Page 116 of The Hero Within
"Move," Mayhew directed. "You’ve got a minute window before I flick the electrics back on and you need to be inside that fence."
He and Arik were going in first to clear the way. Behind him, Lincoln hovered over Eden. Both of them were dressed in Confederacy green. He didn't know where Mayhew had gotten the uniforms, but at a glance they might pass for Confederacy soldiers. Mayhew waited with them, using a datapad to take down Ragnarök’s electricity.
They crouched low and ran. Arik used wire cutters to snip the lowest strand of the fence, then they were both rolling under the fence and moving to take up position. So far, so good. Adrenaline pumped through him, until the night seemed to come alive.
Johnny looked back, gesturing with his fingers for Eden, Mayhew, and Lincoln to make their move. He scanned the darkness, covering them. Nothing moved, and then they were through the fence, and the faint electric whine began again as Mayhew flicked the security systems back on.
Arik gestured toward the end. Johnny nodded, holding his shotgun low.
The laboratories were on the opposite side to the barracks, thank God. The last thing they needed was Confederacy wargs scenting them.
Johnny rubbed a hand over Eden’s spine, sharing a questioning look with her.You okay?
She rolled her eyes.I’m fine.
He was pretty sure there was more to it in her head, but he merely moved on. She wouldn’t appreciate him hovering. Time to hit the labs.
A warg suddenly melted out of the shadows. One second there was no one there, and the next Johnny could smell him.
It was one of those moments where both of them were downwind and hadn’t expected the other.
Johnny recovered quicker, perhaps because he’d been anticipating enforcers around every corner. He leaped forward, jamming the butt of his shotgun against the soldier’s head.
The bastard staggered, but didn’t go down. A hand chopped toward his throat, and the gun was knocked from his hands. Johnny moved inside his next strike, delivering a punch to the warg’s ribs. One, two, then a hard uppercut that snapped the warg’s head back.
Johnny stepped behind him, dragging the warg back against his chest. Slamming a hand around his throat, and another over his mouth, he took him down, kicking his feet out from under him.
"Stay down," he hissed, holding the warg against his chest.
The warg struggled, his heels kicking in the gravel as Johnny stared into his eyes and fused him with scent.
"That’s it," he murmured, as each kick became a little weaker. "Stop moving."
The soldier slumped in his arms.
"Nice work," Arik muttered, and there was a somewhat wild look in his eyes. Arik would be getting a lungful of those omega pheromones too.
Johnny knocked the soldier out, then flipped him over and hastily hog-tied him, ripping the warg’s tunic and stuffing some of the material in his mouth. No point killing him. The blood would only draw attention, and if they needed to rely on Bligh, then a trail of dead wargs would do nobody any good.
"Any more?" Arik muttered.
"Not that I can see or hear." His heart raced.
"Let’s go get our cure then."
Breakinginto the lab was Eden’s first experience in breaking the law.
She hadn’t been there when Johnny popped the lock on an upper window of the house. But this was different. She kept jumping at shadows, expecting wargs to leap out at every corner.
The four guys moved like a well-oiled machine. Johnny and Arik rode point, with Lincoln guarding them from behind. She and Mayhew were in the middle, tasked with keeping out of the way until required.
Fine by her.
Mayhew slipped a cord into his datapad, and then slid the other end of it into some sort of plug on the keypad to the door. She didn’t fully understand what he was doing, but it worked like magic. The keypad lit up, and then the door was hissing open. Mayhew collected his cord, and they were in.
"You’re very good," she noted, as Johnny and Arik slipped ahead of them to clear the way.
"Child’s play."
