Blue Moon III: Call of the Alpha (29 page)

“Go. I’ll get him,” Lion ordered. He knew Hawk was waiting to ensure his husband was safe.

Hawk nodded and limped heavily but quickly to his boat, which was an understatement. There, docked and ready, was a fifty-foot tri-deck powerboat. Lion appreciated a warrior that was prepared at all times. He had a newfound respect for the ex-SEAL. Without him, their mission would’ve failed, because they’d all have been killed in their sleep.

Once they were all aboveground, none of them even looked in the direction of the once beautiful home. There was no need. All that remained now was smoke and ash. Sirens were faint in the distance but they’d be long gone by the time the first responders arrived.

Filing on one by one, they all ran to the top level of the boat. Hawk had already set up his rifle and was taking aim into the woods across the narrow lake. Looking himself, Lion couldn’t make out any figures, all he saw were trees upon trees that led up to steep mountains.

“I see them,” Hawk said, his breathing slowing down.

“How far?” Lion asked.

The lake ended and met the woods at least one hundred feet from them. Hawk was looking far beyond that. The enemies would need to have been at least a couple miles east to have fully avoided the blast and its debris. Bastards. Traitors. Lion’s blood burned in his veins.

“Less than two miles,” Hawk answered. He was in stealth mode now. Good. It’s exactly where he needed the soldier to be.

“Do you have a clear visual?” Call spoke up next. Pierce crouched and reached inside his duffle bag and handed Call a huge pair of binoculars then took off to the wheelhouse.

“Are you sure he can navigate this thing?” Viper asked, clutching his laptop case, staring at Pierce’s retreating back.

“I certainly hope so, since it’s his boat,” Hawk answered snidely.

“Hawk, can you see the assailants?” Call asked again.

“Affirmative.”

“Is your previous count accurate? Five men?”

“Affirmative,” Hawk answered his commander, his eye still an inch from his scope.

“Take them all out.”

“Except one,” Lion broke in.

“Affirmative.”

Lion watched Hawk inhale, hold his breath, then pull the trigger on that massive rifle, the report almost as loud as the explosion that destroyed their home. The kickback was powerful, but Hawk handled that amazing piece of armory like the master he was. Although Lion didn’t use guns, he understood the need.

Hawk exhaled. Just barely repositioned his aim an inch or two and sucked in oxygen again. Another blast of thunder met their ears. Pierce was crouched down with his hands over his ears. He didn’t look afraid, he looked determined and proud. Again and again, Hawk fired that miraculous rifle never missing his target. He finally pulled back, looking up at Lion.

“All eliminated except one. He’s moving up the mountain fast.”

“Can you wound him?” Lion asked.

“Not with this rifle. Fuck no. Anywhere I hit him, he’s going to explode just like my goddamn house did,” Hawk fumed. “He’s on the run. What do you want?”

Lion’s bulging arms were crossed over his chest, he turned his hooded stare and met Omega’s, speaking only four intensely powerful words.

“Bring him to me.”

Omega accepted his partner’s order and was off that boat and running at top speed along the lake’s shore. Lion wasn’t his cherished right now. He was his alpha and he’d issued a direct order that Omega was going to fulfill with pride. His first instruction. The need to succeed burned through his body and he pumped his legs even faster. He heard the sound of the boat’s 150 horsepower marine engine firing up just before he cut hard into the tree line and bolted up the steep mountain, his legs moving faster than his mind. For most, the exertion would be too much, but it was a walk in the park for Omega’s snake. He moved in a zigzag pattern, the distance between him and the enemy shortening with each well-placed stride. Before he knew it, he’d come across one of the men Hawk eliminated. It wasn’t a pretty sight to see a man blown into pieces. His lower body in one area, his head and limbs in another. If Omega didn’t know what a .50 caliber bullet could do to the human body before, he sure as fuck did now.

Not slowing for even a second, the dead man didn’t deserve a fraction of his respect. Omega burst through a thick brush and saw his target moving unsteadily up the mountain. He looked back at Omega, his eyes widening in fear. He immediately recognized the man wasn’t an assassin, not moving like he was. Without breaking stride, Omega reached into one of his many pockets and produced two Kunai throwing knives, throwing them both at the same time. They cut through the air like the wind and hit in the exact place Omega aimed for. With two knives embedded in his enemy’s calf, he went down hard and tumbled a few feet back down the mountain, landing face up on the forest floor.

Omega stood over him, his hood still low, and stared down at the pitiful individual. Squatting, he gripped the man’s chin and aggressively turned him to face him. “Do you know who I am?” he asked. His voice was menacing, his touch unforgivable.

The man was breathing hard, almost hyperventilating, as he looked wide-eyed at Omega. His appearance itself was intimidating, frightening. He looked down at the man’s calf and pushed his knives in even further. The man’s cry was a shrill shriek, sounding like a woman in labor.

“I asked you a question,” Omega said, just as calmly as if they were talking over tea. “Do. You. Know. Who I am?”

With wetness flowing down the terrified man’s face and his teeth gritted to hold in any more cries, the traitor shook his head.

“I am Omega.”

He’d never seen eyes go so wide, or terror wrack a man’s body as hard as it did the bastard within Omega’s grasp. “So you do know who I am.” Omega stood and put his boot under his enemies chin and pressed hard. The pungent smell of piss met his nose. Choking and thrashing, the man tried to pry the hard sole off his jugular. “Who am I?” Omega asked again.

“D-d-d, Omeg –” Stuttering and coughing, the man was in too much pain for his words to make sense.

Omega could always inflict additional agony. He never took his eyes off the pitiful specimen beneath him and pulled out two more knives. “Who am I? I’m losing my patience.”

He felt the man’s Adams apple dip dramatically before he choked out the words Omega wanted to hear. Until he confessed the name which all men feared. He wouldn’t let up until the man recognized his fate. “I am…,” Omega started for him, then trailed off.

“D-death certain.”

“That I am,” Omega confirmed.

The man just barely heard Omega’s acknowledgment before he bawled like a bitch, begging and pleading for mercy.

Mercy. Omega knew no such term. He smiled a devious grin, the only piece of his face the doomed man could see. With one hand, Omega gripped the ankle of the man’s injured leg and casually drug the body down the mountain – as if he weighed nothing – to present to his Alpha.

Lion

“Un-fucking-believable,” Viper gasped.

“You haven’t seen nothing yet,” Alpha chimed in.

“Glorious,” Lion hissed. He was beaming at Omega’s performance. Pierce had positioned the boat as close as he could to the path Omega took so his journey back was shorter.

Dragging the man through the water, it appeared Omega wasn’t concerned whether the man was face down or up. All of them except Pierce met Omega starboard. Call and Viper pulled their captive into the boat and let him fall to the deck while Omega bounded up the side.

With all of them on board, Pierce revved the powerful engine and barreled up the lake, steering towards the Lake Fredrick Boat Launch. There, in the monitored garage, Hawk kept a van that they could use to get them to the abandoned airstrip in Clarksville where the jet waited, fueled and ready.

Lion was standing off, alone and waiting. Alpha stayed close by to provide his brother with assistance, but of course, none was needed.

Omega gripped the man by one arm and hauled him up on his scarred and damaged legs. Rocks and branches had gouged into the man’s skin all over his body while he was dragged down the mountain, but Lion wasn’t concerned. As soon as he was placed a few feet in front of Lion, the man started to plead his case.

Omega reared back and slapped the man twice across his face so fast his hand was blurry, splitting the already bruised cheek and busting his lip. He was going down from the blow, but Omega helped him with that. He gripped the man behind his neck, kicking him in the bends of his knees.

“You don’t speak to him unless you are on your knees,” Omega growled in the man’s ear.

“I’m so s-so-sorry.”

“Silence!” Omega barked.

Lion was truly pleased. Looking down at what his cherished brought him, he’d be sure to reward Omega properly when it was time.

Lion pushed his hood back a fraction. The man on his knees was average height, just over six feet. His build was not of a man who spent hours in a gym, but of a working man. He had brown hair and dull, dark eyes that were bloodshot from his crying and groveling. He was American, not an assassin of the Order.

“What is your name?” Lion asked, his voice as smooth and confident as always.

The man opened his mouth to answer and choked on blood. Omega grasped the man under his chin. “Answer him,” he hissed.

“Lionel Jay Gregory. P-please.”

Viper’s fingers were moving fast over his keyboard, pulling up every detail about their prisoner he could.

Still crying. “I didn’t want to do it. I s-swear. I needed money. I’m a cop. They offered us so much damn money.”

Omega was looking to Lion, watching for the first indication that he wanted him to end the man’s life, but Lion wasn’t finished with his questioning.

“Who are they?”

“You. Your people. Dressed like you.”

Lion understood the man was saying assassins had recruited some random men that were down on their luck and offered them a deal they couldn’t refuse. They must be hacking into government databases, looking for recruits that qualified.

“Is this the first job you were assigned?”

Lion was met with silence. Omega swept down and yanked his throwing knives out of the man’s calf. Surprise registered on the captive’s face before he bellowed in pain. When the man slowed down his wailing, Lion asked again, “Was this your first job, Lionel?” Lion’s thick accent was probably difficult for the cop to understand, but he was too scared to ask Lion to repeat himself.

With his body trembling and shaking, he finally answered while still watching Omega. No one knew when or how the snake would strike. Fear consuming him, he stuttered his answer, “N-no, it’s not.”

“It sure isn’t. There’s over two million in his bank account,” Viper informed them. “Jackpot.”

“How did those types of deposits not raise a flag?” Hawk asked from the second level, watching their interrogation.

“Because it’s in an account in the Caribbean,” Viper responded, still tapping keys. “He has gambling debts like you wouldn’t believe, but even after those are paid, he’d have a shitload left.”

“Too bad he won’t be able to enjoy any of that money.” Alpha’s dark voice was solemn. He pulled a small piece of paper from his pocket and gave it to Viper. “Take the money and put it here.”