Within minutes, only three Sirens were still in the sky. Two batted their wings for altitude but couldn’t outrun the bullets. The third turned away, flying back toward shore.
The next burst missed, and he considered letting the creature live, to save ammo. It wasn’t a threat now, but it could always come back.
“Timothy, target that last bogey with a sidewinder and fire on my mark,” Les said. He looked at the screen, and when the missile was red, he said, “Mark.”
The projectile arced away from the airship and exploded on impact, blowing the Siren to hunks of meat that fell lazily through the air.
Les leaned back in his chair, watching with satisfaction as Cricket returned to the launch bay, where the techs would intercept it and begin the decontamination protocol.
“Timothy, run a scan for exhaust plumes,” Les said.
“Already complete, sir. I’m not picking up anything on the surface.”
Les was a little surprised to hear that, but also relieved.
“How about our divers?” he asked.
“The beacons appear to be on the move again, sir,” Timothy said. “All five of them are together now.”
TWENTY-ONE
“This is your strike team?” X muttered. He had just finished with the new divers and had taken Miles to the edge of the pier in the enclosed marina. Only one candle sconce was burning tonight, but the light was enough for X to see the two men on the old fishing boat.
“Not the whole team,” Rhino said. “There’s one more.”
“Oh, so you recruited a whopping three total?” X said. “Well, that changes everything!”
Only one of the warriors standing in front of X could be considered a man at all. The other was just a kid. Felipe, son of Whale, stood with his muscular arms folded over his chest.
To his right, a dark-skinned man with almost as many scars as X used a cane to prop himself up in the bobbing boat.
“I thought this boy challenged you on Elysium,” X said.
Rhino nodded. “This ‘boy’ lost.”
“What makes you think you can trust him now?”
“If Nick trusts him, so should you, Your Holiness,” said the guy with the cane.
X reared back. “Holiness?”
The man tapped his cane on the deck. “You are the king of these islands and, to some, a God. As for Nick, he has never let me down. If it weren’t for his bravery in battle, I would have lost the other two limbs and my head, too.”
“You must be Mac,” X said.
“My birth name was Bill, but I’ve gone by ‘Mac’ most of my life.” He reached out his hand to X in an old-world tradition. “Nice to meet you, King Xavier,” he said.
X shook his hand. “You as well, but skip the ‘holiness’ crap. I’m about as holy as a Siren.”
Mac’s grip was strong, and if Rhino was right, the old warrior had a few tricks in his quiver. But of all the Cazadores on the islands, this was the best Rhino could come up with? Maybe he was saving the best for last.
“Nick killed twelve Sirens and then dragged me back to the boats that day,” Mac said. “I owe him my life, and he will always have my sword.”
“All right, then,” X said, motioning for Miles to jump onto the boat. “Let’s go meet the third member of the reconstituted Barracudas.”
“You sure you want to come?” Rhino asked. “Colonel Vargas will have spies on the water.”
X pulled the hood over his head. “Then you’d better not get us spotted.”
He had thought this through. This assassination had to be discreet, so they couldn’t use any militia soldiers. And he couldn’t trust any Cazador soldiers other than Rhino and whatever team he assembled. X had considered asking Ton and Victor to join the team, but he didn’t want to risk the life of anyone who had already suffered so much under the Cazadores. That left a very small pool of warriors Rhino could work with.
So far, X wasn’t impressed.
Rhino swung the lever to open the port door, and Mac steered out into the night. Storm clouds blotted out the stars and moon. Not a bad thing, X thought. The rain and lightning would keep most boats off the water while keeping theirs hidden from any spies who might be watching the tower.
Rhino took over for Mac at the wheel, and X sat beside Felipe.
“¿No hablas inglés?” X asked.
“Español,” Felipe said.
“I’ll translate if you have something to say,” Mac said.
Felipe stared at X, but it wasn’t the same hate-filled gaze that X had seen on Elysium. Whatever Rhino had said to the kid worked.
But X still didn’t trust him.
“Tell him I appreciate him risking his neck,” X said.
Mac told Felipe, who clacked his jagged teeth together.
The radio in X’s pack buzzed. He had slipped away without telling Sloan where he was going, and didn’t really want to debate the issue, but he answered just in case it was about the mission to Rio de Janeiro.
“This is X; go ahead,” he said.
“X, this is Sloan. Where are you?”
“Busy. Why? Somethin’ wrong?”
“I’ve completed fortification of the Hive. Thought you might like to take a look.”
“I will in a bit,” he said. “I’m not feeling so good after eating that pickled mullet earlier.”
He could hear her snicker over the radio.
“Going to be on the can for a while,” he lied.
“Okay, sir.”
X signed off, then grinned at Rhino and pointed at the capitol rig with its decommissioned airship. The engineers had finally added the top platform over the curved rooftop, and put a fence around the entire rectangular perimeter. Massive vertical steel beams held up mezzanine walkways on each level. Hatches had been cut into the hull, allowing residents to walk out onto balconies overlooking the water.
“Take us that way,” he said.
The boat swung around for a look. Enough lights were on inside the airship for them to make out two machine-gun emplacements and one cannon on the top level of the north side. The rectangular platform was supposed to be turned into a garden and rain catchment, but so far it looked like a military base.
A launch bay in the decommissioned airship was open, and another cannon was inside, with two militia soldiers standing guard. The weapon suddenly angled toward their vessel as they curved around the rig.
“Not too close,” said X.
Rhino turned the boat back out into open water.
“I bet Colonel Vargas has seen our preparations,” X said.
“I’d count on that,” Mac replied.
“Everyone is preparing for Horn’s return,” Rhino said. “Especially the Black Order of Octopus Lords. And we can use that to our advantage. Vargas won’t see this coming.”
X reached down and rubbed Miles’s chest. The dog normally slept easily on boats, but tonight he seemed agitated. He let out a low whine.
The journey took them another hour, and it was just after midnight when they finally reached the ancient fishing boat Isaiah called home.
The large vessel floated in the middle of nowhere, moored to an ancient tsunami sensor buoy. Tarps covered most of the deck, and a ladder of white rope clung like a cobweb to the mainmast with a crow’s nest at the top. It reminded X of pirate ships in books he had read as a kid.
Reaching down, he stroked Miles again. “You’ve got to stay here, boy,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”
They pulled up on the port side of the fishing boat, and Felipe grabbed a rope.
“Isaiah speaks English, but best to let me do the talking,” Rhino said.
Felipe jumped onto the gunwale and practically ran up the rope netting on the hull. At the top, he vaulted over the rail and secured the mooring ropes.