The enforcer peeked into the shuttle. “Stay where you are,” he ordered Brogan and the others. “Or I’ll shoot your friend.” With one hand, he pulled the unconscious enforcer out onto the ground and placed his hand on the shuttle pad, closing the door and locking it.
Turning back to Hammer, he stuck the barrel of the rifle into his back, pushing him forward. “Hands on your head,” he growled. “Let’s take a little walk.”
Hammer didn’t like the sound of that. His tone was final and far too eager. Slowly, he brought his hands up, resting his broken hand gingerly on the back of his neck.
Sure enough, the shuttle wasn’t even out of sight when the enforcer barked, “Stop! Kneel!”
An execution. In exactly the same way Amarillo Division had been ordered to kill any fringers they found. But Brogan hadn’t made attacking fringers a priority within their division, so while Hammer had helped repulse several attacks at utility installations just outside Amarillo City, he hadn’t personally killed anyone.
He wasn’t going to make it easier on the enforcer, so he refused to kneel. The man smashed his rifle into Hammer’s back, propelling him forward, almost into a couple of rusted cars squished together by a cement block larger than the enforcer shuttle. Hammer tripped over a piece of concrete and fell. He tried to get back up, but the gun jabbed him again, forcing him to stay down on his knees.
“I can make this easy or hard,” gritted the enforcer. “Your choice. Go ahead and try to get up again. Come on, come on.”
Hammer didn’t move. Maybe if he didn’t anger the man further, he’d change his mind.
No luck there—he felt rather than saw the boot that lashed out at the softer flesh of his side. His own enforcer blues seemed to do little by way of protection. He knew how this would go. More blows, torture, and then death. If the enforcer was ever questioned, he’d have Hammer’s attack on his partner to clear him.
The man gave a guttural laugh and pressed the barrel into Hammer’s wounded hand. As Hammer clenched his jaw, recoiling with the pain, the man bashed the side of his head with the gun. Not hard enough to make him go unconscious but enough to spill hot blood down Hammer’s head. Another hard jab to his kidney bent him forward.
Enough. If he was going to die, it would be facing the gun and running at his opponent. With a roar, he jumped to his feet and turned.
As he lunged forward, Reese stepped out from the rubble behind the enforcer, a gun in hand. Hope flared in Hammer’s chest. But the enforcer’s rifle jerked up to point at him.
It was a simple matter of who would fire first.
Chapter 30
THE THUD OF Jaxon’s heartbeat sounded like drumming in his ears. He willed it to slow.
“Jaxon?” came Garrett’s voice, echoing out over the lake.
“Over here.”
Garrett moved into Jaxon’s line of sight with two enforcers, all three men with guns drawn. “What happened here?” Garrett asked. He was trying hard to be casual, but Jaxon heard the hint of nervousness in his partner’s voice.
“Fringers came to the rendezvous. It was them who’ve taken our scientists.” Jaxon motioned to the lake. “We killed a couple and wounded a couple more, but they escaped out over the lake. I shot up the hover a bit. I’m not sure it can fly away.”
“Good job.”
“And where are the others?” Jaxon asked. “Why do you have Special Forces with you?”
“Sorry, Jaxon. This was the one chance to bring El Cerebro in.”
Jaxon faked surprise. “I don’t understand. Are you saying you betrayed us?”
“I didn’t betray you. I betrayed the boss of the Underground, enemy to the CORE.” Garrett approached Jaxon. “Put your gun down . . . slowly. Brogan forced you—forced all of us—to join him. If you put down your gun and go with them, it’ll be okay.”
“Okay?” The words cut deep into Jaxon’s soul. A partner—his partner—should have his back. “You saw what they tried to do to Reese and me at that factory.”
“It’s for your own good, and for the good of the CORE,” Garrett said, his face sincere. “Giving you that drug at Colony 6 might not have been the best thing, but they were trying to create better, stronger people to help all of us. But it failed. The subjects always end up crazy without help. Jaxon, you’ll hurt people. You said yourself that something was changing with your ability.”
“Changing doesn’t mean crazy.”
“In this case it does. Set the gun down.”
“Summers killed my mother.” Jaxon’s voice was a little too loud with his anger.
“You can’t know that.”
“I trust Reese.”
Garrett took another step. “You should trust me instead.”
“I have. With my life. And you said you’d always have my back.”
“I do. That’s why I’m here.”
Could Garrett really believe what he was saying? Jaxon had worked two years with the man, but he couldn’t be sure.
The enforcers with Garrett still held their guns, but their body language was relaxed. Now would be the perfect time for Reese and the fringers to attack—except Jaxon still didn’t see where Summers and the other enforcers were.
“Put your gun down,” Garrett said. “Or I’ll shoot.”
Jaxon lifted his chin. “That’s what we do now? Shoot each other? Go ahead. Do it, partner.”
Garrett’s gun shifted to Lyssa. “Okay, then I’ll shoot her. Mind, I don’t plan on killing either of you, but it’s up to you how many bullets she takes. I have to turn you both over. For the welfare of the CORE.”
“They enslaved people in the colonies,” Jaxon said, calculating his chances of putting a bullet into Garrett before he could hurt Lyssa. “You telling me you support that?”
“That’s just what Brogan wants you to believe.” Garrett paused a moment before adding, “Besides, for the most part they’re trash. That’s why they were sent there. Now they’re contributing to the good of everyone.”
“That might have been partially true sixty years ago. But their children and grandchildren—we had nothing to do with being sent there. You think I’m trash?”
Garrett’s face flushed. “Okay, I’m not saying I agree with all of it, because obviously you and your crew are an exception, and there could be others. But you can tell our leaders that, make them hear. And maybe they can fix you in time. Wouldn’t you like that? Summers says it’s possible, if you work for them.”
“Summers.” Jaxon let murder show in his voice.
“Give me your gun.”
“Lyssa’s already been shot. You’d really shoot her again?”
Garrett’s gaze went to Lyssa, taking in the way she held her right hand to her breast, and how she pressed her jacket over the top with her left hand. The water and mud she’d doused the blue material with didn’t look much like blood to Jaxon, but Garrett seemed to accept it. “I’m not blind. That’s why you should give me your gun.”
Still no sign of Summers. Did he plan on remaining at the shuttle? Jaxon needed to buy time, but he’d have to act before he and Lyssa were cuffed. “Okay, fine. You win.” Jaxon tossed the larger of his two guns forward, bouncing it off Garrett’s foot.
Garrett stepped forward, feeling Jaxon’s leg for another weapon. “This one too. And the knife you keep in your boot.”
Jaxon turned them over, forcing himself not to look down at the muddy edge of the lake, where he’d used rubble to hide two more guns that Dani had given him.
“See? That wasn’t so hard.” Garrett had the nerve to smile. “Now where’s Reese? Better that you tell me now.”
“Dead,” Jaxon said with a dullness he hoped was believable.
Garrett turned and waved his arm at something Jaxon couldn’t see. “Clear!” he called.
The sound of footsteps, and Summers came into view with two more enforcers. One was the woman who had escaped with Summers. The way she stared at Jaxon seemed oddly intimate, as if they had met before under other c
ircumstances, but if he knew her from somewhere besides the factory, she hadn’t stuck in his mind.
“So, here we are again,” Summers said. “I guess we have you to thank for connecting Chief Brogan with El Cerebro. My superiors at the CORE will be very pleased.”
Did that mean he hadn’t told anyone else yet? Jaxon let himself hope.
“You killed my mother,” he said.
“Your mother?” Summers shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t know your mother.”
“I saw you at our house.”
“I deliver all sorts of messages in my travels for the CORE.” Summers made a pretense at studying him. “If you saw me at your place, then I was probably fulfilling a duty given to me by another CORE Elite.” He clucked his tongue.
Could he be telling the truth? Jaxon hadn’t stuck around that day. For all he knew, Summers could have been there delivering some kind of message, though it seemed highly unlikely. The only thing officials had ever wanted from his mother was what she could give them in the bedroom. Including the man who’d left the seed that created Jaxon. He detested them all.
That put another unwelcome thought in his brain. How long had Summers been visiting his mother? His eyes—they were blue just like Jaxon’s.
No way. He wouldn’t believe that.
“Why would you visit a whore in Colony 6?” he spat. “There is only one kind of message you leave there.”
Summers looked affronted. “Enough of this nonsense. Where are the fringers?”
Fighting a desire to rush the man, Jaxon thumbed behind him at the hover on the lake. “Might be one or two left alive there. The others are dead. We had a shootout in the debris. Better be careful, though. The ones in the hover looked infected.” Might as well play on their fear.
Summers smiled as if they were close friends. “Thank you for doing your duty.” He pointed at the enforcers who had accompanied Garrett. “Go out there and get the hover. Kill the fringers. We already know they won’t talk.”
The two enforcers hesitated only seconds, glancing at Jaxon, before plunging into the lake, their strokes steady and sure.
That left only four opponents for Jaxon and Lyssa—and Summers and the woman enforcer didn’t have guns drawn. A victory was possible if Dani’s fringers were still watching and hadn’t been engaged by the Special Forces. Or if more enforcers didn’t show up before he finished taking out Garrett and Summers. He hoped Reese was close enough when she heard his signal because he knew he could depend on her.
And what about Dani? Could she take the two men in the lake? She’d been under far too long already. The enforcers were swimming hard, arms digging into the water. They’d be at the hover before long.
Summers took his eyes from the swimmers. “Cuff them,” he said to the remaining male enforcer.
“She’s hurt.” Garrett waved at Lyssa.
Summers shrugged. “Better safe than sorry. Whatever they hit, it doesn’t look to be fatal.”
Jaxon’s muscles bunched, and he shifted his gaze to Lyssa, trying to signal her to shoot when he did. But she had little training—would she even know what his stare meant?
A scream cut through the silence, the sound coming from the lake. Jaxon’s head turned with the others—to see only one man swimming, now halfway toward the hover. Then a head broke the water, along with two flailing arms. After a gurgled shout, the man disappeared again. He didn’t come back up.
The other man began swimming toward where his friend had gone down, which Jaxon had to admit showed more bravery than he expected. The man dove under the water—once, twice, and then again. He came up empty. He waved at the shore, obviously expecting direction from Summers.
“Go help,” Summers ordered the enforcer who had yet to cuff Jaxon.
The man handed his rifle to Garrett and plunged into the lake.
Before he reached the second enforcer, the missing man appeared, coming to the surface, face down, with a gentle swelling motion. The other two started in his direction, but the second man shouted suddenly and started pushing back the other way.
“It’s got my foot. Help! H—” With a yank, he went under. The third man turned in the water and started stroking as fast as he could for the shore.
“What kind of trick is this?” Summers covered the space between him and Jaxon, pulling his gun and jabbing it in his throat. “You said they were infected. How?”
“Are they mutants?” Garrett demanded. “Do they have gills?”
“I didn’t see any,” Jaxon said, gagging as Summers increased the pressure on his neck. “But it’s not like we’re best friends.”
The second man had now resurfaced and was floating motionlessly, his face pointed upward.
Summers’ face flushed and his fingers tightened on the trigger. A gust of wind blew his perfect gray hair out of place. “So help me, if it weren’t for him, I’d shoot you right now.”
Him?
Another enforcer entered the clearing, his gun pointed at the backs of Dani’s two soldiers, who had been cuffed and were bleeding from cuts on their faces. One was holding his arm at an awkward angle. The enforcer also looked badly beaten, but he was the one with the gun. He marched the fringers around the few boulders in the clearing before shoving them to the ground.
“We snuck up on these two,” said the enforcer. “Looks like they were getting ready to shoot all of you. They killed Zach, but I taught them a lesson. Permission to execute—”
A scream cut through his words, and they looked to see the last man in the water, now almost to the shore, his face red and panicked. He opened his mouth, but whatever he said was lost, as he was pulled backward under the water.
“Forget the hover.” Summers grabbed Jaxon’s shoulders and pushed him toward Garrett. “Get them in the shuttle. Now!”
A shot rang out from the direction the enforcers had come, echoing out over the lake.
Reese! thought Jaxon. He dove into Garrett, using the push from Summers to help his momentum.
The two fell to the ground. Garrett threw a punch at Jaxon’s face, but Jaxon had sparred with his partner too many times to get hit. He ducked, sending a fist into Garrett’s stomach, then lunged for one of his borrowed guns, firing at the enforcer holding the fringers and hitting him in the chest.
Lyssa fired too, and the enforcer went down, leaving only Summers and the woman enforcer, who, strangely, had not pulled a weapon.
Because she’s not really an enforcer, Jaxon thought.
No time to follow that hunch. Summers was already turning his gun on Lyssa. Garrett had also recovered quickly and was bringing up his gun to shoot Jaxon.
Jaxon’s choice stretched out before him, as if he had all the time in the world. But there was no choice, not really. Lyssa was his crew, and he couldn’t let Summers take her from Lyra.
Jaxon fired, and a hole opened in the pus bag’s chest. Summers stared at Jaxon, his mouth opening in shock as he crumpled. That’s for Mom, Jaxon thought.
Garrett’s bullet sliced into Jaxon, burning hot as it dug into his left shoulder. Jaxon ignored the pain and tried to pull his own trigger, but his hand grew abruptly heavy. What was going on? The hit in his shoulder shouldn’t have any effect on his right hand. Yet his fingers were lifeless as the gun dropped to the dirt.
The two fringers who had struggled to their feet and Lyssa were also affected. Lyssa was staring at the woman enforcer, who had one hand out in front of her body and the other extended toward the fringers.
“You don’t remember me, do you?” she said to Jaxon and Lyssa. “Of course not. I was a year younger than you in the Coop, and you never noticed me.”
“Esme?” Lyssa gasped out.
“You always were the smartest. Wait, no, that was your sister.” Esme shrugged. “Too bad neither of you will be coming back to Estlantic with me. I don’t need more competition than I already have there.” To Garrett, she ordered, “Kill them both.”
“But we’ve got them
now.” Garrett glanced down at Summers. “He wanted to take them in.”
“Summers is dead.” Her voice was hard. “What he wanted means nothing. I’m going to take El Cerebro in and get the credit for it, not Summers. If you want any reward, you will do what I say. No use in delaying the inevitable. I know Jaxon and his crew. They will never, ever bend to the will of the CORE. They always put each other first. Some things never change.”
Garrett lifted his gun, his hand shaking as he struggled to resist Esme’s control.
Jaxon felt helpless as he watched. He heard splashing in the lake behind him, but if Dani was coming to the rescue, she’d be too late. His eye caught a piece of rebar in the dirt. If only he could reach it before Garrett pulled the trigger.
Chapter 31
REESE STARED AS the enforcer fell into Hammer, knocking him down again. Smoke still curled from the tip of her gun barrel. She sprang forward and rolled the body off Hammer. “You okay?”
“Thanks to you.”
“Look, I have to get back to Jaxon and Lyssa,” she said. “Garrett and Summers will have heard the shot.”
Hammer nodded. “Go without me. I’ll only slow you down.”
“What about the others?”
“We already took care of the other enforcer guarding the shuttle.” He took the fallen man’s rifle. “I’ll see if I can help patch up Brogan. Eagle’s probably already found something to cut through his cuffs and get out. We’ll hold things here. Go!”
Reese didn’t need another invitation. She sprinted through the ruins, at times half hopping on her good leg when her hurt calf ached in protest. Shots were echoing around the ruins now, and Reese felt panic overcoming the coolness she’d felt at pulling the trigger. She’d saved Hammer’s life, but at what cost?
When Reese entered the clearing near the lake, she registered that Jaxon and Lyssa were alive but facing Garrett and a woman enforcer. Garrett was pointing his gun at Jaxon, who seemed unable to move. Garrett’s going to shoot.
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