by Anna Hackett
“A pretty normal story for a teenage girl.”
“Yeah. Except he swept me off my feet, and six months later, I was married and living in a huge house in the suburbs.” She let out a caustic laugh. “Or trying to. I was a terrible housewife.”
It seemed stupid now, to give up your sense of self for a man. She thought about telling Emerson and Santha the entire tale, but her gut clenched solid. She just couldn’t bring herself to expose the horrible, painful details.
Annoyed she’d even dredged up this much, she waved a hand. “Anyway, to cut a long, miserable, and predictable story short, he wasn’t a prince. He cheated on me. Not once, but loads of times. Nurses, female doctors, even some of the wives I was lunching with. Guy couldn’t keep it zipped.”
“Shit,” Santha muttered.
“I don’t expect anyone to be anything but what they are. I learned that lesson. I sure as hell wasn’t happy pretending to be some domestic goddess. I don’t expect Shaw to be anyone but himself.”
Emerson’s face had turned serious. “Do you trust Shaw?”
“With my life,” Claudia answered instantly.
The doc nodded. “Just not with your heart.”
Claudia sighed and rubbed her forehead. “It doesn’t matter now. He’s off having his fun.” And her damn heart was getting another scar. “It’s for the best.”
An alarm rang out across the town. Emerson and Santha stiffened and turned.
Claudia pushed to her feet. “What the hell is that?”
“It’s the emergency evac alarm,” Santha said grimly.
Controlled chaos exploded around them. Claudia watched as people started rushing around, gathering up things, packing, wrenching open the doors to vehicles, urging people inside. Somewhere a child started crying.
Emerson turned to Claudia. “It means the Gizzida are getting close. We have to leave. Now!”
Chapter Seven
Shaw jogged across the main street, slapping his armor on as he went. He headed toward the Z6-Hunter armored vehicles. They were armor-plated, military SUVs, with an autocannon mounted on top.
He spied Marcus striding toward him. “What’s happening?”
Marcus’ scarred face was grim. “Drones picked up the Huntsman. He’s heading in this direction.”
Shit. “Does he know our exact location?”
“No. But they are systematically searching, trying to sniff us out, and they’re getting closer.”
Shaw tugged open the door of the Hunter. “What’s the plan?”
“Along with Squad Nine and Squad Three, we intercept the Huntsman. We keep him busy while the convoy gets away.”
Shaw nodded. “Got it.”
He rounded the vehicle. He wanted to check the autocannon. He’d had some of the mechanics make a few mods to it— Shaw ran smack into somebody and grunted. Claudia grimaced and clutched her leg.
Shaw grabbed her shoulders to steady her. “Shit. Sorry.”
She pulled her arm away from his touch, and he felt something inside him twinge. He hated that.
“What are you doing here?” Damn, he didn’t mean for his voice to sound so sharp.
She scowled at him. “I’m a part of this squad, remember?” She stomped over to the door and wrenched it open. She set her carbine inside.
“You’re still injured.” They’d literally just rescued her. He wasn’t going to watch her rush back into danger before she was ready.
“The doc said the therapy today helped. My leg is getting better.”
“You should rest it more. You could do more damage.”
Her look was sour. “I’ll take that under advisement, doctor.”
“You’re not—”
She slapped her palms against the vehicle. “I need to fight, Shaw.” Her words were like bullets. “They kept me chained up, tortured me, tried to break me to get to all these people. I need some payback, but more than that, I need my normal back. I need this.” She tapped the side of the Hunter.
Shaw raked a hand through his hair. Dammit all to hell. He could see it in her face—the pain, the rage. He wanted to drag her into his arms, but he knew she’d deck him.
Marcus shouldered between them. “Get in.” His voice was a growl. “We need to go.”
Shaw and Claudia glared at each other for a second, before she ducked her head and climbed into the Hunter.
Shaw looked up at the blue sky and muttered a few mental curses that didn’t make him feel any better before he climbed in. He brushed past Claudia, and climbed into the cannon seat. God, he might be pissed she wasn’t at a hundred percent and heading out, but it felt right to have her back.
As the others all got into the vehicle, he checked the cannon controls.
“All right,” Marcus called back. “Let’s go.”
Cruz put the Hunter in gear and they rolled out.
The convoy and the small town disappeared behind them. Ahead was an empty, curving road.
“Where are Squads Nine and Three?” Reed called out.
“Nine’s coming in on the Darkswifts. The berserkers…well, they’ll be there.”
“Hell Squad, are you reading me?” Elle’s voice came across the comms.
“Loud and clear, Elle,” Marcus replied.
“Five kilometers ahead, you’ll come to Cedar Pass, which is a narrow gap through the mountains. The aliens are gathered there.”
The ride was quiet, tense, but Shaw recognized the silence. Extreme focus.
They rounded a curve in the road and ahead, through the trees, he saw the pass. And the activity near it.
Then the mountainside above the pass exploded.
Rocks tumbled down, blocking the road. Claudia had said this Huntsman was more cunning, and Shaw agreed. The alien was blowing up every damn road out of the mountains.
“Fucking aliens,” Marcus bit out. He turned. “Ready to go to hell?”
“Hell yeah.” Shaw raised his voice with his squad. “The devil needs an ass-kicking.”
Shaw looked through the cannon’s laser scope. He saw groups of raptor soldiers, and he saw their versions of Hunters—ugly, squat vehicles with spikes on them. It made them look like a bunch of triceratops. Once the raptors spotted Hell Squad’s Hunter, they dived for their vehicles. A moment later, three alien vehicles raced in their direction.
“Incoming!” Shaw yelled.
He aimed and fired.
More laser fire appeared, hitting the other raptor vehicles. Shaw caught a shimmer in the sky, and knew Squad Nine had arrived.
One of the raptor vehicles exploded and flipped onto its roof. It crashed into a second one, and they ran off the road, hitting the trees.
The other vehicle charged at them, but Cruz swerved, and it sped past.
“Holy shit, look,” Claudia was pointing ahead.
Shaw saw them. Huge vehicles with giant chainsaws mounted on the front. They were tearing paths through the trees.
“Yeah, they used them when they attacked the base.” Raptors didn’t like forests. They stuck to the cities and roads. The geek squad still hadn’t worked out what the aliens didn’t like about the trees, but the theory was they came from a rocky, treeless world…and the trees gave off something they didn’t like.
Another raptor vehicle came out of nowhere, ramming straight into them.
Cruz cursed, frantically grappling with the Hunter’s controls. Around them, small explosives erupted, smoke filling the air. Laser fire lit up the smoke.
The Hunter screeched to a stop. Cruz jerked the gearstick and they moved forward again. Out of the smoke, he saw an entire row of raptor vehicles lined up, pointed in their direction.
Shaw opened fire, but he already knew there were too many.
Then he heard a rumble. A vibration in the air.
Smaller vehicles whizzed past their Hunter. What the hell?
“The berserkers,” Marcus said with a faint smile. “Crazy bastards.”
They were riding motorcycles and heading into the pack o
f oncoming raptors. Shaw’s eyes widened. Crazy was right.
He zoomed in with the cannon scope and saw Tane, his face blank and calm, riding a heavily modified bike. It had extra armor plating and… Suddenly, something shot out of the front of Tane’s bike.
It rammed into the lead raptor vehicle and the vehicle exploded.
Shaw choked on a laugh. The man had a missile launcher attached to the bike.
The rest of the berserkers rode in a dizzying display, lasers, grenades, and missiles launching from their bikes.
“They are brilliant,” Claudia said. “Insane, but brilliant.”
Shaw started firing, targeting the other raptor vehicles. Squad Nine had circled back, their Darkswifts black blurs in the sky.
Shaw spied a flash of red in the smoke. An alien with red on his chest was standing atop a vehicle, calmly watching the fight like it was a mildly inferior movie. “Claudia. Ten o’clock. That the bastard?”
She climbed back, squeezing between him and his seat to look in the cannon scope. Shaw had a fleeting second to savor the feel of her pressed up against him before she nodded.
“That’s him. The Huntsman.”
Because Shaw was so close, he felt her slight shudder. This alien had hurt her. It took a hell of a lot to scare a woman, a soldier, like Claudia Frost.
Shaw looked back through the scope. The Huntsman was going down.
Like he sensed Shaw’s thoughts, the alien’s gaze swung toward Hell Squad’s Hunter, and then he climbed inside his vehicle. It lunged forward, heading in their direction.
“Huntsman inbound.” Shaw swung his laser around. He fired, but the Huntsman’s vehicle fell in behind two others, and he lost sight of it.
Shaw kept firing. He saw Darkswift lasers hit the ground nearby, heard his team shouting.
Suddenly, out of the smoke, a raptor vehicle charged at them like a damn dinosaur. It rammed into them. Hard.
Cruz and Marcus were yelling, the noise a wordless jumble, and then the Hunter tipped over on its wheels.
“Hang on!” Marcus shouted.
There was a crunch of metal, and their Hunter rolled.
***
Claudia came to, her head aching. She touched her forehead and felt a lump, but everything else seemed to be functional. She was trapped in her chair, held there by her harness. Below her, Gabe was slowly regaining consciousness.
She heard Marcus talking to Cruz.
“Everyone okay?” Claudia asked.
A chorus of pissed off yeses answered her.
All except for Shaw.
She spun and her heart knocked against her ribs. The autocannon had been torn off the vehicle, leaving a gaping hole in the roof. The entire thing was gone.
“Shaw!” She unclipped her harness and climbed up, pulling herself to the door. Her leg protested, but she ignored it.
Now she had to get the damn door open.
Before she did anything, it was ripped open. Above, she saw Tane standing, feet spread, on the side of the overturned Hunter. Without a word, he held a hand down to her.
She slapped her gloved palm against his, and he pulled her up with one lithe move. Damn, the guy was strong.
“Hemi will help you down,” he said, his voice deep.
She nodded and saw Tane’s brother, a slightly older and bulkier version of Tane—minus the dreadlocks—standing by the tipped-over Hunter.
“Come on, darlin’, let me be your hero.”
She snorted but jumped off and let him catch her. With his beard and long hair, she wasn’t sure Hemi Rahia was hero material, but the guy had rough and sexy down.
“Thanks.” She looked around. “I need to find Shaw.”
“We have him,” Hemi said. “Ash is looking after him over there.”
She stepped through the smoke and spotted Shaw sitting beside a tree, holding his head in his hands. Ash Connors was standing near him, carbine raised. She didn’t know much about Connors, except that he was covered in serious tats and had led a biker gang before the invasion.
“Shaw!” She ran over.
He turned and she gasped. His entire face was covered in blood.
“Just a scratch.” He pointed to his scalp. “Small but its bleeding like crazy.”
She knelt beside him and pressed the wadded up cloth in his hand back to his head. “Keep the pressure on.”
Marcus and the others appeared. “Tane, we need the Hunter back on its wheels. Roth’s going to keep them off us as long as he can. But we won’t have long.”
Tane nodded. “Boys, let’s get this Hunter upright.”
Claudia watched as the rest of the berserkers appeared through the smoke. Their carbines were all modified, and most wore extra bandoliers filled with grenades and other ammunition. They were all big, broad, and covered in tattoos. Guardian angels had never looked this dangerous.
Along with Gabe, Reed, Marcus and Cruz, the men all got beside the lopsided vehicle.
“Heave,” Tane yelled.
The men strained. A second later, the vehicle tipped and ended up back on its wheels, bouncing slightly.
Marcus turned. “Everyone—”
There was a barrage of whistling sounds. Small projectiles peppered the air around them, driving into the dirt. Everyone dived and ducked for cover.
“Down.” She bumped into Shaw to knock him down.
Then she felt a sharp sting in her left arm. She heard Shaw curse.
Claudia looked down and saw a sharp, long bone-like projectile lodged in the fleshy part of her bicep. She tried to move, but it was pinning her to the tree.
She heard the rest of the men returning fire.
“Dammit.” Shaw scrambled to his knees and yanked the projectile out. He used the wadded up cloth from his wound and wrapped it around hers. “Bloody alien bastards.”
“It’s a flesh wound, Shaw.” She stared at the savage intensity on his face. Shaw was usually the easygoing, smart-mouthed one of their squad.
This man didn’t look easygoing. He looked pissed, deadly, and ready for revenge.
He tied a knot in the cloth. “They took you, tortured you, and now this. I’ve had enough.”
He’d had enough? She raised a brow, but decided now was not the time to say anything.
Shaw turned and through a narrow-eyed gaze watched another wave of projectiles come in and hammer the side of their Hunter. It left a macabre display of bone sticking out of the metal.
“Their snipers are over there.” Shaw was staring off into the distance.
How he saw anything in the smoke was beyond her.
“I can’t do anything from here.” He pointed in a different direction. “I need to get over there. To a higher vantage point.”
Claudia could feel the sting of her wound now, but she ignored it. Thankfully her leg was holding up. The rest of Hell Squad and the berserkers were pinned down by the Hunter, returning fire.
Then she spotted a berserker bike parked right near them.
“Come on,” she said.
She jumped on the bike and flicked it on. She gunned the motor, and felt Shaw’s weight as he jumped on behind her. Revving the bike some more, she shouted to the others, “Give us cover fire!”
Someone must have heard her, because a barrage of laser fire filled the air. She grinned. That was her squad. For the first time in over a week, she really felt steady and back on her feet.
She accelerated, dodging obstacles and leaning into turns. Behind her, gripping her waist, Shaw did the same.
“That tree,” he yelled in her ear.
She nodded. She saw the tree rising ahead, a little higher than the others. She’d barely pulled the bike to a stop when Shaw slid off the seat.
“Take them down,” she said.
He was already checking his sniper rifle. He nodded, but she could see he was focused on his task. She’d always liked that about him, his enviable focus. One second he could be charming and relaxed, the next, a single-minded, lethal sniper.
Sh
e watched him climb the tree, then turned, gunned the bike, and started back.
Shaw needed the raptor snipers firing in order to target them. And to fire, they needed a target.
As she put the bike through its paces, dodging overturned and burning raptor vehicles, she heard the whizz of projectiles around her. Heard them slamming into the ground.
She also saw the distinctive green fire of Shaw’s laser rifle.
She turned and did another loop.
Then Shaw’s voice came through her earpiece. “Get into cover, Frost!”
“They’ll stop firing.” She put a foot down and executed a quick turn, sliding the bike around.
Shaw’s vehement curse made her shake her head. She saw him fire again.
He was picking them off one by one. The number of projectiles flying through the air dwindled, then stopped. She pulled to a stop near the Hunter and saw the men coming out of cover. She grinned and touched her ear. “Nice shooting, Baird.”
He made a noise. “Keep your head down next time.”
Through the dissipating smoke, she saw the remaining raptor soldiers running away. They were headed down one of the long paths their chainsaws had cut through the forest.
“Hold on, Shaw, I’ll come and get you,” she said.
Then another voice cut across their earpieces. “Squad Six, Squad Three, we have a problem.”
Roth Masters’ voice carried an urgent edge. She spun and looked up, saw the others doing the same.
A second later, she saw a Darkswift whizz past overhead. Then another and another.
Then something else flew through the smoke.
At first, she thought it was a ptero, one of the aliens’ small ships they used to get around. But then she saw that the wings on this thing were flapping up and down—not fixed, like a ptero.
It came closer and she heard everyone suck in sharp breaths.
It was a large flying animal, like a damned pterodactyl, and it was saddled with a raptor soldier riding it. She blinked, then watched as the soldier grabbed something and pointed it over the side.
Flames spewed everywhere.