Jes, Misty, and Forrest had made it to the door of the nearest mission control building, but only because Harley and Caleb were standing twenty feet away from them, laying down a wall of bullets to give them time to get away.
Jake joined his werewolf pack mates, spinning around to face the oncoming threat. Several of the guard vehicles had crashed, flames and smoke coming out of them. But more were coming—a lot more. His gut tightened as he saw how bad things were. And it was getting worse by the minute. Knowing he was going to hate himself for saying it, but not having a choice, he turned to find Jes, catching her eye.
“It’s plan B time!” he shouted. “Take Misty and Forrest and get them out of here!”
Jake saw the hesitation in her eyes, knowing she didn’t want to go. Hell, he didn’t want her to go. They weren’t supposed to get separated. But they both knew Misty and Forrest would need help if they were going to do what had to be done.
With a frustrated curse, Jes spun and shoved Misty and Forrest through the door.
Jake’s heart seized in his chest as Jes disappeared into the building after them, but he couldn’t let himself focus on that. He had other issues to deal with first.
“Caleb! Harley!” he called loudly as he avoided the incoming rounds and reloaded his M4. “We need to give Jes, Misty, and Forrest time to get to the computers!”
Harley murmured her agreement, but Caleb didn’t reply. Jake glanced at him to see Caleb’s eyes glowing vivid blue. A moment later, Caleb dropped his weapon and took off running, a loud growl echoing in the darkness. The sound quickly turned into a rage-filled snarl as Caleb sprinted headlong toward the nearest approaching truck.
Cursing, Jake ran after him, Harley right beside him. But there was no way they could catch up to Caleb. A split-second later, the omega threw himself at the truck coming at him. Glass shattered, then Caleb was inside the cab of the truck. The roars and shouts coming from the vehicle were horrendous, but not nearly as bad as seeing the remaining windows splashed red with dark blood.
Caleb was out of the truck and running for the second one before the first rolled to a silent stop. Jake and Harley didn’t bother to try stopping their pack mate this time. Instead, they started shooting at the bad guys, covering the out-of-control Caleb as best they could.
* * *
Every step Jes took down the darkened corridor of the mission control building was a battle. All she wanted to do was turn around and run back to Jake. To save him and get him to safety. The thought of him out there facing danger without her was enough to make her almost pass out.
But she kept going, because Jake was trusting her to get the three of them to a computer so Misty could implement plan B.
The hallway they were moving down was eerily quiet, with nothing to be heard except the sounds of the battle going on outside. Jes had expected to find the building crawling with scientists and Darby’s security guards, especially considering this place was supposed to be launching three rockets in barely over an hour. But after going a few hundred feet and crossing several main intersections, they still hadn’t seen anyone.
Something was seriously wrong here.
Jes threw a glance over her shoulder, catching Forrest’s eyes. “Watch our six and cover Misty no matter what. We could be walking into another ambush, and if something happens to her, this whole plan falls apart.”
Forrest regarded Misty with an expression that told Jes she never had to worry about him keeping an eye on her. He obviously had reasons of his own for thinking how valuable she was.
Jes continued to lead them through the complex, half her attention focused on the sounds of the fighting outside filtering through her earpiece. From the growls and snarls, it sounded like Caleb had lost control of his inner omega again. Jake and Harley seemed to be okay, too. They were still shooting and scooting at least.
She was beginning to think the entire building was empty when they rounded a corner and came across four middle-aged men in dress pants and short-sleeved white shirts. Jes had barely raised her weapon before the nerd herd took off running in the other direction. Curious, she followed them, Misty and Forrest trailing behind. Within a few seconds, they were in a huge open room full of desks, computers, and lots of big TV screens on the wall. But very few of the computers were turned on and none of the TV screens, which made no sense. Wasn’t this the place where they launched the rockets from?
Jes didn’t have a chance to voice her thoughts before Misty raced over to one of the few computers that was powered up, dropping her butt into the chair there and reaching for the mouse.
“Cover me,” she said before her eyes went completely white.
While Forrest watched Misty like a hawk, Jes turned her attention to all the different entrances into the control center. If security hit them now, coming in from multiple directions at once, they’d be screwed.
She heard a gasp behind her and turned in time to see Misty’s eyes turning lavender again. Forrest stood close to her, holding his M4 in a firm grip.
“We’re in deep crap,” Misty said. “The computers in this building normally control the launch sequence for all missions, but they’re not online right now. That’s because someone purposely shut down most of the system. They’re going to handle the rocket launches from the backup control systems located at each launchpad. And before you ask, those systems are completely stand-alone, which means I can’t access them from here. We’ll have to stop each one separately, from each launchpad system. If that isn’t bad enough, the launch countdown has already started. We’re inside thirty minutes. It looks like they’re planning to go the moment the sun starts to rise.”
Jes cursed while Forrest stood there looking freaked out as hell. This mission could literally not get any worse.
“Jake,” she called out over her radio, praying he could hear her. “This might not be a good time, but plan B hit a major snag.”
There was a long burst of automatic gunfire that almost had Jes snatching her earpiece out, followed by an animalistic snarl, then a pain-filled scream. Only then did an amazingly calm voice answer her back.
“I’m a little busy right now, Jes,” Jake said. “Caleb is having a moment and we’re trying to keep him from eating someone. Is this snag something you can handle yourself?”
“Nope, afraid not,” she told him, thrilled beyond reason to hear his voice and know that not only was he alive, but generally calm and snarky as well. That had to be a good sign. “Darby or one of his goons has locked out the primary launch computer in this building and is planning to use the stand-alone backup systems located at each pad. We’ll have to go to each location and deal with them one by one. And by the way, the launches have been moved up. We’ve got less than thirty minutes before they start lighting the matches on these things.”
Jake growled and let out a string of angry curses, most of which she’d never heard before, which was saying a lot. Maybe it was his navy background. Finally, after a lot more gunfire, Jake was back, calm as ever.
