Fighting to Survive (As the World Dies #2)(100)

Two more men were still in the truck, but they ducked down.

For their guns, Travis thought.

Katie shouted, “Hurry, Lenore!”

Lenore shrugged and hauled herself up onto the loading dock.

“White people,” she muttered slipping past Katie. “Always screaming about something.”

Ken threw his arms around her and dragged her inside. “Girlfriend, you scared me shitless!”

“Get inside!” Travis ordered. “Let’s not wait for them to find their guns.”

As soon as they were all inside the doors were sealed shut.

Together, both Travis and Katie made a mad dash for the elevator.





***

Nerit watched as the last four bandit trucks finally found their way down the road. They were moving a little more cautiously than they had been. Their leader was wising up. Peggy couldn't find their frequency. Nerit was sure her opponent had ordered radio silence. She could see someone in the second truck motioning to the others.

The trucks were about ten feet from the gate when Juan gave the signal. The crane overhead dropped a small storage unit. Nerit smiled with satisfaction as it crashed down, clipping the front end of the first truck. It sent the hood flying and the truck jackknifing.

All went silent below.

Juan looked at her, holding his binoculars tight. “We're winning right?

Nerit shook her head. “We're not planning to win.”

Juan frowned. “I don't understand.”

“We're going to make them fear us,” Nerit answered with a cold smile. “And that is far more effective.”





4. One


“It's the Boyds,” Curtis said to Nerit and Juan. He was watching the video feed from the cameras Calhoun had rigged up on the walls. Four tiny black and white TVs were serving as monitors. “Drug smuggling, raping, murdering *s. The whole family has been the bane of this county for more than a century. Half of them are in jail. Or at least they were.”

The three of them were hidden by a false front Juan had built. They could see quite well, but it was hard to see them from below. Nerit was watching the street through the scope of her sniper rifle.

With Nerit and Katarina on watch, Juan felt a helluva lot safer.

“I bet they went and busted Martin out,” Curtis went on. “He was up for murdering his ex-girlfriend and her husband. He didn't take to her dumping him when he was in jail and marrying someone else.”

Juan took a deep breath. “Nerit, I don't know if I can--”

“You're a strong man, Juan De La Torre. You just have never faced this sort of situation before. I have faced similar situations. I will guide you. You will learn. They will not respond to an old woman with an Israeli accent, but they will listen to a strong male voice with a good West Texas accent.”

Juan rubbed his face. “Okay, you have a point.”

“What are they doing?” Travis asked as he joined them.

“Sitting there,” Nerit answered.

“Trying to figure out what to do next?” Katie wondered.

“They came this far,” Nerit said. “They will not want to leave empty handed. Juan, say what I say.” She spoke swiftly never letting her gaze leave the view below.

Juan pressed down on the button Calhoun had showed him on the microphone. “Attention trespassers. You are to leave immediately.”

On the small monitors set up in the “eagle's nest” Curtis watched a man in one of the trucks flip off the fort. “Nice answer. I hate these guys.”

“Say this,” Nerit said to Juan.

He listened then said, “We know of your acts of violence against others and will not tolerate your presence. You must leave immediately.”

He hesitated then ad-libbed, “Because your shit doesn't fly around here.”

Katie laughed and Nerit smiled.

Curtis frowned as the men inside the trucks began to talk to each other. A few flipped off the fort again.

Calhoun slid into the now cramped eagle's nest and began to fiddle with the equipment he had set up. “If I had more time I could have gotten the sound perfect. The equipment I had to work with was ridiculous. Do you realize how hard it was to-”

Nerit put her hand over his mouth.

Faintly, the microphones hidden along the wall picked up the bandits' voices shouting out insults.

Finally, a large bald man stepped out of one of the trucks with a camper on the back. Cupping his hands to his mouth, he shouted, “We're here for food and supplies. You're the ones who attacked us.”

“Tell him you want to speak to their leader,” Nerit said to Juan.

“That's bullshit,” Juan answered through the microphone, resorting to talking his normal way and dropping the pretense. “I want to talk to your leader.”

“I am the leader,” the bald man answered.

“Katarina,” Nerit said softly into her mouthpiece.

The man went down, screaming, gripping his shattered knee.

Juan blinked.

“He's not the leader,” Nerit explained.

“Oh.” Juan hesitated, pushed the button, and then said, “I said your leader, not his girlfriend.”

Curtis laughed at this.

Calhoun snorted and said, “Yeah, damn aliens. They have ugly ass women.”