Enemy One (Epic Book 5) (5 page)

Krasnoyarsk, Russia

“EVERYONE, HOLD ON,” Travis said over the comm. Pulling back the stick, he brought the
Pariah
’s nose skyward.

Tiffany grabbed the handrails again. “What are you doing?”

“Going back to the safe house to pick up your friends.”

Her eyes widening, the blonde said, “Don’t go higher to do that! Stay on street level.”

“No time.” Yanking the transport’s nose around, he aimed it at the location of the safe house.

Back in the troop bay, David and Boris were struggling to set the harness in place over Centurion. The colossal Ceratopian continued to grunt in pain with every sharp turn the
Pariah
made. “Snap it in place!” David said, tossing his end over the alien for Boris to catch. The Russian technician snatched it out of midair and clamped the snap-latch down.

“In place!” Boris said.

*
      
*
      
*

Just as Scott expected, the added EDEN reinforcements had given law enforcement enough to press forward to the safe house. As EDEN operatives and police officers began moving in using automobiles for cover, the Nightmen holding the front of the building began to lose their foothold. Whether from retreat or casualty, every passing minute delivered fewer and fewer streaks of orange assault rifle fire coming from inside the building. The Nightmen were losing.

“We’ve got to fall back,” Scott said, stepping backward then turning to run. Becan and William were right there with him. “Ess, status?”

There were several bursts of static before the scout answered, “We can’t make it up the ladder to get to the roof—one of the Falcons is too seriously injured. We’ve got to exit through the back door into the alleys.”

The alleys? Wasn’t that where Rashid and company were trying to hold off an EDEN advance? “Faraj, you get that?”

“Da, captain,” the fulcrum answered. “We are holding this position. It will not be a problem.”

Scott blew out a breath in relief. Antipov had left nothing to chance in sending Scott an extraction team that was truly elite. “Jay, get down and rendezvous with them.”

“Sir, I think I can do more from up—”

“We don’t have time for you to do more!” Scott said. “Get down or you’re staying behind!”

Sliding against the corner of the safe house’s back door, Esther leaned around and fired a shot into the cluster of EDEN operatives farther down the alley. Just outside the door and out of her view, Rashid, Rodion, and Feliks continued to suppress. Moments later, the rest of her party appeared behind her.

The team was sandwiched in. Ahead of them was the back alley. Behind them, EDEN was moving in on the slayers at the front of the building, forcing all of the Nightmen inside into a full tactical retreat. Her brown eyes searching the halls for Jayden, she called to the Texan through the comm. “Jay, where the hell are you?”

“I’m comin’! Don’t wait up for me.”

“As
if
I’m not going to wait up for you!”

New bursts of gunfire emerged from outside the back door and off to the right, past Rashid and his slayers. Flinching back against the wall, Esther readied herself to defend. Moments later, she saw there was no need. “We thought you guys might need a hand!” Scott said through the comm. Esther closed her eyes and exhaled.

“Press forward and push them back,” said Rashid to his slayers, who emerged from their cover to dash farther ahead to new cover in the alley. The EDEN advance was forced to a halt. Seconds later, Scott, Becan, and William appeared where the Nightmen had previously been.

Lilan’s gaze locked onto the black curves and golden, spiked collar of Scott’s armor. He was caught in momentary awe. The grizzled veteran had no words.

Scott backed up to the doorway, signaling for Esther to maneuver herself and her followers behind him. “The
Pariah
’s coming down in the street behind us! Get everyone there now.”

Turning to the Falcons, Esther motioned them forward. “You heard the man—
go
!”

The moment Scott saw Lilan, he too fell into a brief trance. It was like looking at a ghost. “Colonel,” he said plainly.

“Remington,” Lilan replied as he signaled for Donald, Tom, and Javon—who was still carrying Catalina—to move on. “You’re a sight for sore eyes.”

“I feel like I need to explain some things!” Scott shouted over the gunfire from the Nightmen, Becan, and William.

The colonel spat out, “Son, at this moment, that’s the best lookin’ piece of armor I’ve seen in my whole life.”

“Good to hear it, sir.” As he saw Donald trot past, he punched the demolitionist on the shoulder. “Good to see you again, buddy!”

“I hear you, man!” Donald said.

Just as the last of the Falcons was running past him for the
Pariah
’s pickup point, Scott caught sight of someone else: a blond-haired, helmetless slayer. He looked like a kid. “What the?” Before he could say anything further, the young man was gone, following the Falcons toward the
Pariah
. Scott turned to Esther and stared.

“Don’t ask,” the scout said.

I’ll just add it to the list of things I don’t know.
“Go get Jay—we’re getting out of this city.”

Without needing another word, Esther dashed back inside.

The
Pariah
touched down right outside the adjacent alleyway that had taken Scott to Esther’s position. With its nose-mounted cannon pointed at the corner ahead—the very one that Scott, Becan, and William had been holding earlier—the transport waited and watched for EDEN’s presence.

As soon as the rear bay door was down, David rushed outside to meet Lilan. “Good to see you, sir!”

“Same to you, Jurgen!” the colonel said as he and his troops rushed into the troop bay. The moment they caught sight of Centurion and Ju`bajai, the Falcons collectively froze.

“Pay no mind to our guests!” David said. “We collect aliens.” On the floor, in the middle of it all, Flopper barked merrily. “And dogs.”

From the co-pilot’s seat, Tiffany looked back into the troop bay. “Cat!”

Blinking, Catalina craned her neck to see over the bustling bay. “Tiff!”

“Reunions everywhere!” said Boris. “This is such a happy time.”

Bullets zinged past Esther as she ran down the hallway, some exploding into the walls around her as flakes of plaster hit her in the face, sticking to her eyelashes and hair as she tried her best to continue looking ahead. The Nightmen had been pushed back to the precipice of the hallway as the firefight entered the safe house. She could see EDEN’s forces through the smoke and debris, the bursts of orange E-35 assault rifle fire reflecting off the silver and blue of the soldiers’ armor as they pressed inward.

Finally reaching the door that led to the dungeon-esque maintenance hall, she flung it open just in time to see Jayden reaching his hand out to grab it from the inside. “Let’s go, Jay—move!” the scout shouted as bullets peppered the open door, which was now partially concealing them in the hallway. “The
Pariah
’s in the hallway!”

Jayden blinked as he ran past. “In the
what
?”

“In the street! I meant the sodding street. Go, go, go!” Aiming backward blindly, she fired her last remaining bullets toward the front of the building.

“Esther, where the—” Scott was cut off as Esther and Jayden emerged from the back of the safe house. The scout, drenched within seconds of reentering the freezing deluge, glared at him without words. “Okay, just go!” He got on the comm. “Faraj, fall back! The
Pariah
’s waiting.”

“Acknowledged.”

The order to retreat couldn’t have come at a better time. EDEN was steadily being reinforced, and despite Rashid and his slayers’ ability to hold the advance off until this point, their being overrun was inevitable. Much as was the case in
Cairo
, the numbers they were up against were too stacked to overcome. Rashid, Rodion, and Feliks backpedaled behind cover to Scott, at which point the three Nightmen made their turn down the adjacent alley. Scott, Becan, and William were right there with them.

Literally shoving Jayden inside the
Pariah
, Esther looked back at the alley from where Scott and company were coming, then behind the transport to the street farther back, where a police car, its sirens blaring, skidded to a sideways stop. Whipping her head back to the troop bay, she signaled to David. “Dave, weapon!”

The former NYPD officer, blocked in by the Falcons and Pyotr Alkaev, hurled his assault rifle in Esther’s direction. The scout dashed forward to catch it, flipped it around until it was properly in her hands, then knelt down and took aim at the car just as the police officers were opening the door. Finger laying down on the trigger, the Briton opened fire. With every burst from the muzzle of her E-35, her pearl necklace danced wildly around her neck. The pair of officers took shelter behind the car as it was riddled, its lights shattering and its frame shuddering with bullet impacts.

Scott was running with reckless abandon toward the street, the sound of approaching EDEN operatives growing louder with every second. The injury to his thigh might as well have not been one at all. The American fulcrum’s adrenaline was in complete control.

Then came the
boom
.

Not ten meters in front of Scott, the interior of the alleyway exploded. Scott and his comrades skidded to a halt to avoid getting pelted as bricks and debris flew in every direction. Coughing and staggering back, Scott waved his hands to clear away smoke and dust.

“The hell was
that
?” asked William behind him.

Back in the street, Esther whipped her head in the alley’s direction, the scout’s eyes widening in horror as the corner of the building by the alleyway collapsed, a plume of smoke barreling toward the street. She shielded her eyes as she was enveloped in dust.

Behind her, the occupants of the troop bay goose-necked to see the explosion. Police fire erupted again from down the street, bullets peppering the
Pariah
as those inside shrunk back again. “Esther,” said David, “get in!”

Nearly slipping as she turned to run, Esther charged up the ramp amid a flurry of gunfire, flipping her wet hair out of her face as she hit the bay door button to block the onslaught of bullets. Mouth open while she grasped the door frame for support and gasped for air, she wiped her face and yelled into her comm. “Scott, are you all right?”

“Not in about ten seconds!” Scott answered as he tried to squint through the dust. “What just happened?” Behind him, the tatter of gunfire emerged. Diving behind a dumpster and pipes, Scott, William, Becan, Rashid, and his two slayers returned fire.

“That must’ve been a grenade or a rocket blast!” said Esther. “That whole building is about to come down!”

Terrific
. Leaning out from cover, Scott fired into the cluster of operatives. At the very least, there was enough of a cloud of dust and debris in the alley to obscure them. Checking behind him, Scott confirmed what he’d already feared: there was a mound of rubble between them and the street. They weren’t going anywhere. “Change of plans! We’re going through!”

“Through wha’?” asked Becan, shooting a wide-eyed look to Scott and pointing where EDEN’s gunfire was coming from. “Through
them
?”

The
yes
was implied. Comming the
Pariah
again, Scott yelled to Travis. “Get off the ground! We’re going to try and fight our way out of here. If we don’t make it, head to
Northern Forge
!”

Esther’s voice cut through. “We are
not
leaving you, Scott!”

“We’re not the mission. You’ve got the Falcons and Centurion. If you can’t get us, get them out of here!” A bullet dinged against one of his shoulder guards. Scott stumbled backward then retreated for cover. “Never a vecking break,” he said off the comm.

Hitting the vertical thrusters, Travis raised the
Pariah
off the ground. From ahead, behind, and the side, EDEN forces were firing relentlessly, their bullets smashing against the cursed transport from almost every direction. “Hold on, everyone,” the pilot said through the speakers.

Esther popped her head into the cockpit. “Master key! Give me your wrists.”

“Thank
God
,” said Travis. As he maneuvered the stick with his left hand, he held out his right for Esther to free it. The scout twisted the key, and the handcuffs fell from his wrist. Tiffany snatched them in the second that followed, unlatching her own cuff and slinging them down with the key still in place. Esther ducked back into the troop bay.

“Two contacts!” Tiffany said, her hazel eyes shifting to the radar. Groaning, she looked at Travis and said, “Superwolves.”

The pilot cursed under his breath. Pointing the ship’s nose toward the north, he hit the forward thrusters. “We’ve got two Superwolves inbound.”

“Do they see us?” David asked.

“I don’t know. We don’t have a transponder, so…I don’t know.”

Tiffany said, “If we can get out of the city fast enough to get to ground level, we can slip by without them noticing. Maybe.”

“I love a plan with a good
maybe
,” said David.

*
      
*
      
*

Scott blinked as the word from Travis came through. Superwolves?
You’ve got to be kidding me!
Again, bullets ricocheted around him, and again, he leaned out to fire a round of suppression. There was no way they were going to get through EDEN. There had to be another way. As the others in his party continued the firefight, Scott looked around for an alternative. There was a back door to the building that formed the other half of the alley, but it was between them and the EDEN oppressors. It was their only option. Leaning around to fire another shot, he shouted at William. “Fire your hand cannon!” He was almost surprised when the demolitionist complied without objection. Popping up from behind the dumpster, William fired not one, but three consecutive blasts in the direction of EDEN’s forces. As the smoky streaks whizzed their way, they scattered in all directions. The rounds exploded on impact, lighting up the far end of the alleyway with orange plumes. Scott signaled to the door. “Through there, through there! Move now!”