Mako (The Mako Saga: Book 1) (56 page)

“Who knows?” moaned the first. “Quick, slow, dead, alive; the guy’s got the commandant covering for him. What does he care?”

****

Lee Summerston saw red, and Daniel Tucker knew it. Swinging wide past his friend as the duo powered around the corner, Danny dropped to one knee and sent a trio of muted shots rippling down the hall into his target, while Lee—visibly less collected—emptied three-quarters of a mag into his. Rushing to make sure both were down for the count, Danny spied Lee bolting for the stairwell and caught him by the arm.

“Take it easy, bro,” he warned. “We know she’s up on the next floor, but you’ve
got
to cool down before we get there. You go up like this and you’ll get us all killed.”

Jerking his arm free, Lee shot him a scowl. “I don’t have time for this, Danny,” he growled, skittering the depleted mag to the floor and slapping in another. “We’ve got—”

“Daredevil, Daredevil… you got a copy?” Link chattered through the comm.

“
What?
” Lee snapped back.

“We have a problem, boys. I was busy watching the command post when a guard from one of the other buildings must’ve slipped out for a smoke or something because I completely missed him.”

“And?”

“And he saw the big honkin’ hole you cut in their fence,” said Link. “I think I picked him off before he could call it in, but I can’t be sure. Best case scenario, you’re still working under your original timeline. Worst case scenario, you’re—”

The guard’s radio uttered a loud squawk from the floor as the corridor lights flashed hard red with the alarm.

“So much for the best case scenario,” Danny groaned.

“
Damn it!
” Lee shouted. “Wulver, what’s your status?”

“The goodie bag is in place,” Hamish panted on the run. “I’m en route to the rocks as we speak,”

“Listen, boys,” said Link, “every swinging sausage in the house is heading straight for your position, so whatever we’re doing, it’s gotta be now!”

Lee rubbed his temples. “Wulver, you far enough from the blast zone to execute?”

“Aye, but getting outta here is gonna be a chore if I do! This place just erupted with activity, and if I detonate, the bulk of that will turn and head right back in this direction.”

“You got cover where you are?” Lee asked.

“The warehouse ahead of me looks empty.”

“Do it,” Lee ordered. “Once you’re outta sight, blow the depot then coordinate with Jester to find a way back to the Sand Tiger.”

“What about you, then?” Hamish asked.

“We’ll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it. Right now, we’ve got a 20 on Mac, and that takes priority. We’ll check in when it’s done. Daredevil out.”

A low, baritone boom rumbled in the distance, and the lights of the corridor flickered with the blast.

“I love it when a plan comes together,” Danny said dismally, then bolted with his friend into the stairwell.

****

Scrambling frantically against Hourne’s grip at her throat, Mac kicked and clawed at her attacker, writhing and thrashing with every ounce of strength left in her to escape his vicious attempts to pin her to the bed. Straining hard against the weight of his legs on top of hers, she managed a single, wayward swipe at the captain’s jaw, but he dodged it with little effort, catching her hand by the wrist and slamming it back down to the dusty worn mattress that quaked beneath her back. Feeling his rancid breath against her neck—her nostrils filling with the foul stench of body odor and day-old meat—Mac hissed in protest and hurled what little saliva she had left into his face. Enraged by her defiance, Hourne wiped his forehead with his sleeve, smiled darkly, and coiled for a pummeling, closed-fisted response.

The security alarm yelped to life beyond the door and Hourne’s attention jerked abruptly to the hallway outside, which erupted out of nowhere with weapons fire and screaming soldiers. Listening still as the skirmish drew to a sudden end, the Alystierian captain jumped to his feet, snatched his would-be victim up by the hair, and shoved her in front of him just in time to see a bullet obliterate the lock on the cell door before him.

A single, muddy boot slammed through the entrance, and Mac’s eyes opened wide when a tall, familiar figure—wearing dirty green tiger stripes and one seriously pissed off expression—stormed into the room.

“
Lee!
” she shrieked before being muted by a thick, fleshy palm. Her squirming halted at once, however, when something hard and cold pressed against her right temple.

“
Throw it down!
” Hourne barked, gesturing to Lee’s raised rifle and nudging Mac’s head with the tip of his pistol. “Throw it down, or I swear I’ll kill her right here in front of you.”

“Do it and you’ll hit the floor beside her,” Lee snarled past the butt of his gun.

This drew a crooked smile from the bald soldier. “That may be true, friend, but I’m prepared to die for my cause today. Are you? What about your prissy little friend here? Is she?”

“Lee?” another voice called from outside.

“Stay put, Danny!” Lee commanded. “Just stay put!”

Seeing the sweat pouring profusely down Lee’s scarred face, Mac’s eyes bulged with fright as he lowered his weapon.

“Very nice,” said Hourne. “Now, throw it away.”

With a heavy sigh of reluctance, Lee leaned forward, placed the A-90 onto the ground, and kicked it into the corner.

“Now step back.”

In a single, maddening moment of pure adrenaline and fear, Mac watched in disbelief as Lee’s hard, vengeful demeanor shifted inexplicably to one of absolute calm, as if to suggest that everything would be fine and nothing—not the gun at her head or the psychopath holding it there—could ever change that. She had no idea why, but for whatever reason—call it body language, intuition, or just the simple truth of knowing someone down to their very core—but in that insane moment of complete mortal peril… she believed him.

Then, in a flash of revelation, it hit her… The holster on his right thigh was noticeably unbuckled.

****

Closing her eyes—her heart thundering in her chest—Evelyn McKinsey stood helpless and alone as the crazed world surrounding her fell hypnotically away; the gruesomeness of every sight, the stench of every smell, and the deafening boom of every noise submerged into a near dreamlike trance where even time itself seemed to stand still.

Far away in the distance, through the fog of her mind, she could almost make out the sound of Hourne’s reptilian voice—his previous barks of instruction now taunts of insult—though it was quickly drowned out by the roaring clamor of her heart and the broken wheezing of her breath. Even still, with the captain’s fingertips now viced for a final tear at her throat, Mac heard no response.

One way or another, this was it—had to be.

That was when a single, muffled pop rippled through the black… followed by silence.

****

The faint sound of dancing metal jingled across the void, and Mac flinched—her eyes nailed shut—when something warm and wet misted like sticky vapor across her face. Feeling the hold on her loosen, then release, she held frozen for a long, uncertain moment before finally peering ahead to see Lee Summerston standing in front of her—his tattooed arm outstretched and gripping his sidearm—a single, gold shell casing on the pavement beside him.

Stifled in shock, she glanced back to see Hourne’s lifeless body in a growing pool of red behind her. Then, reaching up with a set of trembling fingers, Mac dabbed at her blood-soaked face and shuddered.

“It’s alright,” Lee murmured, staving off an adrenaline dump of his own to sweep her into his arms. “It’s okay. He’ll never hurt you again. Nobody will. I swear to god, Mac, nobody.”

Melting into him as her pulse slowly steadied, Mac sighed with relief while the haze of her mind began to lift. She knew that the threat was far from over, and she had absolutely no idea how they’d make it out of the building, much less back to friendly territory. But here and now, in this oasis of safety and serenity she’d so desperately missed, he was all she needed, just as he’d always been.

Eventually finding the will to pull away, Mac closed her eyes once more, though this time not out of fear, but to drink in every last heart-throbbingly electric moment of his lips finally meeting hers.

****

“What took you so long?” she asked in a near-whisper once the kiss was broken.

Surprised by the question, and a little intimidated that maybe he’d jumped the proverbial gun in the heat of the moment, Lee fumbled for a response.

“Oh, um… well, ah… we woulda gotten here sooner but we got—”

“That’s so not where I was going with that, Lee,” she smiled, weaving her fingers through his matted brown hair.

Instantly, every nerve in his body relaxed.

“Uh, huh hum,” Danny coughed from the door. “Listen, I don’t mean to break up this tender little moment you two are
finally
having, but can we please get the hell outta here?”

“Oh, I can
so
get on board with that idea,” Mac agreed.

Sprinting into the corridor outside, the trio heard a chorus of angry shouts pound through the entrance down the hall, which Danny had managed to barricade with furniture from a nearby office.

“Okay, that way ain’t happenin’ kids,” Lee blurted, and Mac scrambled back to the computer terminal inside the cellblock.

“What are you doin’?” Lee asked, rushing after her while Danny kept watch at the door.

“Locking down the rest of this level and trying to find us another way out of this hellhole!” she explained, fingers racing across the keyboard. “Alright, it’s done. I’ve locked out all of their access codes. That oughta buy us seven, maybe eight minutes till they find a way around my override, but I’m wide open to suggestions after that.”

Lee recalled the service lift from earlier. “We passed an elevator on the way in that might be an option,” he noted, “It lets out just down the hall from here, but our keycard doesn’t have access. Think you can get us in?”

“On it!” she fired back, pulling up a digital map of the level and remembering something she’d meant to ask him. “Hey, you heard anything about some kind of major operation that’s supposed to be going down today?”

Lee’s eyebrows knit. “You might say that,” he answered. “They found an invasion plan for Dulaston on one of the Phantoms that attacked us. Katahl was gearin’ up the fleet for it when we left, and it’s supposed to be goin’ down later today. What do you know about it?”

Mac tilted her head. “I know the Alystierians know they’re coming. I heard the commandant talking to Hourne and—”

“Whoa, Masterson was here?”

“Who do you think pawned me off to Captain Canoe over there?” she glowered. “Nice shot, by the way.”

“Thanks,” said Lee. “Scared the hell outta me to take it.”

“Scared the hell outta me to watch you do it,” Mac admitted. “Anyway, the two of them were talking outside my interrogation room, and just before I blacked out, I heard them say something about an ambush. Whatever it is, they’re planning heavy, like 40 ships heavy.”

Lee snapped up straight. “The intel was a plant,” he cursed, the ramifications now clear in his mind. “The whole thing was a setup to lure what’s left of the Auran fleet into one single location.”

“Looks that way,” she agreed, and Lee shot a frustrated look to the ceiling.

“Geez, Mac, they’ll be outgunned two to one out there.”

“I hear what you’re saying Lee, and it sucks,” she said, turning to face him. “But frankly, we can’t worry about that right now. We’ve gotta keep our eye on the ball, and with any luck, maybe we can get back in time to warn them about what’s coming.”

He nodded in glum agreement.

“How’s it coming on that lift?” Danny called out, while the pounding clamor down the hall grew audibly louder. “My rogue office supplies aren’t gonna hold these guys much longer!”

No sooner had he said this than Mac gave her final stroke of the keyboard. “
We’re out
!” she declared.

Swiping an enemy radio off one of the dead guards for monitoring, Danny tucked it into his vest pocket and chased his friends to the lift.

“Guys, I hate to be the quintessential pessimist here,” he said to Lee once they were inside, “but that ground floor is gonna be crawling with Alystierian security. We got any thoughts on that? And please, don’t gimme the ‘any way we have to’ line again.”

Lee thought hard for a moment. Then recalling the canisters in his bag, he spied a hatch in the ceiling overhead and extended his rifle to Mac.

“You okay with usin’ one of these?”

Snatching the weapon from his hand, she gave it a quick press check and shot him a glare. “Hit the damn button and stop asking stupid questions.”

****

Maintaining his position in the hillside, Link peered through his scope in search of Hamish, who had yet to check back in. A little worried, he tapped his earpiece.

“Wulver, you got a copy?”

No response.

“Wulver, come back.”

Definitely worried now, Link called once more. “Stop screwing around and pick up the damn comm, Hamish!”

“Keep yar tighty whities on, already!” the Scot replied. “I had to get indoors, away from the guards, before I could talk.”

“Triple squelch, Wulver. Triple squelch!”

“Oh yeah, sorry about that. Though in ma defense, I have been a wee bit busy lately.”

Admiring the dense black pillar of oil smoke billowing into the western sky, Link had to hand it to his friend… he had a point there.

“Whatever,” Link resigned. “I’ve covered this place high and low and I can’t see you anywhere. What’s your 20?”

“I’m in some sort of supply house,” said Lunley, “four, maybe five hundred yards from the command post. Zone three, I think.”

“Gimme a flash check.”

Moving from building to building through his scope, Link eventually spotted the flicker of Hamish’s flashlight in the northwest corner of zone three.

“Has there been any word from Lee and Danny?” Hamish asked.

“Not since our last check-in, no.”

“I do hope they’re okay, Lincoln.”