Chapter 53

The informant ended up being quite useful, allowing Jo’s team to get into position so that they would be able to ambush the group from an overpass as their bus left a suburb of Moscow. They’d had to hurry to get into position, but then, Stasha had told them the bus was taking its time, stopping frequently, occasionally to pick up more pathetic humans who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and found themselves chained, gagged, probably drugged, and sitting in a vehicle on the highway to hell.
They wouldn’t have a lot of time to act, assuming the bus was going full speed when it arrived, but Jo felt confident about the assignments she’d given. Their plan was to shoot the tires out, which would force the bus to stop. She doubted there’d be much chance of any of the humans inside surviving, except for maybe Ryker and any others who were working alongside the Vampires and might be able to brace for impact with their hands free, but the others would likely already be infected, which meant they couldn’t be salvaged anyway. There were no more Vampire rehabilitation programs as far as LIGHTS was concerned. Her parents had told her about the ones they’d attempted to give solace to who lived in the tagging center. For the most part, that wasn’t a problem, but there’d been an incident where Holland had infiltrated their minds and caused an uproar that had left a lot of spilled blood. Now that many governments gave full human rights to Vampires, in Jo’s opinion, the only good one was a dead one--unless they happened to be Souled, and then, well, she might make an exception or two.
Positioned in a tall tree just down the road from where they expected the bus to appear in a few moments, she held a pair of binoculars that gave her super vision even more strength. Scott and Cadon would be ready to shoot out the tires on the left side of the van as it approached the overpass, and Zane and Brandon would take out the other side. Cassidy, Mikali, and Mila were positioned to move in after the bus stopped. Of course, if it didn’t, then Cassidy would have to take care of that for them, something Jo was trying to avoid if possible because picking up a bus and tossing it into a snowbank wasn’t nearly as much fun as shooting out the tires and then moving in to assassinate the Vampires inside.
The idea that she should’ve brought more people kept playing in the back of her mind, but Jo ignored it, assuring herself, as long as she had Cassidy, they’d be fine. There wasn’t much her aunt couldn’t handle. The informant had counted five Vampires for sure, but said there could be up to three more. She couldn’t tell if the other forms she’d seen were human like Ryker or Vampires. So that could mean eight. That kept their numbers even.
Seeing the bus round the bend down the road, she used her IAC to let the others know. “I see it.”
“Affirmative. We can see what you can see,” Cadon said, sarcastically.
“Still going to tell you because that’s my job, smartass,” she said back.
He didn’t respond, but some of the others let her know they were ready. She believed them--this should go pretty smoothly. They’d stop the bus, take out the Vampires, and let Mila and Mikala see what they could do about the humans while she kept her back to that whole situation. If they were still human, they’d be set free. If not, well, she knew what had to be done. She just didn’t want to be part of it.
The bus was traveling more quickly than she’d anticipated it would be over the snowy roads. This was one stretch of highway that had been cleaned earlier, perhaps by Vampires in anticipation of this transport, but it had been a while, and the melted snow was beginning to freeze back over. Whomever was driving didn’t seem to care if he ended up losing the whole load to a fiery crash.
They might just be about to find out.
The bus sped past her. Jo lowered her binoculars and watched as it approached the overpass about a half mile from her location. She watched through her IAC as the four designated shooters opened fire, their silencers preventing the night air from being disturbed from the pop pop of gunfire.
Someone had missed--but the other three tires were taken out. It only took her a second to see that it was the left back tire that continued to spin unimpeded. “Scott…” she muttered. She’d thought he was a better shot than that. A second after his miss, the tire went. Cadon had anticipated the possible goof up and taken aim at the second tire, too. Her brother wouldn’t miss.
The bus immediately began to careen all over the highway, sliding this way and that. Jo was out of the tree and sprinting toward the location, her Beretta at the ready. She could see through her team’s eyes that they were all closing in as well. Screams from the humans inside who were being tossed around inside like rag dolls were audible to her teammates that were closer, though Jo couldn’t hear them from where she sprinted across the snow. Eventually, the wayward bus tipped on its side and landed in a snowbank about a mile from where it had been assaulted.
As quickly as they could all run, it didn’t take long at all for her forces to reach the location. Just as Cassidy, Mikali, and Mila approached, the windows facing the sky exploded and Vampires emerged, angry and firing their weapons.
Cassidy wasn’t throwing a shield, but then, Jo hadn’t asked her to. Her hope was that they’d have the upper hand and get off enough shots on the startled Vampires to take them out before anyone on their side got hit with a scandium bullet or otherwise, but the Vampires who jumped out first didn’t seem to have any scandium. A bullet hit Mila in the arm and bounced, making her grin. She opened fire, and the first four Vampires who had emerged from the vehicle fell quickly enough from her efforts and those of her teammates.
By the time anyone else poked their heads out of the bus, the rest of the team was there. The driver attempted to go out through the front, busting out the glass without even brandishing a weapon. He headed for the ditch in front of him, but didn’t stand a chance. Brandon took him out easily enough mid stride as he ran toward the location. The rest of her team was preparing to enter the bus when Jo arrived.
“Guardians first?” Mila asked, but the question had barely left her lips when a large form clad all in back appeared on top of the bus. How this person had managed to jump up so quickly was a mystery to Jo. He moved as fast as her own teammates did, which was about twice the speed of most Vampires, thanks to the second round of Transformation serum they’d all received. The bullet sunk into Mila’s chest this time, and she stumbled backward. Scott hit her with his blue light from across the highway and sprinted in her direction.
Jo’s eyes widened as Cassidy threw her shield. It was a split second too late for Mila, but it kept the bullet aimed at Brandon from hitting its mark. Cassidy picked the male Vampire up and tossed him against the concrete wall of the overpass. It wouldn’t kill him, but it would knock him out. Two more emerged from the bus right after him.
This time, her team was ready. Despite how quickly they were moving, they opened fire. Jo hit a man a good foot shorter than the first squarely in the chest. If he’d been a human, a Vampire, or even a Guardian, it should’ve ended him.
But it did nothing but bounce.
“Son of a bitch!” she shouted, realizing now what they were facing. “They’re Hunters!”
Assassin Hunters. She’d heard of them but had no experience with them whatsoever. Turncoats who had joined the Vampires for only God knew what reasons. Either because so many governments outlawed hunting Vampires and this was the only way they could stay free or because they were just innately evil.
“Do we have any titanium?” Cassidy asked as she kept her shield up around the two who had just emerged. The other was beginning to stir on the ground. Jo had decided not to use the meager titanium bullets she had on hand for this mission since it had nothing to do with their larger purpose.
“I have a few rounds,” Brandon said, quickly pulling the clip from his Glock and shoving a different one inside. “How long can you keep them contained?”
The Assassins wouldn’t stay inside of Cassidy’s bubble for long. They were faster and stronger than anything she was used to shielding against. “Not long,” she admitted.
Brandon flew over to where the first Assassin lay on the ground, intending to take him out before he got his faculties back, but by the time her uncle arrived, the man was stirring enough to defend himself. A Hunter could always kill a Guardian, regardless of what sort of ammunition was in use. The only way a Guardian could kill a Hunter or a Hunter could kill another Hunter was with titanium.
“What are they using?” Jo demanded
Scott answered, “Titanium.”
Jo swore again. She’d really fucked this up, and she could potentially lose her best people because of it. She needed to get her hands on the weapons they were using. Cassidy continued to contain the two Assassins, but as they leapt off of the bus and headed in different directions, it was clear she was about to lose her ability to keep them both from firing their weapons at her teammates.
The fight between Brandon and the largest Assassin was just beginning as the man raised his weapon at the Guardian and fired. Brandon was faster, having not just been hurled into a concrete barrier. He stepped aside and opened fire, hitting the Assassin in the right arm. He groaned and clutched the wound, blood spirting between his fingers. But he was a big dude and he wasn’t going out that way.
Jo couldn’t kill him because she didn’t have any titanium bullets, but she could slow him down. Darting around to his other side and taking careful aim so as not to hit her uncle, whom she could kill without anything better than a regular ol’ bullet, she took aim at the Assassin’s feet and legs, keeping him distracted as Brandon moved in to fire again. This time, he hit his mark. The titanium bullet hit the Assassin in the head, sending blood and brain matter spraying all over the concrete overpass. His weapon stayed tightly in his grip for a moment as the body spasmed, and then his muscles retracted, and the weapon dropped.
Brandon grabbed it out of the air before it hit the ground and flung it in Jo’s direction. She had no idea what make or model the weapon was, but it felt good in her hands. Spinning her useless Beretta to her back, she opened fire on the Assassin closest to her. He just happened to be standing in front of a window to the bus, and as the titanium bullets she fired from the other Assassin’s gun entered the vehicle, more screaming filled the air.
The fact that she was hitting humans likely already wounded from the bus accident made her narrow in her aim. Cassidy had dropped the shield so her bullets could get in, which meant the bastard could fire back. It didn’t take her long to hit him in the chest enough times that he wasn’t moving anymore by the time she got within five feet of him. He fell to the ground in a pool of his own blood.
It was weird--seeing a body she’d shot up spew blood instead of ashes. It gave her an unsettled feeling, as if she’d done something wrong. But if she hadn’t taken this asshole out, he certainly wouldn’t have hesitated to annihilate her entire team.
The last Assassin was cornered now. Brandon had closed in, and Cassidy wasn’t letting the bastard move. Every time the Assassin tried to run, she’d move him back. He had his gun in his hand, ready to shoot the second she lowered the shield. Rather than allowing him that luxury, Cassidy used her powers to jerk the gun from his hand and then dropped the shield, letting Brandon take him out quickly enough. A couple of bursts from the Guardian’s gun, and the Assassin was no more.
“Why didn’t you just jerk the gun from the first bastard and save us some grief?” Jo asked, crossing over to where her aunt was standing.
“Because I was too busy trying to keep up with these two jack asses. I’m telling you, we need Heather.”
“One emergency at a time,” Jo said, shaking her head. By her count, they’d taken out eight. The four Vampires who had initially jumped out the top, the driver, and the three Assassins. “How’s Mila?” she asked, contemplating whether or not they should risk trying to enter the bus as it was or take other precautions.
“I’m fine,” the Guardian said. “Scott has me fixed up.”
“Good.” Jo hadn’t even expected her to be the one to answer. “Well, now, I guess we see what sort of a mess we have inside here.” The idea that Ryker was in that bus, that he was likely dead, made Jo’s stomach twist in a knot. She glanced around and caught Zane’s eyes, wondering if he knew how she was feeling. He gave her a reassuring smile, probably assuming she was nervous about the battle or the human carnage, not necessarily the informant.
“Shall I sit the bus up?” Cassidy asked.
Jo nodded, and her aunt slowly lifted it up, tipping it carefully back onto its flat tires. There were a few screams from inside, but not nearly as many as the two times before--with the initial crash and the gunfire.
As soon as it was righted, Cadon asked, “Want us to move in?”
Jo nodded. She’d let him lead this. But he didn’t get more than a few steps toward the smashed in door before a voice from the inside shouted, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you!”
“Ryker!” she muttered, wondering what in the world he was talking about. She raised her hand, telling her brother to stop, but he didn’t, and a few seconds later, as Cadon opened the door to the bus, the sound of an explosion filled the air, sending all of them rocketing backward away from the vehicle.
“Cadon!” Jo screamed, but she couldn’t hear anything but ringing or see anything but smoke.



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