Slayers (Jake Hawkins Book 1) (18 page)

Slowly, Archfiend raised a hand and waved a mock farewell. Then he turned and retreated into the darkness, disappearing from view.

Jake was left standing by himself, in the middle of the open plain with the wind howling against his chest, his clothes flapping, cold and sore and feeling utterly alone.

*

By the time he raised the alarm and the four men finished conducting a search of the surrounding forest, Archfiend was long gone. Eventually, Felix made the call to head back out of the woods. Thorn lashed out, his fist gouging wood chips out of one of the tree trunks. He grunted in anger.

“
He
’
s got to be here, man,
”
he said.

“
Wolfe!
”
Crank roared.

There was no answer.

They reassembled in the warehouse. On the way back, Felix rang Link and gave him the all-clear.

Ten minutes later, Link came running in. He was deathly pale.

“
What
’
s going on?
”
he asked.
“
I was getting the van ready.
”

Jake noticed he was sweating profusely.

“
Where
’
s Wolfe?
”
Link said, his focus moving from one man to the next.

No-one spoke.

“
Where
is
he?
”

“
Gone,
”
Felix said.
“
Archfiend took him.
”

“
Took him?
”

“
We don
’
t have time for this, man,
”
Sam said. He was insistent, but seemed hesitant to move. Nobody wanted to be the first one to leave, the first one to give up.
“
We
’
ll explain in the car.
”

Jake noticed none of them had suggested a plan yet. They moved lethargically, slinging gear over their shoulders and trudging out into the night, heading for the van at the top of the hill. Each man seemed wrapped up in their own thoughts. They were all mulling over what had just happened.

Thorn was the second last to leave when Jake remembered something.

“
What about the hive?
”
he said.

“
Those people haven
’
t been bitten,
”
Thorn said.
“
We stopped that from happening. They
’
re going to wake up soon. They
’
ll be confused, but at least they
’
ll be alive. The slayers will have decomposed by then.
”

“
And then?
”

Thorn seemed distant, in shock.
“
They
’
ll be fine. Civilisation is only a fifteen-minute walk from here. Usually we would stay with them until they wake up. We
’
re a little pressed for time right now.
”

“
It doesn
’
t feel right.
”

“
It
’
s fine. In the last hive we came across, all seventeen people had been bitten. How do you think we felt about what we had to do there?
”

Jake gulped. Thorn turned and left, and he followed him out. As he walked, he considered what Archfiend had told him.

You shouldn
’
t be here, Jake.

How did Archfiend know who he was? Jake felt like things were being kept from him. There was something that the gang was not telling him. He shivered, although he couldn
’
t tell if it was from the breeze or not.

Archfiend was right. He shouldn
’
t be here. He should be going to school. Doing his homework. Hanging out with his friends. Any of the thousand things that normal teenagers do. Instead, he was leaving a warehouse with a gun in his hands and blood on his clothes and an empty feeling in his stomach.

Wolfe was gone.

He let that sink in.

“
We
’
re going after him.
”

Sam was the first to speak. They were huddled around the dining room table. It was almost one in the morning. Thorn was pacing the room, holding an ice pack to his head where a nasty bruise was beginning to develop, and Link was elsewhere, fetching his laptop. The rest were seated.

Jake was on edge. The mansion felt different now, almost too large. He wasn
’
t sure if it was his imagination or not, but it seemed like their voices echoed more than usual. The house was missing the man who brought them all together. Jake felt the team was leaderless now.

“
We can
’
t,
”
Felix said.

Jake turned his gaze on Felix.
“
Are you being serious?
”

“
You
’
re damn right I
’
m being serious,
”
Felix said.

“
Wolfe saved my life,
”
Jake said.
“
And you know he
’
s the one in charge around here. Archfiend didn
’
t kill him, so he
’
s clearly still alive. And you want to abandon him?
”

“
Shut up, kid,
”
Felix burst out.
“
I know that you two were close
–
father-son bonding or whatever
–
but you
’
ve been here two months. Everyone in here has known him more than sixteen years. You don
’
t call the shots here. I don
’
t care how important you think you are
…
you need to learn your place!
”

Jake recoiled. He had never seen Felix this enraged.

“
Don
’
t take this out on Jake,
”
Crank said. He rarely spoke, and when he did it was calm and collected.
“
I know you
’
re angry, but it
’
s not the kid
’
s fault.
”

“
Of course I
’
m angry,
”
Felix said.
“
In case you hadn
’
t noticed, Archfiend is baiting us. He
wants
us to come after Wolfe. He
wants
us to walk straight into his open arms. If he wanted to do damage, he would have killed Wolfe in the hive, along with Thorn, and along with you, Jake. He wants to set a trap, get us all in one big group. An easy target. Why else would he keep Wolfe alive?
”

Thorn spoke up for the first time.
“
To make us come after him.
”

“
Precisely.
”

“
Which is exactly what we
’
re going to do.
”

Everyone whirled around.

“
You can
’
t be serious,
”
Felix said.

“
Oh, I am,
”
Thorn said.
“
That man was like my brother.
”

“
We
’
re not leaving him,
”
Sam said, agitated.
“
I don
’
t care what any of you pricks say, I
’
m going after him. Anyone else is welcome to come.
”

“
If it was one of us in his position,
”
Thorn said,
“
he would go after us without batting an eyelid. He would risk everything for anyone sitting here. Including you, Jake.
”

Crank spoke up, the voice of reason between two heated sides.
“
All of this is assuming he
’
s still alive.
”

“
He is,
”
a voice from the living room said.

Link strode in, balancing a slim laptop on his hand. With the other, he was dashing his fingers over the trackpad.

“
I activated Wolfe
’
s tracker,
”
he said.
“
He
’
s alive. Slow heart rate, though.
”

“
Well, that
’
s a relief,
”
Sam said, letting out a sigh.

“
I wouldn
’
t go as far as to say that,
”
Felix said.
“
Archfiend still has him.
”

“
Archfiend probably drugged him with the hive juice,
”
Thorn said.
“
That
’
s why his heart rate isn
’
t normal.
”

“
What
’
s this tracker you
’
re talking about?
”
Jake said.

“
We
’
ve all got one implanted,
”
Link said. He raised his free arm, revealing a small scar in the flesh of his underarm.
“
Never needs charging. It shows our position anywhere on the globe when fired up. These guys had them in the Delta Force. We thought they would come in handy if a situation like this ever arose.
”

“
I didn
’
t get one?
”
Jake queried.

“
They
’
re not easy to obtain,
”
Crank said.
“
We were in the process of ordering yours.
”

Jake paused for a beat, unsure as to whether Crank was telling the truth or if they still deemed him unworthy of a place in the gang.

“
Do you have Wolfe
’
s location?
”
Felix said. He seemed to have calmed down.

“
Yes, and you
’
re not going to like it,
”
Link said.

“
How bad can it be?
”

“
Bad. It says he
’
s currently over the Pacific Ocean.
”

Crank looked at his watch.
“
It can
’
t have been more than a couple of hours since he was taken.
”

“
Archfiend moved fast,
”
Link said.
“
I did some research. Wolfe
’
s location matches the flight plan of a cargo plane heading for Iquitos. In Peru. Archfiend must have stashed him inside. Felix, I think they
’
re headed for the Amazon Rainforest.
”

There was silence for a full minute. Jake was uncomfortable. Everything was happening too fast.

“
Your Delta Force mission,
”
Jake said.
“
That was in the Amazon Rainforest, wasn
’
t it?
”

Crank slowly nodded his head.
“
He
’
s taking Wolfe back to where it all started. That clearing.
”

“
Why would he do that?
”

“
Mocking us, probably. He knows that we
’
ll come after Wolfe. He
’
ll be lying in wait and ready to strike. The Amazon is one of the harshest environments on the planet. It
’
s the worst scenario we could possibly imagine.
”

“
But you guys are experienced, right?
”

“
Four days experience doesn
’
t make us experts, brother,
”
Sam said.
“
We can manage, though. I don
’
t think hiking through the jungle will be the hard part.
”

“
So where do we stand on this?
”
Link said.
“
I say we go after him, no matter what. I wouldn
’
t be able to live with myself if we left him to die.
”

Thorn said,
“
I
’
m with Link.
”

Sam said,
“
Me too.
”

Crank said,
“
I
’
m not happy with it, but we don
’
t have any other choice. I
’
m in.
”

“
We do have a choice,
”
Felix said.
“
Either one of us can die, or all of us can die. I know I look like the bad guy here, but we can
’
t afford to take such massive risks.
”

“
This whole lifestyle is a massive risk,
”
Jake said.
“
I
’
m sorry, Felix, I know you think I
’
m just a kid and all, but our job is to hunt slayers. I say we hunt them.
”

“
It
’
s five to one,
”
Link said.