Page 52 of Concluded
“Fuck.”That was Grimes, who, in Achilles’ experience, rarely swore.Hearing him do so now wasn’t heartening.Achilles decided to play ostrich and not lift his head to see what, specifically, was troubling the chief.
More gunshots, this time apparently not hitting anyone or anything important, and then Grimes turned the wheel so sharply that they very nearly overturned.“Can’t outrun them,” he explained.“Prepare to bail out and take cover.”
“Unbuckle!”Achilles yelled at Dee, unfastening his own seatbelt.
A moment later, the Jeep came to a shuddering stop.Achilles, who’d been ready for it, flung his door open, grabbed Dee’s arm, and hauled him out.They both hit the ground running, which was better than Achilles had hoped for.There was no time to assess the situation, but years of training and experience kicked in, and Achilles dragged Dee up a steep incline of jagged rocks and behind a mansion-sized boulder.Grimes and Tenrael were right behind them.
No chance to strategize.When Grimes tossed Achilles a gun, Achilles caught it.That left Grimes armed with a nasty-looking knife, Tenrael with his teeth and claws, and Dee with nothing at all.“Hunker down!”Achilles barked at him.“Stay behind us!”He gave him an almost-gentle shove to encourage him to obey.
The pursuing vehicles stopped at the bottom of the hill.Heavy footsteps and grunts approached fast.
“Shoot first, ask questions later,” Achilles muttered to himself.He didn’t like guns, but he was grateful to have one now.
As soon as the first person appeared around the rock, before Achilles even had the chance to see who it was, he pulled the trigger twice.He’d always scored well while practicing at the range, and now his target made a muffled scream and collapsed, unmoving.That must have made the others hesitate, because nobody else showed their face and the sounds on the other side of the rock stopped.
Grimes looked at Tenrael—who was ignoring the blood streaming down his own torso—and pointed upward.Tenrael nodded and took to the air, as graceful as any bird despite his mass.Achilles, who’d never seen him fly, wished he had the opportunity to gape, but now wasn’t the time.In any case, Tenrael rose only high enough to peek over the top of the boulder, then landed lightly on his feet back on the safe side, holding up three fingers on his left hand.
The low number was a slight relief, although if the pursuers could do Dunn’s magic-finger pain thing, the promising odds might not matter.Achilles wondered the range of Dunn’s little trick.
Noises started on the other side of the rock, weird shuffling and groans.Before Achilles had a chance to consider what that meant, a trio of bodies rushed around the edge.Large, furry bodies.Achilles shot again, emptying the magazine, and although one of the attackers joined their fallen colleague, the others continued forward with ground-shaking roars.
Bears.
Out of ammunition, Achilles did the only thing he could—he fell back, leaving Grimes and Tenrael between him and the bears but standing in front of Dee.He picked up a rock, ready to throw it if needed.In dire straits, even caveman weapons were better than nothing at all.
The chief and Tenrael collided with the bears.Between the swiftly moving bodies and the demon’s wings, it was hard to follow the action, but there was a lot of roaring and growling and snarling.Not all of it from the bears.Achilles set his jaw and tried not to remember the sensation of claws ripping him open or the sight of Santiago Bautista dying a few feet away.
One more howl echoed against the boulder, and then the combatants were still.Achilles held his breath until Tenrael and Grimes separated from their opponents and stood upright.Grimes’ clothing was shredded and they were both covered in blood—their own and the bears’—but they wore matching feral grins that were both terrifying and wonderful to see.
“You’re bleeding,” Dee said from behind Achilles.
Achilles laughed.“’Tis but a flesh wound.”
“I’m sorry I was so fucking useless.I don’t?—”
“Fighting isn’t your strength.That’s fine.I wasn’t ready to go hand-to-hand with bears either, you might have noticed.”
Breathing heavily, Grimes and Tenrael walked over to them.They all watched as the corpses shuddered and reshaped into four naked human-shaped bodies.Three male and one female.
“What the fuck?”Achilles said, disgusted.“They have bear shifters on their side?And with guns?”Because shifters of any species tended to look down their snouts at human weapons.
“Apparently.”Grimes wiped his blade on his trousers and tucked it away.He also took the handgun from Achilles.“Good shots,” he said drily.
Achilles, who was trying not to think about the fact that he’d just killed two people, made a face.His killings were clearly justified, but that didn’t mean he was comfortable with them.He never was.He hadn’t even been happy to see the bear that had killed Santiago collapse under another agent’s hail of bullets.Relieved, certainly, but not happy.
“This is going to sound stupid,” Dee said hesitantly.“But compared to Ashley, these guys didn’t seem that scary.”
Grimes gave a quick headshake.“They want you alive.They’d be pleased to have Spanos too.And not just for strategic reasons—they’re undoubtedly furious that you beat Dunn.”
“They don’t want you two?”
“I’m sure they’d be delighted with either of us.But they didn’t know who was accompanying you.Maybe they know now.We need to get you somewhere safe and get this over with.”Grimes looked at Tenrael and they had some kind of silent conversation with their eyes.“San Francisco?”
Tenrael nodded.“I’ll go ahead and let them know.”He leaped up, flapped away, and was soon barely a speck in the sky.
CHAPTER22
“Let who know?”They were back in a vehicle, this time with Dee alone in the back seat.
