New Species 01 Fury (15 page)

She knew she pushed them but as long as they stayed where they were, making threats, they couldn’t hurt someone caught outside. She hoped security would show up soon to arrest them before they realized she just wanted to distract them.

“I’m also not an animal. You should go look in the mirror if you want to see one.” Ellie gave all four of them a dirty look. “You’re a walking zoo, boys.” The one with the shotgun cut loose with his weapon. Ellie winced and flinched from each loud blast. She released the button on the com but it barely muted the sound while the man kept firing. A few marks appeared but the glass held. She hated that she’d gotten an up close and personal test of bulletproof glass effectiveness. The jerk with the shotgun stopped firing.

Ellie remembered the wireless security camera and took a few steps back. The camera hung high on the wall and pointed down at the entryway. She kept her attention trained on it while frantically waving to get someone’s attention. She held up four fingers and then mimicked a gun with her fingers, moving her thumb to stimulate firing. She pointed to her watch to indicate it was happening now. She hoped someone at the security office who watched that camera had played charades before since those cameras weren’t wired for sound. She touched her arm where the guard patches were and sliced her finger over her neck to tell them two guards were dead, hoping they understood all that.

The men opened fire again at the windows, this time in unison, perhaps thinking multiple-weapon attack would break it. Ellie covered her ears to protect them from the loud noises. She backed farther from the windows and tried again to relay what intruders were doing for the camera.

The gunfire suddenly stopped. Ellie turned her head and watched the men form a huddle to talk. One of them broke away to run toward the vehicles. She wondered why he went to the security guards’ car and climbed into the driver’s seat. If he thought stealing one of the employee identification cards would help them get in, he would be disappointed.

Ellie had a bad feeling when grins split the men’s faces. They looked downright gleeful when they moved out of the way. The man behind the wheel of the security car started it and positioned the car on the street to point at the dorm. Her stomach churned, a sick feeling pitting there. She knew what he planned to do in that moment.

The driver stomped on the gas. The car lurched forward, jumped the curb, and barreled up the sidewalk that led right to the double, glass doors.

“Shit!” Ellie screamed as she stumbled back.

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The sound hurt her ears when the car crashed into the doors. She ended up flat on her ass on the floor. She watched smoke rise from the damaged front-end of the car as the engine died. The glass doors held but as her gaze lifted upward, to her dismay, she realized the impact had created a good five-inch gap of buckled doorframe at the top.

“Oh God.”Ellie muttered, stunned.

The windows hadn’t broken but the building holding them in place had. She continued to sit there until the three men pulled their buddy out of the trashed car. He looked dazed but the airbag had saved him from severe injury. The four men studied the damage to the top of the doorframe, grinned, and then started to push the smoking wreckage away from the dorm. They maneuvered the car off the sidewalk and onto the grass, clearing the way for another vehicle assault.

Ellie struggled to her feet and ran for the house intercom system. She knew those men were about to use the truck to push those doors completely down to gain entry.

She hit the com button. Her heart threatened to explode from terror but she tried to keep her voice calm.

“Locking down emergency doors,” she stated clearly. “I repeat, locking down emergency doors. Get to safety now,” she ordered the women. “Go to the third floor.

Everyone run, damn it. They are breaking into the building. I won’t hit the secondary emergency doors until the last minute but move it.” She released the button and wrenched open the emergency panel box under the com system. On the second and third floors were steel doors for the stairwells, the elevator, and there were also steel shutters that would cover the windows. It was a last-ditch emergency resort in case the lower floor was breached after lockdown. The interior doors that divided the levels were ten inches thick, weighed thousands of pounds, and the exterior shutters were bomb proof. They would also seal off the floors inside the elevator shaft.

Ellie twisted her body enough to view the damaged wall section over the front doors but could still reach the panel. One of the men climbed into the big pickup truck, verifying her worst fear. The men laughed while they talked, having a good time plotting how to kill her. She grimaced and hoped they’d bullshit for a bit longer while her women moved to a higher floor. She knew time was up when the driver’s door closed, the truck engine roared to life, and it drove right over the body of a dead security guard. The driver maneuvered the truck to line up with the doors.
Damn.

“Ellie?” Breeze’s voice came from the com speaker. “We’re all accounted for on the third floor. Get up here now.”

Relief swept through Ellie. “Are you sure you are all there? Are you positive? Sky and Blue ran in last.”

“They are here,” Breeze assured her. “Get up here with us or I’m coming down there to get you.”

“Protect yourselves. I’m safe,” Ellie lied.

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She wished she could go up there with Breeze but someone had to activate the emergency doors from the panel where she stood. Whoever had designed the building had made that a flaw, in her opinion, as she stood there knowing how vulnerable it left her. They should have installed trigger panels for the blast doors on all the floors.

She punched the three digit code into the emergency panel and twisted the key. A loud siren blasted through the house in fast bursts. She knew steel doors and shutters slammed down on the upper floors of the building. The women would have been safe on the second floor but she wanted them higher up and harder to reach, just in case those men found a way to breach an interior door. She hadn’t thought the dorm could be broken into but she’d been wrong. She wasn’t taking any chances by making anymore incorrect assumptions.

Ellie slammed the emergency panel closed. She knew the security center had to be getting the signal by now about what she’d done. That system ran on a wireless connection with the cameras. It was a safety backup in case the phones weren’t working and the electricity went down so they could still monitor the emergency systems. It reassured her, thinking security had to know she’d just put in the last protocol of protection, which meant the dorm had been breached. They’d come faster to save her.

I hope. Please get us some help right now.

* * * * *

Rage gripped Justice. He found himself locked inside the main security control room watching the screens filled with images around Homeland. Fifteen trucks had driven inside after they’d car bombed the front gate. Shots were being fired, people were dying and he was trapped inside a steel box to watch it go down. His people were in danger and he wanted to help them.

“Calm down,” Darren Artino demanded. “The SWAT team and local law enforcement are on their way. The buildings have been locked down, everyone is aware there’s a problem, and your council has been secured inside a safe bunker. You’ve been watching everything just the way we have. It’s only my security force being killed out there. Your people are safe.”

“Sir,” a woman yelled. “Uh, there’s a big problem.”

“What,” Darren Artino snapped. “We have a hundred of them right now.”

“It’s the woman at the women’s dorm. She stopped trying to wave us down and she just put in the last protocol code. She’s triggered the Hail Mary doors.”

“The what?” Justice growled the words. He wondered if steam came from his ears.

He’d never wanted to feel helpless again after he started his new life but he did at that moment. It infuriated him.

“Get me cameras on that building,” Darren Artino shouted. “The woman is too green and I bet she’s just panicking. I’m going to fire her ass when this is over.”

“I’ve got the East Street camera on line,” a man called out. “Screen fourteen.” 76

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Darren Artino pointed to the right screen and knew Justice breathing down his neck. Both men focused their attention on the screen. They watched a truck accelerate toward the front entrance of the women’s dorm.

“Son of a bitch,” Darren spat.

“What are Hail Mary doors?” Justice grabbed Darren by the arm and spun him around.

Darren took a deep breath when he met a pissed-off pair of cat eyes. “Hail Mary is a prayer. It’s, ‘oh hell, it’s bad’. Reinforced doors have been activated inside the dorm and they cut off entire sections of the building.” He jerked his arm to break free of Justice’s grip. “Get every camera we have inside the dorm on screen and I want heat signatures being tracked on every floor, right now! Priority one to all frontal screens.” Justice reached for his cell phone to place a call. “The women’s dorm is under heavy attack.” He hung up.

“Thirty-four heat signatures are on the third floor. The Hail Mary doors are down and secure,” a woman shouted out. “One heat signature is on the first floor and its moving fast.”

“There are thirty-five women living inside the dorms, according to our records,” a man called out. “All accounted for.”

Cameras normally inactive inside the dorm clicked on. One screen displayed women who sat or leaned against walls inside the hallway of the third floor.

“Those are my women.” Justice tensed. “Are they safe where they are?” Darren nodded. “Very. Nothing can get to them. The steel doors are almost a foot thick. Not even a bomb could dent them. I told you they would be safe.”

“We have the front doors on screen ten,” a man yelled.

Justice and Darren looked at that camera view and Darren cursed. The glass doors were down on the floor. The damage along the top of the wall where they’d been anchored had been twisted inward.

“Son of a bitch! The glass held but the building didn’t.” Someone stated the obvious.

“We have movement with four new heat signatures,” a woman called out. “We are tracking the original single heat signature. It’s inside the kitchen. I’ve got all cameras on line now.”

* * * * *

Ellie ran into the kitchen. She’d heard the doors come down with a loud crash and knew she was trapped. She could either hide while she prayed help reached her before those men found her or she could fight. Her odds of facing off and winning against the four armed men weren’t good. Her main concern had been the New Species women and it comforted her, knowing they were safe. She’d understood it would be a 77

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dangerous job when she’d taken it but she never thought something this bad could happen.

She yanked open the knife drawer and grabbed the largest one she could find while she watched the open doorway over her shoulder. A she tried to quell her panic, knowing she needed a clear head.
I need a place to hide.

Her focus immediately landed on the island and she moved to it, ducked down and got out of sight. She cracked open one of the cabinets and started shifting items inside, doing it as quietly as possible.

“Here, kitty, kitty,” a male voice yelled.

Are you kidding me?
Ellie shook her head.
They can’t even tell the difference between a
human and a New Species. The idiots don’t even know what to shoot at.
Hunters, my ass
, she fumed, remembering that word painted on the side of their truck.

“Come out, kitty cat.”

The voice sounded closer. Ellie’s heart raced while she eased into the small space.

There wasn’t much room but she managed to wiggle under the counter and get the cupboard door closed. She had her knees pressed to her body and her head bent in a balled position in the darkness. She tried to control her breathing to prevent them from hearing it. Her ears strained for the slightest noise. All she could do at that point was pray they didn’t find her until help arrived.

“I’m not going to kill you. I just want to talk.” Ellie clenched her teeth. The guy obviously believed her to be a complete moron if he thought she’d believe him for a second. There was no way she’d attempt to talk to those insane jerks without bulletproof glass separating them. To allow them get close to her would be the fastest way to die and she wanted to live.

* * * * *

Justice continued to glance at different screens to watch what took place inside the women’s dorm. He flipped his phone out and hit speed dial. He’d just seen Ellie Brower hide inside a cabinet under the island in the kitchen. His gaze tracked the four intruders who searched the lower section of the house. They’d realized the elevators were out and they were blocked access to the second floor by a large steel door that cut off the stairs.

The men split up and moved room to room on the first floor of the dorm, searching for Ellie.

“Our women are secure on the third floor but the human female is hiding inside the kitchen. It’s just a matter of time before they find her. She’s trapped. There are four heavily armed males inside and they gained entry by breaking down the front doors.” He hung up.

Darren Artino spun to frown at Justice. “Who were you talking to?”

“My security team is on their way.”

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Darren’s mouth dropped opened and then slammed shut. “Security is my job.

Communications are still down. I can’t exactly call my security guards and order them to give anyone permission to enter Homeland. They blocked off the front gates by using employee cars to barricade it to prevent anyone else from coming inside.”

“They are already here,” Justice growled. “They are my men, my people.” Darren’s face reddened with anger. “My job is to protect New Species, not have them leave the safety of where they are to confront these crazy bastards. We almost have it contained. Call them back and order them to return to safety.”