Ambushed

by Dean Murray

  It wasn't bulletproof as far as making sure that nobody knew where we were going, but it was the best I could do.

  I could hear Carson reaching for a pen and notepad and I waited while he wrote down my coded directions.

  "Very good. Are you planning on bringing the item you stole from your father with you on this trip?"

  It took me a minute to realize that he was talking about the massive two-handed sword that had been created back in the time of the monarchy.

  "Yes, actually, it figures into my plans in a fairly central way."

  "We'll need to talk about that. Such…items…aren't meant to be used under these kinds of circumstances, but bring it nonetheless. There are things I can teach you about its use."

  Carson hung up before I could even begin to process the idea that he'd just told me that he knew how to use my sword, that he was familiar with a style of fighting that had disappeared centuries before either of us had been born.

  Chapter 21

  Alec Graves

  Ambush site

  Southern New Mexico

  It defied belief that I'd been on such a dramatic high such a short time before. The rendezvous with Carson had gone just fine. He'd brought all of the people he'd promised to bring, but they were an odd bunch.

  They were quiet, even more so than you would have expected from a group of shape shifters who were forced to associate with other moonborn they didn't fully trust. They were almost cliquish. It was the kind of thing that you expected out of a pack that had a long history together. It wasn't the right vibe to be getting from a bunch of dispossessed wolves and hybrids whose only common tie was Carson.

  There was something there that I needed to figure out, preferably sooner rather than later, but the eve before a big fight wasn't the time to be picking at the threads currently holding our Frankenstein coalition together.

  One of Jack's contacts, motivated by a hefty bribe, had come through for us in a big way. We currently had a live, scrambled, feed from one of the government surveillance satellites over the area, which meant that Rachel and the Petersons were watching—in real time—the progress of the motorcade carrying Agony.

  We'd arrived at the scene of the ambush about an hour after sunrise. It was still cold enough that thermal tracking was a problem, but we'd spent the last hour and a half huddled under silver, reflective blankets which Jack said would break up our thermal picture if Kaleb currently had someone monitoring the area.

  It was good that Jack's uplink was working because everything else felt like it was mere minutes from falling apart.

  Shawn hadn't showed up. He was more than half an hour behind schedule and he hadn't answered the one call that I'd risked making on the satellite phone that I'd brought along. It was a bad sign, and Carson was smart enough to know exactly how much danger we were in.

  "The other group you've been expecting isn't coming, is it?"

  "It's not looking good. I can't say for sure that they aren't on their way still, but it's definitely not looking good."

  I held up the small military-grade radio in my left hand. "Rachel has been watching the area for me and she says that there aren't many other vehicles on the road right now. If we were going to get any company, either expected or otherwise, they should be on the road right now, but Rachel said that there's only one or two vehicles on the road right now that could make it here before the convoy comes through."

  "They could have split up their men to help disguise the fact that they are on the way."

  I gave him a humorless smile. "We're not talking about the good guys anymore; you're worried that a bunch of enforcers are on their way here to spring a counter-ambush."

  "I'd be lying if I said the thought hadn't crossed my mind."

  I shrugged. "It's possible, but Rach said that the closest vehicles are subcompacts. Even if they had split up into three different cars they still couldn't move very many people in vehicles that small."

  Carson pondered my answer for several seconds. You couldn't pack shape shifters, especially not the super-aggressive hybrids who usually ended up working for the Coun'hij, in tighter than maybe two per car when you were dealing with transport that tiny. It was persuasive evidence that our operation hadn't been blown despite the fact that Shawn hadn't shown up, but it wasn't a guarantee.

  Unfortunately, we weren't in a business that provided those kinds of guarantees. The underlying math behind our situation hadn't changed. We had a large group of both hybrids and wolves and we had a secret weapon in the form of Grayson who apparently was capable of throwing large groups of hybrids into uncontrollable seizures.

  If Grayson's ability worked as promised then we would be up against something like a dozen hybrids all of whom would be completely incapacitated for the period of time it would take us to close and deal with them. If it didn't work then we were going to have a pretty rough fight on our hands.

  "All of the arrangements for our getaway are still looking good then?"

  "Yeah, I had Rachel speed up a little so that she isn't as far behind Agony's moving prison, but I can't have her get much closer without potentially causing Agony's guards to get suspicious."

  "Very well, I think we should proceed then."

  I tried to maintain my composure; I mostly succeeded, but I couldn't completely suppress a sigh of relief at the news that I wasn't going to have to scrap the operation at the last minute. Carson didn't seem to notice though. He was eyeing the sword strapped to my back. He'd been doing much the same all morning, but so far he hadn't been ready to get whatever it was that was bothering him off of his chest.

  I thought maybe he'd turn away again without saying anything, but he finally sighed and started unzipping the large, slender black bag that he'd been carrying around all morning. A few seconds' work revealed a sword that was eerily similar to mine.

  His wasn't quite as ornate, not that mine was in any way ostentatious, but other than his lacking the complex royal sigil on the blade, the two weapons were nearly identical. They were both massive blades that no human, regardless of how strong, could have possibly wielded effectively.

  My sword was the weapon of a king, and his had originally been commissioned for a lower-status hybrid, but they were both meant to be carried into battle by six-and-a-half foot tall hybrids. It was hard to think of many situations where a single hybrid wasn't deadly enough, but they existed and swords like this had been envisioned as a way of allowing my kind to meet nearly any opponent on equal terms.

  "Where did you get that?"

  The question burst out of me before I could second-guess the impulse.

  "It was a gift from someone who meant the world to me. That same individual instructed me in its use."

  "How is that possible?"

  Carson gave me a sad smile. "There are many, many things you don't know, Alec Graves. You're heir to an incredible legacy but even you don't know everything that has transpired since your family fell from power. Suffice it to say that there are places still where knowledge that most of our kind believes to have been lost is still treasured and passed on."

  "Do you know how to make more of them? The swords, I mean, do you know the secret to their manufacture?"

  "Why? If I did know the lost art of making these weapons, what would you use it for? Swords like this were the basis for how the monarchy was originally established. Would you use them to return your family to a position of preeminence?"

  "I…I guess I've never thought that far. I would use them to overthrow the Coun'hij. I'm not sure what would come after that."

  Carson sighed. "Believe it or not, I understand your desires. When I was much younger than I am now I felt much the same way, but my instructor was adamant about one thing. He never wanted me to take up this weapon against others of my own kind."

  "He thought they should only be used against the werewolves and jaguars?"

  "Yes, vampires as well, but the key was that I not use the gift he had given me to slaughter other wolves and
hybrids. I would ask a boon of you. Do not take your weapon into this fight, don't dishonor its legacy."

  It meant a lot to Carson. I could tell as much, even if I didn't share his sentiment. The silence stretched out between us as I tried to come up with a response that honored his concerns without giving up the edge I needed.

  "I'm sorry, Carson. I understand why you don't want to see me use this weapon against other hybrids and I think it's very admirable that you've honored the memory of your teacher, but I can't give up an edge that might make the difference between my friends dying or surviving what's about to come."

  Carson looked away from me for a long moment and when he looked back his face was even more grave than it had been a second before.

  "Very well, I see that I must offer something of value to you in exchange. I will not ask you to risk the lives of your friends. I would suggest a trade. If you will leave your sword next to that stream over there I will leave mine there as well."

  I opened my mouth to refuse him, but he wasn't done.

  "If the fight starts going against our people then the two of us can fall back to our weapons and I will help you save those you care about. In exchange for your doing this, once we complete this operation I will begin your instruction."

  "You would teach me to use a sword knowing that I would use it against the Coun'hij?"

  "I would agree to teach you now in order to avoid seeing your blade dishonored today and in the hopes that I'll be able to convince you later on to use it only for its intended purpose."

  I looked out over the barren landscape to the west as I considered his words. Nothing seemed to be moving for miles. The closest thing to life that I could see was a plane that was high enough up that it didn't seem to be moving at all.

  "I accept your proposal."

  We walked over to the spot Carson had indicated a short distance from the stream that Jack had pointed out in his original briefing. As I gently set my sword down on the bag next to Carson's I notice that the stream was much louder than I'd expected, but it was the kind of inconsequential observation that couldn't hold my attention. I was too busy calculating distances and travel times to worry about how fast the stream was flowing.

  It wasn't the perfect spot to leave the weapons, at least not for the purpose I thought we were most likely to need them for, but it was good enough and it would mean that I got to take over the most exciting part of the upcoming fight.

  Carson and I walked back toward the road and everyone else. All three groups were starting to get antsy. It was nearly time for the motorcade to show up. As Jack shot me a questioning look, Rachel came on over the radio.

  "We're in position and your target is inbound. You have about two minutes. The porcelain doll is struggling. Hurry every chance you get."

  That last bit had been a reference to Brindi. She hadn't liked being forced to stay with Rachel and the others, but she had no place in the middle of what was about to happen. If anything went wrong there would be no way to get her out safely. By now she was deep in the throes of withdrawal, but I couldn't worry about that now.

  I held up the radio so everyone could see it. It was an unnecessary gesture, we'd been close enough that everyone had already heard Rachel's message.

  "We're a go. I'll take point on the semi. Jack, you're with James. Everyone get in position!"

  Jack and James took off at a dead run towards the edge of the canyon while the rest of us moved further down the road. Carson gripped my arm—there was a reassuring solidness to the gesture—and then he turned to follow the main body of our group as I headed in the other direction at a jog.

  I made it to James and Jack as they were dragging the first set of spike strips out on to the road. We'd run ropes to a nearby tree so it was just a matter of pulling on the free end until the slack on the rope was all used up. Once they hit the end of the rope, the collapsible, accordion-like construction of the spike strips expanded out and they dropped the strips into exactly the right place.

  I crossed over to the other side of the road and crouched behind a rock as they ducked behind a tree and then there was nothing left to do but wait.

  I knew we wouldn't have to wait long. Rachel's estimate had been right on; I could already hear the sound of engines laboring to pull the vehicles of Agony's moving prison up the steep grade.

  A couple of seconds later the two lead cars, a pair of black SUV's, came up over the lip of the canyon and hit our spike strips. Neither vehicle went careening out of control, even though the spikes worked. They were equipped with run-flat tires just like I'd suspected they would be. That was okay though, we'd planned around that.

  I felt Jack and James shift forms in twin surges of power and then joined them. My beast rose eagerly to the surface with a pulse of energy that forced me into my hybrid form with a flare of shadow pain that was gone almost before it even got started.

  The semi-truck was almost even with me when I abandoned my cover and started sprinting towards the road. A hybrid was no match for a wolf, not across any kind of longer distance, but for short bursts it was hard to beat the sheer explosive power of a hybrid's muscles, especially when combined with the traction provided by the talons on our feet.

  It took me only two steps to match speed with the huge truck, and then on the third I was overtaking it. The odds were that the driver was a shape shifter, but events were happening too fast even for one of our kind to process everything.

  Carson and the rest had stepped out of concealment as soon as they felt the three of us shift forms. That combined with the panicked reports coming from the two lead vehicles had directed the truck driver's attention up ahead rather than right next to him where the danger actually was. Even if that hadn't been the case, it probably wouldn't have made any difference, the cab of the truck was too small to allow him to shift with any degree of safety.

  I put my right fist into the back panel of the cab. There wasn't any way to know for sure what was underneath the shiny exterior, but it was a good bet that there was some kind of structural steel member in the corner.

  My claws went through the thin metal like it was paper and then I closed my fist around something hard. I'd found the frame and I used it to give myself extra leverage as I pushed off the ground and spun clockwise so that my left fist went through the driver side window in a spray of glass shards.

  The way his body moved as my claws hit his chest told me that he hadn't been wearing a seatbelt, so I pulled him out of the cab through the window that I'd just destroyed. I didn't look to see where he landed, he was already dead.

  Hybrid claws hadn't exactly been designed with the idea of being capable of fine manipulation, but that didn't matter this time. I grabbed hold of the door and threw my weight against it. The back end of the door popped free with a squeal of overstressed metal, but the hinges on the front held just enough to save me from losing my hold on the big diesel entirely.

  I rocked backwards and then threw myself into the cab as I shoved my beast down far enough to trigger another shift in forms. I hit the driver's seat in my human body and then made a grab for the wheel as I started to slide back out toward the road. A second later I had the brakes and the clutch depressed as far as they would go.

  There was a sickening crunch and jolt from behind the truck as one of the tailing vehicles crashed into the back of the trailer, and then another black SUV pulled up next to me. Nothing about this operation would have worked in a world where my enemies used firearms, but luckily that wasn't the world I lived in.

  I spared a thought to hope that James and Jack had been out of the way when that other car had crashed into the back of me, and then I threw the wheel hard to the left. Even moving as slowly as it was, my diesel slammed into the SUV with enough force to send it off of the road.

  I hadn't put on my seatbelt either, and the force of the impact nearly sent me flying out of the cab. The metal of the steering wheel deformed slightly under the pressure of my grip and the stress of keeping me i
n my chair, and then the massive semi-truck finally ground to a halt.

  I cut my arm on a shard of metal as I dropped down from the cab, but it didn't matter. I shifted to hybrid form before my feet even hit the ground and charged towards the closest SUV. Each of the black vehicles would have between three and five shape shifters inside which meant that we were facing somewhere between twelve and twenty of the Coun'hij's enforcers.

  Depending on how many hybrids we were up against, it might still be a stiff fight if Grayson's ability didn't come through for us. Because of that it was vital that we kill as many of them as we could before they managed to get out of their cars and transform.

  Hitting the SUV had slowed the big diesel faster than I'd originally planned. We wanted to get it to a stop as soon as possible so that James and Jack could get the trailer opened up and Agony out of there, so that was good except I was still a couple dozen yards away from Carson and the rest.

  The driver of the SUV I'd hit was already stumbling out of his ride. He saw me coming and shifted forms, but I was already airborne. I cleared the twisted black collection of wreckage in a single bound and hit the driver like a ton of bricks.

  He was a hybrid by the time I collided with him, but he didn't have any momentum on his side and I'd been moving at a full sprint. I led with my feet and my talons sank into his chest as my weight bore him to the ground. He got off a couple of weak slashes to my hip and side before hitting the ground hard enough to shake up even a hybrid.

  I never gave him a chance to recover. As half a dozen wolves streaked past me, headed for the SUV that had crashed into the tractor-trailer from behind, I reached down and ended his life with a couple of well-placed slashes of my own.

  I lunged back to my feet and threw myself at the SUV. The windows on this side hadn't been broken and the tinting on them was too dark to tell if anyone was still inside so I just put my right hand through the back window and my left hand through the middle window.