Monster Hunter Bloodlines - eARC by Larry Correia (read a book .txt) 📕

“Priorities,” he muttered.

So Franks was in the same boat I was: Deal with the pending supernatural mass casualty event first, revenge second. I could get with that plan. Knowing that Franks had unnaturally good hearing, I lowered my voice so our observers wouldn’t hear. “You know Stricken will off us the second he doesn’t need us anymore.”

“Yep.”

Great. We just needed to figure out exactly when that moment was that we didn’t need Stricken anymore so we could kill him first. “Okay. Follow my lead.”

Franks snorted at that. He wasn’t much of a follower.

Sonya came out of the other bathroom, drying her hands on a rag. She came over to stand by me and Franks. “This sucks.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t knock out one of your shadows and try to sneak out wearing his face.”

“My abilities only do so much for overall size. I wouldn’t make a convincing man who is four inches taller and forty pounds heavier than me. Plus, I look terrible with a mustache.” Sonya extended one hand toward Franks. “You must be Agent Franks. I’m Sonya.”

Franks just stared at her until she awkwardly put her hand down. I knew those feels.

About half the soldiers kept an eye on us, while the other half got three SUVs ready. When the doors were open I could see that they were armored, with extra thick bulletproof glass, and there were weapons stored in the back of each. I’m sure the local authorities frowned on trunks full of machine guns but Stricken had probably already paid off whoever needed bribing. One thing was troubling though. I didn’t like how nervous the men looked, because their nerves weren’t just because of us new arrivals. They were a lot more worried about whatever was outside the garage than what was inside with them, especially considering one of the things inside was Franks . . .

“So what do we do now?” Sonya asked.

“We play along and see where this goes. Do exactly what I say.” She started to give me some smartass response, but I cut her off. “I’m not screwing around anymore. We’re a long way from home. If you’d done what you were supposed to at the compound, we wouldn’t be in this mess. When the time comes, we have to count on each other or we’re not making it out of the jungle alive.”

“I don’t even want to go to any jungle! I just want this thing out of me before it kills me.”

“Then you probably should have thought of that before you tried to escape and leave the rest of us hanging. And before you make any excuses about the succubus grabbing you out of the cell, I know about the map you stole from the archives.” It was obvious my knowing about that surprised her. “You were going to make a run for it no matter what.”

“I was just covering my bases.”

“I’m not buying it. You want to survive, we have to trust each other. Speaking of which,” I turned back to Franks. “You and the succubus . . . ”

“It’s complicated.”

Complicated was a step up from classified. We were making progress. “I gathered that.”

“That’s who called me on the phone at the country store,” Sonya said. “To make that offer tricking me to go see that lich.”

“You sure?”

“Absolutely. You heard her. I’ve got an amazing vocal range and even I’m kinda jealous. She’d make a killing as a phone sex operator.”

“Why’d your girlfriend send her to get killed by a lich, Franks?”

“Ex.” Not that I’d expected Franks to expound on his relationship status further, but he nodded toward the door to warn me that Stricken had returned.

Stricken had ditched the combat gear and was back in a suit and tie. That outfit seemed more fitting because this was a man who preferred to delegate the trigger pulling to underlings. He was more of a schemer than a doer. The reason he’d been the one to confront us in Alabama probably had something to do with how complicated the portal magic was. If he’d been able to delegate it to someone else, he more than likely would have.

“Mount up,” Stricken gestured toward the vehicles. The three of us started walking toward the SUV in the middle. “Nope. Each of our new recruits in a different ride. I hate to put too many eggs in one basket. Sonya, you’re with me.”

I didn’t like being separated and isolated from the others, but I was committed now. There would have been a lot of easier ways for Stricken to get the Ward without loading us into a convoy as some elaborate ruse. Franks shrugged and went to the lead vehicle.

“Be careful,” I told Sonya, because there had to be a reason that crafty bastard wanted a moment with her. “Don’t tell him anything he can use against you later—or he will. Good luck.”

Sonya nodded, wide-eyed and nervous.

Then I went to the last truck in line. “I’ve got shotgun.”

“You ain’t got shit.” The Texan pointed toward the backseat. “Get in back.” He got in the passenger seat.

I sat behind him. If he wanted to be a douche, then he could get the tall guy’s knees in his back the whole ride. There was one man in the rear serving as trunk monkey, meaning he had a belt-fed in case our convoy got attacked from behind. One of the soldiers was driving. Another sat across from me. Except then the succubus showed up. “Scoot over.”

“Don’t you want to ride with Franks?”

“I don’t think he’s in the mood to talk to me right now.”

“How’s that different? He doesn’t talk to anybody ever.”

“True. He’s not much of a communicator. Now make room.”

I slid to the middle so Lana could get in. It took her a moment to fold her wings out of the way. The presence of the demon seemed to make everyone else really uncomfortable, especially since she made a big show of trying to fit the seat belt over her ample