Chapter Twenty-Six
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RAHAB WAS WORKING OUT when he sensed two of his soldiers perish within seconds of each other. Dropping the dumbbells, he snatched up his shirt and pulled it on. His walky-talky came to life even as he picked it up.
“Lord, something is happening near the bridge leading to Queens!” one of his men reported. “Some militants have turned against us and we’re under fire!”
“Call everyone to that location,” Rahab ordered, leaving his jacket behind as he rushed to the door. His four guards raced to catch up to him as he headed towards the area where he’d sensed his men die.
Soldiers of Chaos came running from every direction to find their own kind embroiled in a battle with humans.
The mercenaries were all wearing white armbands and had gone mad.
So had their squad members. Deumos was among them.
His eyes were wide and he was screaming incoherently as he shot at his foes.
“What the hell’s wrong with them?” Phul asked his commander when he reached Rahab’s side.
“They’ve gone crazier than I am,” Lachial muttered, loping over to join them.
“Nah,” Vetis joked as he and his guards arrived. “No one’s crazier than you, except for your pretty offspring.”
Rahab cut a look at them all to shut them up. “Their minds have been tampered with,” he said, then reached out to his minions mentally. Sure enough, their emotions had been twisted into paranoia. He was lucky his men hadn’t been turned against each other.
“What’s happened?” Xathan asked coolly when he arrived last, assessing the threat with his red-tinted dark eyes.
“Deumos’ spawn used her talents against them,” Phul said. “Now our men and the humans are feuding.”
Most of the human mercs were dead. Only two soldiers had fallen, but Rahab was still furious.
He weakened slightly each time he lost one of his squad members.
It wasn’t enough to give Amaros an edge against him, thankfully.
All up, eleven Soldiers of Chaos had perished so far.
Half of his unit would need to be wiped out before it would concern him.
“Surely, the cambion’s power will wear off soon,” Vetis figured dismissively.
Xathan looked at the blond warrior incredulously. Sometimes, his colleagues were too stupid to be believed. This talent could be catastrophic if the cambion learned how to use it properly. They were lucky they hadn’t all been present and hadn’t been caught up in it when she’d unleashed her magic.
Rahab was having similar thoughts. He didn’t deign to answer his minion and instead sent out a blast of mind control. It washed over the warring fools. “Cease fire!” he shouted.
Deumos snapped out of his paranoid daze and looked around in confusion.
The few remaining militants were standing still, faces blank and minds under thrall.
Seeing two of his colleagues lying on the ground, the soldier was filled with rage and embarrassment.
His youngling had gotten the better of him yet again.
Even worse, Rahab and dozens of his comrades had witnessed his humiliation this time.
“What are we going to do with the survivors, Lord?” Phul asked, gesturing at the humans.
“Kill them,” Rahab said coldly. “I don’t want word of this to spread.”
His men followed his orders and cut the militants down. Their bodies were dumped in a pile in the middle of the street.
“What story are we going to tell Governor Giamano about this, Lord?” Xathan asked.
“I’m sure you’ll come up with something appropriate,” Rahab said with a smirk. “Some of them were Creel Lawson’s friends,” he added, pointing at a few mercenaries wearing camouflage gear. “I doubt he’ll be delighted to learn his people were slaughtered.”
Xathan’s mind was already racing to come up with an idea. “We can blame Amaros and his squad,” he mused. “I’ll say they snuck into the city and murdered the militants before burning their bodies and fleeing like rats.”
Rahab nodded in grim agreement. “It’s a good excuse,” he said in approval. “Make sure our soldiers’ bodies vanish,” he ordered. “As far as our allies are aware, we had nothing to do with this battle.”
Under Phul’s direction, their comrades’ corpses were carried away. They were tossed into the East River to become fish food.
Rahab motioned for Deumos to follow him over to one side, while Xathan contacted Governor Giamano. “Has Urzra bonded with the cambion yet?” he asked.
“I don’t think so, Lord,” Deumos said, still scowling. “He seemed surprised to see her when she showed up.”
“They’ll become bonded soon,” Rahab figured dourly. “Fate is determined to prevent our progeny from falling into our hands.”
Xathan overheard the pair talking as he filled the governor in about the situation. “Unfortunately, we arrived too late to stop the tragedy from happening,” the advisor said, managing to sound sincere. “Our enemies fled after setting fire to the bodies.”
Flames whooshed to life after a soldier tossed fuel he’d scrounged up onto them and lit it with a lighter. They all winced at the sudden brightness.
“Several of Mr. Lawson’s preppers were involved in the fracas,” Xathan added with a cruel grin.
“What?” he heard Creel exclaim in the background. He must have been attending a meeting with Oliver. “How many of my men are dead!” he demanded, talking into the walky-talky.
“It’s hard to say,” Xathan said, smirk widening. “I could make out a few corpses wearing camouflage gear, but they’re well alight now.”
“I’m on my way,” Mr. Lawson snarled.
The ginger prepper and fifty of his closest allies turned up a few minutes later.
A few streets had been cleared of enough traffic for a truck to drive them to the location.
Creel’s face was red with anger when he stared at the pile of charred bodies.
“I want the men who did this dead!” he growled, turning to face Rahab.
“Your private war with that rival motorcycle gang has now cost me the lives of some of my people!”
Rahab strode over to the much shorter man and glared down at him.
Creel cowered away slightly when he realized how badly outnumbered he and his men were.
“Amaros and his squad will be eliminated eventually,” Rahab said in a cold, hard tone.
“As you can see, they’re highly skilled warriors.
” He gestured at the evidence that was being consumed by flames.
“Their numbers are small, but they can infiltrate the city at will. I suggest the militants watch their backs at all times. Our enemies could strike before they even know they’re there and be gone before we can catch them. ”
“What are they, ghosts?” one of the scruffy and unfit preppers asked snidely. “No one can outrun a bullet.” He patted the assault rifle he was cradling lovingly in his arms. “Just point me at them and I’ll take them down myself.”
The mercenaries shouted their support, completely unaware of how foolish they sounded to the soldiers.
“I hope all of these idiots get wiped out,” Lachial said with an amused grin. “I just hope I’ll be somewhere nearby so I can watch the carnage.” Vetis snickered along with him.
Creel Lawson flicked a look at Xathan and sneered. He wasn’t the only one of Rahab’s crew who had dark skin. Most were white, but there was a spattering of other races in their squad. He silently vowed to eliminate them all, starting with Xathan and his ilk.
Xathan read his own murder on the prepper’s face and stared back at him coolly.
If Mr. Lawson made another attempt on his life, he would come good on his promise.
He would slaughter the human’s wife and two teenage sons to teach him a lesson.
Only when everyone he loved was gone would Xathan end the bigot’s suffering.
Phul took in the feuds that were going on amongst the people who were supposed to be their allies.
Rahab couldn’t be counted on to keep the peace anymore.
His commander’s mind was still fixated on GG’s desertion.
This was supposed to be their final war against their current foes, which meant they all needed to stay focused on their task.
Instead, everyone was distracted by their own petty problems.
He couldn’t see how they could navigate their way through the battles ahead if everyone was going to turn on each other.
But he kept his mouth shut because he was only Rahab’s second in command.
The only thing stopping him from killing his leader himself was that there was no guarantee he would take his place.