Michael, Wynn, and three militia soldiers were surrounded by a prowling pack of ten Sirens. More circled overhead.
The men alternated fire between the creatures in the sky and those on the deck. Two of the fliers dropped to the dirt, making their alien cries as they took their last breaths.
When X gave the order to advance, Victor didn’t hesitate, running toward the beasts with their backs turned, hoping to take them by surprise.
Down to just his sword, X slashed at the nearest creature just as it turned, cutting halfway through its neck.
He moved to the next one, plunging the blade into the creature’s forehead with an audible crunch. Victor slashed and stabbed, killing two monsters.
Two airborne Sirens dived toward Michael’s group. Gunfire riddled them, but one managed to snatch a militia soldier, yanking him away.
The creatures on the ground bolted toward the rest of the team, and several more broke off to take on X and Victor.
X swung and sliced, screaming. Beside him, Victor fought nimbly, bringing down several of the beasts before they could strike.
But there were too many.
A muscular female slammed into X, knocking him to the deck. Victor tried to help, but two creatures came at him.
X lost sight of the man as he fought to get the Siren off him. He grabbed the neck with his left hand, but with only his stump, he couldn’t do much besides hold back the maw of jagged teeth.
Human screams rang out around him. One was Michael’s youthful voice. Filled with rage, X crushed the Siren’s windpipe and pushed it off him.
He grabbed his sword and stabbed a monster that had knocked Victor down.
Three more Sirens bounded toward them.
X and Victor came together, side by side, while Michael, Wynn, and one last militia soldier took on five more of the beasts.
X let out a scream that sounded almost inhuman, in a voice that even he didn’t recognize. “argggggggghhhhhh!”
He strode forward with his blade, lunging to strike a Siren that raced toward him on all fours. Over the creature’s high-pitched death wail came another sound.
Human shouts and screams exploded from the forest.
X kept fighting, filled with hope now that reinforcements had arrived. He became a machine, slicing, stabbing, and kicking at the monsters’ wrinkled flesh. He didn’t ease up until a troop of armored soldiers stormed past him to finish the fight.
Panting, X finally lowered the sword in his throbbing left hand. He watched the soldiers finish off the last Sirens.
But these men weren’t wearing black body armor. They were Cazador warriors, and leading them was a man in full armor, with a black cape fluttering behind his shoulders.
“Colonel Forge!” X yelled.
The officer swung a bloody cutlass at the last two monsters. The soldiers flanking him also wielded blades slick with blood, and some bore the claw marks of Sirens.
Mac, Felipe, and several Barracudas had also joined Forge and his men, clearing the inside of the tower and fighting to the top. For the first time since Rhino’s death, X finally had Cazadores he could trust.
And judging by the destruction the skinwalkers had left behind, he was going to need every ally he could get.
SEVENTEEN
“Launch the drone,” Les said into the handset.
The mechanics in Discovery’s launch bay released Cricket into the sky. Les took over manually by tapping the screen on the bridge. The drone’s newly upgraded thrusters powered it away from the airship, toward the barrier between light and dark.
The little mechanical Hell Diver had the best shot at locating Horn and his demonic crew aboard Raven’s Claw. The submarines wouldn’t be far from the flagship, and once Cricket found them, Les was going to lob a missile down their throats.
He wanted to go out there with the drone, but taking Discovery into the storms was too risky and would leave the islands even more vulnerable to another attack by the submarines.
“Eevi, you detecting any major storms out there?” Les asked.
“Several, sir. I hope Cricket is ready to take a beating.”
“He’s built for it,” Timothy chimed in.
Good luck, little friend, Les thought. Find us those murdering demons.
Then he grabbed the handset again.
“All hands, buckle in or grab something to hold on to,” Les said over the intercom. He turned the airship around, then waited a moment for the skeleton crew of mechanics and engineers to buckle in.
“Timothy, activate thrusters on my mark,” Les ordered. He tapped his screen. Confirming that all six repaired thrusters were operational, he gave the order.
“Mark.”
“Aye, aye, sir,” Timothy replied.
The thrusters all fired, giving Discovery enough juice to plaster Les against the captain’s chair on the bridge. The airship picked up speed.
Fifty miles per hour.
Seventy-five miles per hour.
One hundred miles per hour.
Through the feed from the front cameras, he watched the gray view of swirling clouds, his heart pounding from not knowing what was happening on the surface.
Les had no idea whether his wife and daughter were still alive. After beseeching X to protect Katherine and Phyl, he had switched off the radio. It would help them avoid detection from the prowling hostile forces and any Cazadores working with them.
At this point, he couldn’t trust anyone on the ground.
“Eevi, sitrep.”
“Scans on the surface are picking up no vessels that are not supposed to be out there,” she reported.
Les checked the monitor again. The below-surface scans weren’t picking up anything, either. The submarines had dived after their stealth attack.
It was nothing short of a miracle that Discovery had gotten away. The airship still wasn’t fully operational, but it was better than being a smoldering debris field on the water. And that had almost happened.
He thought back to the narrow escape. The explosions had happened fast, but Les had grabbed the closest militia soldier and sent him to protect Katherine and Phyl. Then he had rounded up the small crew of mechanics and engineers who were doing final repairs, and they all piled into the airship.
If not for Timothy, the ship would have been blown to pieces. The AI had expertly evaded several projectiles and escaped into the clouds.
“Still no sign of submarines on the sonar,” he said.
Les plotted a course through the clouds, back to the capitol tower. Once again, he was in the sky while his family was in danger on the surface. That was how he had lost Trey. He couldn’t—wouldn’t—lose Katherine and Phyl the same way.
Tapping his screen, Les canceled the course and decided to lower the airship for a look with his own eyes. A white glow from the AI spread over the deck around his station.
“Sir, our orders are to stay out of sight,” Timothy said.
“Focus on the weapons systems and your scans, Pepper,” Les said. “I know what I’m doing.”
“Sir—”
“That’s an order.”
Eevi looked as though she wanted to say something, but she turned back to her monitor.
“Fifteen thousand feet,” Eevi said.
“Raise hatches,” Les said.
The hatches over the bridge portholes cranked upward. Les eased off on the thrusters, heart thumping fast in anticipation of his first look at the surface.
A view of vast blue ocean replaced the clouds. Thick smoke snaked away from the Hive. Tiny black dots surrounded the rig, spraying white jets of water onto the flames. The wakes from dozens of other vessels streaked away from the tower, carrying the injured to other rigs.