Cruz: Scifi Alien Invasion Romance (Hell Squad Book 2) (19 page)

A ptero whizzed past overhead, its light swinging in a crisscrossing search pattern.

“We don’t have a better option.” Marcus looked back as another explosion rocked the night.

Reed pointed a little to the left. “The bridge is that way.”

“No point hanging around back here.” Shaw lifted his gun. “Go. I’ll bring up the rear and pick off any raptors that head our way.”

Marcus shifted Claudia’s weight and nodded. “No risks though. You follow as soon as we get close to the bridge.”

“You got it, boss.” His gaze drifted over Claudia’s face. “You just focus on getting everyone out of here.”

“Don’t play the hero, Shaw. Everyone prefers you as the playboy.”

“Fuck you, Marcus.”

Marcus gave him a tight smile then turned toward the field. “Let’s go.”

The grass was long enough to hamper them, tangling around their knees, slowing their pace. Cruz scanned the area, watching for any movement. He decided not to mention the possibility of a velox prowling around. They had enough to worry about.

“There’s the bridge,” Santha said.

The sound of weapons fire screamed through the night.

“Faster,” Marcus yelled.

Reed and Finn reached the bridge first, followed by Gabe. Gabe swiveled and lifted his weapon. He crouched at the edge to cover them.

Marcus crossed over, Claudia now slung over his shoulder. Cruz helped Santha hobble over the gentle arch of the bridge.

Cruz glanced over his shoulder, saw Shaw sprinting across the field. Behind him, a sea of raptors was racing toward them.

“Fuck. Marcus!”

Cruz heard his friend swearing.

Then three pteros screamed overhead.

Cruz urged Santha on. Lights swung onto the bridge, turning night into day.

Then the world went up in flames.

***

Gabe

Gabe came to with the top half of his body hanging over the bridge. His ears were ringing and the headache from hell was beating inside his skull like a jackhammer.

He turned his head and saw the dark waters below steadily streaming by, oblivious to the life-and-death fight raging above.
Shit.

With a groan, he sat up. Then he heard a deep moan from nearby.

Cruz and Santha were tangled together a couple of meters away. He saw Santha trying to push Cruz’s dead weight off her.

In a crouch, Gabe made his way over to them. Damn, a chunk of the bridge had been blown away when the ptero had fired on them. There was just a narrow walkway left to the other side.

Santha had managed to get Cruz off her and was on her knees by his side, his face cupped in her hands.

“Cruz? Cruz, can you hear me?”

Gabe kneeled. Jesus, Cruz was bleeding heavily from his side. Some of his armor had been ripped off in the blast. “He okay?”

“I don’t know.” She tapped his cheek, none too gently. “Cruz, dammit, I need you to live. You aren’t going to die on me now.”

He groaned again but didn’t open his eyes.

Shouts made Gabe and Santha look up.

Shaw had made it to the bridge and was hunkered down shooting. Gabe’s jaw tightened. Raptors were heading their way.

Dammit, he needed to go and help Shaw. Turning his head, he saw Marcus helping Reed with Claudia and Finn on the far side of the bridge.

“Come on, I’ll carry Cruz to the other side.” Gabe grabbed his teammate and heaved him onto his shoulder.

Santha ran a hand over Cruz’s hair in a quick caress. “Be okay. I’m going to make sure you get out of here.”

Something in that small gesture made Gabe’s chest hurt. It was so…intimate. He knew Cruz was completely gone over Santha, but it looked like it was more than just sex for both of them.

He cast a quick glance in the direction of the raptors and thought of Emerson. Where was she? His heart was a hard hammer against his ribs. Was she even still alive?

Whatever happened, he sure as hell wasn’t leaving here without her.

“Gabe?”

With a shake of his head, he nodded at Santha. Together, they walked carefully across the narrow strip left in the middle of the bridge and then hurried over to Marcus.

“Cruz is hurt,” Santha said.

“Put him down here,” Marcus said.

“I need to go and help Shaw.” Gabe studied the trees beyond the bridge. “That area of heavy trees looks like the best option for some shelter.”

Marcus nodded, but his blue eyes were grim. They both knew that holding on until help arrived was going to be tough.

Santha cast one more look at Cruz, then faced Gabe. “I’m coming to help you.”

Damn, he liked her.

They wasted no time joining Shaw. They both kneeled and started firing.

“Nice shooting,
mi reina
,” Shaw said. He had a burn on his face which made him look like a horror movie extra.

“Only Cruz calls me that.” She sighted the nearest raptor and took him down.

“And Cruz will kick your ass if he hears you calling her that,” Gabe added.

They kept firing, but more and more raptors kept coming.

But strangely enough, most kept back from the bridge and didn’t engage. They were forming a perimeter.

“What the fuck are you waiting for?” Shaw goaded. “Pussies!”

Gabe kept shooting. This wasn’t just about their survival anymore. It was about the survival of everything human.

And it was about Emerson.

Gabe clamped down on the rioting mass of conflicting emotions inside him.

Three raptor vehicles growled into view, roaring over the grass. They pulled up behind the line of raptor soldiers.

Gabe stopped shooting. Santha lowered her pistols. Shaw kept his carbine aimed but also stopped firing.

“What now?” Gabe muttered.

A tall lean raptor stepped out of the lead vehicle.

Santha stiffened. “The commander.”

Gabe felt the tension radiating off Santha. They all watched as the alien leader reached the head of the line of raptors.

“I…have something…of yours.” The commander’s English was slow and halting, but it was easy enough to understand.

Another raptor pushed forward, nudging something ahead of him.

Emerson was forced onto her knees in front of the commander.

All the air rushed out of Gabe’s lungs at the sight. Her head hung to her chest, her arms by her side, hands resting in the dirt. Every inch of her was covered in blood.

Gabe made a choking noise and surged to his feet. He was taking a step when hands grabbed his arms. Hard.

“Damn, you’re a strong bastard,” Shaw grumbled.

“You can’t help her if you’re dead,” Santha snapped.

Gabe stilled, but he didn’t pull his gaze off the woman on her knees in the dirt.

“Think it through, mate,” Shaw said quietly. “Let’s play this out. It’s our best chance of helping the doc.”

Gabe felt like he was going to snap. But fuck it all, they were right. He had to save her and he couldn’t do that if he was dead.

Finally, he nodded and sank back into a crouch. But he continued to scan the aliens around Emerson, waiting for the right moment to free her.

Using his enhanced senses, he picked up Emerson’s breathing. It was a little fast. Her heartbeat was fast as well. She was terrified.

“I want to talk.” The commander stared at them. “One of you…must come to me.”

Not good. Gabe fisted his hand. But it’d get him closer to Emerson. “I’ll do it.”

Shaw snorted. “Mate, I don’t trust your usually solid control. You’re like a Backfire explosive waiting to detonate.”

Santha drew in a trembling breath. “I’ll go.”

“No.”

Cruz’s voice. Gabe looked up and saw the man sink down beside Santha.

“You shouldn’t even be upright,” she said.

“Got to make sure you stay alive.”

Gabe watched her face, saw it soften.

“I don’t have a death wish, Cruz. Someone has to go out there.”

“I want…to talk to the…female,” the commander said.

Santha released a long breath. “Well, decision made.”

“It’s a trap,” Cruz gripped her arm.

“We’ll all die the instant they open fire.” She placed her hand over his and then pressed a quick kiss to his lips. “Let’s see what she’s got to say.”

He gave a reluctant nod.

Gabe didn’t envy the man watching his woman walk into danger.

He looked back at Emerson, willed her to look up, acknowledge them, anything. But she stayed in the hunched-over position, beaten.

What the hell had they done to her?

Santha lifted her head and walked forward. Gabe could see from the way she held herself she was in pain, but her chin stayed high. Cruz had chosen well.

But then he focused back on the doctor who’d become his beacon in the dark. From the moment he’d lost his brother, Emerson had been the only thing that had eased his pain.

I’m coming for you, Doc. I’m coming.

Chapter Eighteen

Santha’s left leg raged with pain, but the rest of her hurt almost as much. She was just a massive ball of aches. She didn’t rush toward the commander. One, she didn’t want the alien bitch to think she was jumping to obey her orders. And two, Santha probably couldn’t if she wanted to—her leg would give out on her.

She felt the slow slide of blood soaking into her underclothes. The rush to escape and the fighting had set her wound bleeding again. She wouldn’t last too much longer before she passed out.

She kept her gaze on the commander and all those horrible, raging emotions rose up. Kareena’s features flashed before Santha’s eyes. Here was the face of this alien invasion. The one person Santha wanted to kill more than she wanted anything.

Santha came to a halt a few meters away. “Emerson, you okay?”

The doctor didn’t say anything. Damn. What had they done to her?

Santha pinned a glare on the alien commander. “Just so you know, I’m going to kill you. I don’t care if it’s fast or slow. I just want you dead.”

“Another will replace me.” It was a guttural snarl.

“I don’t care. It was you who had my sister dragged away, you tortured her in your freak show lab and took her away from me. I’ll make you pay for that. You understand?”

There was nothing warm about the commander’s red gaze. “Your emotions make you weak. We are here to teach you strength, to make your species stronger.”

Santha blinked. What? They wanted humans to
join
them?

“Your species is feeble. Ruled by useless emotions, you lack—” she seemed to search for the right word “—focus. A single driving goal. From our study of you, your species is fragmented across your planet, fighting amongst yourselves.”

“We’re individuals. We each can choose who we are and what we do.”

The alien made a throaty noise. “Your emotions made you an easy target. But we will help make you strong.”

Santha felt a shiver up her spine. “What, so we become killers like you?”

“Not killers—fighters. Resilient.”

Was strength the only thing these aliens valued? “There’s more to life than war and fighting. We aren’t cold like you. You’ll never understand us and we’ll
never
join you.”

The commander watched Santha like she was a worthless bug. She shrugged. “You do not have a choice.”

“We’ll fight you. Every step of the way.”

“Even if it means your death?”

“Yep.” Santha tightened her grip on the knife.
I love you, Cruz.

She launched herself at the commander.

It was the element of surprise, and the added strength from her exoskeleton, that helped Santha take the alien down to the ground.

But the commander was still bigger and stronger. They rolled across the grass, Santha trying to force her knife toward the alien’s throat.

The commander fended her off, looked back at her troops and snarled something in her language. The closest raptors, those hovering nearby, snarled in reply but withdrew.

Then Santha saw gunfire light up the night, but when the commander elbowed her in the face, she reminded herself that she couldn’t worry about the other raptors.

Because the one fighting her was deadly enough.

She managed to get a good cut across the commander’s face. The raptor bared her teeth.

They rolled again. The commander ended up on top. Her large hands wrapped around Santha’s neck.

Santha smacked at her with a fist and then changed her grip on the knife and plunged it though a gap in the alien’s armor under her arm.

With a cry, the commander reared back and let go.

Santha coughed and dragged in air. She rolled and leaped to her feet.

Then Cruz was there, landing a vicious kick that sent the commander stumbling.

Santha stood. Air was heaving in and out of her lungs. Pain was an ugly, living thing that invaded every cell. But all she had to do was think of her sister and Santha’s resolve hardened. Then she glanced again at the man standing beside her.

She was fighting for so much more than revenge. Pain was nothing compared to that.

She limped forward, her right foot now dragging in the dirt. The commander rose, a good foot taller than Santha.

But the alien wasn’t fueled by righteous anger, or painful grief…or by hope, all of it needing an outlet. Those emotions the commander thought were weak gave Santha an edge.

The commander circled Santha and pulled a jagged blade from her belt. When her nearby raptor soldiers inched closer, she yelled at them again.

They instantly stepped back.

Santha pulled her combat knife and matched the alien’s movements. Cruz was a solid, supportive presence behind her.

Then the commander jumped forward. Santha met her.

Santha ducked and dodged the creature’s swipes. She used her own blade to cut and slice. One after another, tiny little cuts here and there, where there were gaps, or where the commander had no armor.

Some didn’t penetrate the alien’s thick scales.

But some did. And they bled.

As they fought, Santha could see the commander was weakening.

“This is how we’ll defeat you,” Santha said. “One small cut at a time. Each one will leave you bleeding.”

The commander spat a mouthful of blood onto the ground. “You are nothing compared to the might of the Gizzida.”