When Dom lifted his head and saw her, his brows drew together.
“What is she doing here?” He stabbed a finger at Arden.
She stepped forward, and the drone above her shoulder, followed her. “She is going on this mission.”
Dom swiveled to Roth. “And you’re on board with this?”
“Not entirely,” Roth said. “But Arden is linked to the new combat drone, and—”
“This is a fucked up idea,” Dom snapped.
“Dom,” Tane said in a warning tone.
“This has nothing to do with you, Dominic Santora.” Arden swiveled and stomped toward her squad’s Hawk. Without looking back at him, she climbed aboard.
Dom was beyond pissed.
Rage coiled in his belly, and the worst Italian curses he could think of filled his head. He gripped a handhold above his head as the Hawk took off.
Bubbly pilot Maddy was in the cockpit today. The woman was young but she could fly.
As soon as they were up in the sky, Dom glanced out the side window and saw the other Hawk beside them. Arden was on there. Cazzo.
“Not like you to lose your cool like that, Santora,” Tane noted.
Dom stayed silent. Arden was heading into the field, into enemy territory.
“You got something going on with the pretty comms officer from Nine?” Hemi asked.
Dom turned his head and found his squad all watching him. Griff’s gaze was on him like a laser beam.
“No,” Dom answered. “I just don’t think it’s a good idea to send an untrained civilian into this cluster fuck. We don’t even know what we’re facing down there.”
Tane didn’t reply, but the others nodded. Most of them had been forced to take their women into the field at some stage. Indy and Selena had both played a part during the fucked-up mission in Katoomba.
“Well, did you see that combat drone?” Hemi said. “It looked badass.”
“That’s not the goddamned point, Hemi,” Dom said with a growl.
“Dom,” Tane said.
Dom held up a hand. “I’m fine. I just haven’t forgotten carrying a blood-splattered Arden inside after we saved her from that stealth raptor.” Or the way he’d hurt her. Used words to dig at her old wounds.
Levi grunted. “She was freaked.”
Dom dragged in a breath. “I’m focused on the mission.”
And he’d keep one eye on Arden’s slim ass while he was doing it.
“Approaching Mount Wilson,” Maddy called back. “Ready to do your thing, bad boys?”
“We’re ready, baby,” Hemi called back.
They landed in a clearing, just outside the town.
As Dom’s boots hit the dirt, he saw Squad Nine was already out of their quadcopter, and moving into formation. Arden stood beside Taylor, the combat drone hovering in the air nearby.
Roth pointed and Tane nodded. Both squads moved forward.
Arden stared straight ahead, not looking at Dom.
Dom focused on putting one boot in front of the other. He’d done the right thing, pushing her away. He hated that he’d used her grief to do it, but the woman was quickly burrowing under his skin. He had to save her from getting in too deep with him.
As soon as they moved into the main street of the town, the smell of smoke and burning filled his nostrils. Moans reached his ears.
“Stay sharp,” Roth murmured.
They all had their carbines up, their bodies tense.
Arden’s drone swiveled, scanning the street.
“Help…us.”
Dom turned. Two people were dragging themselves along the ground, toward the squads.
One, a woman, reached out a hand. Pain was etched on her face, but her eyes glowed a deep, hungry red.
“Hold,” Roth said.
Dom stopped, as did everyone else. But he could see that it was costing them all. Each one of them wanted to run over and help.
Suddenly, the people on the ground hissed, their faces twisting. The door of a nearby house slammed open, and two more hybrid humans rushed out.
They came in fast, their faces half skin, half scales, and they both had glowing, red eyes. As the pair raised their hands, he saw their fingers were now claws.
The pair let out guttural roars and attacked.
One was close to Arden. She staggered back, throwing her hands up.
Dom swiveled and fired.
Carbine fire erupted, both squads opening fire. The two contaminated hybrids collapsed.
“Fuck.” Tane moved closer to look. “Don’t get too close to the others.”
The two on the ground started snarling, their eyes flashing.
“Can we save them?” Arden asked, horror in her voice.
Dom swallowed against the lump in his throat. They’d seen this before, people infected with Gizzida DNA. But those humans had been trapped in the aliens’ labs and were being experimented on.
He knew once a human was infected, and the Gizzida DNA took hold, there was no way back. Doc Emerson and her team had been trying, but hadn’t found a way to reverse the transformation.
Ash shook his head, a muscle in his jaw ticking. “There’s nothing we can do for them.”
Arden’s drone darted forward. Laser fire shot out, and the two people on the ground stopped moving.
Dom glanced at her. She stood nearby, her face pale and set.
“Come on.” Tane stepped forward.
The two squads moved quietly down the street, encountering more twisted, mutated dead bodies.
A lot of them.
Two more Gizzida hybrids attacked, and Levi and Ash turned to deal with them.
The teams approached the remnants of the test bomb.
“We need pictures,” Roth ordered.
“My drone is recording,” Arden said.
Mac pulled out a small camera. “I’ll take a few extra, as well.”
Tane touched his ear. “Indy, I can confirm that the test bomb was detonated. It looks like it’s spread Gizzida DNA everywhere. Everyone in the town is already well into the change to a hybrid.”
“Fuck.” Indy’s tone was shaky.
Dom stared at the black metal remnants of the bomb. This one was small, but he knew that somewhere out there, the raptors had a much larger version. One designed to do exactly this, but on an immense scale.
It made him feel sick.
This was the aliens’ final weapon. One to rid the Earth of the last of the pesky human survivors. One that would turn every single one of them into Gizzida.
Dom ground his teeth together.
