"Happy Thanksgiving … " Kyle's sarcasm distracted us from the surge of adrenalin, bloodlust, and attraction rocketing between Ryder and me.
Before I could come up with a sarcastic reply, Ryder was slamming on the brakes again. For fuc-what now?
A roadblock, about ten yards away from our vehicle. Shit. Two blacked-out Chevy Tahoe's were parked sideways, with about seven people crouched and standing around them. That first glance was enough to tell me that these people were very different from the douchebags following us, but still human.
Their clothing reminded me of some sort of defense force or military uniform, but of the hardcore variety. Their attention was locked on us, and even as we gave them hard stares back, they didn't flinch at the full convoy of ash enforcers. They remained serious-faced, weapons in hand.
Yep, the badass vibe was totally making sense; they were definitely some sort of special forces. Based on my many hours of television watching, they looked a hell of a lot like SWAT, with face shields and all.
As Jayden's car screeched up to halt beside us, I pulled my gaze from the GI Joe humans across from us, and turned to Ryder. I was opening my mouth to suggest we U-turn and head back past Deliverance, when the enforcer's eyes flicked up to the rearview mirror. It was rare to see anything but confidence and lethalness cross his face, but in the moment I swear there was a flash of fear and uncertainty.
It was only there for a second, that minor creasing of his brows, shadowing in his eyes, but it had been there for a reason. Swallowing hard, I turned in my seat.
Frickity frack, we were toast. Barreling down the road were six black vans, exact replicas of the Deliverance van we'd just trashed. One held some crazy-ass firepower on top, looking like a freaking war machine ready to kill thousands.
I spun to the guys, ready to start beating a plan out of someone. We might be in a bulletproof Humvee, but something told me the Bible freaks had learned a lot from our last attack. Hence the big guns, which were no doubt armor piercing.
Jittering in my seat, I managed to halt my tirade of spewing panic as I noticed Ryder was already busy. He was leaned forward in his seat, and there was no fear on his face now, just a calculating expression. I followed the line of sight and found myself staring at one of the SWAT men. The massive dude stood way out in front and wore authority like no one's business. Definitely some sort of leader. He was tall, built like a truck, and had piercing blue eyes.
Ryder and Blue Eyes remained engaged in their epic staredown silent conversation. WTF, guys? We so did not have time for any sort of male pissing contest. If we didn't move in the next few minutes, we were dead.
I was just about to start kung-fu fighting someone's ass, when finally Blue Eyes nodded and waved Ryder over with his head. The enforcer let out a very low exhalation of air, and I realized how tense he was.
Kyle, who had been following the silent conversation too, picked up the radio. "Take position behind the blockade."
No one hesitated, the tires on both cars screeched as engines roared to life and the boys maneuvered our vehicles to the side of the blockade, out of the way. Doors flew open as we all popped out of the Hummers, and crouching low, weapons held close to our bodies, we ran across to get behind the blockade of the human SWAT team.
As we passed him, Blue Eyes glared at Ryder. "My beef is with the Deliverance today. I have no orders to take your kind in. But don't get in my way."
Your kind. Ouch. Something told me Ryder and Blue eyes knew each other, but there was definitely no friendship there.
Kyle looked them up and down. "You military now, bro?" Okay, they definitely knew these guys.
Blue eyes shrugged. "That's classified."
More of the SWAT guys turned their hard stares at the enforcers. Both of the groups were doing the whole dominance staredown thing. Except for me, because I was born with a brain instead of a penis. Although I did take a second to turn flinty eyes on one of the SWAT boys who was checking me out a little too thoroughly. Yes, I was the mythical female ash, but there was no way he was going to learn anything about me by staring at my ass. Before I could tell him to put his eyes back in his head, a bullet sailed past my ear and tires screeched behind me.
"Down!" Blue Eyes yelled and I dropped to the ground, rolling underneath the Tahoe. I heard scuffing feet, and from my spot on the ground saw the SWAT team situating themselves around the vehicles.
Wanting to get further from the bullets, I rolled myself fully under the Tahoe, keeping the momentum going until I emerged out the back. Ryder was right behind me, Kyle to my right. Popping up to my feet, I was much more secure at the back of the two huge cars, facing toward the oncoming attack.
Blue eyes was speaking into a bullhorn, his deep voice echoing around the entire area. "Deliverance, you have officially been categorized as a terrorist organization. Get out of your vehicles and place your weapons down or we will shoot to kill."
Around me, my enforcer team stepped up into firing positions, spread across the back of the vehicles. No way would these boys sit out in a firefight like this. Sam almost looked gleeful as he loaded his gun. I flicked off the safety on mine, grateful for all the hours I'd been clocking in the firing range. I could almost always hit the moving targets now. Which was important. Very important.
Markus tossed an open duffle bag at Ryder's feet. The enforcer dropped down and rifled through it to pull free bulletproof vests. Sweet. Maybe I would walk away with my life today.
"Armageddon is upon us!" A high pitched female voice whined out of another speaker. Did all of these humans carry around loudspeakers or something?
I knew that whiny voice. It was the crazy bitch who'd killed those ash and nearly killed Ryder.
Ryder grabbed a vest and helped me slip it on, securing the last strap as the gunfire began. Oliver did the same for Jayden, who was the only one here unarmed.
Ryder leaned in close and whispered in my ear. "We could run, but we may need a favor from these boys in the future, and they're outnumbered. They could use our help."
I nodded. It was the right thing to do.
As the noise of bullets increased, one of the SWAT guys tumbled off one of the cars and slid backward into Kyle's outstretched arms.
"Man down!" Blue Eyes roared.
"I got you, bro." Kyle ripped open a med kit-seemed the boys had emptied the Humvees of the important stuff when we'd ran here-and began to treat the fallen guy.
Blue Eyes was still barking orders, and at the same time seemed to be ducking between the two vehicles constantly. His shots were scarily accurate. I saw him take out at least five Deliverance in under a minute.
Actually all of these guys were highly trained and absolutely brutal. They definitely shot to kill, and a small, sick part of me enjoyed that. Deliverance should not exist. They were murderers, killing innocents for their sick sense of right and wrong.
Deciding I wanted to be a little closer to the action, I snaked my way around the side of the closest Tahoe. The back door was open, offering me some protection, and I propped myself up on the step so I could shoot over the top of the window. A quick headcount had at least twenty Deliverance assholes, and they all seemed to be armed. Shit! Was that a freakin' AK-47? Steadying my hand over the doorframe, I breathed deeply, allowing my mind to release the fear and panic and step into the zone.
The weapon bucked in my hands as I shot once, twice, a third time. I heard two shouts, and knew I'd nailed them hard. The third bullet had clipped the crazy old bitch, whom I particularly wanted to kill, because she'd shot at my guys. No one touched my boys.
Blue Eyes swung around to me then. "I don't want an untrained female on the front line. Stand down."
Oh hell no. I flipped him off before lifting my gun up again. I heard a bark of laughter from behind and knew it was Jared. He would find that amusing; he had a particular distaste for authority.
With a shake of his head Blue Eyes resumed his previous position and went back to taking down crazies. After a few more rounds from us, the Deliverance had lost at least half their members, which must have been their signal to start gearing up to use the big machine gun on the roof. I saw two of the guys crawling their way up, others flanking around them to provide backup. I squinted again, taking aim, and fired. A female spun off the side of their car then, but another stepped in to take her place. Dammit. Were they multiplying?
"Take cover!" one of the SWAT bellowed, and on instinct all of us hit the ground. Under the Tahoe I could see Ryder and Sam, who had been exchanging fire with a small group of Deliverance to the left side.
I flinched as the first bullets from the heavy machine gun started raining across the ground and cars. Bullets pierced right through the door above my head; nothing was stopping those shots. Shit. I army-crawled my way backwards, sticking close to the car until I could scoot back around to the rear. I expected to find Kyle and company back there, but it was only Jayden. His eyes were wide, the silver swirling into the black as we both pressed ourselves to the rear panel.