Chapter 10

Athump filled the air, like the aftershock of a bomb without the actual explosion, and something hit the truck and pushed it sideways, skidding across the road. To be fair, we weren't the only vehicle getting shoved around by the unseen force. I wrestled with the steering wheel of the truck and fought to keep us on the road.

"What the fuck is that?" Dinah yelped.

"No idea." I spoke through gritted teeth. The force was continuing to push long after a simple shockwave should have.

As suddenly as it had hit, the push was gone and the cars all around us came to a stop. I looked up to the sky in time to see three figures flying in the same direction we were headed. Multiple arms, wings of leather, swords hanging from their thick waists . . .

Those are the soldiers of the fallen. Those who were too weak to retain a proper body, Ipos said and then laughed.

"Fuck." I jammed the truck in reverse, cranked the wheel and got us moving again in the right direction. "We have to beat them."

"You drive, we'll discuss," Easter said as she tapped the center console with one of her guns. I got us moving again, using the truck as a part battering ram, the squeal and screech of metal making the two men wince. "We have the three facilities your mother's body could be in. We don't have time to hit them all. Or the firepower."

I looked at Carlos and he tapped his ears. "Our prisoner, she cannot hear. I've plugged her up, so she won't be able to pass on anything."

I nodded and Easter went on. "Three facilities, one crack team—if we can get your Cowboy and he's as good as he says. We need to know which one to hit and go hard and fast before . . . "

"Before Gardreel knows what we're doing," I said. Assuming he didn't already suspect and have things in play.

The traffic was thinning out and that made me suspicious. "Traffic should be getting worse, not better."

"What's that up there?" Pete leaned in so he could look past Ruby. She snapped her teeth at him, but my eyes were locked on what was up ahead.

"A blockade?" Easter said. "For us?"

"Because of the truck," I said. "The one we left behind. They knew someone was coming through."

A solid line of police cars waited for us up ahead. I put the gas pedal down hard; Carlos helped steady the steering wheel. "Hang on," I barked as I leaned out the side window, swinging Diego up. "Biggest boom you've got, Diego."

"Fuck yeah!" he growled as his inner workings clicked over. I had no idea what it would be. "Hang on tight, Nix!" he yelled as I squeezed the trigger and he fired. The kickback was brutal as a fucking rocket launched out of him, jamming the butt of the gun hard into my shoulder, even though I was braced. Sure, it was small, sized for a weapon of his size, but it was still a rocket.

"Is that what I think it is?" screamed Dinah. "Godddamn, man, you've been holding out on me!"

The rocket flew perfectly and hit the front line of the cars. They exploded with a roar that rent the air, the concussion hard on the ears. The police cars flipped upward, sending the first two out of the way and creating a nice opening for us.

Pedal down, the engine roared and I drove us through a blitzing haze of smoke and fire, then continued as if nothing were wrong. We didn't have a lot of time, and I wasn't sightseeing here. I could see the figures in the air ahead of us. We were catching them, but not fast enough.

"Just out for a fucking Sunday drive," Dinah laughed.

"How long before the rest of the cops show up?" Easter asked.

"Give it a minute and they'll be on us," I said. "Carlos, you still keeping us from the fallen?"

He grunted so I was going to give that a yes.

Sirens lit up behind us—no surprise there. The steady drone of helicopters was next through the open windows. Ipos was right about that.

"Think those are cops too?" Pete asked.

"What's on them?" I threw back. He hung out a back window and then ducked back in.

"Nope, those ain't cops."

Gardreel was on us then. Even a Hider could not cover us when we were blowing up shit like this. Maybe Zee could have, but he was in a league of his own.

But helicopters on us was fine by me. We would need at least a couple if we were going to get the other abnormals to safety.

"Fucking hell, I'm going soft," I muttered. Of course, that was assuming there was anywhere that was safe anymore.

That thought struck me hard. Where was safe now? There had to be some places. "Easter, ask your friend where the dead zones are, where Gardreel can't see."

Easter slid back and there was a meaty thump, a whispered question and a burbled answer.

"She says the Russian mob has held out—she's not sure how—the Middle East desert, and maybe parts of Death Valley."

I sure as shit wasn't about to go deal with the desert witch again, or the fire demon who called to my innate fire. That was a definite nope. Russia was too far away, which meant Death Valley it was. "Anyone know if there is anything that will work for cover in Death Valley?"

The other three shook their heads. At least we had something, though. A dead zone would be the best we could do for what remained of the abnormals. After we got them away from Mario.

My jaw ticked and I found myself reaching for Dinah, not to draw her, but for a small piece of comfort.

I would admit to no one that I was scared for Killian—maybe even more so because of Ipos. He was far too complacent. Too easy. Which meant he was a confident motherfucker.

To save Killian, I would do this, but what if I still lost him in the end?

I shook it off as Carlos pointed out the last turn that would take us to JFK. I knew it well, but I'd never gone to the other side, where Mario waited.

Of course, he wasn't the only one waiting.

I drove us onto the airstrip and out into the middle, cranked the wheel and faced the twenty-plus cop cars that were coming fast behind us. They were pissed. Like kicking a wasp nest, they were coming hard for us now—we'd blown up some of their friends. The screeching of brakes lit the air as I flicked the engine on the big truck off.

"Diego, Dinah, get ready." I pulled both guns around and handed Diego to Easter.

"Ooooo, I love it when I have multiple pretty ladies sliding their fingers around me. I like this gig, forget I ever cursed you for sticking me under the floorboards, Carlos!" Diego crowed as Easter settled him in her arms. She rolled her eyes, but I took note that he fit with her well.

I only needed the one gun. As much as two was better, Dinah was . . . she was my teammate. She was my sister. And I trusted her absolutely.

"Let's kick ass," she growled, shaking in my hands. I pointed a finger at Carlos.

"You stay down, stay covered up with flak jackets. Keep her from moving," I pointed at the handler. "Let the three of us do the heavy lifting."

Carlos nodded and did as I said.

"Come out with your hands in the air!" The words boomed via a megaphone.

Pete snickered. "They don't get real original, do they?"

Easter didn't say a word, just watched me. "Waiting for the helicopters to land?"

I grinned at her. "Pete, you take the police in front, we're taking the birds."

"Fine by me, I can't fly them anyway." He rolled his shoulders and cracked his knuckles. Smarter than the average bear, he tightened his flak jacket, and adjusted a helmet he'd picked up out of the army truck. Twenty squad cars meant we had to bank on forty cops there, and ten-plus in each helicopter.

"Soon as we clear one bird, you go help Pete," I said. "I'll finish the other off and then be right behind you."

Easter put her hand on the door, ready to jump out. "You think they'll land or just blast us from above?"

I dug around in the bag and pulled out the flares. "This could work. We can jump out, throw them out and welcome them to drop. Wave your arms, look weak. Scared."

She snorted and took a couple of the flares. "You think they're that dumb?"

I shrugged. "Hard to say. They don't really know what they're dealing with, so in that sense, yes, they are that dumb. Whether or not this works, that's entirely different."

In the back Ruby crouched watching me. I could leave her behind, but I doubted she'd stay. The best I could do was slip one of the flak jackets around her body and tie it on. Not perfect, but it was something.

The look from Easter said it all and I held up a hand. "Don't even start."

"Didn't say a word about the fact that you'd keep that dog safe, but don't give a shit about any of us here."

I blinked. "That's not true. I'd save you."

"If it didn't interfere with you surviving," she said.

I nodded. "I can't save anyone else if I'm dead and I'm the prize that Gardreel wants." I looked over at Carlos before he tucked under the flak jackets fully. "See if that one will tell you why I'm so fucking special."

And then I stepped out of the truck onto the busted-up tarmac, flares in my hands. I threw them out to the left and right, and Easter did the same. We waved for the helicopters to land, even as the gunfire went off behind us.

Pete was digging in, because the screams came next, and they came fast. "He's getting better at this." I shouted to be heard over the rotors of the two birds.

Easter snorted and then the helicopters were landing, just far enough apart. "I'm on the right," she said, and I moved to the left, head down and hand up to shade my face and eyes.

Of course, the officers inside the helicopters just saw two women running toward them. They didn't see what we really were.

As the door slid open, I leapt inside and pulled Dinah. I jammed her under the chin of the helmeted figure who helped me in and pulled the trigger. Two more went down before they seemed to realize what was happening. She was having a great time.

"Fuck yes, this is better than sex! Let me mess them the fuck up!"

"Shoot her, shoot her!" someone shouted, though it was hard to hear. It was the mouth of the man I killed next that I could read it on.

I spun and grabbed the guy closest to me, spinning him around and holding him to my chest as someone else got a shot off. His body jumped and I shot past him over his shoulder. They were dressed in flak jackets and helmets too, prepped to fight.

"Dinah, aim for the eyes!"

"Oh yeah, the jelly shots!" she yelled as I squeezed the trigger.

I felt more than heard someone behind me. I was going to be too slow.

But Ruby was not. The big bitch leapt up from the floor where she'd stayed quiet at my feet and took the shooter down to the ground, her teeth digging into his throat. He screamed, his gun went off and she yelped.

"Fuck!" I roared the word, dropped the dead one I'd been holding up and cleared the rest of the bird in seconds. They dropped like dominos, one after the other. The pilot sat there shaking and I kept Dinah trained on him. His eyes were wide, and his hands were up. But we might need him.

I grabbed a headset and spoke into it. "Don't you fucking move."

I dropped the headset and went to my knees next to my dog, hating that I was here again. Abe had saved me and Bear, and we'd lost him. Losing another dog . . . not happening.

I put a hand to her neck and there was a steady pulse. She lifted her head and whined at me. I slid my hands around her body. The flak jacket had taken the blow and it had saved her life. But the bullet had still hammered her, knocking her down.

"Stay." I held a hand over her head, and she lay down and closed her eyes. There was no one left alive in the bird, besides the pilot. I motioned for him to move, and he scrambled to do as I said, and slid out of the wide doors ahead of me. The screaming was still coming from where Pete had started in, but the gunfire was a lot less.

A quick count showed me that Mario had shown up with a few of his people to help. Though help was a rather loose word. They were trying to slow Pete down. Pete, a Magelore who had slipped into a literal feeding frenzy like a damn shark.

I let my eyes close a little and slipped into the place in between—that limbo. And there was Pete, raging. I lifted a hand and touched him on the shoulder. "Easy. You got them all."

He turned back to me, his eyes cleared, and he let out a long breath. "Shit, I think I just levelled up."

And then he blinked out of that space. He started out of the in-between, but a figure flat out stopped me.

I'd know him anywhere.

"Killian, what the hell are you doing here?"