Logan sprang out from his hiding spot, as Ares' voice dissipated. He was still on the move and Logan had stopped and given him a larger buffer. Now, he needed to turn on the afterburners and run down the slower Ares. They’d been out running together before and Logan knew he could easily outpace the guy.

  Time to prove it.

  Tossing the rifle away, Logan pumped his arms harder and drew his knife. He hated to sacrifice the firepower but speed was more important at the moment and the awkward weapon was slowing him down. Twin blurs of movement caught his eye as they rounded a bend ahead of him. One was Ares, his—the SDF’s—uniform was unmistakable. The other was obviously Kiani. Who else would he be chasing?

  Three more bullets sailed by him but Logan paid them no attention. It would take some seriously bad luck to get hit with one of them right then. Kiani was putting her runner's body to good use and not slowing a bit. She was built for this.

  Coming around a blind corner, Logan was forced to slow but he didn’t stop. He walked around a tree and took a bullet to the shoulder, rolling with the shot. Leaning against the thick tree, Logan heard Ares laughing and then take off after Kiani again. Groaning, Logan stood and looked around the blood-splattered tree, seeing Kiani up ahead hiking up a pretty sharp incline.

  Well, he thought, moving again, at least it wasn’t in the leg.

  He followed but stuck closer to the trees on the right-hand side of the path. He’d have to move slower now anyway with the uphill climb, might as well have some cover close by too.

  Hang on Kiani, I’m coming.

  * * *

  Kiani was close to passing out. She considered herself a really good long-distance runner, but that was after being well-rested beforehand. She was far from that now, wheezing with every breath.

  But so is Ares, she thought, and he’s a lot heavier.

  All she had to do was keep moving and pray. Whatever Apollo thought was behind the waterfall must’ve been important enough for her to go there. He was obviously with them and not Ares too. Leading the incredible charge into battle was proof enough. The last thing Kiani and the others needed was another traitor amongst them.

  Following the path of destruction was easy enough, except for the uphill trek now. She continued with it as it started turning right, running perpendicular to the water. Eventually, she came to the only other part of the river she’d seen. She ran forward and entered the water, wading through its chest-high depth. She even entertained the idea of going under and letting the current take her away.

  Need to keep moving, he could do the same.

  Shortly after entering, she came to the other bank and noticed that the raft was missing. She recognized the bend downstream and knew it should have been right there. A branch broke overhead and she looked as she exited the water, seeing the ruined raft lodged in the growth above her. The Nsanga queen had tossed it like a toothpick when it blew through.

  A pop echoed around her and screamed as something bit her side. She looked down and saw blood seeping from a spot in her side. It had barely hit her from the looks of it, but it still caused her body to spasm.

  “Don’t move!”

  She turned but backpedaled away, seeing Ares standing across the twenty-foot expanse of water, about thirty feet from her current position. There was another line of trees nearby and if she could dive into them, she could come out near the cliff and keep moving.

  “Please don’t,” he said. “We need you, Kiani.”

  She laughed at the absurdness. “You’re deranged, you know that, right? Nothing is worth someone’s life.”

  “This is,” he said, lowering the gun from her face to her body.

  “Wanting to be something you’re not and killing for it is despicable.” She backed away. “So here’s how I think this is going to play out…” She took another step away. “You need me alive, right? That means if you shoot me again and I accidentally take one in the chest or head and die, what happens to you with your bosses? It’s pretty easy to see that if you’re here, then you’re not in charge. Just somebody else’s pawn in—”

  Logan slammed into Ares from behind, making Kiani step forward. “Go,” he yelled, holding Ares gun at bay. “Run damnit!”

  She didn’t. She wanted to stay and help Logan but as another bullet sizzled past her, she followed his shouted pleas and turned and ran for the waterfall. She could hear it just ahead and hoped whatever Apollo had her moving towards would get her topside. There, she would disappear into the trees and find somewhere to catch her breath.

  Then…she didn’t know. She just hoped Logan would come out of this alive and be waiting for her wherever she emerged.

  41

  Logan pounded Ares gun hand into the ground twice, getting a shout of pain from the man. The gun went flying away and he followed it by head butting Ares in the face, breaking the man’s nose. Growling in anger, the Delta man responded.

  He jammed his thumb into the bullet wound in Logan’s shoulder, getting a shrill cry of pain from him. Logan grabbed at Ares' hand as he dug the digit in deeper, causing it to gush with blood. Finally, Logan launched out with his other weapon.

  His teeth.

  Biting was a brutal and dirty way to turn a fight in your direction, but it worked. Every single time.

  He chomped down, sinking his teeth in the meat inbetween Ares thumb and forefinger, doing his best Pitbull lockjaw impersonation. Then, for good measure, Logan began to thrash his head back and forth. He held on until Ares shouted and let go, quickly landing two hard blows to Logan’s face.

  Reflexively, Logan let go, tasting blood.

  Ares’ blood.

  “Fuck!” Ares shouted, his hand mangled. “I’m going to kill you!”

  He charged Logan, feigning going high but instead going low, diving into Logan’s legs. Both men tumbled into the water together, going under. They traded blow after blow, most landing with little effect. Water slowed everything down in a fight like that, lessening the power of each blow exponentially.

  They stood and continued, catching each other in whatever part of the body they could hit. Naturally, Ares concentrated on Logan’s shoulder. Logan blocked whatever punch he could and made Ares use his badly injured right hand, letting him land those particular shots. While they still hurt Logan, they hurt his foe more.

  A gunshot stopped Logan in his tracks as one of Ares’ men appeared from out of the corner of his eye. He turned with the shot, taking it in the side instead of the stomach. Turning to Ares, Logan caught an uppercut, sending him sprawling onto the bank holding the remnants of the wooden raft. Half in the water, half on the shore, Logan waited for death as Ares stalked his mortally wounded prey.

  A howl greeted Logan’s call to death, making Ares flee in fright. A Ru’kan dropped from above taking two rounds in the chest as he drove his claws into the other soldier’s throat. Both men died as they fell to the ground.

  Logan rolled onto his side and watched as Ares continued his pursuit of Kiani. He tried twice to get to his feet but was unsuccessful. His wounds were just too great. So, he did the only other thing he could, he called out for help.

  “Fayng!” he yelled, knowing she’d be the only one fast enough to get to him. She’d also be one of the only ones to hear him.

  “Fayng!” he shouted again, thinking of Kiani.

  “Fucking damnit!” He was furious at Ares and the fact that he failed her. If there wasn’t another of Ares men nearby, he would have killed the lunatic with his bare hands.

  Screaming, he again tried to roll over onto his hands and knees, getting there…sort of. His left arm was useless and he had a bullet in his right side. He bit his lip during a wave of pain and sat up on his knees. Looking around, he tried to find something to help him up.

  The raft…

  A five-foot-long two-by-four lay only a few feet away. Seeing it, Logan crawled, reaching out to it with a blood-covered hand. As his fingertips found the splintered wood, his body’s will left him and he fell face first onto it, cursing one last time before succumbing to the injuries and blacking out.

  * * *

  Kiani had a nice head start, but her concern for Logan sapped whatever strength she had left. She made it to the waterfall when she heard a gunshot ring out close behind her.

  “Logan,” she said, looking back. “No…”

  She thought about going to check on him but resisted the urge when she heard a branch break somewhere downstream. She needed to keep moving and splashed through the water, finding an opening directly behind it.

  Thanks, Apollo.

  She moved forward, easily making it through the narrow tunnel. How Apollo had made it through here and not gotten stuck was a miracle. Her side ached, bleeding steadily but thankfully not quickly. Blood loss would eventually slow her down enough for Ares to catch her. So, she had to make every minute count while she still had the strength to do so.

  Seconds turned into minutes as twin outcrops of rock met her, but Kiani’s lean frame allowed her to easily slip through. There was very little light to speak of and she thought about flicking on her small pocket flashlight. Ares already knew where she was headed, everyone alive did. The shouted instructions reverberated around the massive space like someone announcing at a sports event. The passage banked right and began to rise slowly. If it continued, she knew she’d reach the jungle.

  There has to be an exit around here somewhere.

  Every urge she had told her to run like hell, but she tabled them and took the safer, albeit slower, approach. There could be multiple side tunnels here for all she knew and she could get lost forever.

  Or worse, she thought, looking behind her.

  She tripped over something and stumbled, falling into a pile of large stacked rocks at the back of the tunnel. Either that was the end of the passage or it was blocked by debris. She took in the boulders again and noticed something odd. They seemed to be placed there on purpose.

  Nature didn’t stack rocks like this. People did.

  She looked up and saw a disturbance on the ceiling. Quickly, she climbed to the top and saw what it was. A smudged handprint was embedded in the grime-coated stone. She knocked on it and heard a hollow bong.

  Not stone…wood.

  She shoved, putting everything she had into it. The piece of thick, yet, somewhat light wood moved, giving her the scene in front of her. As she lifted it higher, she saw daylight, but she also saw an eyeless corpse. Another six inches and she could see past the dead, seeing more dead, bodies tied to trees and emptied.

  Great.

  Gripping the edge of the plank, she slid it out of the way climbed out, getting tripped from behind as she did. She rolled and found Ares staring up at her from inside the hole, a maniacal look in his eyes. His was unarmed and bleeding heavily. He and Logan had torn each other apart.

  She leapt for the cover, trying to slide it back into place, but Ares was too fast and a lot stronger. He shoved the lid away and easily scaled the remaining boulders, coming face-to-face with Kiani once again. She backed away but tripped over a deceased man’s leg and fell.

  Kiani expected Ares to be on her right then, but he too went to the ground. While she tripped, Ares was forced to the ground by a set of strong arms. A talon-tipped hand gripped his throat and squeezed gagging the raging psychopath.

  Another of the hunters reached down for Kiani but she halted him by holding up her bloodied hand, shouting, “Ru’kan! Ru’kan!” She pulled up her shirt and wiped the wound with her hand, showing the hunter it was, in fact, her blood. “Ru’kan!”

  The second hunter leaned in and sniffed the crimson plasma, even tasting some of it right from her offered hand. She hoped that showing them that she was one of them would save her life.

  It did as the hunter nodded to the larger one holding down Ares. The other man backed away and let Kiani stand, eyeing her the entire time. She held her bleeding side and nodded to the two hunters. She didn’t want to thank them for anything, but they allowed her to live and that was something anyone would’ve been thankful for.

  The warrior gripping Ares throat looked up at her from his kneeling position and asked, “Ru’kan?”

  Looking down into the pleading man’s eyes, Kiani shook her head and turned. She would normally never condemn another human being to death but Ares wasn’t human…he was a monster. She knew that if he didn’t die then and there, he’d never give up his pursuit of her. If she had a gun, she would’ve just shot the man and been done with it.

  His screams sent a chill down her body as she walked away. The two hunters tore Ares open like a sick birthday gift and fed on him…alive.

  42

  Kiani made it back to the clearing in front of the cave’s topside entrance unscathed. The only Ru’kan she’d run into were the ones that let her go. Coming to terms with her lineage wouldn’t be easy but Logan knew and didn’t care.

  I don’t care, she thought, recalling Logan’s words. He’d just found out that she was genetically a monster and didn’t care one bit.

  A figure stepped out from the shadowy entry point, her dirty-blonde hair tossed about like she’d just rode in a convertible with its top down. Kiani’s eyes met CJ’s and both women smiled, the latter running towards her.

  “Kiani!” CJ shouted, stopping just before she tackled her. “Oh my God,” she said inspecting the wound, “you’ve been shot!”

  She grimaced but shrugged as Zeus and Apollo stepped out next. “Casualty of the job.”

  CJ stood straight. “Don’t you start that shit too.”

  Both women smiled again, joining the two Delta men. “I thought you were dead,” Kiani said. “We saw you inside the large female’s mouth.”

  Apollo turned, showing them the back of his shredded uniform. “It had my pack,” he explained. “Just missed I guess. Took me out when it slammed me to the ground. I awoke alone and headed for the surface to call in Night-1.”

  “Did you?” she asked.

  He nodded. “Yep, he’s on his way.”

  Everyone’s mood lightened a little at the news of their eventually EVAC. Leaving sounded amazing.

  “Logan?”

  CJ’s eyes saddened. “He’s in pretty bad shape.”

  “Don’t bury me yet, Cass.”

  Kiani watched as Logan limped into view, being held up by Fitz and Fayng. He was covered head to toe in blood and a strange purple powder, but he was alive. As they made their way down the entrance slope, they were followed by the remaining Ru’kan elders.

  Kiani ran to Logan and gently wrapped her arms around him. They both groaned during the embrace but neither released the other. They’d deal with the pain for the time being.

  “Ares?” Zeus asked.

  Kiani let go of Logan and turned. “Probably on the altar by now.”

  Ares former commander just nodded softly but didn’t verbally respond. He needed time to process his friend’s treachery. They’d fought together for years and from the way Zeus reacted when Ares outed himself, he had no inkling of the man’s true intentions.

  “Hey, Brett,” Zeus said softly.

  “Yea?”

  “Looks like I need a new number two.”

  Brett “Apollo” Dickson stood at attention. “Yes, sir.”

  Zeus patted him on the shoulder. “Get on the horn with Night-1 and get us an ETA.” Zeus looked at Logan. “Tell him to come straight here. We won’t make it back to the original drop point.”

  “Roger that,” Apollo replied, stepping aside to call it in.

  “What about the trees?” CJ asked, looking up.

  Zeus glanced up. “We’ll figure that out when we need to. Going up through them is a helluva lot easier than the other.”

  They stood in silence for a moment. Kiani wrapped her arm around Logan’s waist, taking Fayng’s spot on his left. He cringed but laughed, getting a reaction out of Fitz.

  “Sorry to say this, but you two won’t be playing hide the zucchini for a while.”

  Kiani smiled at Logan’s eye roll but the joke didn’t get the same reaction out of Fayng.

  Fitz saw the look on her face. “We walked in on ‘em, you know, in the buff.”

  Fayng stepped closer to Logan and inhaled deeply, looking into his eyes. She faced Kiani and did the same, staring intently.

  She turned away, talking in hushed tones to herself.

  “Um,” Logan said.

  “You are Ru’kan,” Fayng announced.

  “I know I am,” Kiani replied. “We already—”

  “Not you,” she said, pointing at Logan. “You.”

  “Me?” Logan was confused.

  “The traits of the…Nephilim blood…are transferable through fluid transfer. It’s how people from the outside contract it.”

  “Contract?” Fitz asked, holding the sides of his head in shock. “You mean it’s a bloody STD?”

  Logan looked at Kiani and then CJ. No one had a response ready. He was about to ask Fayng for more information, but Apollo came running over to them and started shouting as the telltale sound of an approaching helicopter whupped somewhere off in the distance.

  “We have incoming!” Apollo yelled, gripping his gun tightly.

  “Night-1?” Zeus asked, looking up again.

  “Negative,” Apollo replied. “He’s still an hour out.”

  “It’s Phoenix’s pickup,” Logan said, “it has to be.”

  “We need to leave,” Fitz said. “Gotta get clear while we can. We don’t have the numbers or firepower.”

  Logan nodded as the Ru’kan elders stepped forward. “Go…”

  Fitz looked at him, tilting his head in question. “Excuse me?”

  “That’s an order.”

  Fitz just laughed, shrugging out from under Logan’s shoulder. “Fuck your order, Logan. We aren’t leaving you.”

  Fayng stepped inbetween the two men, facing Fitz. “My people can protect them until he regains his strength.”

  Fitz tried to argue, but couldn’t find the words.

  “Logan…I…”

  Logan just smiled at CJ. “It’s fine, Cass.” He squeezed Kiani’s shoulder. “We’ll be fine. I promise.”