Aegis Rising (48 page)

Having slipped out of the tunnel, Aari had joined the gaggle of workers that were waiting to have weapons handed over. Ashack followed close behind. The two were dressed in miners’ clothing, including respirator masks that covered most of their faces. Ashack was able to convincingly pass as a worker, but Aari, who was a little shorter than the adults and less muscled, had to hope the bagginess of the coveralls would offer enough concealment. At least the boots and the hardhat fit him perfectly.

He and Ashack were covering the rest of the group, each bending the light around two natives to render them invisible as they went to lend Tikina’s team a hand. The men who Aari was covering for quickly went to the side of the building where Tikina had been spotted by the worker. The miners who had already rounded the back of the building had Tikina in their crosshairs and were about to pull a trigger when two of them had their heads smashed together by an invisible force. They then felt something stab them between their shoulder blades. The third miner was lifted up and thrown violently onto the ground before having an immobilizing dart jabbed into him.

The villagers picked up the men’s weapons, inspecting them curiously before walking a short way to toss the weapons off the side of the mountain. They watched, satisfied, as the guns dropped out of sight.

Aari couldn’t cover for the men any longer since they were out of his view, but Ashack could still bend the light around the two villagers he was covering. Realizing everything was under control for the moment, Aari slipped his hand into one of the oversized pockets of his coveralls and pulled out a couple of darts.
Might as well take down these guys from the back
. He glanced up at the workers who were waving their arms for the guards to toss them weapons; they paid no heed to the young man hanging at the back of the group who was attired just like them. However, a guard by the destroyed mess hall—a skinhead with a shaved and tattooed scalp—was on full alert. At first he found it strange that two of the workers weren’t joining the crowd of personnel demanding weapons, but when he saw one of them pull something from his pocket, his senses tingled and he knew something was wrong. Before he could react, the worker silently stabbed something into the back of one of the other miners.

As the miner collapsed, the guard immediately raised his rifle, peered through the high-power scope, and took aim at the intruder. The next thing he knew, there was a smashing force on his back and he was face-down on the ground. He groaned and struggled to raise himself up but his head was pushed back down into the dirt. The guard thrashed about for a bit and was finally able to writhe away. Rolling onto his back, he was surprised to see the face of a well-built teenager snarling down at him, amber eyes aflame.

Jag had seen the guard take aim at Aari and, without a second thought, charged out of the trees and executed a picture-perfect flying back kick, his foot landing solidly on the guard from behind.

The skinhead kicked up his leg, catching Jag in the chest and heaving the sixteen-year-old back. Kipping up to his feet, the guard scrambled to find the gun that he’d dropped. He saw it at the same time Jag did and they both dove for the weapon. The guard managed to wrestle it away, but it was a short-lived win. Jag jammed his wrist against the man’s sternum and the guard fell back. He swung his arms, trying to make a wild grab for the rifle as Jag snatched it away from him.

“Hand it over!” shouted the guard as he got back to his feet.

Jag flung the weapon into the trees. “Not a chance.”

The guard swore and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. “So you want to play hardball, kid?” He glanced behind him when he heard the footsteps of two beefy miners walking up to stand on either side of him. He looked back at Jag with a smirk. “Fine by me.”

Jag watched them. A sudden hesitation in his mind made him reconsider fighting, but he straightened his shoulders and planted his feet firmly on the ground to prepare himself for a brawl. He would face them no matter what, not run away like a quitter.

Just as he got ready to charge, he saw a blurred motion in his peripheral view followed by a blast of air that brushed the side of his face. He glanced to his left and saw that Tayoka had joined in. He offered Jag a tight smile, then both Elder and apprentice turned to face the three men, steely-eyed and ready to fight.

A radio attached to a wall crackled at the far end of Ajajdif’s personal quarters. “Flight Zero to Q-base. Do you read me?”

The Osprey!
Ajajdif dove for the radio and picked it up. “Yes, I read you, Zero.”

“Great. We’re approaching your mining site.”

“What’s your ETA?”

“Ten minutes.”

“Are you armed?”

“Yes.” The pilot paused, suspicious. “Why?”

“We’ve got intruders armed with explosives. The site’s under attack. We need your help.”

“Hey, buddy, look. This isn’t our gig. We were just told to haul your supplies. We got no directions to engage.”

“
You
listen,” spat Ajajdif. “There’s a reason why your plane is armed. This mining operation is crucial for the company and right now we’re under attack. It is your job to protect us. Why do you think this company hired ex-mercenaries like you? You
will
comply.”

Flying low over the terrain about forty miles southeast of the site, the pilot in the cockpit of the Osprey looked over at his co-pilot, tight-lipped in anger. The co-pilot shrugged. “Well, the bloke’s right. We’re not exactly commercial pilots.”

The pilot stared out at the horizon for a moment, then snorted. “Fine.” He turned to the third crew member seated behind him. “Load up the M2. Let’s get it done and get out of here.” He thumbed his radio and responded to Ajajdif icily. “What’s our main target?”

“Every single intruder.”

“Roger. Zero out.”

Ajajdif crawled back to his window and looked down his sniper’s rifle. “Soon,” he muttered. “These fools won’t know what hit them.”

53

T
he group of three miners planning to cut off the intruders rounded the far side of the barracks, behind which Tikina and her team were positioned. The workers did not know that their colleagues had been taken out of action and they were now on their own. The man leading the group halted. Very slowly, he stepped forward and stretched out his arms to point the barrel of his gun around the corner of the building.

A piercing screech from above caused the man and his coworkers to wince. The sound emanated once more, sounding dangerously close. As the leading member of the group cast a glance skywards, he saw the silhouette of a massive eagle swoop down. One of the bird’s talons tore the worker’s left cheek as the other set of talons ripped the rifle from his hands. The worker let out a clamorous cry and gripped his face and neck as crimson soaked his skin and clothes.

As the eagle flew over the building to toss the weapon off the edge of the mining site, Tegan gazed up at it, then at her mentor. Tikina stood facing away for a few moments, unblinking. She then broke her link with the eagle and faced her team. “That is one weapon less that we will have to worry about.” She paused, listening to the moans of agony that could be heard just around the corner of the building. “And by the sounds of it, we probably have one less opponent to deal with as well.”

The two miners that remained glanced at each other. Like most of the others, they were untrained in armed combat and did not know how to continue on with one of their number hurt. Both workers stooped down to lend their friend a hand.

With that window of distraction, Tikina shouted from behind the building, “Go!” The entire team leapt out to tackle the workers, but these were powerfully built men with attitudes to match. They managed to throw several hefty punches that caught the villagers square in their jaws or stomachs. With greater agility and speed, the group eventually managed to wrestle the two uninjured workers to the ground. Tikina and Tegan hastily moved around the workers, sticking darts into their thick necks. The workers quickly ceased to move and the natives pushed themselves to their feet, sighing. One of the villagers wiped blood from his broken nose.

The woman with the red bandana who had volunteered for this task had a gash on the side of her head from where one of the workers had struck her with the muzzle of his rifle. She pulled her bandana off and pressed the cloth against the wound. Tikina checked the villagers worriedly, but they waved her off, assuring her that they were able to continue.

Tegan looked up at her mentor. “Were we lucky, or was that skill?”

Tikina managed a short laugh. “Both. Now come. This has only just begun.”

At the window of his private quarters, Ajajdif was gazing through his scope. “Come on,” he silently urged. “Step into my sights, you pathetic delinquents, and I’ll send you on a joyride to hell.”

He crouched, patiently waiting for a target. Without warning, a reverberating bang sounded and one of the four Bobcats in the shed exploded, sending parts and glass flying in every direction. Ajajdif seethed as he watched the vehicle’s destruction.

Just as the dust was clearing to reveal what remained of the Bobcat, an excavator exploded. The hydraulic cylinder connected to the bucket was wrenched off and flew through the vehicle shed. It hurtled toward Ajajdif’s accommodation. The man dropped down, covering his head. The cylinder smashed through his living quarters and embedded itself in the back wall.

Ajajdif, his fingers digging into his head, looked up. There was a big gaping hole at the top left corner of the front wall where the cylinder had entered the building.

Inching himself to his feet, Ajajdif thought the explosions were over, until four more booms, erupting one after the other, shook the entire site. He dropped back down and huddled under the window. The initial fright that had taken a hold of him was gone, replaced by a thirst, a need for revenge on whoever was responsible for this.

It took several seconds for the echoes of the explosions to subside. Ajajdif slowly returned to his weapon at the window. Looking out, all that was left of the shed was rubble and a million shards of glass and metal. One of the two trucks, dented and covered in ash, was still standing only because Ajajdif had found the explosive under it and had thrown it far away.

As he continued to look out the window, it finally occurred to him that he was now able to see the entire mining site with the shed now out of the way. He could see his workers and guards grappling with the intruders, but he noticed some of his men had collapsed for no apparent reason.
There must be snipers around here
, Ajajdif figured.
But two can play that game . . .

He looked through his scope and aimed in the direction of one of his workers engaging hand-to-hand with an intruder. Taking a breath to steady himself, Ajajdif squeezed the trigger. The native dropped onto the dirt with a bullet embedded in his head. The worker, realizing he’d gotten help from somewhere, leered down at the intruder and kicked the body aside.

Ajajdif looked around for another target. He focused on a woman with a red bandana who was darting around two men, attempting to jab something into their necks and arms. As he watched, he admired her determination and found her form and grace alluring. He sighed.
What a shame that such a lovely woman must go.
He pulled the trigger.

Nageau’s heart jumped into his throat for a moment before melting into a pool of sorrow as he watched the woman in the red bandana crumple to the ground. She was the second villager to be felled by a shot fired from a weapon somewhere. Nageau scanned around but saw no one with a gun who had aimed in her direction. As he cast an eye over the site for a likely culprit, he saw another member of the village collapse, lifeless.

The Elder bit the inside of his lip. While his crossbowmen next to him were rapidly firing away at the workers, an unseen marksman was methodically taking out the villagers. The Elder knew the shooter had to be stopped before more of his people were killed.

“Kody.” His apprentice looked at him, all ears. “There is someone taking down our people, but he or she does not seem to be any worker in our sight. My guess is that the person is hidden away, perhaps in the trees or in one of the buildings. I want you to attempt to locate the shooter.”

“Got it.” Kody’s gaze raked over the entire site, meticulously scanning every inch of the place. He started from the miners’ barracks on the left and continued right. It was hard to not be distracted by the action that was happening below him. The still bodies of the three villagers were particularly disturbing to look at, yet he found himself going back to them every once in a while.
No, concentrate, Kody. Concentrate.
But the roaring of the caged beasts clashed with the sounds of gunshots and yells and sporadic screams from the conflict, making it hard to focus.

Forcing every sound out of his ears, the teenager’s emerald eyes skimmed over the ground. He zoomed his vision in and out but could not find anything. With a shake of his head, he sat up. “Don’t see anything.”

Then his eyes picked up a momentary bright spark on the far right side of the site that could have only come from a gun. “Huh. Someone’s not using a suppressor . . .” He quickly lowered himself down again to get a better look. He blinked, zooming in on two joint buildings standing on their own not too far from the helipad. He zoomed in further and spotted the muzzle of a rifle sticking out a window. “Bingo,” he breathed. He sat back up and hurriedly tapped his mentor’s arm. “Found it.”

Nageau focused on the direction Kody was pointing and found the muzzle as well. “Wonderful—Saiyu is behind that building, in the trees. I will notify her.”

There is someone in the building by your designated area, Saiyu. He has taken out three of our friends and nearly shot down a fourth. I want you to stop him.

Understood. I am on my way.

Nageau took a breath and rested a hand on his pupil’s shoulder. “Good job, youngling.”

Amidst the battle, the lad with the torn ear snuck back out of the trees. There was no activity this side of the mining site, with the exception of the gruesome uproar coming from within the beasts’ building that stood ten yards from him. He glanced down at the sack he was holding. Through the folds of cloth he could see the blue color of the explosive charges. He took one out and looked at it, determined to plant the cubes on the building and get rid of the beasts as he had originally intended to do. When he ran away earlier, he’d felt spineless for leaving the job incomplete. Now he was going to redeem himself and aid his brethren. He trooped toward the steel structure confidently, ignoring the braying inside.