by J. C. Diem
“No,” Aiden said on behalf of us all. “They’ll tear each other to pieces as soon as we’re out of range.”
Mark was instantly disheartened. “I was afraid of that.”
We might both be supreme alphas, Reece said to me, but I’m pretty sure my power only works when I’m in close proximity to the group. You might not like it, but you’re more powerful than me. Maybe you’ll be able to compel them to behave while we’re gone.
I debated about it then heaved an internal sigh. I’d never wanted the power to force anyone to do what I wanted, but I could see that it was necessary. Fate wouldn’t have enabled me to learn these abilities if she thought I would abuse them. “I can try,” I said reluctantly.
“Try what?” Nina asked. She’d barely taken her eyes off me since we’d arrived in Oklahoma. If I didn’t have such firm control of her, she’d have shot me in the back by now.
“I’ll try to use my power to make everyone obey me even after we’ve left,” I explained. With Reece and the other alphas’ help, I should be able to pull it off.
Uneasy glances went around the room. Cole was the first to break the silence. “What do you need us to do?”
“Nothing,” I replied. “Just sit there and look pretty while Reece and I use you to control your people.” Kala sniggered at my choice of words and Cole shot her a rueful look.
Linking hands with Reece, we reached out with our minds and reconnected to the five other alphas. The oracle was still hiding somewhere outside, but she was within our range. Being the only werebird, she didn’t have a flock that would be left behind, but we included her anyway.
Ava was right, seven was a powerful number. Our power spread out to encompass every shifter on the property. We are all allies, I said into their minds. No one will attack anyone else unless ordered to by Reece or myself. Taking a peek through the oracle’s eagle, I saw that their eyes had a glazed look as they all nodded. Only Kala, Flynn and the other alphas were exempt from the order. I could have drawn them in as well, but I preferred them to be able to think for themselves. Nina was the only exception to that. I wasn’t about to give her free rein. Her eyes were just as glassy as she nodded along with the others.
“Did it work?” my father asked. He’d seen too much to be bothered by the fact that I could force other monsters to do my bidding. If anything, I sensed his pride that I was a supreme alpha.
“There’s only one way to find out,” Mark replied and turned to me. “Transport the alphas to another location. I’ll call Reece in a minute and give him an update.”
I nodded and gestured for my father to join us. “You’d better come with us, just in case.” I wasn’t leaving him behind while we tested whether my experiment worked or not. Instead of being insulted that I wanted to protect him, he knew it would be safer to go with me. He was the only fully human being on the property and he was far too fragile compared to everyone else. Mark wasn’t strong like us, but he could at least heal any damage that he received now.
Reece, my father and I headed for the door with Nina, Aiden, Cole and Leanne at our heels. We crossed the yard to the oracle and formed a circle. I took us to our compound in Texas and waited for Mark to call.
Reece’s cell phone rang less than a minute later. “Did it work, boss?” he asked.
Mark’s response was pleased. “Like a charm. Everyone is getting along fine. They aren’t showing any signs of hostility.”
“That’s good news,” Reece replied. I shared his relief that we could leave the bulk of our forces behind while we infiltrated the EERI bases. Going in with a small group would be preferable. It would be hard to sneak in with dozens of untrained shifters tagging along. They were strong and fast, but stealth wasn’t always their forte when they were excited. “We’re on our way,” he said and put his cell phone away.
I transported us back to the werelions’ property to find Mark, Kala, Flynn, Zeus, Ava and Sabine waiting for us. “We’ll need to stock up on weapons,” Mark said. We only carried a few handguns and my sniper rifle. My father had similar equipment to me. It wouldn’t be enough to infiltrate the base. For all we knew, the stone golems could be guarding the place.
“It’s almost a pity Major Levine killed most of the O Squad,” Kala said. “They’d come in pretty handy right about now.”
“Lexi could always resurrect them,” Flynn suggested. He didn’t appear to be joking.
Mark cocked his head to the side. “That’s excellent thinking, Agents Walker and Bailey.”
“Hang on,” I said. “Are you proposing that I call Kendricks and his team back from the dead?”
“Yes.”
“Okay,” I said with a grin. “I was just checking.” It should have creeped me out to resurrect the squad, but it was a great idea. The Obliteration Squad had tried to take us captive at the orders of Cromby and the rest of the Board. That hadn’t worked out so well and the bulk of them had paid with their lives. They’d made the gigantic mistake of taking Mark and my father hostage in order to try to control us. My father had wiped most of them out singlehandedly.
My father shuddered slightly, but he didn’t voice his concerns at having a bunch of zombies on our team. “Do you have any idea where they’re buried?” he asked.
“We have a cemetery on the grounds behind our headquarters,” Mark replied. “Most fallen PIA agents without families are buried there.” The agency apparently took care of their own even after their agents died. It was convenient that they would be gathered in the same place. It was a callous thought, but I was glad I wouldn’t have to waste time trying to find them all.
₪₪₪
Chapter Nineteen
I concentrated on our headquarters and we sank into the ground. We rose next to the imposing gray building. Mark got his bearings and gestured towards the back of the mansion. “It’s this way.” He broke into a jog and we followed him across the immaculate lawn.
A guard on patrol spied us and raised his assault rifle. Ava waved before he could open fire. Recognizing her, he dropped his gun and hesitantly waved back. Everyone in the agency knew that something bad was coming. They’d known for decades that EERI were planning something. Now Kurt Jorgen’s plan was about to come to fruition and they knew our team were going to be involved in the final showdown.
We reached the edge of the property and a brick wall came into view. We followed the barrier to a wrought iron gate. It was locked, but that wasn’t going to be much of a deterrent to me. We sank into the ground and emerged on the other side.
Mark looked around at the weathered graves. The headstones were identical and were fairly plain, depicting only the name, date of birth and date of death of the occupants. “I haven’t been here for a while,” he said. “I’m not sure where the Obliteration Squad is buried.”
“Their graves are this way,” Ava told him and began to walk. The grass was well-maintained, just like the lawn of the headquarters grounds. She took pains not to step on any of the graves.
The cemetery was larger than I’d expected. Agents from all over the country had been interred here. I caught glimpses of the headstones and some were dated over two hundred years. As we worked our way deeper into the cemetery, the graves grew newer and newer until we came to a section where the dirt still hadn’t settled.
“Both the O Squad and the Containment Squad are buried here,” Ava said. I saw Kendricks’ name on one of the headstones. He’d been buried beside Cortez, the sniper who had been killed by the hydra golem.
I looked at Mark and raised my eyebrows in silent query. He nodded. “You might as well raise the Containment Squad as well. They could come in handy.”
We’d be taking more people along than we’d planned, but the zombies would do exactly as I commanded. I wouldn’t have to worry about them going off halfcocked. Even dead, they had far more training than the rest of our army.
I took a knife out of my backpack and cut into my left wrist. Splattering blood on the graves that contained both squads, my ne
cromancer came forward in anticipation. Seizing control, she spread her death magic over the graves. When it sank into the soil, the dead woke.
“Rise!” I commanded and green fog burst to life. It wanted to spread out to encompass every grave and it was a struggle to contain it to just this area. The temptation to raise all of the dead was strong, but my wolf and vampire wouldn’t let my necromancer have her way.
As ordered, my new minions broke through their coffins and swam through the earth. Rising to the surface, they stood in their dark funeral suits and watched me, waiting for orders. I hadn’t used much blood and they should have been in poor condition, yet they looked as fresh as if they’d just died yesterday. Their wounds had healed, showing no trace of the injuries that they’d sustained.
“Kendricks looks way better with his face intact,” Kala said to me in a low voice. I had to agree with her. The last time we’d seen him, his lower jaw had been bitten off by an imp. I wondered if Kurt had been hiding in the shadows, watching as his pet demon had played with us like a cat with a mouse.
“Does anyone else see a similarity between the werelion, Major Levine and that zombie?” Leanne asked, looking from Cole, to my father and Kendricks.
Flynn and Reece’s shoulders moved in silent laughter and I had to bite my lip hard so I didn’t snigger out loud. Kala looked up at the dark sky as if it was the most interesting thing she’d ever seen. She wasn’t about to confess to everyone that she had a fantasy about sleeping with all three men at the same time. I doubted Cole or my father would have taken it well, but Kendricks was beyond the ability to care.
I managed to master myself enough to respond. “There are some similarities,” I said, desperately trying to keep a straight face.
Mark hadn’t been present when Kala had told us about her fantasy. Thankfully, he changed the subject. “We’ll need to get them outfitted,” he said to me. “Can you take us to one of our bases?”
“Sure.” I chose Texas again and we arrived there moments later. Mark placed his hand on the scanner next to the door and we stepped into the kitchen. We trooped past the dining room and living room that had been decorated with far too much cow hide and bull horns entered the main hallway. The armory was roughly halfway along the hall. We filed inside and everyone grabbed the weapons and ammo of their choice.
“Arm yourselves for taking down an EERI compound,” I said to Kendricks and his men. They usually carried assault rifles, sniper rifles and a bunch of explosives to blow up the compounds. The explosives probably wouldn’t be necessary, but it couldn’t hurt to bring some along.
“Grab some weapons and ammo,” I told the Containment Squad. They didn’t have access to their usual weapons and would have to make do. Their purpose had been to capture rather than kill, but their skills could still be useful. If my plan worked, they wouldn’t need their silver nets to subdue the captive shifters. Hopefully, the prisoners would join us willingly.
When my zombies had their weapons slung over their backs and ammo filling their pockets, we headed back outside.
I might have been to Arizona before, but I’d been too young to remember it. Hoping for the best, I concentrated on the red dot that I’d seen on the map and we descended into the ground. We came up in a backyard of a small house in suburbia. A poodle was deeply asleep in his kennel and started awake at our arrival. He burst out into the open and began to bark shrilly. Zeus quelled him with a single dark glance. The poodle’s barks cut off and changed to frightened whimpers as he scurried back inside his doghouse.
“Can you sense the EERI base?” Mark asked Ava.
Nodding, she pointed southward. “It is about seventy miles in that direction.” Mark resigned himself to being carried by Kala. She hefted him over her shoulder and took off. Reece raised his brows at my father and he nodded his consent. Flynn scooped Sabine into his arms and then it was just Ava left. I looked at her and she gave a small sigh and nodded. I picked her up and sprinted after the others. My zombies weren’t able to keep up with us, but they could follow us through our link. The alphas were right on our heels, easily able to maintain our pace.
Reece and I could have easily outdistanced everyone, but we kept our speed to match the others. We rapidly left the small town behind and entered farmland. Finally seeing bright lights ahead, we closed in on the EERI base.
₪₪₪
Chapter Twenty
We stopped about a mile away from the compound. Out of all of us, my father was the most experienced at clandestine missions. Motioning for us to stay put, he took a pair of binoculars out of his backpack and jogged towards the electrified fence that surrounded the base. Zeus silently loped after him without needing me to ask him to. His black coat enabled him to blend in with the shadows until he was nearly invisible.
My zombies caught up to us just as my father was finishing his surveillance. Jogging back to us, he gave us his report. “There are twenty-four men on foot. Lexi, the dead guy and I will take them out with silenced sniper rifles.” He pointed at Cortez, the only O Squad member who was carrying a sniper rifle. “If we move fast, we can infiltrate the building before they know we’re here. It’s a pity we don’t have a fourth sniper so we could hit all four sides of the compound at the same time.”
“The sniper’s name is Cortez,” I said. The dead agent became more alert at hearing his name. “That guy is also a sharp shooter,” I said and pointed at one of Kendricks’ men. He’d taken over as one of the team’s snipers after Cortez had died. The other sniper could be a backup if we needed him, but he probably wouldn’t be necessary. I didn’t bother to point him out.
“We’ll need another rifle,” Mark pointed out.
“I’m on it,” I said and returned to our compound in Texas. I was back before they had a chance to miss me and handed the sniper rifle over to the fourth man. I’d taken the time to fit it with a suppressor. It was mind boggling how fast I could move now.
“I’ll take the east, Lexi can take the west,” my father instructed. “Cortez can take the south and you can take the north,” he said to the unnamed dead man. “I’ll give you five minutes to get into position. Then I’ll start firing.”
We nodded then dispersed and sprinted to our positions. Lying down on the ground more out of habit than need, I sensed Zeus materialize behind me. He would keep watch while I was occupied.
I wasn’t used to using a silenced rifle, but it wouldn’t affect my aim. Examining the compound through my scope, it was identical to the other EERI bases that I’d seen. Plain gray concrete, the building was long and wide and only one level on the surface. There would be two more levels beneath the ground. That’s where experiments were performed and where the captives would be held.
When five minutes were up, I took aim at the first of my targets and pulled the trigger. All six men went down silently in seconds. The other snipers were just as efficient and all of the guards died without raising the alarm.
I returned to the others and they gathered around. I transported us inside the fence and we sprinted for the building. One of Kendricks’ men took a device out of his backpack. He hacked the lock remotely and the door clicked open and we stepped inside. Silent, unblinking and unbreathing, my minions went ahead of the group. Moving with coordinated precision, they cut down every EERI employee that they came across.
“Were the O Squad this efficient when they were alive?” my father asked.
“Yep. They haven’t changed much at all,” Kala said dryly. “I can barely even tell that they’re dead, except they’re more pleasant to be around now.”
Fighting our way to the elevator, we waited for my undead servants to eradicate everyone on the top level. They returned sporting a few bullet holes in their clothes, but with their flesh intact. My death magic was strong enough to ensure they would heal any wound.
“Good job,” I said to Kendricks. He might be my puppet, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t appreciate his help. “Now head down and secure the lower levels.” He’d assim
ilated the Containment Squad into his group and had taken charge of them all. There were thirty-six of them in total and they split into three groups to fit into the elevator.
The first group crammed inside and it descended to the lower level. I watched through Kendricks’ eyes as they swept through a confusing labyrinth of labs and areas where experiments were performed. The other two groups descended in the elevator to help him. When the area was clear, they headed to the lowest level.
Only a few guards were watching over the imprisoned shifters and other creatures that were in the cells. Unaware that their colleagues had been wiped out, they were cut down without mercy.
“It’s clear,” I informed the others.
Flynn pushed the button to call the elevator and we squished inside when it came. We headed straight to the lowest level and found my men waiting for us. “Well done,” I said and Kendricks inclined his head at the praise. Kala had been right about the O Squad being more pleasant now. Kendricks was far more courteous as a dead man than he’d ever been while alive. It had taken reanimating his corpse for me to earn his respect.
Cells stretched out ahead on both sides of the hall. Most of them were occupied. All of the occupants wore white drawstring pants. The women wore white t-shits, but the men were shirtless. None of them were wearing shoes. Every prisoner was silent and seemed to be drugged. We now knew they were simply beneath Kurt’s thrall.
Several bullet riddled guards lay on the ground. We stepped around them as we made our way down the hallway.
“Keep your eyes and ears open for signs that a golem is coming,” I said to Kala and Flynn. Both had their weapons drawn and nodded. I flicked a glance at my dad and they nodded again in understanding. I trusted them both to keep my father alive.
Reece was smiling silently and I caught his thought about how much I’d changed since I’d first joined their team. I’d been just a kid back then, although it had been less than a year ago. I’d grown up a lot since then and had finally become the alpha that everyone said I was. I was the youngest person in our team and I was issuing orders like I was their boss.