Annihilate (Hive Trilogy #3)(39)
The ride was silent. Lincoln wasn’t in our car, and none of the Sanctum were ones I knew – aka the assholes who had tranqued and kidnapped me. I shifted a little. Ryder’s gun was jammed into my side, and unfortunately that wasn’t a sexy euphemism.
Familiar landmarks flashed past me, and the tension within the SUV increased as we crossed the invisible boundaries of the town, which signaled we were heading for vamp territory. Shit. I really never thought I’d come back here, especially not before the cure was working its way through the Hive. As the large gated compound came into view, I straightened, and breathing deeply, prepared myself for the next few moments.
“Stay close to me, Charlie,” Ryder murmured in my ear, his lips brushing against my skin. Tingles rocked through me and I swallowed hard, hoping this wasn’t the last moment we had together.
“I love you,” I said, my voice barely audible. “Even if you are on my shit list and sleeping in the doghouse for the next six months.”
Ryder’s grin was brief, but the sight was beautiful. “Love you too.”
Our lips briefly touched. The front SUV smashed into the gates and with a huge crash we were through. Ryder had already spun to his window, which was now down. Every window was down in our car and I knew our assault was to start immediately.
Ash sprinted in all directions; it was too early for vamps to be on guard duty yet. There were so many, at least twenty. The numbers assigned around the perimeter had been seriously upped in our absence. Someone in the second car hung out the window and took out a few of those running toward us. The ash were getting tranqs, not bullets. They were going to be given a chance to survive, per Ryder’s orders. Any vamps we passed definitely wouldn’t get that same choice.
Ryder had his gun up now and was firing steadily. At least four or five went down in moments.
“They’re warned now, and will be locking down the upper level vampires,” Ryder said, yanking himself and his gun back in. “We have to take out the soldiers first to reach those who make the most impact. Do not hesitate. They’re going to come at us hard.”
Hard was actually an understatement. By the time the Sanctum guy driving our vehicle screeched to a halt beside the others, ash were pouring out of the front of the Hive. Inside, the vamps were hopefully still in their beds. The element of surprise was our best hope to get in and out cleanly.
Sirens blared to life then, and with that whooping sound we lost our element of surprise.
The ash before us weren’t enforcers and weren’t properly trained. The stupid vampires had taken out their best line of defense. But I did recognize Jose with a gun in his shaking hand. When his eyes met mine he lowered his weapon in confusion.
“Stop!” he screamed, holding up a fist.
Ryder jumped out of the SUV, with me hot on his heels.
“Ryder?” His name was being murmured around. A few ash had recognized us, and hope sprang in my chest as I saw them lowering their weapons, relief crashing over their faces.
“If you surrender, none of you will be hurt!” Ryder projected his words loud enough for all of them to hear. I could sense the bodies stepping into formation behind us as we prepared to charge the front door.
One of the ash close to us didn’t seem too sure; he still held his weapon. “You left us to die. Why are you back?”
Ryder swallowed hard and I knew that tore him open. “Revenge.”
I was hoping Blue Eyes wasn’t in earshot, because getting Tessa out of here was supposed to be our cover.
“Is it true about the cure?” Jose – who was very close to me now – asked softly. Our eyes locked.
I nodded. “By next week, vampires won’t exist.”
Jose must have seen the intel on the network, because he accepted my assertion with no more explanation needed. He nodded and turned to the rest of the ash.
“Let them through!” he yelled, and just like that the ash parted and allowed us to walk through the front doors of the Hive.
Our easy run was short-lived, though, because the second we entered the foyer and headed into the dark stairwell, all hell broke loose. Vampires were raining down on us like a goddamn dog pile. They weren’t retreating to their safe upper floors, they were fighting. They didn’t trust the ash to guard them anymore, which was smart, but sucked for us.
“Ooofff.” The wind got knocked out of me as a vampire dropped from above, landing half on me and slamming me to the ground so fast my chin cracked on the pavement.
Shots were fired, and in the close quarters it made my ears ring. Suddenly the weight on me lifted and a strong but feminine tatted-up arm was pulling me up. #lifegoals again. Chick was badass to the core.
“Thanks,” I said, pulling my blade from the thigh sheath I wore.
She nodded, sticking close to me as she too pulled her blade. Together we cut our way through the mess of bodies to get to the door that led to the floor which had the elevator down to the pit. I was going for Tessa. She was my sole focus.
“Hit the deck!” Lincoln yelled, and without question I hit the ground as a small but powerful blast rocked the floor above us, slowing the onslaught of vampires.
When we were able to gain our feet again we tried the closest door. It was locked. Of course. Dammit, where was Sam when you needed him? Tattooed chick busted out some device and stuck it in the lock. She tinkered with it and I heard a beep and an airlock sigh. Well, how about that. Looks like we had our female version of Sam. Rocking the silent thing too. Looking over my shoulder I saw Ryder on the front lines fighting back to back with Kyle.