DANGER’S

  HUNT

  A HOLLY DANGER NOVEL:

  BOOK FIVE

  AMANDA CARLSON

  The hunt is on…

  Holly won’t rest until the outskirt is found. The militia who kidnapped him believe they have the upper hand, but they don’t know what Holly has along for the ride. With the status reader, Case is as good as rescued.

  But once she arrives, things get dangerous fast. Tillman and his crew have detected their entrance. She has nothing left to do but make a decision that will change their future forever. Providing a distraction, in the last-ditch effort to free Case, Holly risks life, limb, and Luce.

  Once they arrive South, the countdown is on. The scientists have some tricks up their sleeves, but time might run out before the next danger arrives. When it does, they barely make it out alive. What thy find out next is both surprising and chilling, questions they never sought answers are finally revealed…

  Danger’s Hunt

  A HOLLY DANGER NOVEL: BOOK FIVE

  Copyright © 2018 Amanda Carlson, Inc.

  ISBN: 978-1-944431-06-8

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from the author.

  This book is a work of fiction. The characters, events, and places portrayed in this book are products of the author’s imagination and are either fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Table of Contents

  DANGER’S HUNT

  About the Book

  Copyright

  Other Books by Amanda Carlson

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Sneak Peek of DANGER’S FATE

  About the Author

  Many Thanks

  Other Books by Amanda Carlson

  Find all of Amanda’s books on her website.

  Jessica McClain Series:

  Urban Fantasy

  BLOODED

  FULL BLOODED

  HOT BLOODED

  COLD BLOODED

  RED BLOODED

  PURE BLOODED

  BLUE BLOODED

  Sin City Collectors:

  Paranormal Romance

  ACES WILD

  ANTE UP

  ALL IN

  Phoebe Meadows:

  Contemporary Fantasy

  STRUCK

  FREED

  EXILED

  Holly Danger:

  Futuristic Dystopian

  DANGER’S HALO

  DANGER’S VICE

  DANGER’S RACE

  DANGER’S CURE

  DANGER’S HUNT

  For Bridget. The best writing companion a girl could ask for.

  CHAPTER ONE

  “Going alone is too risky,” Bender argued. “You heard Reed when we gave him Babble. He said his militia is one hundred and seventy-six strong, and Tillman, an imminent threat in his own right, has another thirty at least.” Bender had his shoulder braced against the wall. We were all convened in the basement of the government building we’d recently taken over, the whir of the medi-pod churning at a steady rate.

  Mary had been in there for at least two hours.

  I stood in the middle of the room, arms crossed, facing off with my crew about the dangerous journey I was about to embark on, whether they liked it or not. “I’m not backing down on this. If we don’t take them by surprise, we lose any chance of getting Case out of there.” Backing down was not going to happen. Daze stood near me, sniffling, still blaming himself for Case’s capture. It seemed Reed, our unwilling Bureau of Truth prisoner and informant, had been implanted with a tracking device. The militia had lost his signal when he’d entered the barracks, but had lain in wait until Case arrived. By the time I’d gotten there, it was already too late.

  “This is my fault,” Daze cried miserably. “I’ll go with Holly.”

  I settled a hand on his shoulder. “No one’s going with me except Maisie. She’s all I need. And if I don’t leave soon, Case could be dead by the time I arrive.” My gaze trailed from Lockland to Darby, landing on Bender. Ned sat in a chair by the medi-pod, but he wasn’t part of this discussion. “They have just over an hour head start as it stands right now. If I move soon, I’ll be right behind them. Maisie can help with the rest. She’ll be able to locate Case’s signature, differentiating it from everyone else’s. This is not war. This is me sneaking in and grabbing Case before they can harm him or worse. That’s it.”

  “It’s not going to be that simple, and you know it,” Lockland retorted. “They’re going to have that place on lockdown. They have access to tech we know nothing about. From what you told me from your view in the sky when you and Case were flying to the South, it’s a large concrete structure that very well might be impenetrable.”

  “I never said it would be easy. And nothing is impenetrable, especially with the right gear,” I said. “I’m the best chance Case has, and we all know it.” Lockland’s face was set. “How about this? If Maisie can’t find a way in with an expected greater-than-fifty-percent success rate, I’ll come back and we’ll come up with a new plan. You have my word.” We’d found that Maisie had the capacity to calculate strategic odds when it came to mission operations. She was military grade, after all.

  “Fifty percent?” Darby balked from his position next to the machine. “I was thinking more like eighty-seven. Why would you risk your life on a fifty percent chance of success?”

  “I said greater than fifty,” I replied. “I have to account for the fact Maisie will underestimate my skill level. She’s a computer. She’s going to give me her recommendation based on the combat success rates of an average soldier in her sixty-plus-year-old database. That’s not me.” I took a step forward. “Listen, I’m going. We can argue about this, but it’s only going to waste time. I’m not changing my mind. Case would do the same for me. Hell—any of you would. If I’d been taken, you’d all come after me.”

  Bender shook his head. “I don’t like it. I say one of us goes with you. You’re going to need backup.”

  “No,” I said. “The only thing working in our favor is stealth. More than one person and we lose that. Don’t forget they have access to live video. I’m planning on sneaking in on the sly, not announcing myself. Maisie will be able to detect threats. I can do this, but I do it with the status reader alone.”

  Lockland gave me a long look. Then he gave a single nod. “Fine. I can see there’s no changing your mind. But the expected success rate, according to Maisie, has to be greater than sixty percent.”

  “Fifty-five,” I countered.

  He gave me a hard look. “Sixty.”

  “Fine,” I grumbled. “Then I’ll just bring enough firepower with me so that Maisie ups the odds—”

  The medi-pod slowed, a green light flickering from the readout.

  Anxious to see if Mary was all right, we all converged next to Darby, Lockland and Bender behind me, Daze squeezing in front.

  Green was good. At least, I hoped it was.

  “What does it say?” Daze asked, his voice conveying our concern. “Is she going to be okay?”

  “The preliminary diagnostics look encouraging,” Darby replied. “It says eighty percent of the nucleotides have been repaired and are now functioning. Her liver and brain activity are almost normal.”

  A muffled sound came from inside.

  “Darb, open it,” I prodded. “She’s awake.”

  The lid on this medi-pod wasn’t all glass, like some of the others, so we couldn’t see her. Flustered, Darby fumbled with the latch a few times before he managed to get the lid lofted.

  I leaned over, Daze next to me, Ned peering down from the other side.

  Mary blinked up at us. “Where am I? And…who are you?”

  “I’m Holly,” I said. “This is Daze. And this is Darby.” My head bobbed toward Darby, who had gone temporarily nonverbal. “The guys behind me are Lockland and Bender.” I gestured across the pod. “You should know Ned. You guys were neighbors, or so we heard. We’re the ones who put you in here. How do you feel?”

  She appeared confused, which was to be expected. She’d been out of it for a few weeks. “Am I…okay? My limbs feel heavy, and my brain…feels scrambled.” She lifted her hands and cautiously patted the top of her head and face, checking everything out.

  I glanced at Darby, who cleared his throat. “Yes, you’re okay. According to the readout, you’re actually doing very well,” he confirmed. “Your DNA was altered by the drug Plush, but this medi-pod was designed to fix it through magnetic refraction. It seems to be doing its job.”


  “Plush?” She gasped, struggling to sit up. Darby hastily reached out and grasped her shoulders to help. Once she was sitting, her eyes fluttered shut as she brought both index fingers up to her temples. “I was infected with Plush? Is that what you’re telling me?”

  “Yes, and it’s all my fault,” Ned gushed in a sorrow-filled voice. “You came outside to talk to me, and Dill grabbed you before I could stop him. It all happened so fast. I’m sorry.”

  Mary dropped her fingers. “I remember him. He was nasty. He pulled my hair.”

  Ned nodded. “He took out the dart before I knew what was happening.”

  Mary reached out, patting Ned on the arm. “It’s okay, I don’t blame you. You’ve always been kind to me, Ned.” Her hands clutched the sides of the machine as her gaze drifted across the room. The wall she was looking at had been partially destroyed by a hydro-bomb that Bender had rigged when we’d entered the building. “It looks like something happened here. Does that mean this Dill guy is gone?”

  I grinned. I liked Mary already. She was bouncing back with strength. “The wall and Dill are not connected, but I did have the pleasure of giving him a radium ball. He’s not going to come looking for you.”

  Mary made a move to climb out of the pod, but Darby halted her progress with a soft touch. “I’m afraid the healing is going to take a bit longer,” he said, his voice gentle. “According to the diagnostics, you’re supposed to have another treatment immediately following the ingestion of food and water. Your hydration and nutrient levels are too low to continue. The medi-pod still has work to do, but it will operate more efficiently once you have adequate sustenance.”

  I spun Daze around by his shoulders. “Go upstairs and see what they have in the form of protein cakes and water. There’s a room with a cooling unit on the first floor. Watch yourself.” We’d already checked for any threats upstairs, as had Maisie, but one could never be too careful.

  Daze nodded, ducking under us and taking off toward the steel steps that would lead him to the main level.

  Mary watched him go, realizing for the first time that we were in a basement of some kind. “What is this place?”

  “We’re in a building in Government Square,” Lockland answered. “We took it over a few hours ago. Our first priority once we arrived was to get you inside this machine, which we did.”

  “I didn’t know there was a medi-pod that could do such a thing,” she said. “I’m extremely grateful to you all.” She placed a palm over her heart. “Thank you for helping me.”

  “We didn’t know for sure that it existed until a few days ago,” I said. There would be time later to fill her in on everything that had happened, including our journey down South, once she was fully healed. “We’re thrilled it worked on you, and we’re equally optimistic it will work on others.”

  Daze came buzzing back down the steps with the goods in hand. Ned stepped in front of him, and Daze transferred the protein cake and a cup of water. Ned dutifully brought them to Mary’s side and gave them to her. Rather than all of us standing over her watching her eat, we retreated to give her some space.

  Bender said in a low voice, “She seems back to normal.”

  “She does,” I said. “It’s amazing and such a relief.” Now that we knew the medi-pod worked, my mind spun with all the potential things it could do. Coupled with tranq darts and Quell, we’d be able to get seekers in here one by one. It would be a long process, but we could actually cure people.

  Lockland pulled a timepiece out of his pocket. “When are you planning to leave?” he asked.

  “In the next ten minutes,” I answered.

  “If I thought one of us could do a better job,” Lockland said, “I’d send him instead.”

  I crossed my arms, giving him a look. “Is that supposed to be a compliment? Because if it is, your delivery sucks.”

  “It’s a fact,” he replied, unmoved. “When it comes to making split decisions, you excel. You think twice as fast on your feet as most. If someone in our crew was more suited for this, it would serve Case better to send him instead.” He shrugged. “But you’re the right choice.”

  “Case said the same thing not too long ago,” I muttered. “But when he said it, it actually sounded like a compliment.”

  Lockland grunted. “You’re the outskirt’s best chance for survival, but that doesn’t mean we like it. You’re flying into an incredibly dangerous situation, where the odds of you dying are higher than you living.”

  “Not if I stick to the sixty percent,” I said. “With Maisie in my pocket, those are comfortable odds. I’ve already stocked up on supplies.” I’d hastily packed everything I could cram into Luce in less than fifteen minutes. “I’m hitting the barracks for batteries on the way, but that’s my only stop.” The militia had been so intent on grabbing Case, they hadn’t even bothered to do a thorough sweep of the barracks. Daze had been locked in the back room—a room full of enough batteries to power the entire city for a year—and they hadn’t investigated. It was poor planning on their part, but lucky for us. I’d need those batteries to keep Luce powered. Getting stuck in the Outskirts wasn’t happening. I had no idea how long the rescue operation was going to take, so being prepared was essential.

  Bender rubbed the back of his neck, a gesture he made when he was agitated. “We need a deadline,” he growled. “If we don’t hear from you in two days, we come after you.”

  “A deadline is good, but we have no way to communicate,” I said. “We can’t risk conversing on any open airwaves. They monitor the bandwidths down there.” I set my hand on his forearm. “I’m coming back. I promise. Once I get Case, and we check in with the scientists and make sure everybody is safe, we’ll head back here.”

  Bender, my mentor and the closest thing to a father I’d ever had, shook his head slowly. “Since we can’t communicate, take a tracker. We can locate you with that up to thirty kilometers. That’s close enough. Two days from now, Lockland, Daze, and I land outside Walt’s dome in the mover drone and wait to pick up your signal. Maisie should be able to detect us on your end. If we don’t hear from you, we head to the militia base and bring that motherfucker down.”

  I glanced at Lockland, who nodded his agreement. “There’s no other way to know if you’ve been taken or killed,” he said. “We do it Bender’s way.” He shot a furtive glance at Daze, who was chatting with Mary like they were old friends. The kid had that effect on people. “Daze will be agitated while you’re gone. Knowing we’re planning to meet up will take his mind off the situation. He can help us determine the right location to land outside the tribe once we get there, since we can’t fly directly in without the risk of triggering their bombs. We’ll plan on hugging the coast. We wait six hours once we set down. If we don’t hear from you, we head to the militia. But we won’t blow it up until we know if you’re dead or alive.”

  “That’s a nice, comforting thought,” I said. “Except I’m not going to be dead. Neither is Case.” That was, if I had anything to say about it. “The plan works for me. There’s a good chance the militia will seek out the small tribe with the scientists after I break Case out, if they haven’t already. They’ll need to gather more troops to take to the city. Up until now, they’ve been trying to negotiate, but my bet is they take it by force. If they find out what the tribe has been harboring all this time, the battle will intensify. We have to protect that at all costs. Having you guys there is the right choice.”