Blue Moon III: Call of the Alpha (33 page)

The red assassin who Omega figured was the leader was still talking. “Why die a useless death when you could be rich beyond your broadest imagination? Because you are loyal to the Order? An organization that robs and kills for their own benefit. While Elders sit behind their high walls and get rich on our efforts. Flood their bank accounts by the sweat from our brow.” The man was getting angry the more he spoke of the Order.

Omega hoped he didn’t have to listen to this coward’s whining for much longer. He had no honor, and a man with no honor was a dead man walking.

“Our army is growing every day. In a year, we’ll be able to take down Imuma Aga Kahn and a new league of assassins will arise in a new era. No more of the old laws, from the old Grandmasters. It’s time we brought Aga Kahn into the twenty-first century.”

Omega heard a lot of scuffling and knew right away that something was wrong.

His eyes widened and for the first time, Omega was stunned and terrified. He watched in horror as Call was dragged inside and dropped mercilessly on the hard mud floor. His lip was busted and a huge welt on his scarred check was quickly swelling. He had defensive wounds on his hands but what gave Omega pause was the twenty-inch arrow that pierced his calf.

Lion finally looked at Omega. This was not good… for the red assassins.

“He is a soldier. An American soldier.” Bo staff smiled, like he was about to be rewarded the highest honors ever bestowed on an assassin.

“He is an American soldier…,” Omega finally uttered words that made the red assassins’ composure shatter and crumble, “…and Alpha’s cherished.”

ἈΙ

Alpha

Pierce cut Lion and Omega’s earpieces so the transmission wouldn’t ping any of their enemies’ equipment, but the dime-sized camera on his jacket was still operating. Backhander’s foresight turned out to be a good thing because Alpha’s gut-wrenching cry when they captured Call would’ve distracted Omega and Lion.

Alpha was waiting in the cave for Call’s return to rush in and kill all the traitors. Thirty to forty men was nothing up against him and his brothers. They could take on more, and had. Hawk had to hold Alpha while Call fought for his life. There were too many of them on him for Hawk to fire. He understood the SEAL not wanting to risk hitting Call.

Pierce was in Alpha’s ear but the ringing in his head was blocking him from receiving the message. “Alpha. Alpha, respond please. He’s in the same room as Omega and Lion on the far south end.”

Hawk was staring into Alpha’s eyes. It took him a few minutes to compose his beast long enough to hear what they were saying. “He’s wounded, but alive. I need you to get it together!” Hawk yelled in his face. “You are Alpha, goddamnit!”

Alpha looked up and saw Hawk’s eyes were flashing bright colors, but he was still able to see the flames burning behind them. Breathing deep, like his master taught him, he shut down his love for his cherished and hibernated those special feelings. They’d be there later, when Call was back safe in his arms.

Hawk was still staring at Alpha when he released him. The fire in Hawk’s eyes held him as he got his mind back in the fight. “That’s new, when did that start?” Alpha remembered Call asking Hawk that question as soon as they arrived. “When he first saw you coming,” Pierce had answered.

“The gods will bless you all of your days. You are the honorable one. The man of army. You’ll have enemies, Alpha, but fate will always be on your side.” As soon as Alpha was able to breathe and calm his heart, all the pieces of the puzzle began falling into place. Hawk’s blazing eyes and of all the deserts in this land, fate had them by the water.

Fire and water.

Straitening his spine, Alpha adjusted his hood and tightened his sword to his back. “Hawk, get in position. Backhander, at my mark, turn on all the earpieces and link us to their intercoms.”

“They’ll hear everything we say,” Pierce responded, but Alpha could hear him rapidly tapping at his keyboards.

“I’m counting on it,” Alpha replied. “Inform Navid we need him to bring the mini-ATV to our checkpoint. Call won’t be able to make the run back. Be sure he secures Viper first.”

“Affirmative,” Pierce answered.

Alpha was in control again, and mastermind that he was, had quickly come up with a new plan. Knowing what needed to be done. “Let me know when Navid is in position.”

“Affirmative.”

Alpha waited, his heart beating rapidly in his chest. His fingers flexed as his black tiger clawed to the surface, ready to fight. It’d been many years since he and his beast connected, but it was a feeling he was relishing.

“Navid is in position and Viper is secured.” Pierce came back on the line just a few seconds later. Time was of the essence and they all realized it. 

“The explosives are set up in a five point star, ten bombs all together to cover twenty feet each. When I call each explosives number, you detonate it. Got it?”

“I won’t be able to provide you with cover fire. I won’t be able to see through the flames,” Hawk told him. “What are you doing?”

Alpha finished soaking his body in the cool river water. When he was fully drenched, he stepped back into the cave and put a confident hand on Hawk’s shoulder. “You will. Just keep your burning eyes in that scope.”

Alpha got in position. “Backhander, turn on the earpieces and patch me through.”

  The first thing Alpha heard was his brother’s voice warning the fools that dared touch his cherished, sticking to the contingency plan. Then a man he didn’t recognize spoke up next. His accent was Arabic, but the fear in that tone was universal. They were afraid.

Alpha listened to the frightened traitor. 

“You said we’d be invincible, that there were only two men to fear, but they were discharged. That if any man spoke the names Alpha or Omega then we were to run… that… that…”

“… Death. Is. Certain,” Alpha finished for him, his deadly voice ringing through their intercoms sounded like a demon from their worst nightmare.

Hawk was behind his enormous rifle and quickly alerted Alpha to the twelve men that came running out the side of the building aiming for the sanctuary of the trees, coming right for them.

“Lion!” Alpha warned right before he ordered Pierce to blow all three bombs in the front of the compound and took off towards the trees.

Alpha leapt and burst through the flames, his wet clothes providing enough protection. With both hands, he threw his knives, hitting the four men in his path, but didn’t break stride as Hawk’s armor-piercing bullets whizzed by him, bodies exploding before he could get to them. 

“Vision is clear.” Hawk sounded amazed but kept firing.

“Four, five, six,” Alpha yelled out. He was only fifty or sixty feet from the west side of the compound when the explosion violently rocked the surface, blowing the east side into a crumbled pile of burnt mud.

He could still hear Hawk’s rifle firing, the pained shouts of bullet-riddled men the last thing he heard before he burst through the side entrance, headed south in the direction of the last room. With his heart still in hibernation, he kept his thoughts clear.

There were at least ten men in the small corridor. They looked like they just wanted to get by and not engage him, but that wasn’t their decision.

Lion

As soon as he heard Alpha yell his name, he threw his big body over Omega, a split second before the ground shook from the explosion. Straightaway, there was chaos as men ran for cover. Cowards, not true men. The red assassins were on their feet and so were Omega and Lion. When the surprise that they were no longer bound registered, one of the red assassins that never spoke ran for cover. Lion threw a Calvary cross at his back, making sure it lodged deep in his kidney. He went facedown and stayed there. He watched his partner immediately go for the bastard with the bo staff that had almost broken Lion’s jaw.

Omega’s body coiled into his stance and he unleased the full power of his snake. His kicks crippled the man before he could even form a defense. Omega had his opponent completely disoriented in less than four seconds. That was his style. Exceptional speed and accuracy.

Lion defended against the remaining three red assassins with ease, while he kept Omega in his peripheral vision. Using the snake-hand technique, Omega’s strikes were hitting the man so fast, he probably wasn’t sure if he was fighting four men or one.

He spared another quick look and saw the man go down on one knee and look up at Omega as he stood poised over him. Omega wound his body down, looking the rebel in his eyes and locked his fingers into his spearhand. He paused a split second and with strict exactness he whipped his fingers out, striking the bastard in his throat, hissing like a cobra as he crushed the enemy’s windpipe.

Clutching his neck, bo staff coughed hoarsely, quickly frothing at the mouth as his own salvia bubbled up in his throat, slowly drowning him. Without medical attention..., death was certain.

Lion knew Alpha was close. As soon as he’d seen Call dragged in, he had a feeling the man’s cherished was coming in a hail of C-4, gunfire, and dead bodies. The cries of terror coming from the hallway, followed by the sounds of bodies dropping, spurred the few men still trying to make a stand to run for their lives. Little did they know they stood a better chance inside than at the business end of Hawk’s riflescope. The seer’s weapon was so powerful that the remains of the men’s bodies were being propelled back hundreds of feet.

Lion was in combat with all three of the red assassins while he instructed Omega to shield Call’s body with his own. There were still some rogues around and Lion wasn’t taking any chances.

“I want them alive,” Alpha said in their ears, making his way to them, leaving a trail of bodies in his wake.

Lion was simply defending against them, noticing quickly that none of them possessed an animal style. Their masters knowing they weren’t worthy of one. Perhaps it’s why they rebelled. Lion caught the fist of the Nigerian and used his force to crush three of his fingers. He yanked his mangled hand back and cradled it with the other. Lion wasn’t concerned that he’d advance again. The other two circled Lion, both pulling out hand axes. They’d never beat him with their fists, but no weapon they could produce would best him either. If it was up to him, they would’ve been dead by now. He was only holding them off until—

“Drop. Your. Weapons.” Alpha’s grave tone even gave Lion chills.

Alpha briefly glanced at Call when he walked – yes, walked – through the door, his eyes closing and slowly opening… angrily. He didn’t go to his beloved; instead, he went straight for the red assassins.