“Where are the other metas?”
“They’re hiding in the groves behind the compound; at least, that’s where I think they are. Things get fuzzy looking back in time through a scope.”
“Well, it looks as if we have two options: We can either go in immediately and hope we can get to everyone before Williams send in his troops, or we wait until the troops are sent in and try to get them out during the chaos.”
“Neither of those plans sounds awesome,” Farrow whispered honestly, “But I vote for the first. If we get in and the troops aren’t there yet, then great. We have fewer bad guys we have to kill to get to the family. If the troops come in while we’re there, we then have the chaos advantage. Either way, they’re not just going to open the door for us and welcome us in.” Farrow was shaking her head slowly, thinking about their odds.
“Why not?”
“Why not what?”
“Why not just walk through the front doors?”
“Are you crazy?”
“Maybe, but that’s beside the point. I’m sick of these freaks coming into my life and trying to kill everyone I love. I have had enough and I’m mad enough to hulk out on their asses and rip my family from their clutches.” Alik was already headed to the rear of the SUV.
“You’re serious.” Farrow watched his movements and saw his body starting to engorge.
“Oh hell yes, I’m serious,” he growled. Alik moved with the skill of an Army Ranger, loading all the weapons they’d brought with them.
Farrow tried to keep up with his movements by donning her holster and started choosing her weapons, checking them for ammo and slipping them into their positions around her slim hips and at her sides.
Alik’s hands flew bird’s-wings fast, strapping holsters to himself, checking and securing each weapon in its place, adding clips to his pockets and finally standing, huffing with excitement completely decked out in weapons and standing at the ready. Farrow was ten steps behind him, but caught up quickly.
They were standing at the base of a fifteen-foot iron fence, looking up.
Without a word, Farrow leaped five feet straight up and monkey-climbed to the top, swung her legs over and landed gracefully in a crouched position on the other side.
Simultaneously, Alik was backing up to give him momentum. His body had grown considerably as evidenced by his snug clothing. He took off running toward the fence and leaped at the perfect point where he would catapult himself all the way to the topmost iron tip. With the grace of a black panther, he slipped his legs over the sharp points and flew down to the earth in the most beautiful catlike motion. Even more shocking was his two hundred twenty-five pound body made of pure muscle landed from the fifteen-foot fall with barely a sound.
Together, they crouched and ran as close to the tree-lined driveway as possible to stay hidden in the shadows of its thick foliage.
Cicadas buzzed in the steamy, midday sun as they ran. Dark wispy grass gave way to their thick boots. Thick, gray clouds trudged with heavy feet across the sky, offering darkened coverage periodically. The scent of rain tickled Alik’s sensitive nose. Soon, there could be a downpour, but he wasn’t worried about that now. He was thinking in much more miniature chunks of time. What was going to happen in the next two minutes?
They arrived at the front doors too soon for Farrow’s liking. She sensed something was already going on behind those doors and they could be walking into a volatile situation.
She forced herself to take a slow deep breath as she scanned the area for surveillance cameras. She spotted one pointing right at them.
Shit.
“There goes the element of surprise,” she whispered behind her hand to Alik and nodded toward the camera.
“Yeah, I saw that, too. But no one’s come out so I guess that means…”
“…we’re going in,” Farrow finished.
“Ready?” Alik whispered. He pulled out two semiautomatic Micro Uzis.
“Absolutely,” Farrow followed suit, whipping out her own set of Uzis.
“I’ll aim right.” Alik’s eyes never stopped scanning the area.
“I’ll aim left.” Farrow risked one more glance at the metahuman at her side before turning the soldier on inside her head.
“If everything goes to shit, meet back at the SUV with whomever you could get out. And remember not to let them get closer than seven feet from one another. Got it?”
“Copy that,” Farrow felt a wave of calm wash over her. This is what she was an expert at—battle.
They ran up the steps to the front door and stood on either side. Alik motioned to the doorknob and reached out to try to knob. It didn’t budge.