Cruz: Scifi Alien Invasion Romance (Hell Squad Book 2)
Read Cruz: Scifi Alien Invasion Romance (Hell Squad Book 2) Online
Authors: Anna Hackett
Hell Squad: Cruz
Anna Hackett
Cruz
Published by Anna Hackett
Copyright 2015 by Anna Hackett
Cover by Melody Simmons of
eBookindiecovers
Edits by
Tanya Saari
ISBN: 978-0-9941948-4-8
This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, events or places is coincidental. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form.
Contents
What readers are saying about Anna’s Science Fiction Romance
What readers are saying about Anna’s Science Fiction Romance
At Star’s End - One of Library Journal's Best E-Original Romances for 2014
The Phoenix Adventures – SFR Galaxy Award winner for Most Fun New Series
Beneath a Trojan Moon – SFR Galaxy Award winner
The Anomaly Series – An Action Adventure Romance Bestseller
“
At Star’s End
is a fun, thrill ride of a science fiction romance.” – Mstcat, Goodreads review
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At Star’s End
by Anna Hackett sizzles with tension, action and danger.” – Dii, Top 500 Amazon reviewer
“A wonderfully written space adventure full of treasure hunts, history, excellent world building, fun characters, assassin fighters and intriguing mystery.” – Corrinthia, Amazon review of
In the Devil’s Nebula
“An action-packed sci-fi adventure with some smoking hot sexy times, I highly recommend
On a Rogue Planet
.” – KatieF, Amazon Review
“
On a Rogue Planet
is a page turner.” – Cubbieberry, Amazon Review
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Beyond Galaxy’s Edge
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Chapter One
Crouched in the shadows on the roof of a half-destroyed bank, Santha Kade looked through her high-tech binoculars and watched the alien invaders patrolling the streets below.
A year ago, these dinosaur-like raptors had decimated the Earth. Their huge ships had appeared in the skies…then they’d launched a vicious, unforgiving attack. Now they had bases in all of what was left of the planet’s major cities.
Here in Sydney, the once-shining capital of the United Coalition, they’d ruthlessly razed the city. They’d left skyscrapers in tatters, the Harbor Bridge a shattered ruin…and humanity broken, afraid and on the run.
Santha’s hands curled around her binocs. So many had died. Millions of lives…gone. Some survivors remained hidden in what had once been their homes, but they were slowly moving on or being weeded out by the raptor patrols.
She reached for her weapon. Her hand closed on her Titan tactical crossbow—the metal was cool under her fingers and the self-loading mechanism was filled with her own homemade bolts—and she felt herself grow calm, steady. Some gave up, some ran…and others chose to fight back.
She zoomed in with the binocs and studied the face of the lead raptor. Thick, gray, scaly skin covered his elongated face and his eyes were blood red. The aliens were all big—over six and a half feet—and carried a lot of muscle. They wore a kind of metallic armor on the bottom half of their bodies, and huge boots. Their top half was all tough skin, crisscrossed with what looked like leather for holding their claw-like blades, or for the snipers, their bone-like projectiles.
Looking at them made Santha’s throat close in a choking rush. Why the hell had they come here? Why, with no warning, had they decimated the human race? Destroyed friends and families. Killed beloved sisters. She lowered the binocs and gripped her thigh. Her fingers dug into her skin through her black cargo pants.
It didn’t matter. She didn’t care. Whatever their reasons, she was going to make them pay.
Focused, she lifted the binoculars again.
The raptor at the back of the patrol came into view and a muscle ticked in Santha’s jaw.
This one was the leader for this area. Santha was sure of it. She’d been spying on them for months, taking notes, marking down their installations, picking off small raptor patrols when she could.
She wouldn’t ever be able to find the raptor that had beaten her sister to death, but she could sure as hell take down the one who’d given the order. Who’d brought these aliens here and ordered them to kill.
This raptor was a little taller than the rest, skin smoother and a darker shade of gray. Santha had nicknamed this alien,
the commander
. The commander had an air of authority and looked at everything like it was his—or her, who knew what gender they actually were?—domain to rule.
Not for long, asshole.
Santha lowered her binoculars and took a deep breath. She wanted to leap off the building and shoot the commander through the goddamned head. Another deep breath. But not today. She needed more intel first, and she wanted to take out the leader and their main base in the city.
She caught a movement in the sky out of the corner of her eye. As she stared at the bright, blue expanse, she didn’t see anything but fluffy white clouds.
She kept staring.
There
. A blur of something winked for a second.
Santha knew what it was. A Hawk quadcopter, with its illusion system up, flying in from the west.
Other humans were fighting back, too. From a secret base west of the city.
She watched where she guessed the camouflaged Hawk was flying and wondered if Hell Squad was on there. If
he
was on there.
She only had a little contact with the few survivors still hiding in the city. Most had left for the country or for Blue Mountain Base—the underground military base that had become a haven for survivors. But everyone had heard of Hell Squad. A group of soldiers so deadly, they mowed through the aliens as easily as taking an afternoon stroll.
Normally, she would have written that sort of reputation off as exaggeration, but she’d seen them in action. She’d even helped them a couple of times.
And she watched them…a lot.
Especially the sexy soldier with the dark, liquid eyes, sensual grin, and an accent that made her insides flutter.
Cruz. His name was Cruz Ramos.
She’d met him several weeks ago, when she’d helped them fight off aliens so the squad could get in to destroy a key raptor communications hub. Hell Squad had blown the damn thing sky high. And for a month, the raptors had scrambled around with limited communications. It had made Santha’s job a hell of a lot easier. She’d spent days out picking off lone raptor patrols who couldn’t call for backup, and blowing up their facilities.
But they’d recently repaired the damage.
Santha shivered and shifted her binocs to where she’d last seen the Hawk’s illusion. She caught a glimpse of gray steel as the copter dropped lower to land. She told herself to stop watching and focus on the raptors instead. After a quick—and futile—mental debate, she lifted her binocs again.
Zooming in gave her a perfect view of the now-visible Hawk in an empty parking lot. The side door slid open and a big man with broad shoulders and a scarred face leaped out, laser carbine clutched in his hands.
Marcus Steele. Hell Squad’s leader.
Another man followed, with an intense face and a shaved head. He was a mix of races, but from the shade of his dark skin, she’d guess one of his parents was black. The predatory way he moved told her he knew how to fight, and that you didn’t want to meet him on the battlefield and be on opposing teams.
Two more people exited the Hawk. A man and a woman. Sniper, by the looks of the lanky man’s long-range rifle, and a dark-haired woman who looked like she ate nails for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Then a young man leaped out. The sun glinted off his blond hair and eager face. She knew Hell Squad had lost one of their team to the raptors about a month back. She guessed this green kid was their replacement.
Then her heart leaped.
Cruz
.
He landed beside Marcus and was saying something, even as his gaze scanned the area around them.
Okay, so the way the man was put together worked for her. No harm in looking. He was shorter and leaner than his teammates, although by no means soft. She wished she could see through his black body armor. Santha bet the view beneath would be just as fine as his handsome face. And oh boy, that was a hell of a face.
Then Santha thought of Kareena. Her sister had been so beautiful and full of life. And now she was no longer here to tease Santha about her interest in handsome men.
Santha moved the binoculars away from Hell Squad.
She was out here to get revenge for Kareena. Not ogle Cruz Ramos.
Then Santha caught movement about a kilometer from Hell Squad’s landing spot.
Raptors
. Crouched amongst the ruins of a small office building.
She zoomed back to the Hell Squad. They were moving now, led by the sniper and the tough-looking woman. The team moved together like a well-oiled machine, something she knew took practice. She’d been like that with her team. A pang hit her as she thought of the men and women who’d been like family to her. Now all dead.
Then she noted where Hell Squad were headed. Toward the raptors.
She swung back to the aliens, and spied the small dish set up near the top of their hiding place. She knew what it was. A jammer. It would jam the feed from the drones Hell Squad used to locate the enemy.
Hell Squad were moving right into a raptor ambush.
Dammit.
Her heart kicked against her ribs.
Standing, she slung her crossbow over her shoulder, then grabbed the line she had tied to the top of the building. With her Kevlar gloves on, she simply gripped the rope and swung off the side of the building in a wide arc, sliding down to the ground.
Her feet hit concrete and she bent to absorb the impact.
A half-second later, she was sprinting for her bike.
***
Cruz Ramos kicked his boot through some rubble on the street. Under the pile was a small, tattered teddy bear.
He crouched and picked up the toy. He wondered what had happened to the child who’d owned it. Cruz looked up and scanned the empty houses. Some splintered doors stood open, the roofs damaged, windows broken, the walls smoke stained. Other homes looked perfectly normal, like a happy family still lived inside.
He wanted to believe the child had gotten away, maybe made it to Blue Mountain Base. But inside, Cruz felt a growing numbness. He dropped the toy. He knew what had happened to the kid who’d loved the stupid bear.
Sometimes he wondered why the hell he and the squad bothered. Fighting off the empty, dark feeling, he focused on the rest of his team.