Chapter 25

... Early Morning

Nexus Ranch

Near Harborton, Washington

The bearded man heard the clang of Billy’s ammo cans hitting the ground just as he pulled the old school friction igniter on the M20 satchel charge and whirled around. Somewhere in the back of his mind Billy was astonished at how quick the big man was.

Time went askew for Billy. It felt like everything was moving both too fast and too slow. But this feeling wasn’t a stranger. He felt at home again. The adrenalin spike that shot through his system heightened every sense and in a way that only some combat veterans could ever really understand, calmed him, as he slammed into the much larger man.

Billy knew the countdown had started. He wasn’t sure how much time he had but it was probably less than 20 seconds before the 15 pounds of C4 detonated. It didn’t matter. As long as he could keep the charge out of the barn his personal survival was a distant second in priority.

The momentum of Billy’s charge was enough to knock the bigger man off of his feet as they struggled. Billy was trying to get the satchel away, the bearded man was trying to clear himself from Billy so he could toss the satchel through the window.

Neither could reach their weapons or land an effective blow through the tangle of gear, arms and legs as they windmilled about on the ground. Finally with a wrestling-like escape maneuver the bearded man slammed a knee into Billy’s sternum, flipped over and onto his feet away from Billy, and drew back to launch the satchel charge into the window.

A razor sharp snap sliced the night air and most of the left side of the man’s head disintegrated. The body dropped like a puppet with cut strings as Billy launched himself toward the satchel charge. He tore the charge from the man’s limp hands and using the carrying strap spun like a discus thrower and launched the satchel away from the building and in the same movement dove to the ground.

An overwhelming white flash and then darkness...

Kelly could feel the sweat trickle down the small of her back puddling slightly where it encountered the tactical leather of her holster. A distraction, just a small one is all she needed. She was confident from hours of practice of drawing and firing her small .380 She was no Sarah but since her ‘Ben Effect’ enhancements she was far faster than the average person and Ben had been a very harsh taskmaster in training her. After their last encounter with the Chinese commandos he had been determined that she was never to be defenseless again.

Dimly, she was aware that something was happening behind Dell as the seconds drew on endlessly, but she couldn’t spare the focus.

“Alright then, let’s start with that lovely top shall we?” said Dell reaching out with the straight razor toward the topmost button of her blouse.

“What the... ‘‘ said a stunned Dell as a huge blast rattled the solid house and a white light lit up the early morning sky outside the window like a miniature sun.

For just an instant Dell’s gun hand dropped slightly as he looked out the window. That’s all Kelly needed as her right hand dipped behind her and the checkered grip of the Glock filled her hand. She might not have made it. Dell’s face twitched and his gun hand was coming up back online when suddenly 30 pounds of puppy fury became attached to his wrist.

Awhoo was only 4 months old but he was determined and motivated. No one was going to hurt his human!

Dell shook the puppy off but it was too late. Dell saw Kelly’s gun come from around her back and realized he was about to get perforated. He instinctively started a step back and tried to drop under her aim while continuing to bring his own pistol back inline.

Kelly had practiced this kind of close combat shot at paper targets, but there is nothing you can practice about shooting another human being. Her adrenaline fueled reflexes snapped the shot off the smallest fraction of an instant early.

Dell was squeezing his own trigger when his backward movement turned into a flail as his rear moving left foot caught slightly on an unseen impediment. As Kelly’s shot furrowed into Dell’s upper shoulder, his shot went off over her head and into the bedroom ceiling.

Dell’s ass hit the hardwood floor and his gun hand slammed down with a loud smack. His pistol flew across the floor and into a corner where Awhoo pounced on it. Kelly was just getting her pistol back on target when she saw Meenie fleeing behind Dell’s back. She held her shot for fear of shooting through Dell and hitting the kitten.

This gave Dell enough time to flip over and begin a desperate half crawling scramble out the door. Kelly fired again aiming for center mass. Of course in Dell’s mad dash, his ass was in the air as he tried to get his feet under him, meaning that Kelly’s shot took him right between the legs. Another two inches higher and Dell would have experienced a hot lead enema. Instead, the .380 caliber bullet furrowed one of Dell’s testicles and neatly clipped the the end of his penis thereby halving its length.

Dell’s impossibly high pitched keening scream was like a thousand nails scraping a chalkboard and so unnerved Kelly that her next shot flew wide hitting one of the stair banister posts as Dell managed to make it to the landing. Dell did a Coyote-vs-Roadrunner churn off the end of the landing as the stairs fell away from underneath him

Kelly gave a quick look around to ensure her furry helpers were all okay as Dell went ass over teakettle down the stairs.

“Okay you all STAY here!” she sent them as she stepped out of the bedroom onto the landing.

Dell had just managed to unentangle himself from the bottom of the stairs as Kelly calmly steadied her elbows on the banister rail and placed the front side bead on Dell’s broad back as stood preparing to flee.

She had him dead to rights with no chance of missing as she took up slack in the trigger.

But she just couldn’t do it. Dell was no longer an immediate threat. She knew that Sarah or Ben or anyone who had a combat mentality would kill him preemptively but she was a healer, not a killer.

As Dell bolted across the room and out the open window, Kelly knew she had done the right thing for her, she just hoped that Dell was in no condition to harm anyone else and that her sisters and Ben could forgive her if she were wrong.

Kelly collapsed to the hardwood floor trembling uncontrollably as she let out a breath and the adrenaline rush caught up to her. Awhoo and the kittens flew up onto her lap kissing and rubbing all over her. She closed her eyes for just a second as she tried to comfort them.

Then her eyes flew open again as she ‘heard’ Ben call her. He needed her right now!

Dell tumbled out the window onto the ground and let out a tortured groan. How had this gone so wrong? The little bitch had actually shot him! It felt as if all his luck had been stripped from him at once and his accumulated ill fortune was catching up to him.

There was too much activity at the front of the compound so Dell headed for the darkness toward the back of the ranch house where there was what appeared to be a large grassy pasture area. Maybe he could make his way unseen across the back of the pasture and into the woods. From there maybe he could work his way around the perimeter, find his partner Sam and catch a ride home before first light. Dell gave not a single thought to his ‘employees’, the Outlaw Demons or to the mercenaries he was supposed to be working with. This was every man for himself.

His bloody groin squished with each labored stride. Dell was afraid to even think about what had happened to his man tackle. Luckily, there wasn’t as much bleeding as he would have thought and the pain was starting to numb a little.

The moonlight sent dappled shadows across the pasture as Dell managed to clamber over the wood railings and start across the open ground. It looked like he was actually going to make it. That stupid cow Kelly was going to be really sorry she didn’t have enough guts to finish him off Dell thought smugly just as heard a loud ‘whoof’ and a huge beast arose out of nowhere and slammed him to the ground with its massive chest.

Dell, stunned immobile felt himself being drug across the pasture by his collar. As he waffled in and out of consciousness he thought ‘what the fuck else can go wrong tonight?’

Joe was getting anxious. He knew what his job was but nothing was happening and he felt so left out! Ben had promised him that he had an important job. Guard the back pasture to make sure no one snuck in behind them Ben had told him.

Don’t get too close if they have the bang things. Just let them know. Shoot. This was not what a war horse was supposed to do. He knew it in his bones. He was supposed to run and stomp and bite and carry his person to the fight and protect them from the enemy. This was what he felt. It was embedded deep in his blood and bones.

Joe knew he was being mopey again, but he couldn’t help it. He could do more darn it! He thought as he scuffed the pasture up with his hoofs.

Joe’s pouting was brought to an abrupt end by the crack of rifle shots coming from the far side of the pasture. Joe was frozen in place as he tried to understand what was happening. Then there was an enormous thunderclap of sound accompanied by a flash of light that turned night into day. Joe was terrified of lightning and thunder but he gathered his courage and flew to the end of the pasture to get a closer look. He was just about to undo the gate and see if he could help when Ben’s words came back to him.