Page 62 of Broken

Chapter 26

It was getting dark by the time they convoyed back to the Ridge—the four girls in Mikey’s truck, Cole and Ireland behind them, and Sanchez bringing up the rear, driving alone, because he wasn’t taking even a chance of being left hanging in the rear during an attack, with Madison in the truck.

Most of Cole’s attention was on Ireland, who was still giddy from the shopping and socializing. He listened to her talk without really hearing what she said, just smiling a little because he was happy.

He should have been more like Sanchez.

The three of them stopped at the gatehouse that stood at the entrance to the Ridge. This was the only way in for vehicles—a one-lane road with a reinforced metal arm that raised and lowered. The trees were thick on either side, so there was no fence.

No point—anyone could get through on foot pretty much anywhere on the Ridge. Which was why there were wards, although all the outer wards usually did was detect intruders. It took too much power to keep everything out all the time, although Thanatos had recently done some upgrades because of the possibility of a Retriever attack.

The gate guard lifted the arm, and Mikey started to drive through. Retrievers seemed to step out of nowhere on either side of them, followed by a whole shitload of Fae warriors, who opened fire on the trucks.

Cole’s window shattered, spraying him with glass. The bullet passed by at an angle, thunking into the back wall of the cab.

Sanchez shot a Retriever out his window, with a P-90 machine gun he just happened to have in his cab. Naturally. All three of them gunned their motors, Cole almost running up Mikey’s backside to get inside the wards, and Sanchez saying “fuck it” and barreling through right next to Cole, taking out his side mirror, a Fae, and a few saplings on his way past.

They all swerved into the parking lot just as the defense wards came online, rising up from the ground in a curtain like a sci-fi forcefield.

Dobe’s voice came over the loudspeakers scattered across the compound.

“Attention all personnel. The Ridge is under attack. This is not a drill. Outer wards have been breached. Enemy squads attempting to breach inner wards at the main gate and behind the Rec Center.”

Cole had pushed Ireland’s head down as soon as the gunfire started. Now he pulled her out of the truck, and behind an armored Hummer. Bullets—or those magic missiles—would tear right through the truck, but the Hummer should hold up for awhile.

Dobe continued, “Defense squads Alpha and Beta to the gate. Gamma and Delta to the Rec center. Reserve Squads, take your defense positions around the inner perimeter and report any further enemy action.”

Men were already flooding out of the admin buildings, the Rec Center, the mess hall. Because of Ireland, the Ridge had been on low-level alert for days—everyone was armed, even off-duty, and carrying field radios or communications earbuds.

There were also racks of tactical weapons in all the main buildings. But no one had really expected to have to use them.

Cole pulled his own earbud out of his pocket and jammed it into his ear, so he could hear the reports from the squad captains and Gunn’s orders. He’d been wearing his weapons all day.

“Stay down,” Cole said to Ireland. “Wait till I see what’s going on.”

Cautiously, he poked his head up far enough that he could see through the Hummer’s windows.

At the gate were three Retrievers and a Taurus, leading their squad of Fae warriors. Cole counted fifteen of them. All the Fae combatants were armored, making bullets less effective.

He relayed that to Ireland, and said, “It looks like one of the Fae warriors was standing on the wards when they activated. He went down, but there’s a break in the wards now. They’re concentrating their attack there. They’ve got conventional weapons and those magic missile things, though, which can shoot through the wards.”

“Where’s Thanatos?” she said. “He has to seal the wards.”

“Don’t know. I’ll find out.”

Cole said into his comms, “Command, this is Boomer’s Brother. I have Tinkerbell. There’s a breach in the wards by the gate, one combatant wide. Where’s Thanatos?”

“Offsite,” Gunn said grimly. “Following a lead.”

Fuck. More like a purposeful diversion.

Gunn said, “Bring Tinkerbell to Command. Advise location; I’ll send assistance.”

The Command Center had a bunker underneath it, that was the most secure place at the Ridge except maybe the Big House. Ireland would be safe there.

Cole relayed Gunn’s message to Ireland, who shook her head. “We have to fight back. Seal the wards.”

“Do you know how?”