“How did you escape our notice?”

  “I’m a sneaky bitch. Call off your boys. I have this handled.” I turned the other pilots’ minds to mush. Marauder after Marauder fell from the sky. The earth trembled from the multiple impacts and flames danced over the rocks.

  “That stunt drained your power. In the future, you will follow my orders,” the General said.

  I mentally gave him the one finger salute and hurried back down the canyon.

  “I’ve been studying Arizona Recon’s records. Your squad’s kill rate was through the roof.”

  “And your point is?” I grimaced at the stench of dead Rodan. They always smelled like a combination of rotted meat, sewer and skunk.

  “Why it never came to Central Command’s attention?”

  “I was a valuable asset my commander didn’t want to lose.” Unease skittered up my spine. The General was being awfully chatty. Why? I stopped a short distance away from my squad and studied them. Their body language was one of tension and none of them would meet my gaze. I could chalk it up to them being almost naked, but they weren’t the shy type. The General was up to something. I backed up.

  “Freeze!” Kris shouted and pointed his pistol at me. “Don’t make me stun you Annie.”

  “You’re lower than a snake’s belly General.”

  “A good officer uses whatever assets are available to him. They will detain you until I arrive.”

  “There are a few holes in your plan,” I retorted and grinned at his sudden alarm.

  “Drop your weapons,” Kris bellowed.

  I made no effort to comply. “This is the appreciation I get for saving your mangy hides?”

  “Orders are orders,” Kris’s face hardened. “Drop your weapons or I will shoot you.”

  “No, you won’t.” I hit them with my stun grenades and watched as they crumpled to the ground. “Dumb ass decision, General.”

  “They served their purpose and delayed you.”

  A shuttle flew over the canyon.

  I smiled. The General had arrived without any backup. The cocky bastard thought he would block my stun grenades and simply overpower me. I was about to show him the error of his plan.

  “You’re trapped. There’s no way out of the canyon.”

  “Okay. Is this where I’m supposed to start pleading for mercy?”

  “A smart woman would start apologizing.” There was a note of anger in the General’s voice.

  “For what?”

  “You’ve broken numerous laws and you had those blasted birds shit on me.”

  “I did and I’m not apologizing for it.”

  “Most people fear Coletti warlords,” the General snapped.

  “News flash. I don’t find you that scary. Did you flunk the “How to be a Big, Bad Warlord” course?” I swatted at a bee buzzing around my head.

  “Your husband turned you into an angry, bitter woman,” General Jones stated grimly.

  I flinched. He was right. Annie, the romantic, was dead and buried. “Hell, my prick of a husband, taught me that love is an illusion and to never, ever trust a man. In the end he will betray you and all you have left are the ashes of your dreams.”

  “I’m sorry, darlin’.”

  “Don’t be. I’m now the perfect killing machine.” I frowned as more bees flitted around my head. What the heck? That’s when the hum of thousands of bees drew my attention to an enormous hive tucked under a ledge. They would make a perfect shield and keep his attention off my other little surprise.

  I walked to the canyon’s entrance and watched the shuttle land at the base of the mountain. How thoughtful of the General to provide me with a ride out of Arizona. I summoned the bees and had them form a living barrier around me.

  Poof! General Jones appeared in front of me in full Coletti battle armor. His eyes widened in astonishment, but he didn’t step back. “You continue to surprise me.”

  I smiled. “Surrender and I’ll be merciful.”

  “That’s my line.”

  “So, it is.” I twirled my index finger and all the bees encircled the General. “If you hold real still, they won’t sting you.”

  “Or, I can just do this.” He grabbed me as his helmet slid over his face. “Gotcha!”

  Men were so predictable. He had also failed to notice the big-ass mountain lion sneaking up behind him.

  The bees churned angrily around us.

  I put my hand over his warrior’s bracelet controls and sent an electrical current through it.

  Snap! Crackle! Pop! The General gave a violent jerk and black smoke billowed out from the smoldering remains of his bracelet. His helmet slid open, then shut. Open. Shut. “What the fuck!”

  “Sic’em.”

  The helmet opened. The bees attacked at the same time the mountain lion chomped down on his left arm and jerked. The General released me with a bellow of rage.

  “Spit,” I commanded the lion.

  The lion released the General’s arm and swiped at his legs with her deadly claws.

  The old fart jumped back, tripped over a small boulder and tumbled down the mountainside.

  I winced as he bounced off rocks, bushes and a prickly pear cactus, before landing in a muddy river bottom. “That had to hurt.” I kept waiting for him to get up and when he didn’t, I started toward him. He’d better not be playing possum. My gaze roved over the General. His battle suit displayed an awful lot of muscles for an old fart. Maybe it was the new Coletti genes.

  The bees and mountain lion trailed after me as I skirted a massive ant hill.

  Fuck! The General still hadn’t moved. Why did the thought of him being hurt fill me with such anxiety? In the military you never left an injured soldier behind, but he wasn’t exactly a fallen comrade. Nope, he was more of an enemy combatant intent on capturing me.

  A red laser beam sizzled by my head. I hit the deck. Who was shooting at me?

  “You killed them. You killed them,” Kris hollered as he galloped down slope like a mad Santa Claus.

  I yelled back, “They’re not dead. Just unconscious.” I cringed as an energy bolt came dangerous close. “I should have let them eat you.”

  “Die you murderous bitch!” More laser beams zinged overhead.

  “They. Are. Not. Dead,” I screamed.

  A cactus disintegrated in spectacular fountain of sparks. I rolled behind a boulder. “Get ’em,” I commanded the bees.

  The little guys swarmed Kris. He swatted at them, lost his footing and rolled down the hillside. Splat! He landed next to the General.

  Kris sat up. Thick red mud covered every inch of him. He blinked owlish at the General and saluted. “Reporting for duty, sir. General?”

  Guess he wasn’t playing possum.

  “General? Shit! You ain’t breathin’,” Kris cried without checking for a pulse and began doing CPR on the General. “Breathe! Breathe!”

  “You fucking moron, he is breathing and I don’t think he’ll enjoy swapping spit with you.”

  “You killed him. You killed him,” Kris howled.

  “No. I didn’t. He’s just a little banged up.”

  “Assassin! You’re an Earth First assassin,” Kris shouted and jerked the General’s laser pistol out of its holster.

  “Oh hell.” I sprinted for the shuttle with laser bolts crackling wildly in every direction.

  “Die! Die! Die!”

  Energy beams peppered the shuttle’s shielded hull. I dove into the ship, rolled to my feet and quickly secured the door. Wow. Somehow my stun grenade had turned Kris into a nut job. I slid into the pilot’s seat.

  Bang! Bang! Bang!

  I looked at the scanners.

  Kris had the General’s sword and was trying to hack his way into the shuttle. Like that was going to work. He might breach the hull with a thermite grenade, but a sword wouldn’t even scratch the metal.

  The General sat up, shook his head and looked around.

  Time to go! I quickly typed the coordinates to Bombay Beach, California into the navigation system and powered up the engines. As the shuttle shot into the air, I saluted the General. “Adios, chuckles.”

  “You do know I will find you?” There was a note of aggravation in the General’s voice.

  “Maybe. Maybe not.” Through our link I could hear Kris yelling something about assassin bees.

  “What in the hell did you do to corporal Wookums?”

  I caught a brief glimpse of Kris chasing after the shuttle. Was he waving the General’s sword around? I glanced at the rear monitors. Yep. He was. “I think he’s suffering from PTSD. The Rodan did eat his left ear.”

  “It wouldn’t have anything to do with your psychic mind bombs?”

  “Nah. Battle fatigue.” Pushing Mach 1, I skimmed the surface of the desert. I needed to dump the shuttle as soon as possible.

  Chapter Seven

  Bombay Beach, California is the poster child for the post-apocalypse. It sits on the rancid coastline of the Salton Sea. Once the playground for rich vacationers in the 1940s it became a ghost town when the polluted waters flooded the town; leaving behind the decomposing remains of fish and birds. What’s not underwater is half-buried in the salty mud.

  After landing on the shore, I programmed the shuttle to put down on the bottom of the Salton Sea. Hopefully, the saline composition of the water would hide it from Central Command’s scanners.

  I hiked past boarded-up motels, rusted out RVs and abandoned trailers. The forlorn tombstones of a forgotten past. I grimaced as windblown clouds of toxic dust swirled around me. My bandana couldn’t block the stench of rotted fish.

  The eerie sensation of being watched had me increasing my pace. Had the General sent trackers after me? Or were the paranoid townsfolk keeping an eye on me?

  Gotta say, Ezekiel White had picked the perfect place to hide from Central Command. Who would think of looking for him in a semi-abandoned ghost town? He owed me big time and I had come to collect. I needed Ezekiel and his old Hercules cargo plane to get me to Hawaii. I had friends there who would fly me to a shielded sanctuary in New Zealand. The General was a persistent bastard and I knew it wouldn’t take him long to track me down.

  Ezekiel’s home was a shipping container plunked down next to an old, rusted-out aircraft hangar. I banged on the door. “Ezekiel? I know you’re in there. Open the damn door.”

  “Ya got the wrong place. Go away.”

  “Open up Ezekiel or I’m gonna send in a swarm of ants to bite the living shit out of you.”

  “Annie?”

  “Yes. Let me in.”

  A lock clicked. The metal door creaked open a bit to reveal a blood-shot eye. “How did you find me?”

  “Tex.” I shoved my boot in the doorway before he could slam the door.

  Ezekiel looked around warily. “You alone?”

  “Yes.” I put my shoulder to the door and forced it back a foot. “We need to talk.”

  Ezekiel reminded me of Ichabod Crane with a Fu Manchu beard. He was forty but looked sixty and wore a ratty camouflage uniform. He rubbed his beak of a nose. “Shit, I think you broke my nose.”

  “Boo hoo.” I glanced inside the shipping container. It held a grimy bed, a camp stove, and an ice chest. “I need a ride to Hawaii,” I stated and handed him a piece of paper with the coordinates on it.

  He scratched his balls. “Ain’t got enough fuel.”

  “Tex says you do. Are you calling him a liar?”

  Ezekiel dropped his gaze. “No.”

  “Who pulled you out of that Rodan slaughter ship in Window Rock?”

  “You did.”

  “And you promised whenever I needed help of any kind, you would be there. Was that a lie?”

  “No, ma’am.”

  “General Saul Jones is on my tail and I need a ride to the island of Maui. Now!”

  Ezekiel twitched. “The General, huh? What did you do to rile him up?”

  “Did you know Central Command still has an active warrant on you for assaulting General Jones. I believe you broke his jaw? Do you really want to hang around until he shows up?”

  “No.” Ezekiel grabbed a large backpack. “Let’s go.”

  Wow. That was easy. I followed him over to the hangar.

  He hit the controls for the motorized doors. With a grinding clank, they slid open, revealing a well-maintained Hercules cargo plane. “They found out about your powers, didn’t they?”

  “The General did, and he decided he wants to keep me.”

  Ezekiel laughed uproariously. “Damn girl. He’s in for one wild ride. Yessiree, he just bit off more than he can chew.” He tromped up the rear loading ramp and headed for the cockpit.

  “I’m glad you find this so amusing,” I said dryly. I surveyed the interior of the airplane. It was clean with some patches made to the fuselage.

  “Buckle up,” Ezekiel said as he started his checklist. “I’m set up for a fast egress. Never know when Central Command is gonna show up.”

  I took the co-pilot’s seat as he inputted the coordinates into the navigation system. With a flip of a switch, the ramp closed.

  “Why Maui?”

  “I’m in serious need of a vacation,” I lied. “I can do some paddleboarding and work on my tan. Plus, I’ll be far enough away the General can’t track me.”

  Ezekiel snorted. “The Coletti and Apaches have a lot in common. They can track you to hell and back.” He pushed on the throttle and the aircraft rolled forward. “You’re only prolonging the inevitable. The only way to stop him is to kill him.”

  “Murder isn’t an option.”

  He shrugged. “Just saying.” The Hercules accelerated rapidly down the dirt runway.

  “I never heard why you broke the General’s jaw.”

  The airplane rose into the air.

  “He got my gal drunk and fucked her.”

  “Your gal?”

  “General Martha Douglas. I didn’t take kindly to that.”

  My jaw dropped. “Holy cow! You were dating the leader of Earth First?”

  “That’s a bunch of malarkey! Martha had nothing to do with them. She was framed.”

  “Ah, you do know she tried to kill Casey Jones? Right? There were even witnesses.”

  “Never happened. Martha was going to file sexual harassment charges against General Jones, and this is how Central Command shut her up.” Ezekiel chuckled. “The Coletti invaders and their lackeys are about to be taught a lesson.”

  “Uh, huh.” I slid into his mind. Oh shit! Earth First had infiltrated Central Command’s prison and were hours away from busting Martha Douglas out of her high-security cell. Again. And, Ezekiel wasn’t flying me to Hawaii. Oh no, he was heading for a romantic rendezvous with his homicidal lover. I gave myself a mental head smack. God, I was a such a chump. I should have known something was up when he had agreed to my request so easily. Ezekiel’s lack of gratitude for saving his life was pissing me off. I still had nightmares about the carnage inside the Rodan slaughter ship.

  The aircraft banked sharply. Ezekiel kept shooting me nervous glances.

  Dammit. We were no longer headed west. I knew the minute we landed, I was a dead woman. I smiled brightly at Ezekiel. “I’ve been doing my own investigation and I’ll soon have enough dirt on Saul Jones to get him locked up. Maybe we can work together to bring him down.”

  “I’ll talk to Martha about it. She has a lot of loyal soldiers joining her fight against Central Command. She’ll welcome your help.”

  “Great.” The idiot truly believed Martha was innocent. I shuddered at the thought of General Douglas, aka the Supreme One, free to continue her reign of terror. Earth First had to be stopped and the only way to do that was contact the old fart. Sometimes doing the right thing sucked. I took a deep breath and reached out mentally. “Sir, we have a major security problem.”

  To my surprise the General was all business. “Describe the problem in detail.”

  “There’s about to be a jailbreak.” I sent him all the information I had gathered from Ezekiel’s mind.

  “I will deal with the escape attempt. Are you safe?” There was concern in his voice.

  One look at the maniacal grin on Ezekiel’s face and I gave a mental shrug. “Hard to tell at this point.

  A low growl sounded in my head. “How in the hell did you hook up with Ezekiel White?”

  My eyes widened in shock. How did he know I was with Ezekiel? “He flew in supplies for Arizona Recon and he owed me a favor.”

  “You actually thought he could fly you out of country?” There was amusement in the General’s voice.

  I frowned. Why did the General find that so funny? “That was the idea.”

  “The minute you tried to exit our airspace, you would have been apprehended,” the General stated.

  “Just like that?”

  “Just like that, darlin’” the General replied.

  “You’re lying. You have no idea where I am.”

  “You dumped the shuttle in the Salton Sea and hiked into Bombay Beach. You’re now at twenty thousand feet heading north. Your destination is probably Colorado.”

  I quickly checked my bio-jammer. It was functioning. How in the hell was he tracking me?

  “Our minds are linked,” the General answered.

  Shit! He even knew what I was thinking? That wasn’t possible. Was it?

  “It is.”

  “What kind of game are you playing? There’s no way our minds are linked.”

  “Once you started a mental dialogue with me, a bond was formed,” the General stated.

  Another sneaky Coletti mind trick. “So why haven’t you popped in and captured me?”

  “I was giving you time to adjust to our relationship and I had to catch corporal Wookums before he harmed himself.”

  I winced. “Not my fault and we don’t have a relationship.”

  “We’ll discuss it later. I’m sending Hothar to retrieve you.”

  “What?” The word came out as a squawk.

  “White is extremely dangerous and I’m not taking any chances with your safety. Whatever you do, don’t aggravate him.”

 

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