Blood Vengeance

CHAPTER FORTY NINE

Drake goggled and listened to the rest of the team’s simultaneous curses. Somehow the Blood King had wrenched away from Smyth, found a pistol, and was now holding it against the soldier’s head. His body was almost entirely concealed by Smyth’s bulk and he had positioned his back against a soot-smeared, half-crumbled wall.

Drake let out a long breath. “Jesus Christ, Kovalenko, don’t you know when you should just die?”

“Death does not scare me.”

Alicia came to stand beside Drake. “It’s over,” she said with an uncharacteristic softness in her voice. “You are well and truly done.”

“Perhaps. But my Vendetta will live on. I take as many of you with me as I can, and then she will—”

The Raptor boomed overhead for the last time, drowning out Kovalenko’s next words.

Drake met Smyth’s eyes. The soldier was ready for any instruction, letting his body stay relaxed and loose. The gun barrel wavered not an inch from his right eye. It was going to be almost impossible to save Smyth’s life.

Kinimaka whispered from the rear. “I have the bastard in my sights.”

The approaching army ground to a stop as its commander saw the situation. The man crouched and waved some of his men forward. Each one took careful aim. The commander spoke quietly into his comms.

The crackling of many fires, the groans of injured men, and the soft warping of overheated metal were the only sounds. The castle was lit by a silvery moon and savage flame. Once more, time stood still.

Drake took a step forward.

“You have done enough damage. Kovalenko, your name will become the staple word for dishonor. For infamy. Your fame? It will be meaningless.”

“You think I did it all for fame?”

“Course you did,” Alicia said. “You’re a damn psycho bird.”

“And I had plan for you, Myles. A great one. You were to be my masterpiece. I would take you and break you. Lock you away in dark place for many years. And when hardships of my life got me down, I would look at what you once were, and what you had become. A broken shell. You would have been my object lesson, the example for any future potential traitors.”

Alicia looked sideways at Drake. “He really has to die.”

“Wow, I’d almost forgotten you used to work for this freak. You didn’t…?” Drake raised an eyebrow suggestively.

“I worked for him for a couple of hours.” Alicia sniffed. “Doesn’t really count. And no! I don’t shag everyone I work for, you know.”

Drake grunted. “I bloody well hope not. We’re working for the President right now.”

All the while the two were drifting closer.

“Stop!” Kovalenko cried. “Stop with that moving right now! You think I am stupid? Eh?”

Alicia was in the middle of a dirty laugh. “C’mon BK. I’m in the middle of a fantasy about the Oval Office here.”

Then Drake suddenly did stop. A thought had occurred to him, one both the SPEAR team and the American government really needed an answer to.

“Someone helped you secure that drone, Kovalenko. Give us a clue.”

The Blood King took a moment to decipher Drake’s accent, then smiled slyly. “A new player has entered the game. And with a plan even I found intriguing. Unfortunately though,” he grunted, “I can’t join the New Order or the quest for Pandora.”

Drake thought about that as his feet inched forward again.

Kovalenko ground the barrel of the gun into Smyth’s temple. When blood began to flow, both Drake and Alicia stopped. They had drawn their guns and were mere feet away.

“Who dies?” Drake whispered hotly. “Live or die, Kovalenko. Who lives or dies today?”

The Blood King sneered. His finger tightened on the trigger. Drake felt his own finger pulling back. Smyth closed his eyes.

The world paused.

The gunshot, when it came, startled everyone. The noise was a harsh explosion that destroyed the menacing silence. Karin screamed. The marine commander let out a loud curse. Kinimaka fell to his knees in exhausted acceptance.

“Oh no.”

Smyth slumped to the side. Drake reacted instantly, shouting abuse at the Blood King. His finger was a hair’s breadth from discharging the bullet.

The Blood King stared back at him stupidly, shocked. No bullet his come from his gun.

Drake felt shock hit him like a blazing RPG. The shot hadn’t come from Kovalenko’s gun!

In fact, it hadn’t come at all. Smyth’s eyes suddenly flew open, his face twisting into a stupid grin. In that instant Drake knew the noise had come from Smyth’s authentic sounding gunshot message tone, and he absolutely knew who the sender was.

Mai! She had saved Smyth’s life and served the Blood King up on a platter all the way from Tokyo.

Now that was legendary.

Drake fired, shooting the gun out of Kovalenko’s hand. Alicia sent the next one through his collarbone. Two more came from the marines, the first blasting half his thigh away, the next hitting below the hip. The man slumped. Smyth scrambled away. Drake stooped and hauled Kovalenko up as blood fountained high from the major artery in his thigh, a fitting spectacle for a man with so much red on his hands.

Kinimaka rose to his feet. “Fuck this shit, I’m calling the hospital.”

“That message?” Drake nodded to Smyth. “You should friggin’ frame it. Saved your life.”

“I know.”

Drake crouched down and took hold of the Blood King’s heavy jacket. “God, I hope you’re not dead yet,” he said.

Consciousness still swam in the Blood King’s eyes. That, and a little bit of disbelief, a ton of hatred and hostility, and beneath it all — still a terrible unyielding purpose.

“Just this once,” Drake said point-blank into his face. “I hope there is a hell and the Devil makes you his bitch.”

“Not… over.” Kovalenko faltered. “On my… death. She alone finishes the Vendetta.”

Drake pulled back. “What?”

“Goodbye. I will see you in Hell soon enough.”

Drake shook the man hard. Kovalenko’s eyes closed as his blood gushed into the sand. Drake cursed and shook him again, slapped his face. He couldn’t believe that now he was trying to keep the Blood King alive.

Alicia placed a hand on his shoulder. “He’s gone. Thank God.”

“No,” Drake said. He slapped Kovalenko again. “You didn’t hear—”

The Blood King’s eyes opened wide. He took a deep rasping breath. “If I see any of your dead friends on my travels,” he rasped. “I’ll be sure to fuck them up.”

Drake’s jaw locked. He couldn’t speak. How could so much hatred and enmity come from one mind? Even in death.

“She will come for you,” Kovalenko said quite clearly. “You see, Zoya gave me her details. Now Coyote will fulfill the Vendetta.”

Drake didn’t know whether to be happy or sad. There were many pros and cons swirling around any new contact with the Coyote. “We will stand together,” he said. “She is but one person. We are a family.”

“Not with the plan she made.” The Blood King let out a final death rattle. “The Kitano woman. Myles. The Swede. And you, Drake. You four will have to kill each other.”

Then he died.