Night Unbound(127)

“Me too,” she admitted.
“I won’t let you out of my sight, Lisette,” he vowed.
“You aren’t invincible, Zach,” she said, leaning into him. “Don’t lose your head, and I mean literally lose it, because you’re distracted by whatever is going on with me. I need you.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine,” he promised.
The assurance didn’t dispel her fear.
Ten minutes, Seth spoke in her head.
Zach pressed his forehead to hers, his glowing golden eyes capturing her own. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” she responded.
For some reason, the words sounded like a good-bye.
 

 

“Hoooooooly shit!” Ethan exclaimed.
My sentiments exactly, Lisette thought as she eyed the army of network Special Ops soldiers.
Chris had chosen the rendezvous point for Immortal Guardians, their Seconds, and the humans he commanded. They met several miles away from the mercenary compound, hidden by dense forest.
“What?” Chris asked as he spread a large map on the hood of one of many Humvees outfitted with a variety of mean-looking weapons.
“You think you have enough men?” Ethan asked, taking in the multitude of rough-hewn soldiers garbed in camouflage.
“This is just half of them,” Chris responded absently. “The other half are already in place, observing the compound’s perimeter.”
Lisette looked to Seth. If even one man’s presence had been detected, the mercenaries would know they were coming.
Seth must have read her thoughts. “None have been discovered,” he said. “I monitored their approach myself.”
“What the hell is that?” Sheldon asked, pointing at something atop the Humvee.
Chris followed his gaze. “A TOW missile.”
Lisette’s eyebrows rose. “And that?” she asked, pointing to a weapon atop another Humvee.
“Flame thrower.”
Bastien stared up at it. “What’s its range?”
“It can light up vampires two-hundred-fifty feet away,” Chris said. “But, since it’ll also light up immortals, we plan to use them primarily on the gate and on the grounds away from the main structures.”
The automatic weapons mounted to the tops of the other vehicles, Lisette recognized from past clashes with mercenaries.
“Now,” Chris said, pointing to an area on the map, “these are the training fields that will be active. Live ammo is used on the target ranges, so you’ll face a lot of firepower there. The gates will be heavily guarded. Patrols walk the fence. There will be a changing of the guard in half an hour, so the soldiers on duty now will be tired and likely not as vigilant. Surveillance cameras are mounted on the fences here, here, and here, near the main structures and training fields. But they’re sparse on the rest of the grounds. These red circles indicate where you’ll find them.
“Once more, you’ll find an ass-load of vampires in this building. The human mercenaries who work the night shift will be sleeping here in the building next to it. This over here is the armory. Anyone you let go in there will come out packing major weaponry. There’s only the one door, and a hell of a lot of them are going to want to use it, so I suggest you park a couple of immortals in front of it.”
“I’ll do it,” Yuri volunteered.
“Me too,” Stanislav said.
Seth nodded his approval.
“Try not to blow up the building, guys,” Chris said. “We could use the stuff that’s in there.”
Stanislav sighed. “You’re forever spoiling our fun, Reordon.”
Lisette smiled.
“The helos will have to be guarded. We don’t want a repeat of what happened last time.”
All eyes went to Krysta, who blushed a bright red. “I said I was sorry,” she mumbled.
Grinning, Étienne wrapped an arm around her.
“That goes for the planes, too,” Chris said. “We can’t let anyone out, by land or by air.”
“Richart, Jenna,” Seth spoke, “you keep the planes and helicopters on the ground.”
They nodded.
“Étienne, Krysta, and Sean, clear out the hangars,” he continued.
More nods.
“Roland and Sarah, take out the vampires.”
Chris shook his head. “That building is a hell of a lot bigger than the barracks Donald and Nelson housed their men in. I recommend you have two or three more immortals accompany them.”
Aidan raised a hand and smiled. “Can I do it?”
Lisette thought it a little freaky that he seemed so entertained by all of this.
Seth nodded. “Aidan will do. He can teleport and is very powerful.”
“Okay,” Chris agreed.
Marcus stepped forward. “I can take the building that houses the humans.”