*
Talia heard the sudden rush of footsteps all around her. Her instinct was to hide, but her brain took over as she ran along with Alistair. They may have been going a different direction than most, but they were consistent with everyone’s frantic movements.
“All units…arm the heat seekers,” came the overhead audio.
“Beautiful, that will make it easier to get to her.”
“Wait…” Talia said, gripping his arm. “We can really deal him a blow by shutting that down.”
“Are you crazy? We have to get the girl and the baby. That’s what we are here for.”
“And just let him fire on Alicia? Fuck that.”
“She’s going to be pissed you stopped heading for the girl.”
“Let her be pissed at me. At least she’ll be alive. Just help me find the launch room.”
*
Anthony had joined Tynan on the battlements, huffing his breaths from running. All of Tynan’s men had assumed their battle stations.
“My Alpha, wouldn’t it be better to save the heat seekers? Or not fire them so close to the compound? Why don’t you get the guards to fire on her from their perch?”
As if she heard him, Alicia produced a rifle and unloaded a furious attack on the guard towers. The bullets split both skulls and cement.
Tynan opened his mouth to give his attack order when a smoking missile pelted into the front wall, exploding on impact and shattering almost twenty feet of space. Tynan used a hand to shield his face before looking at where the strike came from. The two planes. One carrying Nicholas and the other that should have housed a Ross soldier. Instead it fired on its Alpha.
“Take them out! Now! Fire!” Tynan screamed into his radio.
Nothing happened.
“What is going on?” Tynan yelled.
“Heat seekers are not responding, sir.” came the reply.
“I can see that.” He sneered before looking at Anthony. “Go and find out why…all units…red alert. Attack pattern Scorpion. Prepare for battle.”
*
Alicia heard the great whirring and grinding from over the entrance to the underground bunker. She imagined a great opening splitting the ground, but nothing prepared her for the sight of the three gunships that rose in the air to hover over her, facing two other planes. One she recognised after a double take. Slade One. Wilson’s personal jet, lowering itself quickly as it jerked in the air.
Who the hell would have flown it from Sydney?
*
“Fido, get that fucker down. You ain’t gonna survive a hit. Big Dog got ya like a whore on a billionaire.”
“Shit…” Nick said to himself, trying to drop the plane as quickly as possible. He could see the compound and the gunships in front of him, not the ground. He had no idea how long the drop was. “Hate landing…”
*
Alicia watched the plane rock in its descent, the pilot having serious trouble with the landing. The jet beside it was doing its best to cover the landing, but it couldn’t take on three gunships alone. Two of the three broke formation and slid to the sides of the jet. She had no idea who was in the planes, but if they were against Tynan, they were allies of hers. She pointed her rifle at the nearest enemy and fired, aiming for its fuel tank. She unloaded her clip and the gunship exploded in a ball of fire. She felt no pride in her accomplishment though. Slade One was still ten feet from the ground, and she could see what was going to happen but couldn’t load another clip fast enough. The second gun ship fired on Slade One and it crumpled like tin foil, falling to the ground in a fiery blaze. Then both remaining gunships fired on the jet, destroying it within seconds. Alicia couldn’t believe what she saw though. The pilot of the jet had gotten out of his chair…and was running across the burning wing to a gunship.
*
Lee leapt on to the open side of the gunship, pulling the nearest soldier away from the mini-gun on the side and flinging him out the gunship door, snarling through his fangs. With a twist of his wrist he pulled the pilots forehead back and cracked his spine. Immediately after, he pulled the mini gun free and unloaded on the last gunship. All this had taken no more than four seconds. As fast as he was, the other ship was just as fast. Exchanging bullets in rapid fire, both ships were hit and crashed to the ground.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
The Big Dog Of War
Alicia had to run and take a flying leap towards Tynan’s compound to save herself from the burning debris. In less than two minutes, five aircraft had been destroyed. The compound had been compromised due to the first missile strike, but this allowed an entire regiment to pour out of the opening, firing relentlessly. Alicia scrambled behind the nearest wreckage and managed to click the clip in, finally.
Just as she spun to fire, the figure she had seen run across the wing and leap from one plane to the other emerged, rolling out of the wreckage. On his back, he looked up at her. “Damn that was fun.”
“Who the hell are you?” she screamed as the bullets zinged and whizzed around them.
“Hang on a sec for fucks sake. Can’t hear ya.”
He stood up, towering over her. He waited for the bullets to stop before climbing the less smoky part of the wreck. Holding out his arms, he addressed the foot soldiers in front of him, “G’day, gents! No need to crowd, there’s plenty for everyone. I’m very sorry, but I
