Chapter 7
Chapter
Seven
Marcus hugged his mate against his chest. She had not stirred following her climax triggered by him savoring her blood.
Her mind had retreated into unconsciousness, allowing her body to rest and recover.
Marcus brushed her hair back from her cheeks, memorizing the satisfied look on her face. He vowed to see that expression often.
Marcus?
The technology specialist’s voice sounding in his mind instantly grabbed Marcus’s attention. Bram? What’s going on?
Ten men are casing the exterior of Nightfall. They are checking for a path inside.
Marcus took stock of the security forces he’d left in charge at the nightclub. He had three crew members in Nightfall currently. Where are the vandals?
Vandal doesn’t seem to be the right term for them. There are two leaders. Well-trained in covert operations from my view in the cameras.
On my way to check them out. Keep everyone out of sight. I’ll handle this personally.
Eager for a fight, are you? Humor filled Bram’s voice. He understood how the predator in Marcus needed to be released once in a while.
I’ll be there soon. Marcus didn’t answer such an obvious question. Cut the exterior lights, Bram. They’ll be comfortable with the darkness when I arrive.
By the time Marcus’s connection with Bram ceased, he had slipped his arm from under his precious mate’s head and had settled her on the fluffy pillows. He pressed a kiss on her forehead and mentally reinforced her need for sleep. That would keep her in restorative rest until he returned.
Quickly, he dressed and let himself out of her apartment in seconds.
Marcus took the stairs to the top of the building and raced over the rooftops, evading detection.
He clung to the darkness as he checked out the humans shifting in the shadows below.
Two groups of five men approached Nightfall from the alleyways on the back two sides of the building.
He focused on the first group of men who lurked inside the mouth of the alley on the west side of Nightfall.
The huddled group seemed to be waiting. The hushed whispers reached his enhanced hearing easily.
Marcus memorized the names they shared. All men wore balaclavas.
The knitted hoods revealed only their eyes and mouth.
They ranged in size from slender to heavily muscled.
He would need to handle these guys quietly.
“This place is like Fort Knox, Arnaldo.”
“Shut up. Even Fort Knox has emergency exits. Don’t use my name, idiot.”
The leader pointed to the small, concealed doorway farther down the alley. “Everyone but Gio. We’ll stack up on the door. We go when the boss tells us to.”
Marcus noted Arnaldo didn’t seem to mind exposing Gio’s name. A great leader.
Arnaldo turned to the man he’d singled out. “Gio, you’re on watch here. You’ve got our backs. The rest of you follow me. Move out!”
Marcus reached out to his team inside.
They’ve come up with a plan. One group is trying for the door to the west. Bram, what’s the second group doing? I don’t want to take my eyes off this crew.
Bram answered, The others are heading to the loading dock in the rear.
Marcus urged, Keep your eyes on them, Bram. Everyone stand by. I want the leader alive. He felt their acknowledging response as a warm pulse in his mind.
Bram, I assume you’re monitoring their communications too. What can you tell me?
Bram’s voice once again echoed in his mind. These boys have sophisticated radios, but nothing I can’t handle. I’ve accessed each of their cells and am running their data now. Beyond that, I’ve jammed their phones. The group has almost reached the loading dock. Good hunting!
Time to play.
Standing at the mouth of the west alley, Gio created a barrier with his six-foot, muscled frame alone. Gio’s massive size clued Marcus in that Gio was a gym rat, more focused on achieving greater lifting reps than using his bulk in hand-to hand combat.
Marcus gave him credit for his attentiveness to his duty at the rearguard position.
That might have been enough to save him if Gio had been on the lookout for the average person.
Marcus was so much more than he expected.
Leaving his weapon of choice sheathed, Marcus gambled he wouldn’t need his sword to deal with these guys.
One second Gio was scanning the street, and the next Marcus had wrapped an arm around his neck, twisting with an overpowering jerk.
Timed to coordinate with a passing car, the sickening snap didn’t warn the others.
Marcus propped the body in a seated position next to some trash cans.
He glided forward to catch up with the next man in the line as the invaders crept steadily down the alleyway.
Marcus agreed with Bram’s assessment that their tactics showed the team had covert training.
Holes that would contribute to their downfall were easy to spot to someone so versed in combat like Marcus.
Their lack of code names and situational awareness revealed Nightfall’s foes lacked discipline and had become sloppy.
Still, the attackers moved quietly, crouching low, and with economy of motion.
Armed with handguns, they held the weapons at the low-ready position, scanning their section of the area in textbook fashion.
No one glanced behind them. Why should they with Gio there?
To reinforce their confidence, Marcus sent waves of security into the invaders’ minds.
One by one, Marcus snatched the next man in line, snapping necks as he went and dropping each one silently off to the side.
He almost missed catching the gun of the third one before it clattered to the ground but snatched it out of the air a split second ahead of the weapon’s impact.
By the time only Arnaldo remained, the lead invader had reached the door.
Arnaldo triggered the small microphone attached to his collar.
“Boss, we are in position.”
The team leader responded with two clicks to the report. To prevent any further communication, Marcus crushed the microphone into pieces with his left hand while grabbing Arnaldo by the throat with his right. Marcus heaved him effortlessly off his feet to dangle him in the air before him.
“Good evening.” Marcus greeted him in a low voice that was almost a growl as he stripped the gun from Arnaldo’s hand.
As Arnaldo thrashed desperately against the viselike grip that held him suspended above the ground, Marcus slowly turned him to look down the alley.
When the sole survivor froze with shock at the proof of his team’s defeat, Marcus flicked his wrist, breaking Arnaldo’s neck.
He dropped him, savoring the quiet thump.
The west door is clear. There are five ready for cleanup. Heading to the dock.
Once again, Bram’s voice broadcast in his head. They have a hacker for the dock door. How do you want to play it?
Interesting. Allow them to succeed at opening the door. Let’s see what they have planned.
Two men were stationed as guards at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the dock’s entrance.
The remaining three stood above on the landing.
One of those men had a tablet with wire leads hooked to the entry panel next to the door.
The tech guy typed furiously as another man hovered behind him, impatiently monitoring his every move.
The last man on the landing faced away from the other two, scanning the area.
Unlocking the door now. Bram said.
The barrier opened with a click, and the three men entered the dock, leaving the two guards at the bottom of the stairs to watch their backs.
To save time and get inside quickly, Marcus drew his Roman short sword from the sheath between his shoulder blades.
After carrying it for centuries, it felt like an extension of his hand.
As the door closed automatically, Marcus sprinted in a blur to the closest enemy.
Ramming his shoulder into the first man’s side with monumental force, he broke the man’s spine, incapacitating him.
Heaving that guard with his free arm out of the way, Marcus then thrust his sword through the bottom of the second guard’s jaw, impaling him through the top of his skull.
He ended the man who struggled to drag his paralyzed body away, stabbing him through his body and into his heart.
Seven down, three to go.
Marcus wiped his sword off on the guard’s clothes, then leapt onto the dock’s landing and onto the roof. He crouched by a skylight as he waited for Bram’s report.
I’ve cut the interior lights as well, leaving them in the dark.
Some moonlight is coming through the skylight, allowing me to see through the cameras.
Two of the intruders have reached the dock office.
My guess is that’s the boss and his hacker.
They’re facing away from the dock’s interior.
The hacker is attempting to access the computer terminal—not that he’s going to succeed.
The last guard is standing outside the office door with his gun drawn.
Marcus opened the skylight and deftly descended undetected into the shadows of the dock.
He glided behind the guard who shifted restlessly as the boss berated the hacker behind him.
Obviously uneasy, he jumped at the routine sounds of the machinery on the docks.
Marcus reached out to him with a mental push—Sleep.
The guard dropped to the floor with a thud, his gun clattering across the floor.
The boss spun around at the commotion and hurried out of the office to investigate. Marcus smiled as the door closed behind him with an ominous click. Good thinking, Bram.
Spotting the fallen body, the boss kicked at the crumpled man as if trying to understand what had happened.
Marcus palmed the top of the boss’s head and lifted him off his feet.
When the leader flailed his arms, trying to shoot behind him, Marcus stripped the gun from his hand with a vicious blow that shattered his shoulder.
Marcus growled, “Good evening. I take it you and your team came to scope out the new competition in town. Someone wants to know who you’re dealing with?”
A banging noise came from behind them, and Marcus turned the man around, still holding him by his head three feet off the ground.
Marcus gave him a bird’s-eye view of the panicked expression on the hacker’s face as the trapped man beat on the locked plexiglass office door.
The hacker’s eyes widened with fear as he spotted the two men standing before him.
Bram, do you have everything you need from the hacker’s system?
Yes. Between the tablet and their phones, I’ve got enough to move forward from here.
Then, purge the office.
With an urgent hiss, a misty fog flooded the small space from the fire suppression system, engulfing the hacker.
As the room filled with haze, the trapped man clutched at his throat, gasping for air that no longer existed.
The shoulders of the man in Marcus’s grip tensed as he watched the man behind the door slump out of sight.
Marcus underlined his captive’s horror, saying, “A better question to ask is what are you dealing with.”
With a powerful flick of his wrist, Marcus broke the man’s neck. He dropped the man on the floor next to the still-sleeping guard before reaching out to his security team.
Drain the bodies and bring their vehicle around. I’ll have Sleeping Beauty here take them back to their base as a warning. That should be enough for this round.