It was also how he was going to get it out.

  But it wasn’t going to be easy.

  The pod was blocked in by the corpse of the alien monster, barely visible behind it. The flatbed wasn’t clear either. The tentacle draped over it had to weigh at least half a ton.

  Brink’s people began moving in behind him, shooting out through the ruined door before taking cover on either side of the bay. Brink appeared next to Hayden as he started for the flatbed. He had spotted a space between the xaxkluth’s arm and the truck that he could use to get around the creature. He needed to figure out how to get the pod loaded onto the flatbed.

  “Sheriff!” she shouted.

  “Hold the line,” Hayden snapped back, sprinting away from her.

  He didn’t see where Brink went next. He hurried to the gap between tentacle and truck, ducking under it to the other side. Near the front of the xaxkluth, the pod rested between a pile of arms, the object barely visible over the top of them. They would need to move aside nearly two tons of flesh to get the truck to the alien rock. The breath went out of him at the realization. There was no way it could be done.

  A familiar voice came from the other side of the raised loading platform. “Why don’t you kill yourself, Marcus? Save us the trouble.” It was King. He was silent for a few seconds and then added, “That’s right. Do it.”

  Hayden spotted the top of King’s head over the lip of the platform, further back by the doors. He couldn’t see Marcus, but he didn’t need to. It didn’t matter what he saw or heard. He didn’t buy it. King was dead and burned to ash; there was no doubt of that in his mind. The thing posing as King had given itself away as soon as Hayden heard it speaking.

  He didn’t need to see Marcus to know what he was probably about to do. It was a good thing he knew how to stop it.

  Bringing his fingers to his mouth, he spread his lips and whistled, the sharp, shrill tone filling the loading bay and echoing off the walls. Blaster fire followed a moment later, and then King was thrown from the platform. He hit one of the xaxkluth’s large tentacles and bounced off onto the floor. Lifting his head, the King imposter looked over at Hayden.

  “Sheriff Duke,” he said. “We meet again.”

  “I don’t think so,” Hayden replied. He whipped his revolvers toward the imposter and opened fire, a satisfied smirk expanding across King’s face as blue flashes caught the bullets, preventing them from hitting their target. It was no less than Hayden had expected, though the Axon Intellect’s ability to maintain its holographic disguise while activating its shields was new to him. “Upgrades?”

  The Intellect stood up, King’s image fading from view as a two-meter-tall humanoid composed of millions of tiny black scales replaced it. Its body was lean, its arms and legs perfectly formed and symmetrical, but its features were barely defined. It’s mouth had no opening. Its nose lacked nostrils and its eye sockets were empty. It only held the shape of a human to help disguise itself as one.

  “New applications for old technology,” the Intellect replied in a perfect replica of Hayden’s own voice. “The future of all things depends on the marriage of Relyeh evolution, Axon intelligence and human perseverance. This must come to pass. There is no other way to resolve our combined fates.”

  “What about letting us figure it out for ourselves?” Hayden asked.

  “No,” the Intellect replied. “Every path has already been calculated. Every potential avenue exhausted. Over one billion simulations spanning an entire millenia. This is the only one that spares humankind at any level.”

  Hayden stared at the Intellect. It sure didn’t speak like any other of the advanced alien race’s artificial intelligences he had encountered before. “You sound like Grimmel.”

  “I am Grimmel. This is the only way. Do not try to stop it.”

  “Sheriff Duke?” Marcus said, moving around the edge of the platform. His eyes landed on the Intellect. “What the hell is that?”

  “It was an alien AI,” Hayden said. “But it seems someone reprogrammed it.” He glanced at the Intellect. “The only reason I came here is to stop you. You picked the wrong Relyeh to get engaged to. The one you’ve chosen won’t spare any life on Earth. That’s not what it does. This one doesn’t enslave worlds. It devours them.”

  “I don’t believe you,” Grimmel said.

  “I don’t care,” Hayden replied. “Step aside.”

  “No,” Grimmel said, raising its right hand toward Hayden, the palm beginning to glow.

  Hayden knew what came next.

  “Die.”

  51

  Hayden

  Hayden dove to his right, managing to get behind one of the dead xaxkluth’s tentacles as the energy beam launched from Grimmel’s palm. The blue light seared the air where he had just been, severing the xaxkluth’s limb. Grimmel raised his other hand, intending to add a second beam to the assault.

  Marcus didn’t give it a chance. He shouted as he leapt from the platform toward the Intellect, holding his arm out in front of his body. Grimmel’s energy weapon lashed out at him. Hayden flinched, expecting death, surprised when the beam smacked against a crackling energy shield spreading from Marcus’ Axon arm. Grimmel’s blast didn’t penetrate Marcus’ shield. Instead, Marcus slammed the energy back at its source.

  Grimmel recovered quickly, catching Marcus’ punch in its hand, turning his Axon arm and throwing a punch of its own. The blow sent Marcus flying backward to hit the side of the platform and fall onto his rear. All he could do was sit there, dazed.

  Hayden grabbed the microspear from his pocket and charged Grimmel, using a quick pattern of stabs, slashes and fakes to force the Intellect back a step. It countered, extending its hand into a blade and slashing at him. Hayden barely managed to bend backward far enough to avoid losing his head. Instead, he lost his balance and fell to the floor. Grimmel tried to stomp on him, but he rolled aside just in time to avoid it.

  Then Marcus was on the Intellect again, his Axon arm a slashing blade of its own. The Intellect blocked the attack but was forced to split its attention between Marcus and Hayden, who went at it from both sides. It managed to keep up with both attacks, one blade-hand deflecting Marcus’ assaults, the other blocking the microspear in Hayden’s hand.

  “Come on!” Marcus said, grunting as he pressed the attack. His anger made him sloppy, and he left his guard open, allowing Grimmel to slash his chest. He jumped back from the attack, crying out in pain as blood rose to the slice.

  Grimmel turned on Hayden, its full attention leaving him scrambling to keep either blade-hand from reaching his flesh. He backpedaled as he blocked the attacks, taking a hit off his forearm that left a deep gash. He cried out in pain, ducking beneath another swipe and then rolling over the end of one of the xaxkluth’s tentacles.

  Blaster fire began sizzling into Grimmel from behind. The sneak attack bypassed the Intellect’s shields, burning away at the scaly black material beneath. Grimmel raised its shields, stopping Marcus’ efforts in its tracks, but the distraction bought Hayden enough time to regroup. He threw himself at Grimmel again, bringing the microspear over his head and stabbing it downward toward the top of the Intellect’s head.

  He didn’t make it.

  Grimmel’s hand thrust out, blade stabbing Hayden in the stomach, puncturing the bodysuit and sinking deep into his bowels. Hayden slid down the blade, nearly halfway up Grimmel’s arm before coming to a stop, the shock of the wound making him drop the microspear from his nerveless fingers.

  He dangled from Grimmel’s arm, looking down at the Intellect’s blank expressionless face and struggling to breathe.

  Then Grimmel shifted slightly as Marcus’ Axon blade-hand sliced cleanly through its neck, the Intellect’s head tumbling off its shoulders. It shuddered and stumbled, its arm immediately dropping. Hayden slid back off the blade and onto the ground, struggling to breathe and clutching his wound. Grimmel continued to flail around, trying to recalibrate with its most important sensors missing. Marcus didn’t wait for it to figure things out. He brought his blade-hand down, cleaving Grimmel’s torso in half, the two pieces spraying dark fluid as they toppled to the floor.

  “Sheriff!” Marcus said, rushing over to Hayden and crouching beside him, looking down at his wound. “Shit. It’s bad.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” Hayden said, breathing labored. The wound was bad. Worse than he had planned to take. He didn’t have any confidence he would heal fast enough to survive it. “Cut through the xaxkluth. Get the truck to the pod. Hurry!”

  Marcus nodded, racing over to the limbs blocking the flatbed from reaching the pod. He sliced easily through them with his Axon hand, needing only a minute to get to the one resting on top of the flatbed. He cut that one into pieces on either side of the truck and then climbed into the cab, starting it up.

  Hayden continued fighting for breath. He could feel his body trying to repair itself, and he kept as much pressure on the wound as possible, fighting to staunch the bleeding. He also forced himself to move, pushing his body back and out of Marcus’ way as the other man worked to turn the flatbed around. He had reached the side of the platform by the time Marcus plowed through the severed xaxkluth tentacles, creating a path.

  He was getting dizzy. The world faded in and out of focus, darkness infringing on the outer limits of his vision. It was getting harder to concentrate. His hand was warm and wet, the blood soaking through his shirt and running to the floor beneath his hand. Any other man would have been dead already.

  Marcus reached the center of the loading bay, moving the truck forward and back to get it turned around. Brink appeared around the side of the xaxkluth, running over to Hayden when she saw his wound.

  “Oh, no. Sheriff Duke?” she said, dropping to her knees, her hands shaking as she reached out to add more pressure to the wound.

  “Are we winning?” Hayden asked weakly.

  “That depends. My people are keeping the Custodians out of the loading dock. But we’re going to catch hell as soon as we try to pull back.”

  “Vazquez,” Hayden said. “Call in Vazquez. Tell her to…” he trailed off, a sudden intense wave of pain washing over his gut. “Tell her to get into position.”

  “Didn’t you just hear me, Sheriff? I said there’s no way we’re getting out of here. There are at least two platoons out there. Close to forty Custodians. They know it’s the only way we can bring the pod out.”

  “Call Vazquez. Help Marcus.”

  “Sheriff,” Brink tried to argue.

  “I’ll take care of the defenses.”

  “How? You look like you’re about to die.”

  “Not yet. Take this.” He held out the microspear. “In case…in case anything comes out of the pod.”

  “What do you mean?” Brink said, face going pale.

  “Grepping take it!” Hayden cursed.

  Brink accepted the weapon, staring at it a moment before rushing to where Marcus had parked the flatbed and was trying to figure out how to get Iagorth’s pod onto it.

  Hayden drew a few breaths in as deeply as he could manage before forcing himself to his feet. He crossed back to where Grimmel had fallen. The milky white conductive gel that made up the inside of the alien artificial intelligence leaked slowly from both halves of the machine. Hayden went to the right side and reached into the gel, ignoring the shocks of the residual charges as he fished inside the goop. He found his target a moment later, lifting out a crystal he knew would be similar to the one the Custodians had taken from Lincoln. His head whipped back toward Marcus and Brink when the Sergeant screamed. They had managed to get a chain around the pod and were in the process of winching it onto the flatbed, but now dozens of fist-sized xaxkluth were emerging from the pod and attacking the pair.

  Hayden looked away. They had to manage that situation on their own. He needed to clear the Custodians from the entrance so Vazquez could bring the Osprey in.

  He stumbled along the side of the xaxkluth, using severed tentacles for balance as he carried the crystal around the creature and toward the loading bay doors. Ruger’s militants were under cover there, occasionally taking a few pot shots outside to keep the Custodians from trying to enter.

  He came up beside one of them, one hand clutching the crystal, the other pressed against his stomach. The wound was healing, the bleeding slowing, but every breath, every movement hurt like hell. It didn’t matter. He needed to get this done.

  “Vazquez,” he said into his comm. “What’s your status?”

  “We’re two klicks out and closing, Sheriff,” she replied.

  “ETA?”

  “Thirty seconds.”

  “Copy. Don’t mind the large boom.”

  “What?” She paused. “Uh, Sheriff. I think we have a complication.”

  Hayden winced at the statement. Wasn’t this already complicated enough? “What kind of complication?” he asked.

  Before Vazquez could answer, the ground began to shake.

  52

  Hayden

  “Sheriff, we’re ready to roll,” Brink said over the comm.

  Hayden looked back, unable to see the flatbed from his position near the loading dock exit. He shuddered slightly as the ground shook again, the vibrations continuing to intensify.

  “Sheriff,” Vazquez said. “That goliath we spotted earlier is inside the city. He’s coming your way.”

  Hayden didn’t know how to respond to that. He had gone years without spotting a living goliath, and now the first one he had seen was headed for the tower? Why? To what end? “Brink is ready with the package,” he replied. “Can you land?”

  “The area’s still crawling with assholes,” she replied. “You need to clear the field before I can touch down.”

  Hayden paused, looking back at the militants around him while another sharp twinge shot up from his injured gut, threatening to double him over. He needed a new plan.

  Fast.

  “Sheriff, are we clear?” Brink asked.

  “Negative,” Hayden replied. “Bring the package to the back of the bay and standby.”

  “We can’t wait, Sheriff. This thing keeps shedding little monsters. Marcus is holding them back with that augment of his, but I don’t know how long he’ll last.”

  “Shit,” Hayden said out loud, frustration beginning to overcome his focus. He growled softly to release it as the next vibration shook the bay, this one hard enough to disrupt the dust and debris on the floor, raising little clouds of dust around them. “Vazquez, how close is the goliath?”

  “Too close,” Vazquez replied. “He’ll be on you in less than a minute.”

  “Pozz,” Hayden replied. “Drop in for pickup.”

  “What? Sheriff, I can’t get in and out before the goliath arrives.”

  “Drop in for pickup,” Hayden repeated, sharply. “Do it.”

  Vazquez hesitated before responding. “Copy that. On my way.”

  Hayden tapped the comm with his tongue to transmit to the entire group. “Attention. Attention. We’re moving out. Timing is everything. Brink, get the flatbed up here now. You’ll take point. The rest of you, stick tight to the truck, use it as cover and lay down the heaviest fire you can. We need to get out there ahead of what’s coming.”

  He heard the flatbed’s engine roar and saw it moving, dismembered tentacles pushed aside as it powered through them and around the side of the xaxkluth’s central mass. It angled toward the destroyed garage door, Marcus on a knee atop the cab, his flesh and blood arm planted against his chest wound. A wall of blue energy from his Axon hand held nearly a hundred small xaxkluth at bay. Hayden knew from past experience that the energy shield wouldn’t last forever.

  He holstered his revolvers and drew the Axon gun at the same time the xaxkluth realized he was there. A group of them broke off the effort to reach Marcus, leaping from the rear of the truck. He fired the explosive rounds into them, the detonations taking out multiple creatures at a time. He retreated slightly to put more distance between himself and the aliens. The militants behind the truck began firing on the small xaxkluth, a barrage that quickly thinned the masses.

  But not for long.

  More xaxkluth continued to climb out of Iagorth’s pod through cracks and crevices in the impossibly black surface, appearing as if through a vortex and throwing themselves at their enemies, including Ruger’s militia.

  The flatbed reached the shredded opening in the garage door and continued through it. The Custodians opened fire, bullets punching into the windshield and quickly shattering it. Hayden hoped Brink had already ducked beneath the assault. All she had to do was keep the flatbed straight. It would be obvious when the incline flattened out.

  One of Ruger’s fighters screamed. Hayden looked back to where a dozen small xaxkluth had latched onto the man, biting at his combat armor and helmet and trying to get through. The other militants fought to help him, using sidearms to shoot the creatures. The diversion gave other xaxkluth time to regroup and come for Hayden. He fired round after round at them from the Axon gun, keeping the creatures back while more leaped from the pod.

  The ground shook again, hard enough to nearly knock Hayden from his feet. A deep, low groan like rumbling thunder sounded nearby.

  “Hhhhhhaaaaayyyyydddddeeeennnn Dddddduuuuuuukkkkkkkeeeee.”

  The call of the goliath. Instead of a simple, primal roar, it came out as two elongated words. His name.

  A cold chill washed down his spine. The Intellect had been Grimmel. And somehow, Iagorth had managed to infect the goliath.

  The big creature was Iagorth.

  “Vazquez!” Hayden shouted, as if yelling into the comm could get her there any faster.

  He heard the thunder of the Osprey’s cannon a moment later, close enough that it echoed down the ramp to the loading dock. The Custodian defenders stopped shooting at them a moment later, turning their guns on the aircraft. The intensity of their firepower diminished quickly as they succumbed to Fairy’s assault.