Ryder’s mouth thinned; his eyes went blazingly silver. He opened his mouth, but I interrupted before he could speak. “Hurts doesn’t it? When someone you love has no regard for their own life.”
He looked down at his boots and nodded. “Shit. I’m sorry, Charlie. Okay!”
I sighed, and then nodded. That would have to be enough, because the boys were suiting up big-time. Ryder realized it too. He switched straight into hardcore enforcer mode.
“Have you used one of these before?” he asked me, gesturing to the rifle.
I hadn’t seen Ryder grab any weapons earlier, but I wasn’t worried. Half the time he went to bed more armed than a drug lord fearing for his life. Just because I couldn’t see them didn’t mean they weren’t there.
Gripping the heavy weapon, I shook my head. This model was not one I was familiar with, but it looked semi-automatic and hugely powerful.
Ryder then spent the next few minutes running me through the mechanics of the gun and how to reload it. I had refills of the sleek canister darts filled with the AT20, and some extra rounds of bullets. My handgun was bullets only.
The rifle was definitely heavier than I was used to. Ryder made sure I was able to sight my target properly, and how to adjust for the pull. I forced myself to pay attention because this gun was my chance to make it out of the Hive alive. Everyone in the vampire world was after me, and I was just going to bust right in and say “Here I am.” But it was Tessa. And it was Ryder. I would do anything for those two. They already had the cure, so I was less important in the grand scheme of this plan.
Once everyone was ready to roll, Lincoln led the large group through the house and out into the back yard. We crossed the yard to stand before a dilapidated old shed. Luckily for me I was an ashpire, because the place looked like a tetanus epidemic waiting to happen.
The SWAT leader reached to the side of the door and flicked a cover off a panel of numbers. Quick as a flash – I was standing right behind him and couldn’t follow along – he keyed in a bunch of digits. The door slid across with a whoosh. As we followed him inside, lights flickered on across a large warehouse space. Okay, seriously? This was like James Bond shit or something. The old tetanus shed was actually a state of the art hanger filled with cars, quads and a bunch of other military style machinery. No wonder the house was so tiny; this shed must have taken up the rest of the house block, plus the one behind. What a nicely hidden gem in the middle of suburbia. It must be linked to the industrial building I’d spotted next door.
We made our way right to the back, where a long line of SUV’s waited. Each looked a little different, definitely reinforced, and I had no idea of their various makes, but they were all black. Black seemed to be the color of choice in this business.
“With this sort of mission, we hit them hard and fast so they have no time to regroup or prepare,” Lincoln said. “Fill the cars. We’ll take as few as we can.”
There had to be forty soldiers in this room. Testosterone was high, especially since there were only two chicks, me and hottie tat girl. Although, she was not letting our sex down at all. With a rifle over her shoulder, and handguns on both thighs, not to mention the mini sword strapped to her right forearm, she was female badass goals.
I ended up in one of the middle cars, squished between Ryder and Kyle. I could tell the boys were going to stick close to me as much as they could. We all had our mission, sure, but we three were a team. Protect our own. Even if Kyle and Ryder were on the outs, they were always brothers. In the end, only six cars were needed to get everyone out of the garage and on the way to the Hive.
The ride was silent. Lincoln wasn’t in our car, and none of the Sanctum were ones I knew – aka the assholes who had tranqued and kidnapped me. I shifted a little. Ryder’s gun was jammed into my side, and unfortunately that wasn’t a sexy euphemism.
Familiar landmarks flashed past me, and the tension within the SUV increased as we crossed the invisible boundaries of the town, which signaled we were heading for vamp territory. Shit. I really never thought I’d come back here, especially not before the cure was working its way through the Hive. As the large gated compound came into view, I straightened, and breathing deeply, prepared myself for the next few moments.
“Stay close to me, Charlie,” Ryder murmured in my ear, his lips brushing against my skin. Tingles rocked through me and I swallowed hard, hoping this wasn’t the last moment we had together.
“I love you,” I said, my voice barely audible. “Even if you are on my shit list and sleeping in the doghouse for the next six months.”
Ryder’s grin was brief, but the sight was beautiful. “Love you too.”
Our lips briefly touched. The front SUV smashed into the gates and with a huge crash we were through. Ryder had already spun to his window, which was now down. Every window was down in our car and I knew our assault was to start immediately.
Ash sprinted in all directions; it was too early for vamps to be on guard duty yet. There were so many, at least twenty. The numbers assigned around the perimeter had been seriously upped in our absence. Someone in the second car hung out the window and took out a few of those running toward us. The ash were getting tranqs, not bullets. They were going to be given a chance to survive, per Ryder’s orders. Any vamps we passed definitely wouldn’t get that same choice.
Ryder had his gun up now and was firing steadily. At least four or five went down in moments.
“They’re warned now, and will be locking down the upper level vampires,” Ryder said, yanking himself and his gun back in. “We have to take out the soldiers first to reach those who make the most impact. Do not hesitate. They’re going to come at us hard.”
Hard was actually an understatement. By the time the Sanctum guy driving our vehicle screeched to a halt beside the others, ash were pouring out of the front of the Hive. Inside, the vamps were hopefully still in their beds. The element of surprise was our best hope to get in and out cleanly.
Sirens blared to life then, and with that whooping sound we lost our element of surprise.
The ash before us weren’t enforcers and weren’t properly trained. The stupid vampires had taken out their best line of defense. But I did recognize Jose with a gun in his shaking hand. When his eyes met mine he lowered his weapon in confusion.
“Stop!” he screamed, holding up a fist.
Ryder jumped out of the SUV, with me hot on his heels.
“Ryder?” His name was being murmured around. A few ash had recognized us, and hope sprang in my chest as I saw them lowering their weapons, relief crashing over their faces.
“If you surrender, none of you will be hurt!” Ryder projected his words loud enough for all of them to hear. I could sense the bodies stepping into formation behind us as we prepared to charge the front door.
