49. Max
49
MAX
M ax crouched behind a low concrete barrier, his nostrils itching from the sharp tang of gunpowder thick in the air. Over the din of gunfire, the acrid smell of smoke, and the shouts echoing through the compound's courtyard, he could barely hear his own voice.
Their carefully crafted plan had fallen apart into chaos moments into its execution.
The trek from the landing site to the compound had been swift and uneventful. The Kra-ell warriors had scaled the watchtowers in seconds and taken out the guards manning them with no one any the wiser. Even Max, who had been listening for sounds of scuffles taking place, had heard nothing.
With Yamanu's shroud, the guards at the gate had been dispatched with the same lethal speed. Things had been going to plan—until they hadn't.
When their team entered the courtyard, two Doomers spotted them and opened fire before his team realized they were dealing with Doomers, who weren't affected by Yamanu's shroud.
Yamanu had been hit in the neck, and his shroud had fallen apart. The Doomers' shots and shouts had alerted the rest of the force, and within seconds, a full-blown gunfight erupted.
The Kra-ell team had pounced without hesitation.
Dima and Anton had launched themselves among the soldiers, moving so fast their figures seemed to blur. Asuka and Mehira followed suit, their eyes gleaming with bloodlust as they bounded toward the Doomers. Max caught a glimpse of Jade's slender silhouette darting into the fray, a short blade in hand and a savage grin full of fangs curling her lips. The Kra-ell's demonic appearance was an unexpected advantage as soldiers screamed and ran in fear.
Max rushed to Yamanu's side.
"I'm okay," the guy assured him. "The wound is already healing. Give me a moment, and I'll continue the shroud."
"Don't. At this point, they know we are here. I'd rather you join the fray when you're ready."
"I will." Yamanu held a hand over the wound, which seemed more serious than the guy was willing to admit.
Max helped Yamanu behind the concrete barrier. "Can you cover me?"
The guy was able to sit upright and hold his weapons steady by this point. "I will. Go."
Max turned to look for Drova.
They needed her to compel the Doomers, but so far, they had only encountered those first two who had been dealt with. He was sure there were more, though, and the human soldiers were a menace as well.
One command from Drova and this battle would be over.
He found her crawling on the ground.
"Drova!" her mother shouted into the comm. "Are you hurt?"
"No. I lost my loudspeaker." The girl sounded frantic. "I can't find it."
Could things get any worse?
A hail of bullets whizzed above Max's head, biting into the thick concrete he'd ducked behind and spraying a volley of rocks over his head and shoulders. Gritting his teeth, Max waited for the lull between bursts. "Use your voice without it!"
But Drova's panicked voice came over the line, "No one will hear me!"
As if to confirm her assessment, her words were drowned by the rifle racket.
From the edge of his vision, Max watched Jade slam into one of the guards who seemed impervious to bullets, and not just because he had a bulletproof vest on. His reflexes were incredibly fast. Still, the guy seemed just as terrified of the Kra-ell as the others and turned to flee with a speed that reinforced Max's impression that he wasn't human. But even a Doomer couldn't outrun a pureblooded Kra-ell animated by bloodlust.
She tackled him to the ground, but instead of sinking her fangs into his neck, she used her bare hand to punch him. That wouldn't hold him down for long, not unless she cut out his heart or chopped off his head, but they didn't have time for that.
Oops , Max had forgotten how strong Jade was and how vicious. With a bone-crushing punch, her fist went through the Doomer's chest, and when Jade pulled out her hand, she was holding his heart, dropping the bloody mass on the ground.
Max was a hardened warrior, but he'd never seen such savagery, and as his stomach heaved, he gulped air to keep it from emptying on the ground. Drova, however, didn't have the benefit of his battle experience and puked her guts out.
"Weakness will get you killed, girl!" Jade barked. "Get moving!"
On the other side of the courtyard, Mehira threw a knife at a soldier who was advancing at her with unnatural speed. He hissed but kept running with his fangs bared and his eyes flashing, only to get tackled by Anton, who grabbed him by the neck and twisted. A sickening snap followed as the Doomer collapsed.
Max was impressed. The Kra-ell had no compunctions about using lethal force, and these Doomers wouldn't regenerate. They were gone, and good riddance.
The moment of quiet that followed was interrupted by Jade's voice in his earpiece. "Drova, that's your chance!"
The girl inhaled shakily before cupping her hands around her mouth. "Stop fighting!" she yelled in Farsi, one of the phrases she'd been taught, projecting from her diaphragm as best she could. "Drop your weapons and lie face down on the ground. "
Only those close enough to hear her paused, confusion and then frustration on their faces before they obeyed her command.
The rest were too far away to hear the command over the thunder of battle. Drova's voice alone wasn't enough. The miniature loudspeaker was supposed to have amplified her command so it would carry across the courtyard, and without it, half the soldiers didn't register her words at all.
Max made a mental note to find and collect this proprietary piece of equipment before they left the compound. It should not fall into the Doomers' hands, as it might reveal the clan's involvement. Nor should it find its way to the regime's labs, where it could be reverse engineered.
Max grunted and fired a short burst from his custom-made clan-issued weapon, aiming high to force a small group of Iranian soldiers back behind a stack of metal crates. "I'm going to flank them," he said into his mic.
Jade's response was a clipped affirmation. She and her warriors were pinned down near a toppled guard tower, forging a path through the ones who didn't hear Drova's command.
Ahead, a guard charged Ell-rom, an animalistic snarl twisting his lips. Ell-rom raised his handgun but didn't shoot.
Something flickered in his eyes, and Max held his breath, hoping for a demonstration of Ell-rom's death ray, but Dima launched a savage kick from the side, sending the guard sprawling.
The guy didn't get up, and Max was willing to bet that he was dead. That kick must have shattered his ribcage and smashed the organs it was supposed to protect.
The Kra-ell warriors were unstoppable. Gunshots popped in a staccato rhythm, but most of the bullets missed their targets, ricocheting off concrete or tearing through the many crates that were stacked in the yard. One by one, the Doomers and human guards fell, the Doomers taking just a little longer to die. Mehira slashed the throat of a Doomer, going all the way and severing his head off his neck while Asuka and Dima cornered another. He tried vaulting over a stack of broken pallets, only for Dima to tackle him mid-leap. The savage sounds that followed revealed that it was a short fight.
These Kra-ell were lethal, and Max was glad they were on the same team. The only way an immortal could fight them was from inside an exoskeleton war suit like the Guardians had deployed when liberating Igor's compound.
The outcome of that battle would have been much different without those suits.
Several soldiers were holding positions on upper floors and shooting at his team, and he tried to take them out, but they were coordinating their forays at the windows, making it harder to expect where they would appear. Yet the two Max was certain he nailed seemed to chill the shooters' enthusiasm to expose themselves to further risk, and the fire from above mostly died down.
It was taking too long. They had to push forward and be done before reinforcements arrived.
"Everyone, hold your fire so Drova can be heard," Max barked into the comm.
Drova didn't wait for him to repeat his request. "On the ground! Don't move!" she projected with all the might her voice could muster.
The gunfire stopped.
The few soldiers Max could see froze, wide-eyed, sank to their knees, and lay flat, pressing their faces to the grimy pavement.
Others who were too far away or hadn't heard her over the racket from their rifles still took potshots from cover.
It took a few more moments for Jade's Kra-ell squad to eliminate those stragglers as well, and the frantic battle tapered off, leaving the courtyard scattered with unmoving bodies—some dead and some pinned to the ground by Drova's command.
Chest heaving, Max scanned for potential shooters. Sporadic muzzle flashes popped from a far corner, but Jade's team had it handled. Once they dealt with them, an eerie quiet settled over the courtyard, broken only by the moans of the wounded and the hiss of small fires sparked by bullet impacts.
Max nodded and jogged toward a group of humans splayed out on the ground, courtesy of Drova's compulsion, choosing the one whose uniform identified him as an officer. He crouched beside the man, who was on his belly with fingers laced over his head. Max gripped him by the hair and twisted his head so he was forced to look up.
Their eyes locked. "Where are the prisoners kept?" Max asked in Farsi while delving into the soldier's head.
Max didn't need the human to verbalize a response since he was already seeing the path in the man's head, but the soldier answered nonetheless, practically suffocating on his own fear. "E-East Wing," he rasped, blinking rapidly. "Third floor." He swallowed convulsively.
Max caught a flash from the man's memories—long, ugly corridors, steel doors, and a single face that the solider thought of as The Doctor. The soldier's fear of that man overshadowed everything else.
"East Wing's third floor," Max said, standing up quickly. "Drova, Jade, Anton, and Dima. You are with me." Max clicked the comm again. "Yamanu, how are you doing?"
"Just another day at the office, my friend." The calm reply put Max's anxiety about Yamanu's condition at ease.
"OK. We are headed to the third floor of the East Wing. That's where the prisoners are kept. If you are up to it, make sure no hostiles remain to come at our backs and join us. We might run into more Doomers inside."
"We'll see you inside shortly, Max."
"What about me and Jasmine?" Ell-rom asked. "Jasmine wants to be there when we liberate her mother."
Max was well aware of that, but for now, the two with no combat experience were a liability. He preferred that they wait until the yard and surrounding area were secured and then join Yamanu's team when they came in to meet them.
"You will come up with Yamanu. We will clear the way for you so it is safe to do so."