The old pimp hefted Guenther’s Krueger. As he let the painkiller fill him with euphoria, he studied his prize. It really was a beautiful weapon. It was definitely deserving of a far better owner than that two-bit, goose-stepping, Hitler-worshipping, glorified skinhead.
And now it had one, as far as Gideon was concerned, anyways.
He charged the ammo pack on the pistol. As he listened to it amp up to full power, he looked to Josie. “We go in like the Devil himself is in town collecting … and he ain’t taking credit!” Cruelty filled his crazy, drug-hazed eyes. “No prisoners … and damned sure no witnesses!”
“That kinda goes without sayin’, don’t it, brother?”
“I ain’t talkin’ to you.” He turned to Junior and Ollie. “You two sons of bitches fuck this up …” He left the sentence unfinished as he put the truck back into ‘DRIVE.’ “Oh, and Ollie … It’s good ya got yoreself a backbone and some gumption. Why I plumb admire that … but next time you buck me on sump’n … I’ll kill ya where you stand … just so ya know.”
Ollie knew better than to say anything. He looked over to Junior, whose look seemed to say it all.
Welcome to my world.
***
“Three’s down! Three’s down!” Seven heard Five’s excited voice in his earpiece. The gunfire suddenly erupting caused him to jump involuntarily. “Bitch just blew his goddamned hea—”
Five’s transmission went silent. At the rear of the house, preparing to breach, Seven heard Brittain’s hysterical sobbing through the bathroom window. Above him, the gun drone raked the roof relentlessly. Shingles and decking disintegrated, as the pulse rounds chewed through like fiery termites. Inside and around the front, all hell had broken loose as Amber and the backup team were fully engaged.
“Hold your fire! There are kids in there!” Seven screamed in his mic. Why weren’t they told there might be kids in the house? “I repeat … we have children in the house. “Goddamnit, Cee Tee! Cease the drone fire!”
In front of him, Eight broke a window with his gun barrel. The response was a furious blast of rail fire.
“Jesus!” The man cried, ducking down.
“Who was it?” Seven called out. “Was it her?”
“Hell, I’m not sure! Why don’t you look and see if you wanna know so bad!”
Seven jumped back as a barrage of rounds came through the wall between him and Eight. The little girl wailed out again, calling for her mommy. He could hear what was no doubt the mother screaming for the child to stay where she was. It was the last straw.
Fuck these assholes! I didn’t sign up for this! Not to kidnap cops and scramble their brains! Or gun down security guards for nothing! And now … a mother and her little kids! Naw! Not me! I’m still a fuckin’ good guy!
He stood up and aimed his pulse rifle at the gun drone and fired off a three-round burst. The sinister-looking little aerobot was buffeted to and fro by each round, but, to Seven’s dismay, it remained airborne. The heavily-armored drone hardly seemed damaged at all. After the last round, it merely steadied itself, its red targeting sensors scanning for the new threat. Like demonic eyes, they roamed over the area below until they locked onto this new menace. Seven watched in horror as the twin cannons trained on him.
Maybe I didn’t think that shit quite through!
He closed his eyes, tensed up and waited for his body to be torn to shreds in a hail of fiery rain, but before that could happen, the gun drone exploded in mid-air, debris raining down on him.
What the fuck? A nanosecond later,he found himself and Eight caught in a fusillade of fire.
***
At the Denton mansion, Frost had been watching Stella wreak havoc at the hospital. She was something to see. She had an entire SWAT team and almost all the ZiPs in the city tied up. Of course, that was what she was supposed to do, now that the brain drain was complete. Keep the ZiPs preoccupied on one side of town while his team took down the vixen on the other.
He shook his head as he watched her in action. Calm. Cool. Cold and calculating. What a shame! She would’ve made a damned good ARA … and a lovely little plaything on the side as well.
But when he heard Seven’s frantic call, his attention was immediately drawn back to the assault. Instantly, he realized what was going on. With an open hand, he slapped Cee Tee hard across the back of his head.
“What the fuck are you doing?” he roared. “Have you lost your damned mind? Strafing the damned house! Cut that damned thing off! Now!”
“You heard Five!” he defended himself. Nevertheless, he obeyed, rubbing the back of his head indignantly. “She just shot Three! And according to his telemetry, she’s killed him!”
“Expendable!” Frost fumed, red-faced. “They’re all expendable!”
Cee Tee turned and looked at him hard. “I can’t believe you just said that!”
He’d been with Frost for a long time. They’d served together on Mars. He’d been the first man Frost had hired when he’d decided to form an ARA business five years ago … even before he’d hired Two. It was always understood they did a dangerous job, and at any time, somebody was subject to “adios on outta here,” but everything was done within his power to prevent it. While Frost might be gruff and hard-assed, he considered no mission a success unless everyone came back, be it back in the Authority days, or now as a bounty-hunter. The word “expendable” had never come out of his mouth.
Not before today.
Frost saw the look on his most trusted operative’s face. He knew he’d crossed
