Marcus (15 page)

Marcus kept himself focused on the mission
as they prepared and boarded the Hawk. His usual battle readiness
descended as they took off, his heart beating in a steady
rhythm.

It wasn’t until the quadcopter’s skids
touched dirt, that thoughts about taking Elle into hell…again…hit
him.
Stay focused on the mission, Steele.

He leaped out and shouted directions to his
team. He watched Cruz help Elle down. Marcus had found her some
armor that fit her smaller frame better. He knew she also had her
thermo pistol and a mini-gladius knife he’d slipped into her
boot.

Marcus touched the strap of the black,
carbon fiber backpack he wore. Nestled inside, about the size of a
soccer ball, was the bomb they’d use to destroy the hub.

The quadcopter lifted off and swung west
above the trees and disappeared into the night. They were on their
own now. They wouldn’t even have any comms support except for Elle.
To limit the risk of the raptors picking up the signal, there’d be
no comms back to base.

Elle fiddled with the mini-comp screen
attached to her wrist. “So, why are we here? So far from the
airport?”

“We have to drive in,” Marcus said.

“Too many raptor aerial patrols over that
part of the city.” Cruz looked east, to where the once-busy
international airport lay. “They know we’re trying to decode their
map. They’ll be ready for us and it’s gonna be hot. That’s why
we’re going in under the cover of dark.”

Marcus looked and saw red lights in the sky,
zipping back and forth. His jaw tightened. Yeah, the bastards knew
they were coming.

Dammit, he wished that Elle wasn’t with
them.

But then he looked at her and saw the set
look on her face. There was that quiet determination. If she was
feeling nervous, he couldn’t see it.

“All right, Hell Squad, let’s get this show
on the road.” As Marcus turned, he saw Gabe. The man stood a little
apart, cradling his carbine. His face was set, too, with a
dangerous, ruthless edge that would either keep him alive or get
him killed.

Marcus sure as hell wasn’t losing anyone
else from his team.

Holmes had wanted to put Gabe on leave but
Marcus had fought it. He knew Gabe needed this. He moved up beside
the man.

“Jackson, I need to know you have your head
screwed on straight.”

Gabe’s face remained impassive. “Don’t have
a death wish, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Partly. You’re a part of this squad and we
take care of our own.”

Gabe nodded. “I’ll do my job, Marcus.”

“For Zeke.”

Something painful flashed across Gabe’s
face, then was gone. “For Zeke.”

Marcus moved back toward Elle and saw her
looking around the few ramshackle sheds scattered around the
site.

“Are we walking?” she asked.

“Nope.”

They were at what had once been a secret
military testing facility. He strode over to the largest shed. He
shifted a panel of corrugated iron and uncovered a shiny keypad. He
typed in the code and a large, camouflaged door slid open.

Elle studied it, wide-eyed. “What is this
place?”

“We’ll talk once we’re inside.” Marcus waved
them in.

No one relaxed their guard. They moved down
the wide, concrete-lined tunnel that descended to a lower
level.

Slim lights on the wall clicked on
automatically. After they’d traveled down several dozen meters, the
tunnel opened up into a small underground parking garage.

Five armored personnel carriers were parked
against the wall. All of them were black and looked like large SUVs
on steroids, each with an autocannon mounted on top.

“APCs,” Elle said. “I’ve never seen any like
this.”

“Z6-Hunters.” Marcus patted the armor-plated
hood of the nearest vehicle. “These were only in the experimental
stage when the invasion happened. This installation was a testing
facility. These babies had to go into service a little ahead of
schedule. They have experimental armor and weaponry and
top-of-the-line illusion systems. We’ll take the first two. Cruz?
You, Gabe and Claudia in one. Shaw and Elle, you’re with me.” The
other three moved off and Marcus nodded to the autocannon.

Shaw shot him a wide grin. “Thought you’d
never ask.”

“Try
not
to shoot anything. We want
to keep a low profile.”

Elle tugged at the door handle and opened
the passenger door.

Marcus closed it. “In the back.”

Her face turned mutinous. “Enough with the
orders. You can order them around—” she jerked a thumb at the team
“—but not me.”

Marcus was speechless. He heard one of the
others snicker.

She straightened. “Now. How about you try
explaining
why you want me to sit in the back.”

He blinked. “It’s safer. The windscreen is
reinforced, but a raptor mortar could still get through. I want you
in the back.”

“See? Was that so hard?” She climbed into
the backseat.

As he shut the door, he fought back a smile.
She might look sweet, but there was a sharp little edge to Elle.
And he liked it.

In the driver’s seat, Marcus started the
engine. The heads-up display flared to life, glowing blue-green. He
touched a screen on the dash and it filled with a feed to Cruz’s
Hunter.

“No headlights,” Marcus said to Cruz. “Only
use night vision and ensure the illusion system is activated.”

Elle leaned forward through the small gap to
the backseat. “We should keep off the old highways.” She was
looking at the comp screen on her wrist. “I’ve worked out the
safest route to the airport using smaller roads. I’ll shoot it
through to the APC computers.”

Marcus nodded. That was his girl. “Get that,
Cruz?”

“Got it.” Cruz’s voice came through clearly,
like he was seated beside them. “Map’s coming up now.”

Marcus looked back. “Shaw? You set?” He
could just make out the sniper’s lower body where he sat in the
elevated cannon seat.

“Hell, yeah. Ready to kick some alien
butt!”

“Roll out.” Marcus put the Hunter in gear
and headed up the ramp.

He followed the route Elle had mapped out.
They passed damaged houses and stores, overgrown parks, apartment
buildings. Some were in ruins, others were fully intact, like the
owners were going to come home any minute.

But no one was coming home.

They passed the burned-out shell of a
school. A tattered banner still tied between two trees proclaimed
“Enrolments Now Open.”

“It’s so sad,” Elle said quietly.

Marcus glanced in the rearview mirror and
saw her staring out the window.

“So much death. Nothing will ever be the
same.”

“Don’t be sad, Ellie-girl,” Shaw called
down. “Still plenty of life left in us yet.” The sniper leaned down
to look at her and waggled his eyebrows. “I’m sure the boss man’s
been showing you that.”

She reached back and smacked Shaw’s leg. “I
was being deep and emotional, you idiot.”

“You were moping.”

With a smile on her face, she looked forward
and her gaze caught Marcus’ in the mirror. Her smile turned soft, a
private one just for him.

Yeah, they were surrounded by lots of death
and destruction, but when she looked at him like that, he’d never
felt more alive.

They continued on, the roads widening as
they approached the airport. Twice, they had to stop while raptor
patrols passed overhead. The Hunters’ illusion systems helped hide
them, but it didn’t make them invisible.

Soon, the now-overgrown, open space of the
runways appeared. And in the distance, the glimmer of moonlight on
water. Sydney’s airport had been the country’s busiest, with its
major runways jutting out into Botany Bay.

But it was the giant alien spaceship that
captured all their attention. It sat, crouched like some enormous
scaled beast, ready to pounce. No, that wasn’t quite right. Marcus
thought it looked more like it should be slicing through the water
with its sinuous body and fin-like wings.

He still remembered seeing it that first
night of the invasion, appearing over Sydney and causing widespread
panic. It had hovered for over an hour, and reports from all major
cities around the world had shared similar stories. Then the
smaller ptero ships had been launched and the world as they’d known
it had ended.

“We need to find somewhere to hide the
Hunters.” Elle’s voice broke into his thoughts. “I think in the
suburb adjacent to the Domestic Terminal. There used to be a bunch
of hotels and some industrial buildings that serviced the airport.”
She tapped at her mini-comp. “Then the best way to the hub zone is
through the old train tunnels.” She tapped again. “Okay, I’ve found
an old warehouse where we can leave them. From there, it’s a
straight shot to the old Mascot station.”

Marcus drove slowly through the
debris-strewn remains of the once-vibrant area. Once, there would
have been a steady flow of planes arriving and departing every day.
Now, he saw broken aircraft strewn against the fence by the side of
the road, like ruined carcasses caught in a net.

His usual crystal-clear calm that allowed
him to function at peak performance wouldn’t come to him. Instead,
Elle’s presence made him feel something he rarely felt on a
mission. Fear.

“Where are the raptors?” Claudia asked
across the comms.

Marcus stared at the street ahead of him and
wondered the same thing. He felt like a small animal being led into
a trap.

Soon, they pulled up to the warehouse Elle
had found. They parked the Hunters inside the cavernous space and
hid them between the forklifts and trucks.

“All right.” Marcus checked his weapon and
pressed the button that had his combat helmet sliding into place.
“Let’s get to the train station.”

It was a short walk. The team kept alert and
Marcus watched for any sign the raptors were watching them. Before
long, he saw the single-story station building, with its now
cracked blue sign proclaiming “AirportLink.”

Inside, the once-modern station was coated
in a layer of grime and dirt, and filled with leaves, trash and
other debris. They pushed through the turnstiles and descended the
stairs to the darkened platforms below.

The squad flicked on their tactical
flashlights attached to their carbines. On the platforms, it almost
looked as though the alien apocalypse had never happened. Except
that a train sat on the track halfway into the station, and it
looked like someone had once sheltered on the opposite platform.
Marcus moved his light around. A pile of blankets and a few other
scavenged goods lay in a heap on the tiled floor.

“It’s spooky down here,” Elle whispered, the
dim glow of her comp screen casting a pale light on her face.

“Which way?” he asked.

She pointed. “That way.”

Into where the train lines ran into the
darkened tunnel mouth.

Then she froze. “I saw something.”

Marcus tensed, felt his team sharpen around
him. “Where?”

She shook her head, peering at the opposite
platform. “Maybe just a shadow.”

Then Marcus saw it too.

Something moving in the darkness.

Marcus shone his light in a steady sweep
across the platform.

Elle started to think that perhaps her
nerves had gotten the better of her and she’d imagined the
movement. Until she saw them.

A couple of humans huddled together near
what might have been a vending machine. She gasped.
Kids
.
They looked to be about fifteen, if they were lucky.

“Hey, we aren’t here to hurt you,” Marcus
called out. “You can come out.”

The teenagers didn’t move.

Elle shook her head. “You’re too
intimidating, Marcus.” She leaped down onto the tracks.

“Elle!”

Too late. She was already scrambling up onto
the other platform.

Behind her, Marcus’ deep voice rasped, “Stay
here, Hell—Squad Six.”

“Because we’re too intimidating?” Shaw’s
voice was ripe with amusement.

As Marcus growled, she hid her own smile,
and a second later he was moving up beside her with a lithe
leap.

She approached the boy and girl slowly. “How
long have you been down here?”

The boy kept a tight arm around the girl.
Both were painfully thin. “Not sure. We’ve lost track of time.
Months, I’d guess.” His wary gaze swung from her to Marcus. “Who
are you guys?”

“We’re from Blue Mountain Base,” Marcus
said.

The girl looked at him with wide eyes and
pressed closer to the boy’s side.

Elle held out a hand. “My name’s Elle Milton
and this is Marcus Steele.”

The boy hesitated for a second. “I’m Leo and
this is—”

“Clare,” the girl whispered.

“Nice to meet you. Have you heard about Blue
Mountain Base?”

They shook their heads.

“It’s a base west of the city. Full of
survivors. We have food, clothes, medical help, books, even
schools. And these tough guys here—” she pointed at Marcus, then
the rest of Hell Squad “—they protect us. They go out and fight the
aliens.”

Leo’s eyes grew so large they overtook his
face. “You fight them?”

“Yeah,” Marcus said gruffly.

Clare pulled away from Leo and grabbed
Elle’s hand. “You have food? And books?”

Elle stifled a smile. Trust the girl to be
more worried about books than medical help. “Yes. And you can both
come.”

Clare’s lips trembled. “Really?”

“Really. But I need you to be brave a bit
longer.” She hated doing this. “We have a mission to complete
first. Then we’ll come back and get you.”

Leo’s eyes turned dull. “Right. Sure.”

Elle gripped his hand, too. “We
will
.
Our vehicles are hidden aboveground. That’s how we’ll escape after
we blow up the raptor communications hub.”

Leo considered her words, then nodded.
“Okay. But you should know, down there—” he nodded toward the
tunnels “—there are so many aliens. Tons and tons. I’ve snuck down
there, seen them.” He shivered. “Heard them.”