six peacoat deader guards were pointing Uzis right at them.
“Morning Glory,” Sid whispered.
The peacoat that opened the fence dropped his arm and shouted, “Fire!”
Muzzles flared. Bullets blasted. Sam let out a bloodcurdling scream.
“Run through them, Russ! Stomp the gas! Now!” yelled Sid.
Rolling up the window at the same time, Russ crushed down the gas pedal.
The juggernaut of a van powered forward.
The deaders split like the Red Sea.
“Where the hell am I going?” Russ yelled.
“Just run them over!” Cort rolled down his window and started shooting.
Spray after spray of bullets rattled off the metal on the panel van, making loud popping sounds.
Ears covered, Sam looked squeamishly at Sid. “I really don’t like this!”
“We need to get to the building entrance.” Sid was leaning forward to squeeze in between the two front seats. Pointing, she said, “There!”
“I’m going. I’m going.” Russ spun the wheel in his hand. The tires screeched. A peacoat popped up right in front of him, blasting away. The van plowed the deader over. The van jostled. “Twenty points!”
Sam chortled a strange giggle. A crooked grin appeared on her face. “That was kinda funny.”
Russ drove the panel van through wave after wave of dodging and diving deaders. The van made a nasty weapon, but that wasn’t the plan. They had brought it to get them to the building quickly, and then later, to speed them off to safety. But Russ was driving all over the place.
Cort was screaming, “Waaaaahoooooo!”
“Russ!” Sid yelled. “Get us to the door! This isn’t a video game! Drop us off and get out!”
Bullets peppered the metal machine.
Russ ran another peacoat down. “Okay! He was pretty big. Thirty points for that one!”
Cort was still shooting. “I’ve taken out four of them! I don’t see any more. I think we have this place cleared out.”
The van circled through the parking lot. A small group of deaders dashed over the blacktop and hid behind a sizable storage shed.
“There’s some!” Russ turned the wheel in the shed’s direction. “I say we oust the last of them.”
Sid grabbed the man by the ear. “Get us to the entrance, Russ!”
Russ slammed on the brakes. He was twenty feet from the shed. “Okay, okay, I’ll back it up. Geez, I’m not a five-year-old. Just having some fun mowing over evil. How often does a guy like me get a chance like that?” He dropped the van into reverse.
Two huge men burst out of the shed. They stood at least ten feet tall.
Sam screamed, “Aaaaaaah!”
“What in the hell are those!” Russ yelled.
“Sweet butter biscuits, those are the biggest dudes I ever saw!” Cort added.
They were Rexor and Thorgrim, the giants Smoke had fought before. One of them had a missing eye and a bald head. The other was just hairy. Muscles bulged beneath their chestnut-colored jumpsuits. The shambling men came at them with wild eyes.
“Back it out of here, Russ!”
The engine revved. They didn’t move. “I’m trying! I’m trying!”
“You’re in neutral, idiot!” Sid stretched her arm out and yanked the van into reverse. The tires spun. “Go! Go! Go!”
The hairy giant dented the side of the van’s passenger-side fender with a swing from a huge mallet-headed hammer. The blow rocked the van to the side.
“Whoa!” Sam leaned away.
The van accelerated from the giants.
Both monstrous men gave chase. Their long legs closed the distance.
Russ cut the wheel. The van did a one-eighty. He dropped it into drive and hit the gas, making a bead line straight for the entrance. “I don’t know about this plan, Sid. We need to shake those giant bearded bastards!”
Sid could see the giants running after them through the portal windows in the back. If they stopped, the giants would have them. “You’re right. We need to shake them.” She climbed into the very back seat and popped one of the rearmost doors open. “Keep driving.”
“What are you doing?” Mal said to her.
“Just keep ahold of me!”
With Mal holding her tight by the waist, Sid started firing her Glock. Blue-tipped bullets ripped through Thorgrim, who led the charge.
He didn’t slow.
“Crap! Those won’t do it!” She popped out her cartridge and fumbled for one with red-tipped bullets.
The van rocked.
The red-tipped magazine slipped from her fingers and out of the van. “Russ!”
“Forty points!” Russ replied.
A body rolled out from under the van.
Thorgrim hopped over it. Rexor crushed it under his feet. The van cut to the right.
“Russ, what are you doing?” Sid yelled.
“Sorry, I was trying to clip a straggler.”
The maneuver was costly. The bald giant angled into the direction that Russ cut the wheel. Rexor bull-rushed the driver’s side of the van full force, rocking the heavy vehicle up on two side wheels.
The bald giant closed in. His long arms stretched out. His fingers hooked the open door. He dug his heels into the ground, slowing the van’s momentum.
Sid slammed her cartridge of blue tips back into the Glock then unloaded the entire clip in the giant’s one-eyed face.
The giant roared. His grip slipped.
Sid grabbed the door and slammed it shut. “I need something bigger to stop those things. Send me up some more red tips!”
Guppy passed his gun over his shoulder. “Yer locked and loaded.”
The van slowed.
“Russ, what are you doing?” Sid said.
Stomping on the pedal, Russ said, “I don’t know. We’ve lost gas or something. I think the fuel line ruptured.”
“That’s what we get for you running over all those peacoats like an idiot!” Sid noticed a wet trail behind the van. “Damn!”
That wasn’t all. One-eye zeroed in on the front and the hairy giant full of beard on the rear. Together, they grabbed the van by the front and back bumpers. With a heave of their shoulders, they flipped the van over on its side.
CHAPTER 10
Fifty feet off the bow of the yacht docked at the Drake Energy Plant, Asia treaded water. Wearing nothing but a sweetheart suit and a belt of gear, she mumbled, “Mal owes me a five-star dinner for this. This river stinks.” She paddled toward the yacht. “Shitty job.”
Asia was accustomed to bad jobs. She grew up in poverty in the streets of a small Filipino city called Mabalacat. She did dirty jobs, just about anything, to make ends meet. The hovel of a town resided alongside Clark Air Base in the Philippines. It was on that base that she got a job working at one of the local barracks for the Third Law Enforcement Squadron as a house girl.
Young and with a fetching figure, she ended up marrying a G.I. named Logan. When the volcano at Mount Pinatubo erupted, Clark Air Base was closed. She was relocated stateside. Her husband, Logan, a law enforcement officer, taught her how to shoot. She had a knack for it and many other things. Logan died a few years later from sudden cardiac arrest, but having pursued an education during that time, she made a good living as a nurse. That’s when she met Mal Gunderson. He mentored her in other arenas—espionage, surgery—and having taught her all that he would, he ended up marrying her. She’d been his woman ever since, but still had a penchant for doing just about anything for good food.
A handful of peacoat deaders were spaced out on the craft. One of them faced her direction. An Uzi hung from his shoulder. Something caught his attention, and he turned away. One of the other guards was shouting for him. The deader hustled away.
Asia made her move. She swam to the ladder on the aft of the boat and climbed into the yacht to the sound of gunfire cracking off in the distance. The peacoats hung over the railing with their backs to her. Moving with the shadows, she took the steps down into the cabin, passing through a small saloon. Footsteps caught her ears. She hunkered underneath a small dining table. A set of guards walked right by her and up the steps. She darted into the hall that led into the engine room.
She withdrew two small bricks of plastic explosives and planted the tacky plastic under the belly of the engine. There were two small electronic detonators with timers. She fed the contacts into the explosives. There were timers on each, set for one minute. She triggered them both.
“Time to go.”
The light-footed woman doubled back to spy through the doorway that led into the kitchen. She sniffed. Something smelled very, very good. She peeked inside the doorway. A small buffet of platters was laid out on the kitchen counter. There were rolls, stacks of sliced meat, and cheeses. Spicy-scented vegetables were steaming inside silver serving dishes heated up by Sterno kits. She licked her lips.
I think I’ll take some of my pay early.
Asia filled slices of ham, turkey, and roast beef loaded with cheese into two rolls. She stuffed the food into the chest of her suit. Snagging an eggroll, she stuffed it into her mouth and headed back toward the steps that led out of the cabin.
A short stumpy man sat on the stairs with his fingers knitted together. His features were heavy, his ears were long, and there was an unnatural gleam in his yellow eyes. He wore a bow tie.
“Pardon me, but I don’t recall you being part of the crew?” the man said in creepy voice. “Perhaps we haven’t met. I’m Titus Tolliver, and I’m responsible for this craft.”
Asia had heard the stories about every shifter they’d come across and what their powers were. She knew Titus was like a gargoyle with skin harder than stone. She drew her weapon and said with a mouthful of eggroll, “Get the hell out of my way, Titus. You’re going to make me late.”
Wearing a nice grey suit that shone in the cabin lights, Titus said, “Those little bullets won’t do you any good, tiny lady.”
“No?” Asia said. “Well, I was taught that the red one work just fine on the likes of you.”
Titus’s citrine eyes widened. “Eh, I’m certain you didn’t take the time to load those. That would be premature.”
“True, but I like big, big explosions. They excite me. Now, Titus, it’s time for me to light your stony fanny up like the Fourth of July. Goodbye, Titus.”
Hands up, Titus said, “Nooo!”
Backpedaling, Asia squeezed the trigger twice.
Boom! Boom!
The concussive force knocked her back into the cabin. The gun fell from her hand. Her face was filled with bright lights. Clawing for anything she could get ahold of, she found a strip of railing. She climbed through a window portal that had blasted open, forced herself over the railing, and splashed into the waters in a clumsy flop. Using her strength, she swam as far and fast as she could on arms that felt like lead.
“There!” a peacoat guard shouted.
A hail of gunfire blasted into the waters all around her.
Still swimming, she counted down in her head, “Three, two, goodbye, Mother—”
KABOOM!
Asia swam to the sandy bank. Huffing for breath, she sat down, pulled her sandwiches from inside her watertight suit, and ate while she watched the burning boat sink.
“Damn, I forgot the mustard.”
CHAPTER 11
After a powerful leap, Smoke dug his fingernails into brick and mortar. He scuttled up the side of the building like a tree squirrel before flinging himself onto the roof. Without slowing, he ran to the side overlooking the parking lot, grabbing a discarded assault rifle on his way.
Guppy’s van sped through the parking lot. Peacoats gave chase. The guards fired automatic shots that blistered the van. Russ ran two of them over. Cort sat in the front, firing out of the window and hitting his marks.
Smoke shouldered his rifle and took aim. The deader guards converged. Smoke picked them off one by one with semiautomatic shots.
All of their well-laid plans had fallen apart. Kane would have the complex on full alert. The element of surprise was gone. The only thing they could do now was barrel inside and shoot everything that moved. So far, the group was doing pretty well on their own. The peacoats were on the run. The last ones dashed behind the storage shed.
Perfect! Head for the door, Sid! I’m right with you!
That was when all hell broke loose.
The giants busted out of the shed and gave chase. Smoke picked off the last three peacoats that charged after the huge men. But with their impossibly long strides, the giants caught up with the van. Before Smoke could say gesundheit, the entire van was flipped over like a toy. The giants laid into the van with a huge hammer and triple-bladed axe, the same weapons Thorgrim and Rexor had used before.
This would all make better sense if I lived in the Hyborian Age.
As the giants tore into the van like it was a giant sardine can, Smoke sprang off the wall and took flight.
Thorgrim ripped the passenger door off and yanked Cort out of the vehicle like a doll.
The black man fired bullets into the giant’s face.
The giant grinned then opened his jaws wide. He swallowed Cort’s arm up to the elbow and bit down.
Wide-eyed, Cort screamed with bellowing terror.
Smoke landed behind the giant. He shot it in the back of the head with a red-tipped bullet. The giant’s chin hit his chest.
Cort fell to the ground, clutching his elbow.
Thorgrim wheeled around with axe in hand. He charged Smoke.
Smoke fired one round after the other into the giant. The crescendo of boom-boom-boom slowed the tremendous man, but he kept coming.
***
Sid bumped her head on the roof of the van. Sam landed right on top of her. Including Guppy, they were tangle of limbs. Something hammered at the van from the outside. The metal walls of the van were caving. The sides bulged under the blows. “Is everyone okay?”
The answer came in the sound of metal groaning. Cort’s door was ripped from the hinges. Giant fingers grabbed him by the arm, jerking him from the seat. Gunfire, hammering, and screams ruled the moment. The hammering stopped. The van started to spin like a top. It stopped with Rexor taking a knee and peering inside.
Pushing himself into the door and kicking at the giant’s grabby fingers, Russ shouted, “Get this thing away from me! I didn’t sign up for this! I’m a reporter, not a fighter.”
“Well, you should have thought of that before you started running people over like a moron!” Sid blasted several rounds at Rexor.
Sam and Guppy turned loose their own gunfire. Bullets pelted the giant’s face. His expression turned to a face of savage anger. He backed off, picked up his hammer, and swung with rage-filled momentum. His first blow knocked the windshield out.
Russ scrambled to the back.
The entire front end of the van was being pulverized.
Bits of metal and glass flew everywhere. The giant reached his long arm through the opening.
“I’m not sticking around for this.” Sam fought to open the van’s back doors.
Sid found Mal sprawled on his side, out cold. The side of his head was bleeding. Lending her help to Sam, together they shoved one of the split doors open. All of them crawled out. Sid and Guppy dragged Mal by the arms. They all scurried away as far from the van as they could.
The giant rose up. Eyeing them, for a moment he continued his assault on what was now a busted-up metal box. The pounding stopped. He pointed the monster hammer at them. “You’re going to be dogfood.”
Sid stuffed Mal into Russ’s trembling arms. “Get him out of here. Hide! You too, Sam!”
“But—” Sam sort of objected.
“Go with her, love,” Guppy said, holding a gun in each hand. “It’s on us now.”
On wobbly legs, Sam and Russ took off, with Sam saying over her shoulder, “Don’t get killed. That’s an order!”
Sid and Guppy spread apart, circling the giant, who walked right at them. They gave each other a quick look. Sid gave the nod. With guns in both hands, she pulled the triggers. Guppy matched her efforts as they both fired and backpedaled at the same time.
Between the small bangs and large booms, the one-eyed monster kept coming. The explosions slowed him a little, but that was all. He turned right at Guppy and closed in. The hammer went up and came down hard.
Guppy darted out of the way.
The giant gave chase.
“Oh crap,” Sid said, loading in another clip of bullets. Rexor bore down on Guppy like a coyote chasing an old cat. A few more steps and it would be over.
CHAPTER 12
“Allison, it seems our guests have arrived early,” Kane said after a lengthy outburst of laughter. Kane wasn’t one to laugh, but the hilarity of Smoke hitting the window like a bird tickled him to the bone. “I swear, sometimes I miss being human and laughing so hard that your guts hurt. The only problem is that death thing.”
The Supernatural Bounty Hunter Files: Special Edition Fantasy Bundle, Books 6 thru 10 (Smoke Special Edition Book 2) Page 54