by Amelia Jade
“Oh fuck this,” she said angrily, then backed up and launched herself at the pair.
Definitely a strong one.
“Get lower,” Connor said, realizing she wouldn’t make it onto their hands.
The pair desperately squatted lower, hoping to catch her foot.
Madison leapt for them.
***
And with a yelp they launched her up and over, right into the waiting arms of Delta and her father.
“You next,” Connor ordered.
Charlie hesitated for a second, but the screeching of tires as the SUVs reached them spurred him into action. They had but moments before the men were on them. He bent low, cupping his hands in front of him as Charlie stepped back.
Connor’s growl as he single-handedly threw his team member over the fence was loud enough to echo through the dark.
There wasn’t nearly as much room, and his pants ripped slightly on the barbed wire, but Charlie made it.
“What about you?” Madison shouted as Charlie and Delta ushered her deeper into the train yard.
Beyond them, a throaty horn sounded in the deepening darkness of night. The sun had been down for some time now, and the shadows were growing thicker by the second. His watched beeped.
“Train’s leaving! Get them on it!” he yelled.
“Freeze!”
Connor looked over to see a man climbing out of one of the vehicles.
Not today, shithead, he thought.
Then, faster than any man could move, he launched himself at the hood of his SUV, landing on the roof and jumping. The roof crumpled behind him, but it had supported him for long enough. His legs sprang him up as glass exploded in the windows, the roof collapsing in on itself.
That was why he hadn’t had the others use that method. Only one of them could have. And besides, the landing was going to hurt.
Connor shouted in pain as he landed fully in the barbed wire, the razor-sharp metal slicing deep into his skin in more places than he cared to know. One piece whipped by his face as he tumbled over it, the ground rushing up to meet him.
“Fuck,” he cried out as one of his fingers snapped awkwardly on the landing.
Snap-hiss.
Connor rolled frantically at the sound, just as something dug into the dirt nearby him.
They were firing!
The noise grew louder as more of the men approached the fence, trying to hit him as he scrambled to his feet and began to dodge, using the shadows as best he could. The men behind him were human, so their reactions and eyesight would be reduced heavily, especially as he made his way between looming train cars.
“Ow!” he shouted as something tugged at his arm. Looking down, he saw the scrape mark where a dart must have grazed him. “Lucky bastard,” he said, looking back into the dark.
His blood turned to ice.
Illuminated by the headlights was a man several inches taller than the others. It wasn’t his height though. It was the calm demeanor with which he stood near the others, lowering his tranquilizer pistol, which he had only used one hand on. His body language was relaxed, and yet laser-focused at the same time. Connor saw the head tilt, and realized the man must have picked him up in the darkness.
The gun came up in a blur and Connor ducked around the railroad car just as something clinked against the metal at head height.
Not good, he said, cursing under his breath as he took off after the others. He could hear the train lurching into motion, the loud echoing of metal as one car after another was slowly drawn taut by the movement of the engine. He was running out of time.
Ahead, he saw the rest of his team. Delta and Madison’s father were leading the way. Charlie was lagging behind, pulling Madison after him.
“We need to go after him,” she was saying angrily.
Something about the way she spoke told Connor that she was mad at herself, not at Charlie.
“He’ll be fine,” Charlie said, pulling on her again. The space between the two pairs was increasing as they raced after the moving train.
“I’m coming! Go!’ Connor shouted, catching their attention. “Get moving,” he said angrily as he drew up alongside them, snatching Madison up bodily and tucking her under his arm as they went.
“You’re covered in blood!” she yelped. “Put me down!”
“Then run faster,” he growled, but did as she said. The trio were within two hundred yards of the train when he heard the noise.
“That sounds like—” Charlie started, but was cut off as lights bounced crazily behind them, the rays casting wild shadows all over the train yard.
“A truck,” Connor finished, looking behind them as a fourth vehicle appeared.
The pickup bounced and careened across the tracks, but despite the rough terrain it was gaining ground on them. Ahead of them the first pair was already on the train. Delta hustled the man inside.
“Get on!’ Connor shouted to Charlie, indicating he was going to have to assist Madison. They were starting to fall behind as the train picked up speed. They didn’t have long now before it would be going too fast for even a shifter to catch.
Charlie nodded his head and picked up the pace, leaping on to the back of the moving train.
“Sorry, but no choice this time,” Connor said, picking Madison up in his arms as he dashed forward, his shifter legs closing the ground on the rearmost railroad car. Unlike many trains it wasn’t another engine, but an enclosed cargo car.
“Charlie, catch her!” he shouted to the other man.
“What?” Madison shrieked in his arms.
“I’m going to throw you,” he grunted, churning his legs to get as close as possible to the train.
He bunched his arms, preparing to throw her.
Something flew out of the night, slapping him across the cheek.
Connor flexed his arms, launching Madison forward as he stumbled. She screamed and reached for Charlie’s outstretched arms.
Chapter Four
Madison
She was airborne.
Madison heard herself screaming as she flew through the air, propelled with a strength no human could match. Charlie’s arm came closer and she desperately reached for it.
Their fingers brushed against each other, and then she was falling.
No!
The ground came up quickly, reaching out to hit her as she bounced and then rolled up and over the tracks into the gravel-lined sides. Small rocks ripped at her exposed skin and clothing as she came to a halt. She scowled angrily, forcing herself to her feet. Everywhere hurt, but she had taken hits worse than that in her rugby days. The next morning would be a different story, but for now adrenaline was coursing through her veins as she darted after the train, followed quickly by the man with the blue eyes.
“We’re not going to make it,” she gasped.
The landing may not have hurt much, but she definitely was not in the same shape she used to be. Her breathing was labored already, and she could feel sweat breaking out across her body.
“I know,” Blue Eyes responded, “but we need to keep going.”
Shouts sounded from closer behind them.
“I can agree with that.” She took off with renewed vigor.
Something buzzed by her ear.
“What the hell was that?” she asked, looking around as they ran.
“Tranquilizer darts,” Blue Eyes muttered.
She really needed to find out his name. Calling him Blue Eyes was going to get really annoying, really quickly. Besides, if—
“What?” she shouted as his words registered. “Why the hell are they shooting at us?”
“I’ll tell you everything you want to know as soon as we escape this,” he promised, then picked her up and ducked between railway cars.
“I—”
His finger settled over her mouth.
“I’m going to need you to be quiet here, okay? Let me do what I do best,” he said so softly she had to strain to make it out.
He came to
a halt, setting her down, then motioned for her to get under the low-slung railroad car.
Maddy hesitated, but the sound of boots pounding on the gravel as they neared spurred her into action. She ducked swiftly under the car.
Connor moved into the middle of the aisle between parked cars, then all the way to the far one, where he crouched behind an outcropping.
Two men came charging around the corner.
“Hey! Where did they go?’
The second man didn’t have time to respond, because Blue Eyes went on the attack.
Maddy watched in horror as he glided between the pair like a surgeon. He reached up, grabbed the head of the rear attacker, then did something that sent the man spinning down and into the other attacker, taking him out at the knees. Blue Eyes grabbed the falling man by the face and rammed his head into the ground.
Gravel and skull met, and then the attacker went inhumanely still.
“Come on,” Blue eyes said, motioning to her with his hands.
She began to get out from under the car when her protector swore and ducked out of the way. Something clinked against the side of the railway car. It sounded suspiciously like the noises she had heard just moments ago.
Maddy froze, unsure of what to do. Blue Eyes had moved away from her, back against one of the railcars. The pair of still behemoths rose up into the night, obscuring the few sparse rays of light that were cast across the yard at that time of night. Shadow and darkness ruled, making it very hard for her to see what was going on.
She heard a grunt come from the direction where she had last seen Blue Eyes. A body flew by her in the air and she had to stifle a scream, doing her best to stay quiet like he had asked her. It was only after that, that she realized the body had been Blue Eyes himself!
She raced after him, almost tripping over his legs as he quickly rose to his feet in the darkness.
“Get down!” he hissed, pulling her out of the way as something buzzed by her head once again.
She rolled free of his grip almost automatically, a leftover response from her rugby days. This left him free, and he practically flew from the ground as he launched himself at his opponent, a man she had yet to see. There was a big thud, and the sound of several meaty blows, followed by a hollow noise as something—or someone—impacted up against the steel of the railcar.
Nervously, Maddy reached down and felt around until she found what she was looking for. Object in hand, she backed up against the railcar, her eyes finally adjusting enough to make out the dim form of two men locked in a titanic battle. They moved so swiftly and easily that she could barely follow the flurry of blows that landed on each of them. Any one of those massive punches should have knocked someone senseless, but it just seemed to enrage the other even more.
Then she saw another figure emerge from around the corner and aim something at the pair. It had to be a tranquilizer gun. She couldn’t make the object out well enough to see, but there was nothing else it could be. Maddy had to do something! If they got Blue Eyes, she sure as hell couldn’t escape on her own. With a quick prayer to whatever deity might be watching over her, she hefted the object in her arm, took aim, and whipped it around underhand in a move she hadn’t used since high-school.
Her skills had deteriorated a bit it seemed, but it worked to her advantage. Instead of hitting him in the head, as she had aimed for, her throw went low, and the large rock she had picked up slammed into the man’s crotch. He went down with a cry and she leapt forward, her brain trying to catch up with her body as she picked the rock up and dashed it against his head, intent on keeping him down. The man groaned and lay still, a large gash bleeding profusely on the side of his head.
Maddy stumbled backward as the realization of what she’d done sank in. She had hit someone in anger, with a weapon! Perhaps she had killed him! Her limbs began to shake, no matter how hard she ordered them to stop. Panic forced her fingers tight around the stone, its sharp edges digging into her palm even as she tried to drop it, aware of the droplets of blood slowly falling to the ground at her side.
A pained grunt sounded from farther into the shadows. There were several railcars all joined together, portions of unneeded trains sitting unused in the yard, waiting to be called upon again. The pair of combatants had moved deeper between them, making it harder for her to see as she found herself moving toward the sounds.
Stop it! Turn around, and go the other way. Run. Flee. Escape.
Maddy kept closing in on the sounds.
A man stumbled back into view. He wasn’t wearing a balaclava, and as he looked at her, his eyes were brown.
Her arm came up, and she slammed the rock into the side of his head.
“That was unwise,” he responded, all but ignoring the blow even as blood cascaded down his face. “I shall deal with you later.” He moved to turn back, but the distraction had been enough.
Big, muscular hands shot out of the darkness from behind him, wrapping around his head.
“Close your eyes!” a voice shouted.
Darkness enveloped her as she instinctually obeyed, her body not fighting his urgent command, something in his voice telling her she needed to do exactly as he said.
Snap!
The sound, combined with the images of the first man she had hit running across her eyelids was too much. Maddy bent over and emptied her stomach onto the ground.
Blue Eyes, to his credit, gave her a moment as she felt him crouch by her side.
“Don’t open your eyes yet,” he said as she started to get up.
Big, powerful muscles swept her into his arms, and then they were up and moving. Her body bounced up and down as they moved, picking up speed.
“Can I open my eyes now?” she asked after a minute, feeling her way around his neck with her arms, helping to ease the jolting of his gait.
Her head instinctively settled on his shoulder for a moment, until she realized what she was doing. Maddy sat up straight in his arms, eyes opening anyway, before he could respond.
“I guess so,” came the reply several seconds later, filled with the knowledge she was already looking.
“I can run some more if you want,” she offered, but he declined.
“We need to make better speed than you can handle,” he explained.
Maddy eyed the railcars and small outbuildings flashing by as he rocketed through the train yard.
“Fair enough,” she said without argument. There was no way she could keep up such a pace for very long, if at all. It was a literally superhuman speed they were traveling at. “Can I ask where we’re going at least?”
“Safe house,” Blue Eyes replied.
Right. His name.
“What’s your name, so I can stop calling you Blue Eyes?”
To accentuate her point, she pulled his ski mask up and off his face. It may have been her imagination, but she thought she felt him stumble slightly as he ran. There was no imagining the long hesitation before he replied.
“Bravo,” he said at last, having fought what looked like some sort of internal battle. “Call me Bravo.”
Maddy snorted, ensuring it was loud and audible. “Bravo? Really? Tell me that’s not your actual name.”
His face seemed to wilt a little under her attack, but beneath it she saw the workings of a smile, even if it was never allowed to blossom.
“Fine,” he said, slowing his breakneck speed as they came to the end of the train yard. A sea of tree trunks swayed gently on the far side of the fence. “My name is Connor.”
Connor. It was a good name. Suited him much better than Blue Eyes.
“So, what now Connor?’ she asked. “You seem to have gotten me in a bit of a pickle.”
His eyebrows shot up. “I got you into it? If you had kept running with the others, instead of trying to come back for me for some insane reason, you would have been on that train, headed to safety!” he protested, looking behind them to see if anyone else was following them. There were shouts coming from among the railcars, b
ut none of them sounded close.
“I do believe that you’re the one who came to my house, barged in the door, and said I needed to come with you. It wasn’t a full-blown ‘Come with me if you want to live’ situation, but it was pretty damn close, mister,” she said, her anger building at the way he had turned her life upside down in perhaps an hour’s time.
“Can we talk about this later?” he asked, walking toward the fence. This one had chain link instead of steel bar.
Her eyes widened as he squatted down, grabbed ahold of the wire, and then simply stood up. Metal groaned and snapped with an audible twang as it reverberated through the rest of the fence.
“Under you go,” he said.
He wasn’t even straining hard! All her life Maddy had known that her father was strong, but to see some of the feats his race were capable of made her even more jealous that she hadn’t been born with a bear inside of her, to give her the strength to protect herself.
“Now please,” he asked when she didn’t move.
Maddy shook her head and ducked under the fence. Connor followed swiftly, letting go of the wire. It sunk somewhat, but one of the poles was now bent, and it would never go back to normal. There was a big hole, clear as day, to show where they had escaped.
“They’re going to see that,” she said.
“All the more reason we should be out of here,” he told her, grabbing her hand and pulling her after him into the trees.
***
“Ugh, you stink,” she said, wrinkling her nose as they entered the safe house Connor had promised he would bring her to.
The big shifter eyed her speculatively. “You don’t exactly smell like a bed of roses yourself,” he said. “If you lean a little bit closer, you might find you really smell like—”
“Don’t even say it,” she admonished, wagging a finger at him, the motion eased by the smile of relief on her face. “Shower?” she asked, looking around.
“In there,” he said, pointing through one of the closed doors. “Leave it unlocked, and I’ll put some clean clothes on the counter for you. They may be a little big, but we tried to keep it equipped for all contingencies.”