Chapter 17
CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN
Sweat prickled at the back of Gabriel’s neck as he hopped a curb. The sidewalk was littered with debris, and he had to pick his way through, boots sliding on rotting leaves. Tommy was panting behind him, his face red as he tried to keep up.
The tension didn’t help. Every step they took brought them closer to the epicenter of the invasion. Judd was ahead, his gun raised and back tense as he easily navigated through the streets, almost completely silent despite his bulk.
Gabriel resisted the urge to check his watch.
He was still wearing it even though the last time it had worked was on that Sikorsky Blackhawk that dropped him into this hell.
The weight was familiar, the act of buckling it onto his wrist comforting in its simplicity.
Blake teased him for it, running his fingers along the band when they lay in bed together, fiddling with the hands.
Sometimes he would twist Gabriel’s wrist out of view and make him guess what time he’d set.
The watch was dormant, but Gabriel could still hear the ticking. They were behind.
A late storm had knocked out a power line and halted their progress in the truck.
They had to run the last five miles—something that would have been nothing to him a year ago.
But after living off adrenaline and canned fruit cocktail, his body was far from its peak, and he could feel the strain in his knees and lower back.
Judd stopped at a cross street, glancing back at Gabriel. He made a quick hand signal, and Gabriel nodded. Half a mile.
Tommy came up beside him, leaning on his knees. His bulging backpack slid down his back, and Gabriel caught it before it could take Tommy down with it. He’d insisted on carrying it, telling Gabriel and Judd they needed the freedom to do the soldiering.
The backpack had just about everything Tommy and Irving could think of that he might need to set up the shock. They’d been prepping it for weeks, but it had been a while since they’d gone down to the service station, and like the storm, anything could have changed. They needed to be prepared.
And preparation was heavy.
He helped Tommy stand, and the young man smiled at him, hair plastered to his face. He gave a thumbs up, and they continued across the intersection.
The Metro stop they’d been using to enter the underground was a small station at the end of the Red Line. At one time, it had been nice. Raised to meet the tracks with a glass canopy. Now it was nothing more than ruins. Gabriel’s best guess was that it had been struck by a Zappy Ball.
Judd led them through a construction site. Gabriel couldn’t tell, but it looked like they were expanding on the rail. Maybe for an Amtrak. But now it was as desolate as the rest of the city.
He helped Tommy over an overturned bulldozer and crouched on the other side.
Judd was on one knee behind a stack of wooden pallets, looking through the sight on his rifle.
Gabriel didn’t need to break the silence; he could read Judd’s thoughts from the back of his neck.
If his mullet parted to the left, he was worried. Right, and he was just being cautious.
Tawny brown hair fluttered over Judd’s left shoulder.
Gritting his teeth, he turned to Tommy. “Stay here, stay down. No matter what happens, finish the mission.”
Eyes wide, Tommy nodded.
Staying low, Gabriel moved to Judd’s side. Without looking at him, Judd jerked his chin toward their two o’clock position. Wiping some sweat from his eyes, Gabriel squinted against the rising sun.
A Drone was buzzing low over a pile of discarded orange cones. It was weaving back and forth in a clear search pattern. Its silver surface was dented, a large crack running around the curve of the sphere. It cut right into the circular opening on its face.
“Do you think the gun is disabled?” Judd asked, his voice barely above a breath.
“Can’t take the risk,” Gabriel answered through his teeth. “If it fires, it’ll alert every goddamn alien in the quadrant.”
They could hide, wait it out, but time was already ticking. Once the ground team started, there was no stopping. And if Gabriel’s team didn’t have the shock ready, they’d lose their chance. The casualties would be astronomical.
Gabriel swore under his breath.
Just once, I would like a mission where failure didn’t mean death. I would give anything for a stern talking to.
Pushing aside all other thoughts, he took stock of the construction site.
It was relatively empty. A forklift and an excavator were parked beside a large mound of earth.
Bits of cement, rebar, and broken cinder blocks poked out of the dirt.
A retaining wall ran along their right, following the tracks.
They could climb the wall, hop onto the tracks, and run like hell.
But the Drone was faster. And it would pick them off like a sniper.
It appeared to be alone. And maybe, damaged as it was, they had a chance.
They might be able to get the forklift going. It didn’t have much electronics to it, but he didn’t think a forklift was any faster than their own feet.
His gaze slid over a blue tarp; one corner stuck under a plastic drum. “I’ve got an idea,” Gabriel said, fingers twitching on his gun.
“Please tell me it’s a dumb one,” Judd answered with a grin. “I don’t trust a mission that goes too smooth.”
Gabriel quickly told him his plan. Judd’s grin widened. “Oh, that’s the worst.”
After signaling to Tommy to get back, they slung their guns over their shoulders and crept around the pile of pallets.
The tarp was on the other side of the pallets.
Getting it wasn’t the issue, but getting it quietly would be.
Judd took point, crawling forward until he could snag the edge of the tarp.
With his lip between his teeth, he tugged.
The plastic rustled, dirt and rocks sliding over the slick surface. It sounded like fireworks to Gabriel. Despite the noise, Judd didn’t stop. Steady is fast. The tarp came free after some tugging, and Judd was careful to pull it fully behind the pallets.
Gabriel took one end, and they kept it taut as they moved over toward the excavator.
It loomed over them, casting a perfect shadow to disappear into.
Gabriel kept one eye on the Drone as they moved.
The thing was still flying back and forth, its whine lower than the ones he’d previously encountered.
Maybe it was malfunctioning? Had the crack broken its operating system, and it was spazzing out?
Whatever the reason, that thing was between him and his mission.
Judd crawled into place beside the forklift while Gabriel hid behind an excavator tire. The space between them was narrow. Exactly what Gabriel needed.
Judd caught his eye and stood. Lip between his teeth, he let out a piercing whistle. “Come get some, birdie.”
The Drone swerved, wobbling in the air as it zoomed straight toward them.
Judd waited on the balls of his feet, hands loose.
The moment the Drone passed the front of the excavator, he dropped and grabbed his side of the tarp.
They pulled it tight between them a second before the Drone hit with a thump.
The tarp ripped out of his hands, taking him with it. He stumbled forward, falling on his knees. Judd did little better, eating a face full of dirt as the Drone whizzed past them. The blue plastic caught in the crack on the Drone’s surface, fluttering behind it like a ghoul from an old cartoon.
Blind, the Drone began chirping, low and twitchy. Nothing like the high-pitched screams Gabriel had nightmares about. It bobbed and twisted in the air, trying to get the tarp off, but it was stuck on the jagged edges of the crack.
“Don’t let it get away!” Gabriel shouted, rushing forward.
He needed to kill that thing before it called for help.
Boots beating the ground, he leapt, just missing the Drone as it skittered away.
Judd picked up a broken two-by-four and swung at it like a major league baseball player.
The wood whizzed through the air, catching the edge of the tarp but missing the Drone.
Judd took another swing, and Gabriel had to duck. That’s when he heard the clacking. His blood froze.
Gabriel turned in time to see a FUD galloping at them. Its ball joints spun as its claws gouged out small craters of earth as it ran. The small pincers on its chest clattered excitedly.
“Move!” Gabriel shouted as the thing dropped its head to ram into Judd. The scout had a single second to throw himself out of the way. The FUD’s shoulder caught him in the hip, sending Judd sprawling.
Gabriel turned and ran. He rounded the pile of pallets when he caught sight of the Drone. It wasn’t flying as erratically now, trying to brush up against the stack of pallets to get the tarp off.
Twisting on his heel, Gabriel changed direction so suddenly the FUD blew past him. It had better traction on the dirt, but in a full charge, it still needed time to get its legs under it. He jumped to the highest one he could reach. It teetered, but he was onto the next before it could fall.
Two more steps and he could feel the stack destabilizing. Pushing off one leg, he launched into the air and caught the Drone around its midsection.
His unexpected weight sent them both careening to the ground.
Gabriel didn’t have time to brace himself.
The hit hurt, driving the Drone’s smooth metal into his gut.
He couldn’t breathe, and his panic spiked, but he refused to let go.
Digging his fingers into the crack in the Drone, he wrapped himself around it.
The thing screeched, bobbing and whirring under the tarp. Gabriel almost lost his grip when it spun like a top, but he dug his boots in. If he could just get his hand free, he could drive his knife into the crack, maybe that would—