Anarchy (Hive Trilogy Book 2) (15 page)

Ryder and Blue Eyes remained engaged in their epic staredown silent conversation. WTF, guys? We so did not have time for any sort of male pissing contest. If we didn’t move in the next few minutes, we were dead.

I was just about to start kung-fu fighting someone’s ass, when finally Blue Eyes nodded and waved Ryder over with his head. The enforcer let out a very low exhalation of air, and I realized how tense he was.

Kyle, who had been following the silent conversation too, picked up the radio. “Take position behind the blockade.”

No one hesitated, the tires on both cars screeched as engines roared to life and the boys maneuvered our vehicles to the side of the blockade, out of the way. Doors flew open as we all popped out of the Hummers, and crouching low, weapons held close to our bodies, we ran across to get behind the blockade of the human SWAT team.

As we passed him, Blue Eyes glared at Ryder. “My beef is with the Deliverance today. I have no orders to take your kind in. But don’t get in my way.”

Your kind.
Ouch.
Something told me Ryder and Blue eyes knew each other, but there was definitely no friendship there.

Kyle looked them up and down. “You military now, bro?” Okay, they definitely knew these guys.

Blue eyes shrugged. “That’s classified.”

More of the SWAT guys turned their hard stares at the enforcers. Both of the groups were doing the whole dominance staredown thing. Except for me, because I was born with a brain instead of a penis. Although I did take a second to turn flinty eyes on one of the SWAT boys who was checking me out a little too thoroughly. Yes, I was the mythical female ash, but there was no way he was going to learn anything about me by staring at my ass. Before I could tell him to put his eyes back in his head, a bullet sailed past my ear and tires screeched behind me.

“Down!” Blue Eyes yelled and I dropped to the ground, rolling underneath the Tahoe. I heard scuffing feet, and from my spot on the ground saw the SWAT team situating themselves around the vehicles.

Wanting to get further from the bullets, I rolled myself fully under the Tahoe, keeping the momentum going until I emerged out the back. Ryder was right behind me, Kyle to my right. Popping up to my feet, I was much more secure at the back of the two huge cars, facing toward the oncoming attack.

Blue eyes was speaking into a bullhorn, his deep voice echoing around the entire area. “Deliverance, you have officially been categorized as a terrorist organization. Get out of your vehicles and place your weapons down or we will shoot to kill.”

Around me, my enforcer team stepped up into firing positions, spread across the back of the vehicles. No way would these boys sit out in a firefight like this. Sam almost looked gleeful as he loaded his gun. I flicked off the safety on mine, grateful for all the hours I’d been clocking in the firing range. I could almost always hit the moving targets now. Which was important. Very important.

Markus tossed an open duffle bag at Ryder’s feet. The enforcer dropped down and rifled through it to pull free bulletproof vests. Sweet. Maybe I would walk away with my life today.

“Armageddon is upon us!” A high pitched female voice whined out of another speaker. Did all of these humans carry around loudspeakers or something?

I knew that whiny voice. It was the crazy bitch who’d killed those ash and nearly killed Ryder.

Ryder grabbed a vest and helped me slip it on, securing the last strap as the gunfire began. Oliver did the same for Jayden, who was the only one here unarmed.

Ryder leaned in close and whispered in my ear. “We could run, but we may need a favor from these boys in the future, and they’re outnumbered. They could use our help.”

I nodded. It was the right thing to do.

As the noise of bullets increased, one of the SWAT guys tumbled off one of the cars and slid backward into Kyle’s outstretched arms.

“Man down!” Blue Eyes roared.

“I got you, bro.” Kyle ripped open a med kit—seemed the boys had emptied the Humvees of the important stuff when we’d ran here—and began to treat the fallen guy.

Blue Eyes was still barking orders, and at the same time seemed to be ducking between the two vehicles constantly. His shots were scarily accurate. I saw him take out at least five Deliverance in under a minute.

Actually all of these guys were highly trained and absolutely brutal. They definitely shot to kill, and a small, sick part of me enjoyed that. Deliverance should not exist. They were murderers, killing innocents for their sick sense of right and wrong.

Deciding I wanted to be a little closer to the action, I snaked my way around the side of the closest Tahoe. The back door was open, offering me some protection, and I propped myself up on the step so I could shoot over the top of the window. A quick headcount had at least twenty Deliverance assholes, and they all seemed to be armed.
Shit!
Was that a freakin’ AK-47? Steadying my hand over the doorframe, I breathed deeply, allowing my mind to release the fear and panic and step into the zone.

The weapon bucked in my hands as I shot once, twice, a third time. I heard two shouts, and knew I’d nailed them hard. The third bullet had clipped the crazy old bitch, whom I particularly wanted to kill, because she’d shot at my guys. No one touched my boys.

Blue Eyes swung around to me then. “I don’t want an untrained female on the front line. Stand down.”

Oh hell no. I flipped him off before lifting my gun up again. I heard a bark of laughter from behind and knew it was Jared. He would find that amusing; he had a particular distaste for authority.

With a shake of his head Blue Eyes resumed his previous position and went back to taking down crazies. After a few more rounds from us, the Deliverance had lost at least half their members, which must have been their signal to start gearing up to use the big machine gun on the roof. I saw two of the guys crawling their way up, others flanking around them to provide backup. I squinted again, taking aim, and fired. A female spun off the side of their car then, but another stepped in to take her place. Dammit. Were they multiplying?

“Take cover!” one of the SWAT bellowed, and on instinct all of us hit the ground. Under the Tahoe I could see Ryder and Sam, who had been exchanging fire with a small group of Deliverance to the left side.

I flinched as the first bullets from the heavy machine gun started raining across the ground and cars. Bullets pierced right through the door above my head; nothing was stopping those shots.
Shit
. I army-crawled my way backwards, sticking close to the car until I could scoot back around to the rear. I expected to find Kyle and company back there, but it was only Jayden. His eyes were wide, the silver swirling into the black as we both pressed ourselves to the rear panel.

“That is one hardcore gun,” my BAFF whispered. “How the hell are they going to take it out?”

Oliver popped up beside him then, scaring the absolute heck out of both of us. “Ryder and Lincoln are going to come in from either side. One of them will be able to take the rest of the Deliverance down, no worries.”

What the actual … seriously? “Who is Lincoln and where can I find Ryder so I can kick his ass? Dude just got out of hospital for being a hero.”

I was so angry I was literally shaking. Well, angry and scared. No matter how lethal Ryder was, he was not bulletproof.

“Lincoln is the head of this special forces division. We’ve had a few run-ins with them. Generally we live in an uneasy truce, but they do seem to just be waiting for the day we fuck up and they can nail our asses.”

Ah, Blue Eyes.

I’d already tuned out of the conversation, trying to figure out how the hell to chase down Ryder and haul him back to safety. I was crouched again, attempting to see along the ground to find where all the men were. But I kept getting blocked by a bunch of debris which had been smashed off the cars.

The bullets died off then and the ringing in my ears intensified. Hadn’t even realized how loud that machine gun was until it stopped. Using this moment, I popped myself up and launched onto the back step of the car to see above the roofline. I wasn’t stupid enough to go any higher; there were plenty of Deliverance there still, but I needed to see Ryder. Before I managed to fully take in the scene, which was pure carnage—that gun had shredded the cars and debris was absolutely everywhere—Oliver yanked me back down. Just in time too, as the heavy bullets started up again.

“Heard them reloading,” Oliver said. “Figured you’d like to keep your brains on the inside.”

I gave him a quick hug, my breathing a rapid. “Yep, totally. That’s where I like my brains.”

Oliver gave me a nod, before turning back to Jayden. The two of them were trying to creep around the back, I think to help out Kyle, who was stuck in an awkward and not so safe position. Everyone had something to do except me, and I was not okay with that.

I caught a glint of metal then, a few yards away, against one of the abandoned looking buildings which had us boxed in here, a ladder leading up to a platform or rooftop terrace. The building was only two stories high, but that would be more than enough to give me a decent vantage point. If I made it to the ladder I’d be okay; it was on the backside of the building, and the only people who would see me were ones in the same position I was in right now.

Flicking the safety back on, I tucked my gun into my holster, and taking a deep breath forced down my fears and lifted myself off the ground, keeping my head as low as possible I ran, using whatever cover I could find.

“Charlie!” Jayden whisper-screamed after me.

I ignored him because there was no time left to do anything but sprint as fast as I could. The entire time I was waiting for bullets to rain into me. If the losers manning that massive machine gun caught sight of me, I was dead.

The building closed in and I found myself encased in the shadows, protected and safe.

I pressed myself against the building, breathing rapid and hard. Keeping my head firmly against the rough brick, I faced the firefight to make sure no one had followed me. I remained like that for a few extended moments, my heart pattering away from fear and adrenalin.

Crappity crap.
Had I seriously just gotten away with that? Hells yeah.

Another surge of adrenalin coursed through me and I felt both jacked up and tired as hell. If we managed to survive today, I was totally taking a nap. Naked. No clothes and no worries. That’s what my tired soul needed.

Checking my gun was still secure, I started to climb rapidly, scaling those rungs in seconds. They were a little rickety and rusted through in places, but nothing broke away as I ascended, which was a definite bonus.

Beams of the dying afternoon light hit me as I passed above the shadow of the building next to this one, and I knew I was almost at the rooftop. Up here I would be more exposed, but since I was way above the others, and hopefully no one knew I was coming up here, they wouldn’t be prepared.

Reaching the edge, I slowly pulled myself over, keeping my head down. The space up here was not huge, only about fifty feet across. I could see the remnants of garden beds, and an old sun lounger. Once upon a time this had been someone’s terrace, and now it was just a muck-load of dirt and desiccated bird crap.

I basically glued myself to the disgusting ground—bullets were the greater evil in this case—as I army crawled across to the edge which bordered the zone above the gunfight. Part of me was cursing the amount of time it had taken me to put my plan into action, and the other, much larger part, was praying and hoping that Ryder and the boys were okay, and that no one had been gravely hurt. Upon reaching the edge, I pressed closer to the small bricked-up wall, which provided a decent amount of coverage, and lifted my head to peer across and down.
Shit!
I was a little far south of where everyone was. Ducking back down, I scurried further along the wall before popping up again in a new spot.

Perfect.

This time I ended up right above the wreckage of humans and ash, my senses firing almost as rapidly as bullets as I tried to take in the entire scene. It took me no more than a few seconds to find Ryder; it was as if I just knew his energy. My heart actually stuttered as my eyes locked in on him and Blue Eyes … Lincoln, whatever his name was. They were trapped on the edge of the Deliverance’s area. Those freaks were keeping them at bay with the massive machine gun.

It looked like in the time I’d taken to get up here almost everyone on the evil side was dead. All that was left was the crazy old bitch, and three around the large gun.

The rapid fire of bullets cut off again, and this time I had the perfect view of them reloading another lot of ammo into the machine. I was distracted then by the two heroes slash dumbasses of the hour, Ryder and Lincoln, as they left their safe little area. The Deliverance hadn’t noticed yet, they were too busy trying to maneuver what looked like fifty tons of bullets into the gun.

Ryder was keeping low to the ground, and I heard pops—Sam and Kyle were now covering the boys from behind, which was good and bad. The bullets drew the attention of old bitch lady, and she noticed Ryder and Lincoln.

With a bark to one of her minions, they both pulled out smaller weapons and began spraying bullets at my man.
Muthaeffer.
Ryder may have been wearing a bulletproof vest, but nothing was protecting his head. Forgetting about staying unnoticed, I jumped up and took aim straight at her, standing firm like Markus had taught me.

I knew from my training that a bullet from this gun could shoot over forty yards, well within the range I was at now. It might not be as accurate from this far away but I didn’t care. All I needed was to add my protection and distract her until the boys could reach the machine gun.

Ryder and Lincoln were also popping off shots, trying to take out those Deliverance shielded behind the monster weapon. The old lady sneered as she took a huge step toward the guys, firing a random spray of bullets.

Nope. Not happening.

Holding my breath for absolute accuracy, I fired off three quick shots, aiming for her head. Two of the bullets landed and the old lady flew back with the force, her shoulder dripping bright crimson. Not quite her head, but that would do for now.