“Bahre, do you have a lock on those human aircraft?” Both Bahre and Kovo had their armor fully activated. A quick check of my system scans and I knew they had already activated their weapons’ systems.
“Give the word, Kai.” Bahre’s grim tone matched my mood perfectly. We’d been working with the humans up to this point. We’d helped them track and eliminate multiple Hive Scout teams since our arrival. Now they betrayed us and threatened the life of a warlord’s mate?
Unforgivable. I would not hesitate to kill every single pawn the humans sent after us. Every. Single. One.
“Tell your people to stand down, Carmichael, or they’re all dead.” I didn’t bother trying to soothe the human. He had a choice to make, and seconds to make it.
“Fuck! Get this thing off me!” Carmichael swung his leg in an arc. The alligator did not let go. Blood soaked his pant leg and shoe. From the odd change of angle halfway down the leg, I assumed the bone was broken. Carmichael stopped trying to kick the reptile off and lowered his weapon to point it directly at Howard’s head.
“Don’t you dare shoot Howard! Bastard!” Gramps moved faster than I would have imagined and tackled Carmichael to the ground. The gun fired again, the bullet blasting a tuft of grass from the ground. The two men rolled. Miraculously, Howard released Carmichael and turned away. He stomped back toward the swampy land like nothing of note had just happened.
“Damn it, old man! Get the fuck off me!” Carmichael and Gramps grappled in the grass.
“Kai, don’t let Gramps get hurt.” Larkspur’s small, sweet request combined with the fact that her hands rested on my back—she was touching me, seeking comfort, protection and solace from her mate—ensured I could deny her nothing.
“I cannot move or you will be exposed.” I had my sensors busy tracking the two helicopters and the soldiers clearly visible within. They did, indeed, have rifles aimed directly at me. The helmet’s onboard visual analysis estimated the weapons’ ranges and trajectories. They would both hit me if the two snipers chose to pull their triggers. I cared not. Their pathetic human weaponry wouldn’t even penetrate my armor. My mate, however, would be gravely injured should she be exposed. “Bahre?”
“On it.” Warlord Bahre stomped to the fighting humans and lifted Carmichael off the ground by his good leg.
He scrambled for his pistol but Gramps was there and tore the weapon from Carmichael’s hand. With an agility that said he was familiar with the weapon, Gramps removed the bullets and disassembled the firearm before tossing it, in pieces, in the grass. “Thanks, warlord. You can let him go now.”
With a grunt of satisfaction, Bahre lifted Carmichael high enough to make sure he could dump the human on his head.
The agent crumpled to the ground in a heap before crawling into a sitting position to inspect his leg. “Fucking alligator. This is some bullshit. I need a tourniquet. Now.” He looked up at Gramps, who had his arms crossed over his chest. Apparently, the elderly human had a deep emotional connection to the reptile, Howard.
I would never understand humans.
“Young man, you got what you deserved.” Gramps scolded Carmichael as if the agent was a misbehaving child. “If you don’t tell your helicopters to go away, these warlords are going to shoot them out of the sky. Everyone on board will die.”
Carmichael groaned, wrapped the fingers of both hands around his leg, just below the knee, so tightly his knuckles turned white. “With what? You see an MPAD, old man?”
Gramps shook his head. “You really are stupid.” He turned to face the helicopters. “I know you boys can hear me. These warlords have special weapons built into their armor. Your bullets won’t touch them and then you’ll be dead. Get the hell out of here!”
I’d had enough of humans to last a lifetime. The only one I cared about was leaving with me. The human agent, and everyone he worked for, could go fuck themselves. I nodded at Bahre. “Hit them with a couple expanders.”
Bahre burst into laughter, the sound like thunder around our small group.
“On it.” Kovo fired two small projectiles toward the helicopters before Bahre finished laughing. The expanders entered each of the helicopters’ open side doors, where the snipers watched us through their rifles’ scopes, and made contact with the aircrafts’ interiors. Upon impact, expanding black foam exploded into the area, completely encompassing the soldiers and their weapons. Within seconds the foam would thicken to a heavy substance, making it impossible for the soldiers to move.
“Those pilots better be quick.” Bahre was still chuckling as the two helicopters began to spin wildly, the pilots clearly having trouble controlling the machines.
Gramps, hands on his hips, watched as well. “That woulda been handy back in Nam.” He knelt down next to Carmichael and pulled the Hawaiian shirt off his back. He grabbed the sleeves and spun the shirt around his created axis until he had one long, tight, roll of fabric. “Field medic. And why don’t you boys were ties anymore?” He banged his knuckles on his metal leg. “We don’t get you to a hospital, you’re gonna look like me.” He wrapped the shirt around Carmichael’s leg and cinched the fabric into a tight knot. “You can let go now. Your boys call an ambulance?”
“I don’t think so.” Carmichael looked pale, beads of sweat covered his face and neck as Gramps helped him lay down in the grass. “I’ll go do that. You don’t do, or say, anything else stupid or these warlords might finish you off.”
“Fuck.” Carmichael closed his eyes and remained still as Gramps hurried back inside his house.
We deactivated our helmets. Larkspur tried to move around me, presumably to check on the human. “No. Do not go near him or I will not be able to stop my beast.”
“Stop him from what?”
“Killing him. He threatened you, mate. On Atlan, that alone would mean his death.”
“I just wanted to help. I have some medical training.”
“No. Do not touch him. He does not deserve your compassion.”
Our gazes locked, mine and my stubborn female’s. I feared I would see anger behind her brown eyes. Instead, she smiled and her cheeks flushed.
