Blade rose to a crouch and hurried toward the parked jeeps and the truck. He wanted to ascertain the contents of the truck. If the jeeps were unguarded, should he sabotage them? No. The Family would be able to use them after this was over.
Who was he kidding?
The Family would only get to use them if he and the others survived this fight.
Which was problematic at this point.
Blade reached the final fringe of vegetation and paused to reconnoiter.
He could see the jeeps and the larger truck, parked in a row, their front ends all pointing at the Watchers’ former headquarters in Thief River Falls.
There was no one in sight.
Perfect!
Blade rose, about to step from cover, when he detected motion to his right. He quickly dropped, lying flat, holding his breath.
Someone was near the vehicles, coming his way.
Blade spotted three figures walking past the jeeps. One of them was obviously a Watcher, but what in the world were the other two? They were huge, towering over the Watcher like adults over their children.
Something about the manner in which they moved stirred Blade’s mind.
They were oddly familiar.
The trio came abreast of his hidden position.
Dear Spirit!
It couldn’t be!
But it was.
In the center was a Watcher, in full uniform. He held a leash in each hand. And at the end of the leashes, one on either side of the Watcher, ambled two of the savage brutes, a male and a female.
It just couldn’t be!
Blade closed his eyes, doubting his vision. The brutes were in league with the Watchers, serving as some sort of pet? Impossible! Simply impossible!
The Watchers were still firing on the building.
Blade opened his bewildered eyes.
The bizarre trio had stopped directly in front of him. The Watcher was observing the gunfire, the brutes standing mutely at his side.
What was going on here? Were the two brutes they killed, the male Geronimo slew and the female Joshua shot, a pair? Were they in Thief River Falls because they were with the group of Watchers headed by Joe?
Were the brutes utilized as guard beasts? Blade absently shook his head, confused.
His hair brushed a leaf.
Instantly, the male brute stiffened and spun, growling, its beady eyes probing the foliage.
Damn!
Blade froze.
“What is it?” the Watcher asked the male brute. “What do you see, Krill?”
Krill? Blade’s mind spun. The brutes had names?
Krill was sniffing loudly, attempting to detect a scent.
“What about you, Aria?” The Watcher faced the female. “Is there something out there?”
The female seemed uncertain, fidgeting on her leash.
Krill had calmed. He stood with his shoulders hunched and his head lowered.
“Guess not,” the Watcher commented. “Heel.” He began to turn, to take the brutes back the way they had come.
Maybe the brutes are kept in the rear of the truck, Blade silently speculated. This development added an entirely new dimension to the Watchers. Maybe he should return to the building and warn…
Blade’s nose began tingling.
No!
Not now!
Before he could even try to control the impulse, he involuntarily sneezed.
Terrific!
Blade leaped to his feet, the Commando coming to bear, the stock pressed against his right hip. He fired, even as the two brutes jumped aside, their momentum wresting their leashes from the startled Watcher.
The Watcher was struck in the chest, his body jerking backward and colliding with one of the jeeps.
The brutes plunged into the park, one on either side of Blade.
Just great!
Blade ran into the street and whirled, covering the vegetation, his nerves taut.
Where were they?
What were they up to?
In the silence, he realized the firing on the building had ceased. When?
Were his shots heard?
An M-16 abruptly chattered, the slugs biting into the ground at Blade’s feet.
Blade turned and ran, keeping close to the vehicles for cover. He passed the fourth jeep and reached the truck.
“This way!” a voice behind him shouted. “The one from the van is over here!”
Big mouth.
Blade paused and peered into the back of the truck. The front half was piled high with boxes. The rest was littered with straw and reeked of a musky animal smell.
“Quick!” a Watcher yelled. “This way!”
Blade popped out from behind the truck. A solitary Watcher was running toward him. He raised the Commando, sighted, and blasted the Watcher from shoulder to shoulder.
In the park, one of the brutes roared.
Blade jogged away from the vehicles. His best bet would be to find a house he could hole up in until morning.
“After him!”
“This way!”
“He got Tim and Clyde!”
Blade heard more voices being raised as he reached the end of the park.
The street he was on continued into a residential area. Good. With the park behind him, so were the brutes.
The guttural growl warned him of his error a split second before hairy arms encircled his waist and wrenched him into the air.
Blade instinctively surged against the constricting arms.
The brute snarled.
Blade dropped the Commando, realizing it was useless unless he could break free. He had to! If he didn’t extricate himself before the Watchers caught up with him, he was as good as dead.
If he wasn’t already.
Fangs suddenly sank into his right shoulder, and he arched his back, suppressing a scream, as acute pain tore through his brain.
No!
The brute was applying pressure to his waist, determined to crush the life from him.
Focus, he told himself! Focus! The Vegas’ were out of reach. He lacked the leverage to use his Bowies. His forearms, though, were loose. He reached across with his right hand and grabbed the dagger strapped to his left wrist, the hilt comforting in his grip as he swung his right forearm out and drove the point of the keen blade back and around his right hip.
He felt the blade make contact, driving deep into vulnerable flesh.
The brute shrieked and released Blade.
Blade tumbled to the pavement, scraping his elbow, and landed on his back. He twisted, facing the brute.
It was Aria.
The dagger was imbedded in her lower abdomen, immediately above the buckskin loincloth she wore.
“Bring the flashlight!” a Watcher ordered, perhaps thirty yards distant.
Blade knew he had to act, and act now.
Aria was doubled over, her fingers spread over her stomach. She looked at Blade and hissed, straightening and lunging for him, her teeth bared.
Blade drew the Vegas’ in a cross draw, pointed the pistols at the brute’s face, and fired at point-blank range, first the right Vega, then the left, two, three, four shots, directly into her head.
Aria rocked on her heels, her massive body swaying as she tried to focus her fading sentience.
Fall, damn you!
Blade shot her two more times.
The brute collapsed, sagging to its knees, then toppling over, sprawled in the street.
Blade bolstered his Vegas, retrieved the Commando, and rose. His right shoulder was throbbing, and he could feel his blood oozing down his chest and back. He shuffled off, passing several decayed structures. At an intersection, he bore right.
The sounds of pursuit had faded.
A white frame house, or the remains of one, attracted his attention to his left.
Blade crossed a weed-choked yard and cautiously entered the house through the front doorway. A door was on the ground next to the entrance. He sagged against a wall and caught his breath.
Outside, footsteps pounded in the street. A light appeared, bobbing as the Watcher carrying the flashlight ran.