Blood & Thunder (THIRDS 2)

Ash gave him a shove through the fence. “I’m saying if you don’t shut your trap, the next time I look at your ass will be while I’m taking aim to shoot it.”

“The next time?” Dex laughed. “Oh shit. Keeler’s been looking at my ass.”

“Sloane,” Ash grunted.

Sloane shook his head as they used the heavy machinery around the sign company’s yard to conceal them. “Dex.”

It wasn’t quite a warning, more a friendly reminder to shut his pie hole. Regardless, Dex looked over his shoulder at Ash who was grinning smugly. Dex mouthed the word, “narc,” causing Ash’s grin to fall away to a glower. That was more like it.

They scurried along the side of the building, their sights on the target across the street. A small bulldozer was parked a few feet away from the building’s back entrance, and they crouched down beside it in the dirt and patches of dry weeds. He heard Sloane’s quiet words come through his earpiece.

“Letty, Rosa, what’s your twenty?”

“We’re coming up behind the office now.”

“Copy that. Calvin?”

“We’re about to fix the det cord to the door. Do you want us to—”

Calvin was cut short when a shot popped through the air.

“Calvin?” Sloane edged toward the front of the bulldozer. They could hear low groans coming through their earpieces, and Dex’s heart was in his throat. Sloane’s curses continued as he tried to get an answer from their teammate. “Goddammit, Calvin, talk to me. What the hell happened?”

“Shooter,” Calvin wheezed, his breath ragged as he tried to talk. “I’m okay. Got hit in the vest. Fuck, shit hurts. We’re under fire.” Just as he said the words more shooting erupted. It was coming from somewhere close by.

Sloane peeked around the bulldozer looking to pinpoint the location of their shooters. “I’ve got a visual. There’s a charter bus just ahead. All the windows are smashed to shit. It’s been stripped. I make two shooters inside.”

“Looks like someone wasn’t happy with their service,” Ash muttered.

“Cael, is the area clear?” Sloane asked.

“Aside from our shooters, affirmative. No civilians.”

“Agent Stone, Agent Taylor?”

“This is Agent Stone. Area’s secure.”

“Agent Taylor here. Area’s secure.”

“Copy that. Destructive Delta, we’re going in aggressive. Go, go, go!” Sloane darted out from behind the bulldozer with Dex and Ash on his heels to a chorus of gunfire, bangs, and shouting across three locations. They sprinted to the stripped black-and-gold charter bus, and Sloane pitched a couple of smoke bombs through one of the smashed windows before they breached the bus through the open driver’s side.

“On the ground! Get on the ground now!” Sloane yelled. The two Human shooters threw their rifles to one side just as Ash grabbed them and roughly forced them onto the floor of the bus.

“Hands behind your backs,” Ash spat out, taking zip ties from his utility belt and securing their wrists.

Calvin’s warning came through their earpieces. “Fire in the hole!”

“Dex, side doors!” Sloane pushed Dex to the front of the bus. They ran across the street to the aluminum structure as the third vehicle door catapulted off the building in a burst of smoke, skidding across the dirt until it launched off the side into the river. Like there wasn’t enough shit down there already.

Dex and Sloane positioned themselves to either side of the smaller entrances with their backs to the aluminum structure and waited. They didn’t have to wait long. The doors swung open, a rifle poking through the doorway beside Dex. He snatched it with his right hand and thrust his left elbow into the gunman’s face, snapping his head back and bloodying his nose. Dex tossed the gun to the grass beside him with one hand, and with the other, pointed his rifle at the emerging Humans coughing and gasping, their eyes bloodshot and tearful from the smoke.

“On the ground! Get on the ground now!” Dex ordered. “Hands where I can see them!” One of the gunmen tried to reach under his open plaid shirt, but Dex shoved a boot down against his back, pushing him harshly onto his stomach against the dirt. “I said hands where I can see them!” He unhooked a handful of zip ties from his belt, crouched down, and lifted the hem of the guy’s shirt to find a revolver. He tossed it out of their reach, then looped a tie around the man’s wrists and gave it an extra tug, enough to make the guy hiss. As soon as he’d checked all three for additional weapons and secured them, he stood and tapped his earpiece. “I’ve got three in custody.”

Rosa’s breathy voice came through, “We’ve got four in custody.”

“We got five in custody,” Calvin added roughly, yelling something at one of the perps. His teammate sounded grumpy, but then who wouldn’t be after taking a bullet to the vest? Dex took a step back, watching in amusement as Ash dragged over the two gunmen from the bus, both practically dangling off the ground. Unit Alpha’s Therian Defense agents were all made of Apex predators, large Felids, each Therian agent with the strength of two Human agents. When the teams faced Therian perpetrators, the score was pretty even, with a Therian agent’s advantage depending on the shape they were in, their skill, and their smarts. When facing Humans, Therian Defense agents didn’t even break a sweat. Dex liked those odds.

Sloane stepped up beside Dex and patted him on the back in approval as he gave his orders. “Beta Pride, Beta Ambush, move in. I want our perps lined up, asses to the floor. Agent Taylor, Agent Stone, see if you can get any information out of them.”