The Gates of Byzantium (The Babylon Series, Book 2)

by Sam Sisavath

  “Can anyone learn to shoot?” she asked, finally breaking the silence.

  He was surprised by the question. “Anyone can learn to shoot, yeah.”

  “I mean, shoot like you and Danny. I was watching Danny earlier today, when those two boats came over. He could have hit every single one of them from this Tower, but he didn’t. I know that rifle scope he was using helps, but I don’t think just anyone can use it, especially on moving targets.”

  “No, you’re right. Danny’s the best shooter on the island, by far.”

  “That’s what I figured. Anyways, after Danny shot at them—those warning shots—the people on the boat shot back. They were just shooting at anything, like they didn’t know what they were doing. The difference was so obvious. Can anyone learn to shoot like that? Like you and Danny?”

  “Anyone can learn to shoot, but not everyone can shoot.”

  “What’s the difference?”

  “Have you thought about that man in Beaumont? The one you shot to save Josh? Or the one in the semitrailer. What was his name?”

  “Betts.”

  “Have you thought about them since?”

  “Yes.”

  “How do you feel? Thinking back on those moments?”

  “I’m not happy about what I did, if that’s what you mean. I did it because there was no other choice.”

  “Would you do it again, if put in the same situations? Knowing what you know now? How it made you feel afterward?”

  “Yes,” she said without hesitation. “To save Josh, or to save any one of you guys. I’d do it again.”

  He nodded. “To answer your question, anyone can learn to shoot. Not everyone has the will to shoot. You did. Twice. The first time wasn’t with a gun, but it’s the same thing. So yes, you can learn to shoot like Danny and me. We’ll teach you when this is over.”

  “Thanks.”

  “It won’t be easy.”

  “I know.”

  “You’ll want to quit.”

  “I won’t.”

  “You’ll want to.”

  “I won’t,” she said.

  They said nothing for a while.

  “I’m sorry about Josh,” he finally said.

  “I don’t want to talk about that anymore,” she said.

  *

  WILL STOOD AT the western cliff, beyond a large swath of untapped forest taking up nearly half the island, looking down at the ten-meter drop from the ridgeline to the water below. He had circled the entire island on foot, making sure there was no other way onto it except through the south side using the beach.

  He kicked at a pebble and watched it drop into the water below. Climbing a cliff took skill. Someone had to come up first, then throw ropes down to pull the rest up. He and Danny could do it, given time and cover, but it would be a hell of a stretch for weekend warriors like the ones Danny had sent away earlier.

  It was doable, but unlikely.

  The beach. They’d have to storm the beach to get onto the island.

  He was emerging out of the wall of trees when his earbud clicked, and Danny’s voice: “You hear that?”

  Danny was back in the Tower with Gaby. They had decided Danny would be on the third floor for the entire night with the ACOG. Not that he could have pried Danny away anyway, with Carly on the floor just below him.

  “No, what?” Will said.

  “Vehicles. I think they just got more reinforcements.”

  “How many?”

  “Looks like three… No, make that four trucks. It’s always gotta be trucks, doesn’t it? You gotta love the South. Throw a rock on the road and you’re liable to hit a dozen trucks before you get to the first sedan. Yee haw.”

  Will jogged back to the hotel through the grass. “I’m on my way back.”

  “Oh, and you won’t believe this…”

  “More good news?”

  “Depends. You like fishing?”

  “Not really, no.”

  “Then not so much good news.”

  “What’re you seeing?”

  “They’re bringing over more boats.”

  “How many?”

  “I count two. That gives them four that we know of. I put a bullet through one of the boat motors, so maybe three and a half, depending on whether they have a mechanic who knows boats or not.”

  “Keep an eye on them.”

  “I was going to go bowling, but okay, just this once.”

  Will met Blaine as he was coming out of the hotel with MRE bags.

  “How’re the stitches?” Will asked.

  “I’m not bleeding to death, so that’s good. Lara gave me some kind of pill cocktail that seems to be doing the job. I’ve lost all feeling except for my tongue.”

  Will grinned. “You heard on the radio?”

  “Yeah.” Blaine fell in next to him as they moved toward the beach. “Four more trucks. Assuming two to a truck, that’s eight people. And that’s lowballing it. It’s probably more like three to a truck, maybe four if you really want to get pessimistic about it.”

  “Sounds about right.”

  “All collaborators, too? Why are they converging here? The ones I met in Beaumont didn’t have any contact with any of the others. I got the feeling they didn’t even know the others existed the whole time I was with them.”

  Will had considered the question, and he had always come back to the same answer: Kate.

  “There’s a blue-eyed ghoul,” Will said. “She’s in charge of the blood farms and pretty much everything that happens in Texas as far as I can tell. Maybe Louisiana, too. My guess is, she’s the one calling them over here.”

  She wants me. No, not her. The other blue-eyed ghoul. She said his name was Mabry…

  Blaine didn’t respond right away. Will wondered if the other man thought he was nuts.

  But no, that wasn’t it. He saw something else in Blaine’s eyes. Recognition.

  “You’ve seen it,” Will said.

  Blaine nodded. “A few nights ago, when Sandra and I were hiding in that house you patched me up in. I saw one. Then later, in Beaumont, Maddie told me she saw a blue-eyed ghoul talking to the guy in charge of the collaborators there. She thought it was a woman, but she wasn’t sure.”

  Damn, Kate, you get around, don’t you?

  “How many collaborators were there? In Beaumont?” Will asked.

  “Five. You guys killed one of them, so they were desperate to recruit us.”

  “You, Sandra, Maddie, and Bobby?”

  Blaine nodded.

  “So she’s bringing them from a lot of places,” Will said.

  “You talk about this blue-eyed ghoul like you know her. Or it.” He shook his head. “Whatever it is now.”

  “I did. Once upon a time.”

  “How’s that?”

  “I slept with her,” Will said.

  *

  AT 7:14 P.M., with nightfall an hour away and sunset spraying the horizon in a picturesque red and orange glow, he expected them to attack.

  But they didn’t.

  He waited in the relative darkness of the woods, watching the beach and the piers extending out into the lake in front of him, calm under solar-powered LED lampposts flickering on around the island. He couldn’t see Blaine, who was somewhere to his left, or Maddie, farther up the beach to his right. Bobby was somewhere between the hotel and the Tower, watching their backs in case they had to retreat.

  Danny and Gaby had the Tower, with Lara and the girls on the second floor of the structure, watching over Carly. Sarah was on the first floor, manning the door. Everyone had a radio.

  Finally, he heard what he had been expecting for the last half hour, coming from land. It was a low rumbling sound.

  His right ear clicked, and Danny’s voice: “Hear that?”

  “I hear it,” Will said.

  “Are those engines?” Blaine asked through the radio.

  “Outboard motors,” Maddie said.

  Just as quickly as they heard them, the motors stoppe
d.

  For a while, anyway.

  Then they heard the noise again, starting up, loud despite the distance. Then it went away again.

  It went on like that for a while. One minute, two—five.

  “They’re testing out the motors,” Maddie said. “They must be making sure the new boats they brought over are working.”

  He glanced down at his watch. “It’ll be dark soon. Everyone stay frosty.”

  “Maybe they got tired of playing with their motors and decided to take the night off,” Danny said.

  “Captain Optimism,” Will smirked.

  *

  THE SOLAR-POWERED lampposts did their jobs around them while darkness fell over the calm lake surface. There was no fanfare, just the exchange of day for night. Such a simple transition, but so monumental these days.

  Will hadn’t moved from his spot in the last hour, the M4A1 on the ground next to him, the Remington slung over his back. With the blanketing darkness, he could make out lights from the shoreline with the naked eye. Straining his ears a bit, he heard what sounded like the hum of generators.

  By nine, there was still no attack, but Will didn’t move from his position.

  Neither did Blaine or Maddie, or Bobby behind them. Danny and Gaby didn’t wander very far from the four windows on the Tower’s third floor, either.

  No one was going anywhere tonight.

  Not by a long shot.

  *

  MIDNIGHT CAME AND went, and Will was starting to think the collaborators weren’t going to attack after all. He didn’t move from his position, but he did sit down and dig out a bag of MRE and laid the M4A1 on the ground next to him.

  “I don’t think they’re coming, Kemosabe,” Danny said in his right ear.

  “We’ll wait until the hour of the wolf,” Will said.

  “What’s that?” Maddie asked.

  “Three in the morning,” Danny said. “Otherwise known as the time when anyone with half a brain should be asleep, but the wicked are up thinking about their evil deeds. Or more affectionately known as the best time to attack a sleeping enemy because they’re at their lowest point of the day.”

  “This MRE is good,” Blaine said through the radio.

  “What are you eating?” Maddie asked.

  “Turkey and mashed potatoes. Or it’s supposed to be turkey and mashed potatoes. Looks like something someone threw up, but it actually tastes like turkey and mashed potatoes. Sorta.”

  “Welcome to the glamorous world of professional soldiering,” Danny said. “Don’t forget to grab some T-shirts at the gift shop on your way out.”

  Will heard movement behind him and was about to reach for his rifle when he got a whiff of her scent and relaxed. She pushed her way through the branches and sat down next to him, laying a Benelli shotgun on the ground.

  “Thought you wouldn’t mind some company,” she said quietly.

  “I never mind your company.”

  She smiled. “Wow. That’s the most romantic thing you’ve ever said to me. And that’s…kind of sad.”

  He chuckled. “Sorry about that.”

  “Eh, I didn’t fall in love with you for your ability to romance me off my feet. It was more the whole shooting undead creatures thing.”

  “Have gun, will shoot.”

  Her face grew a bit more serious. “How did the talk with Gaby go?”

  “As could be expected. She’s a tough girl.”

  “She really liked him. Josh. You want to talk about it?”

  “About what?”

  “What happened with Josh.”

  “He got shot and fell off the boat. That’s about it.”

  “Will…”

  “Lara, I’m not sure what you want me to say. I’m sorry about the kid. I liked him. But there was nothing I could do.”

  She watched him intently, trying to read his face. “All right,” she said after a while. “You can talk to me about anything. Anytime.”

  “I know. That’s why I love you.”

  She climbed up on his lap and sought out his mouth in the semidarkness of the woods. Will tossed the MRE bag away and wrapped his arms around her. After a moment, she pulled slightly back and looked down at him as if trying to memorize every inch of his face. She looked beautiful in the moonlight, and he found himself wanting to become lost in the crystal blue of her eyes.

  “You take me to the best places,” she smiled.

  “Nothing but the best for my gal.”

  “Now that’s the kind of sweet nothings guaranteed to get a girl’s pants off.”

  She kissed him again and put her hands on his chest before trailing down. She started to unbuckle his belt.

  “Lara,” he managed to say, pulling away from her for just a moment, “I want this. God, I want this. But this is probably not the time or place—”

  “Oh, shut up,” she said. “This is exactly the right time and place. We could die in a few hours. Or tomorrow. After Josh and Carly… I want to make the most of every minute and every hour with you, Will. Don’t deny me that, please?”

  He nodded. “Okay.”

  She kissed him again, and he slipped his hands under the warm cotton fabric of her shirt. She sighed when he cupped her breasts. She wasn’t wearing a bra, and she felt soft against his rough palms, her nipples hardening instantly. It never ceased to amaze him how sensitive she was there.

  She had already unbuckled his belt and was slipping her hand into his pants when he heard the soft, familiar sound in the distance.

  It came almost lazily, wafting through the night air, like something out of a dream. He wasn’t even sure how he managed to hear it with his chest pumping and other parts of him enflamed with Lara’s mouth and breasts and heated body pressed up against him.

  He didn’t think Lara had heard it because she was about to pull his pants off when he put his hands on her shoulders and stopped her. “Wait.”

  Lara was out of breath and flustered. “Are you kidding me?”

  “No, I hear something.”

  She lifted her head and listened. “I don’t hear anything.”

  “You don’t hear that?”

  “No.” She gave him a wry look. “Is this your way of saying you’d rather not have sex with me on the beach?”

  “No. God, no.”

  “Good answer.”

  She climbed off him and he scanned the sky. There wasn’t enough light to really see anything beyond the halos of the lampposts around the island.

  He pressed his radio’s PTT. “Danny, do you hear that?”

  “I hear it,” Danny said through his right ear.

  “Hear what?” Lara asked.

  “I don’t hear anything,” Blaine said through the radio.

  “Me neither,” Maddie added.

  Will snatched up his rifle and went into a crouch. He looked southeast, toward the marina.

  There.

  He could hear it again, getting louder. The gradual but familiar whup-whup that was such a constant during his tours of duty in Afghanistan. It was so common that the only days he had felt something was wrong, that something wasn’t quite right with the world, was when he didn’t hear it.

  Whup-whup-whup-whup.

  Lara was frantically shoving her shirt back into her pants next to him. “Will, I don’t hear anything.”

  “There,” he said, pointing.

  She squinted her eyes at the dark skies. “What is it?”

  “You don’t see it?”

  “No, I—” She stopped, and he saw her mouth open slightly. “Holy shit.”

  “You see it?” Will said into his mic.

  “I see it,” Blaine said.

  “Fuck me,” Maddie whispered.

  The helicopter came in low, gliding at a smooth, unhurried pace. It had a spotlight in front, under its cockpit, and the light skipped along the water’s surface and flashed across the beach, lighting up the piers and the boats tied to them.

  “Danny, do you have a shot?” Will said into his
throat mic.

  “I have a shot,” Danny said.

  “What do you see?”

  “Squat. Spotlight’s doing its job. I can’t even make out if it’s military or civilian.”

  “Any guns on the side? Armaments?”

  “None. But like I said, it’s like staring into the sun. I can put some holes in it, but forget about details.”

  “Hold your shot.”

  “Ah, you’re no fun.”

  “They could be friendlies.”

  “Now who’s Captain Optimism?”

  They watched the helicopter keep going, swooping high above them, running its light over the woods, before raking the side of the Tower. Then it was gone, passing over the island’s eastern section.

  For a moment, Will thought it would keep going, but then the helicopter began to turn, coming back for a second pass…

  CHAPTER 35

  JOSH

  PROS AND CONS: What were they?

  Pros: He was alive!

  Cons: He had no idea where he was or why he wasn’t dead. His body hurt. His arms hurt. His left leg was numb, but not so much he didn’t notice the sudden surge of electricity shooting from it every time he tried to move even a little bit. His head felt heavy, and each time he breathed, he thought it was going to explode.

  Conclusion: I’m alive!

  He had woken up in a bedroom, lying on a small bed under sheets covered in Transformers characters. It took him a while before he realized the bed was in the shape of a racing car, and it was at least half a foot too short for him. His legs were draped over the end, which didn’t help the pain in his left leg any.

  Josh pulled his legs back until he was almost curled on the bed. It was cold. Very cold. Which didn’t make sense because it was hot outside, rays of sunlight flitting in through white blinds over the window to his right.

  Josh pulled his head off the fluffy pillow and tried to sit up. It hurt, so he decided the smart thing to do was lie back down to catch his breath.

  I’m alive!

  He didn’t know how that was possible. He remembered standing up (That was stupid), then getting shot (Served me right for doing something so stupid during a gun battle), then falling. He remembered Will reaching for him, but Will must not have been fast enough, because soon Josh was in the water. Josh had never been a good swimmer, so he didn’t fool himself into thinking he had swum back to the island on his own and just didn’t remember it.