No signal.
But that wasn’t possible, unless... The men outside had blocked the signal, which meant they had access to impressive technology, and that told her all she needed to know about who was outside.
Mark Hawkins hated TV. He rarely ever watched cable. But right now all he really wanted to do was watch a mind-numbing SyFy movie, have a beer or two and chill out. Not because he was tired, but because he was agitated. Inaction didn’t suit him, especially when it came to DARPA. He’d rather take the fight to their doorstep than hide in the woods.
But right now, the TV wasn’t working. The satellite dish sometimes acted up during a storm or thick cloud cover, but the skies outside were clear, save for the stars and the moon. He knew nothing about fixing TVs or the satellite box connections, but like any true man, he pretended to and crouched down in front of the TV to check things out.
After pushing a series of buttons and seeing that everything was working right, he decided that something must have been wrong on the other end. The signal just wasn’t getting through.
A loud thud beside him sent him sprawling for cover, but when he rolled back to his feet, it was just Lilly standing in the living room. Did she jump down from the second floor? The central living area at the front of the large cabin was open concept, the ceiling peaking two stories up at a line of skylights. When Hawkins saw what Lilly held, he forgot all about how she’d entered the room.
“What are you doing with my shotgun?” he asked.
Without a word, Lilly tossed the weapon to him. He caught it, and then quickly caught the box of shells that followed.
“I already loaded it,” she said, looking around the room. “Shades are pulled, so let’s leave the lights on. Turning them off now will just let them know that we know they’re here.”
Hawkins quickly understood. They were under attack, or soon would be. “How many?”
“Twenty-ish.”
“Where is Maigo?”
Lilly shrugged. “Probably up in her room. I can’t hear her. But she’s safer there, so let’s leave her be. She’ll hide when the shooting starts.”
“Joliet?”
Lilly grinned. “I threw her in the attic.”
“You what?”
“Be glad I didn’t put you up there, too,” she says.
“Lilly,” Hawkins said, his voice stern. “You can lose.”
Her smile faded. “I know, I know, this isn’t capture the flag.”
As though to prove the point, every window on the first floor, and the skylights above, burst inward at once. A number of small devices rattled to the floor.
Hawkins caught sight of Lilly launching toward the roof and slipping out a skylight, while he dove to the floor, clutching his eyes shut, blocking his ears and opening his mouth.
The flash-bang grenades went off one by one, punching Hawkins’s body with stunning force, but not permanently injuring him. They’re not here to kill us—not yet—they’re here to collect Lilly. When the last flash-bang detonated, Hawkins opened his eyes to a spinning room. Despite his best efforts to shield himself from the stun weapons’ effect, he was still disoriented.
He raised the shotgun, knowing what would come next. Hordes of men would flow through the windows, aiming weapons, maybe firing, maybe shouting orders. The first one who entered would lose his head. The second, well, that would be a toss up. By the third, Hawkins would be screwed.
But that’s not what happened. Instead, Lilly fell back through the skylight, her body clutched in some sort of spasm. Hawkins stumbled to her and knelt down beside her, quickly seeing two large darts from an oversized stun gun in her chest. They guessed she’d exit. They were waiting for her.
“Here’s the deal,” a man said from behind Hawkins. “We can either leave with the girl, or we can kill you and then leave with the girl. The choice is yours, but I don’t give a damn, either way.”
17
“Back the way we came,” I shout, pointing to the far end as a pair of small goats, adorable as hell, hop toward a pig...with wings. I don’t think the large swine could possible fly. The wings look too small, and the pigs lack the chest muscles, but then I remember that genetically, pigs are very similar to humans. It makes a sick kind of sense that they’d try this kind of modification on a hog before moving to human trials.
But the goats... They look normal—until they reach the pig. The nearest goat bounds up and dives, its body going rigid. For a moment, I think the thing has passed out, that it’s one of those fainting goats, but then its mouth opens and peels back over its face. Two wide, hooked mandibles snap open and clamp shut on the pig’s pink skin, digging in deep.