Call to War: Hunter Wars Book Six (The Hunter Wars 6)

by SD Tanner

  While he stood listening to Logan, he remembered the lamp that floated across his room earlier that morning. He knew Logan had a point, and although he didn’t exactly disbelieve Ip, he couldn’t honestly say he believed her either. It was too greater leap of faith. If Ip were right, it would mean there was a Devil and a God and he and his brothers had some special place in the universe. None of that rested well with his ingrained belief he was a man and a simple one at that. He knew it irritated Ip he didn’t believe what she told him about the universe, and there was more going on than even Logan understood. Ip was now telepathically linked to him and his brothers and he could share his mind with hers, which is how he knew she deeply believed in her version of the truth.

  Logan eyed him sternly. “If Ip’s right, then you need to be dealing with Ruler and leave man to sort himself out.”

  “If we walk away as you’re suggestin’, then a lot more people are gonna die.”

  “I know, but maybe that’s man’s problem and not yours. You’ve built a great platform and given man a head start, but the time is coming when you have to let man lead. There’ll be losses, but more will survive than not.”

  Abandoning the survivors to their fate felt like a deep wrench in his gut, and it offended both his need for control and to protect the people he felt so responsible for.

  Logan batted his shoulder. “I know it’s not easy to let go, but for now at least handover the control and let them have their head.” Looking over at Kat who was still working steadily, he added, “And that means letting them solve problems their own way.”

  Following Logan’s gaze and watching Kat, he realized how they managed the transport ships was not something he needed to worry about. This was their show and perhaps it was time he and his brothers became bystanders to the world they’d built.

  Turning back to Logan, he said sincerely, “Thanks. I was gonna step in and make a rulin’ jus’ to get the job done faster, but you’re right. I need to let ‘em start runnin’ the show and suck it up when they fuck it up.”

  “Now you know how I felt every day as a Colonel.”

  Snorting, he nodded to Logan and left to inspect the combat training. He and Pax were determined New York would never be as vulnerable to Ruler or the hunters again, and he was keen to see how their training was progressing. With his experience as a Marine, Mike had more than enough skill to follow Pax’s plan, which boiled down to a basic briefing, then training in combat formations, roles, equipment, preparation and weapons. He didn’t think it was anywhere near enough training, but Pax assured him that what they lacked in training they’d make up for in determination. He’d pointed out that determination alone wouldn’t stop a hunter or a bullet, but he’d argued the most determined to live were the most likely to survive.

  They’d set up the combat training in Central Park and there were at least ten thousand people in small groups undergoing various training activities. Some were running in formation, others were being tested through an obstacle course, and there was the sound of gunfire in the distance. The surrounding buildings were being used as barracks.

  He waved to a man walking across Central Park West. “Do you know where Mike is? You know, the guy who’s head of this show.”

  “Err, yeah.” The man pointed to the building he’d just left. “He’s inside talking to the combat leads.”

  Deciding the man’s behavior was too casual for his liking, he eyed him sternly. “Are you one of theirs or one of mine?”

  The man answered uncertainly. “Err, I’m from the Marine supply base.”

  Giving him a filthy look, he said, “Then set a better example. Straighten up and show some goddamn discipline. What the hell are these new recruits gonna learn if you’re so damned sloppy yourself?”

  The man’s eyes widened and he visibly straightened. “Sorry, sir, won’t happen again, sir.”

  “There’s a goddamn war on, you know, and you ain’t gonna win it by bein’ undisciplined. If you want your new recruits to live, then train ‘em right, son.”

  Sighing inwardly, he thought, that’s not the way to let go of the reins. What Logan said about letting the people lead themselves made perfect sense, but it was easier said than done. Giving the man a curt nod, he turned and strode into the building, where Mike was standing in an open plan office on the ground floor. Seated in rows in front of Mike were people, all dressed in ACUs, listening to him talk.

  Mike’s voice boomed confidently across the large room. “We very nearly lost our home to this asshole. It’s not enough to know how to survive. We have to know how to fight. This is not about the hunters anymore. We have a new enemy and he’s the Devil, or close enough to being one, and he’s not a mindless killer. This asshole is organized, he has an army and he’s determined. He doesn’t just want our lives. He wants our souls. What’s at stake here is not only our lifetime, but our eternity. If this asshole wins, then it’s eternal damnation for all of us.”

  A hand shot up and a woman asked, “How’s he doing this? How does he keep people alive even after they should be dead?”

  “I don’t know and I don’t think it matters. He does and that’s all we need to know.”

  “But how are we supposed to defeat the Devil?”

  Looking over at the door, Mike saw him watching and waved him over. As he walked into the room, Mike said, “This is Gears. Most of you have heard of him and he’s here checking up on how we’re doing.”

  Walking across the room to meet Mike, he was surprised when people began to applaud, and waving his hands to indicate they should stop, he said loudly, “I’m told the Devil can’t be beat, but he can be persuaded to leave.”

  Mike looked at him with interest. “How do you persuade the Devil to leave?”

  Deciding he would go with Ip’s view of the world, he replied, “Well, I think you make clear to him that he won’t win. That’s gotta be a combination of kickin’ his ass and makin’ sure no one here will side with him. It means man has gotta stand up for himself both morally and with weapons.”

  A man said, “But there’s always gonna be people who’ll side with him.”

  “Why?” A woman asked in disbelief, “Why would anyone choose to run with the Devil? It’s a short-term fix for an eternity in hell.”

  Acknowledging the woman’s point with a brusque nod, he replied, “That’s true, but people wanna solve their immediate problem and they don’t think ahead.”

  A middle-aged woman with long dark hair, deep set eyes and a strong face, said confidently, “The Devil always lies. He plays to your fears. He tells you what you want to hear, so he can trick you into joining him. He’ll make it seem like it’s the rational choice, the smart decision, and by the time you work out it isn’t, it’s too late to escape.”

  Considering the times, he thought the woman sounded surprisingly sure of herself. “How do you know that?”

  Nodding to him briefly, she turned back to the group. “Not all of us are ignorant of the Devil’s ways and he will always find people who’ll join him. If man stands up to the Devil then he has no choice, but to leave man alone.”

  Rubbing the scar on his face thoughtfully, he asked, “So, how do we convince the Devil to leave?”

  “You have to convince him he can’t win and then he’ll go back to hell. Shaking her head, she added firmly, “But he’ll never really be gone. It’s always up to man to keep him in his place.”

  The meeting continued, and he listened while Mike gave them a basic overview of command structures, teams and discipline. He’d heard it all before, and his mind wandered back to the lamp that drifted around his room earlier that day. Being so used to odd events, nothing much surprised him anymore, but moving furniture was a trick new to him. While he thought about the lamp, he was reminded of the tattoos Ip, Pax and now TL shared. Lydia’s baby, Bob, had the same markings and Ip’s sword bore an identical pattern. Logan was right, the tattoos meant there was a link between all of them, but he was damned if he knew what it wa
s. While he pondered these unanswerable questions, the meeting was interrupted by Kat, who walked into the room and made her way to where he and Mike were standing.

  She weaved her way around the seated people and across the room. Once she was by his side, he quietly asked, “What’s the problem, Kat?”

  “The ships are delayed and I’ve decided to suspend boarding until they sort out the problem.”

  “What problem?”

  “I’m told the engines have shut down on both ships and they can’t get them restarted. They said something about them being frozen.”

  Mike overheard her and asked in disbelief, “Both ships? What are the odds of engines on two ships failing at the same time?”

  He shook his head. “Very goddamn unlikely. The ships sailed from the Naval base jus’ fine, and why would they be frozen? It’s not that cold.”

  Mike looked at him grimly and asked, “What the hell is going on now?”

  Looking equally as grim, he recalled the mysterious moving lamp. “I dunno, but it ain’t good.”

  CHAPTER THREE: Friendly foe (Pax)

  When they first went to the UK it was winter, and although still green, the trees were stripped of their leaves making the land look bare. Now the countryside had exploded with life and the sun shone brightly. The dense greenery was edging onto the wide road they were driving along, and it wouldn’t be long before nature reclaimed it as hers. With almost no predators left, small wildlife was flourishing, and the grassy paddocks seemed to randomly flicker as rabbits and even small deer roamed freely. Compared to their home, the UK was like a paradise that now flourished in the wake of the apocalypse that ended the rule of mankind.

  “Stunning ain’t it,” he remarked casually to no one in particular.

  Captain Ted heard him through his earpiece. “Just shows how badly Ruler is ruining our home.”

  They were travelling in a convoy of four vehicles, and over the rumbling of the trucks, he could hear the rotors of the two birds following to provide them with air cover. All they were doing was checking out a large distribution center in Basingstoke. Personally he thought four vehicles, sixteen combat shooters, including themselves, plus two birds overhead was overkill, but since bombing his own ship at Cowes, Captain Ted had become very risk adverse.

  Captain Ted and his teams spent more than a month opening the seven thousand containers they’d found in Portsmouth, and the haul was considerable. It was more than enough to keep the current population fed for a year and they’d found plenty of other goods they needed. Being overcautious, Captain Ted was keen to establish ongoing sources of supplies, and insisted they start scavenging from the mainland immediately.

  Ip speaks: It is their life and theirs to rule. It is not for us to call them fools.

  Although he was used to Ip reading his thoughts, he found it annoying when she knew what he was thinking before he did. She sitting behind the driver, and he turned in his seat to glare at her. “I didn’t say nothin’ about Ted bein’ stupid. That’s jus’ a given.”

  Through his earpiece, he heard Captain Ted object. “Hey! That’s fuckin’ uncalled for.”

  Still glowering at Ip, he said, “Blame Ip, she’s bein’ annoyin’.”

  He felt a hand softly tickle the back of his neck, and BD gently chided, “Shut up, Pax. Don’t start fights just ‘cos you’re bored.”

  Tilting his head to encourage her to keep teasing his neck with her soft fingers, he said, “I weren’t. Ip’s bein’ a pain in the ass ‘cos Gears ain’t here and she’s miserable.”

  Since returning in a new body, BD seemed as attached to him as he was to her. It was a little awkward at first, but the sexual attraction between them hadn’t diminished, and they both wanted to make up for lost time. To be fair, they did already know one another and he was delighted they’d fit back together like a hand in a glove. He felt incredibly lucky to have another chance to be with her, and he knew how Gears must have felt when Ip returned to him after she was killed by Mackenzie. Forgetting about his annoyance with Ip, he remembered the night before with BD and sighed contentedly, until she rudely interrupted him again.

  Ip speaks: Your mind was fluffy and now it is worse. Knowing your thoughts is a curse.

  “Don’t be so miserable, Ip. If I hadda known you’d pine for your pet gorilla so bad, I wouldn’t have brought you with me.”

  The driver pulled off the country road, and they had no chance to continue their bickering, while he slowly made his way through what must have once been a business park. Ahead of them was a large grey and white colored warehouse surrounded by a wide expanse of pale asphalt. Leading off the side of the warehouse were multiple docking bays designed to load and unload goods into the building. There was no signage and no way to know what was inside the warehouse. Axel said his cousin had worked at the central distribution center and assured them, providing it was still untouched, it would contain mostly food. There were no cars and only a few trucks in the warehouse parking lot, and the heavy looking steel gates appeared to be locked. Pulling up to the gates, he prepared to get out of his truck, when he heard and saw a bullet ping against the metal gate. The sounds of voices erupted in his earpiece and they all seemed to be asking the same question.

  Quickly ducking back inside the truck, he ordered, “Pull back!

  Immediately all four trucks reversed and pulled fifty feet from the main gates, behind a building on the opposite side of the road. Overhead the birds continued to circle slowly, while still maintaining a safe distance from the warehouse.

  When the trucks came to a stop, he asked, “Ted, was that us?”

  “Not my guys.”

  The combat leads for the other trucks confirmed it wasn’t them either, and Captain Ted asked, “What do you think, Pax?”

  He knew what to do, but he wanted Captain Ted to make his own assessment. “More to the point, Ted, what do you think?”

  There was a pause. “Well, if it was just us, I’d use the birds to strafe the building and surrounding vehicles, drive through the fences and storm the site using our heavy guns to pin the enemy in position. It’s bold, but with the birds and heavy weapons, I’d say we have them outgunned and my best bet is to negotiate from a position of strength.”

  Chuckling, he said, “TL will tell you that ain’t negotiatin’, Ted, but it’s a good plan and most likely it’ll get you what you want, but you might lose a shooter or two that way.”

  “True. It’s much easier if Ip rustles up some hunters and we let them lead the attack, while the birds give us cover.”

  “Yeah, it is.” Turning his head slightly, he said to BD, “Baby, go wait with the other trucks.”

  He knew BD was pouting when she complained, “What’s the point of you training me if you won’t let me shoot?”

  “You ain’t ready for combat, so will you jus’ do what I ask?”

  “No,” BD replied firmly.

  Closing his eyes briefly, he sighed and resigned himself to watching out for both BD and Ip. He considered himself as good as a married man now, and Gears assured him he could expect to lose most arguments. It hadn’t taken him long to learn it saved time if he conceded early. Ip clearly understood Captain Ted’s plan, and while they sat watching, half a dozen hunters were already running towards the warehouse.

  Leaning forward to get a closer look at the hunters, he noticed how thin they were. “Is that the best you could find?”

  Ip speaks: There are few, but these will do, but I can make some more for you.

  Rolling his eyes at how casually Ip regarded hunters, he replied, “They’ll do.” Touching his mike, he ordered, “Ted, go make a hole in that fence.”

  Captain Ted’s truck revved, gather speed and headed towards the main gate. Ip’s hunters followed in its wake, and he signaled to his driver. “Follow ‘em and take a left when you get in.” Speaking to the other two combat leads, he said, “You two trucks stay back. We’ll call you when we need you.”

  The truck hit the main gate
s with such force the lock snapped and the gates sprung open, slamming back on either side. Gunfire erupted from the roof of the warehouse and the birds immediately opened fire on the enemy shooters. His truck caught up with the hunters and together they entered the gates. Once through the gates, the driver pulled to the left, and without waiting for his orders, Ip opened the door and stepped out of the still moving truck.

  “Dammit, Ip, getcha ass back here,” he roared. He positioned his own gun out the passenger window and shouted at the driver, “Use the truck to keep her covered.”

  Driving down the length of the warehouse, he kept an eye out for an entrance to the building. He mentally ordered Ip to stay behind the truck, but he didn’t expect a reply and nor did he get one. She barely paid attention to what Gears told her to do and even less to anything he told her. He thought she was willful and he could understand why Ruler called her an imp. They were following Captain Ted’s truck down the left side of the warehouse, but all he could see were sealed and secured doors. It would have been easier to drive a fully armored vehicle into the building through a loading bay, but it looked like they would need to break into the building through a side entrance. Alongside his truck, he saw Ip and her hunters running steadily and easily keeping pace with the trucks.

  Captain Ted remarked, “Place is locked up tighter than a fuckin’ convent.”

  He chuckled. “You speakin’ from experience, Ted?”

  “No and I don’t have a thing for virgins.”

  Knowing Captain Ted was ardently pursuing Angel who was rumored to be a virgin, he laughed loudly. “You still haven’t had your way with Angel then?”

  “Shaddup, Pax.”

  Still chortling, he added, “Guess not then.”

  They turned to the right and ahead of him was a small side entrance to the warehouse. It wasn’t ideal, but other than the loading and unloading bays on either side of the warehouse, the building didn’t seem to have any other entrances.