Desperado (Murphy's Lawless: Watch the Skies Book 2) by Kevin Ikenberry (any book recommendations txt) 📕

Andrechyk nodded but said nothing. Olympia hooted, and the big whinnie, Scout, trumpeted and ran for the cache site’s eastern entrance. Along with his mate, Athena, Major Moorefield’s mount easily crashed through the timber and wire gate and charged east along the exposed rock. Stewart held Olympia back for a moment before she ignored him and followed the other whinnies, both mounted and unmounted. Though he’d seen firsthand how fast the whinnies could run, their speed surprised him. There hadn’t been a chance for him to say anything before Olympia tore out after the others, faster than he’d ever ridden her.

The exposed rock outcropping between the city and the box canyon was roughly three-quarters of a mile long. Within a couple of minutes, the whinnies rounded the spur and darted west toward the thermal pool and the waterfall on Imsurmik’s eastern side. Immediately south of the falls, where a runoff creek ran from the pool to the river south of the town, was a wide, shallow marshland. With the approaching Sear, the ground didn’t appear too damp or unstable for the whinnies. As fast as they were moving, Stewart wouldn’t have been surprised to see them barely tracking mud from the ground. Ahead of him, Scout and Athena charged toward the pool, hugging the wall on its northern side. The radio crackled to life as they reestablished line-of-sight and the radios could “see” one another. Major Moorefield was asking where they were.

Stewart grabbed the handset from his vest. “We’re coming around the mountain in a blue hurry, sir. Something’s got the whinnies riled up!”

Scout trumpeted loud enough that Stewart heard him over the battle inside the town. The unmounted whinnies broke away from Stewart and Alpha Section. He saw Athena reach the waterfall first and climb the wet rocks with relative ease. Whatever they were going after, there was no way a mounted whinnie was going to climb the sheer vertical wall. Stewart studied the terrain ahead and rallied the section on him.

“Over here. Let them go. We’ll go left around the pool.” He pointed at the narrow band of rock-reinforced shoreline. “Follow that and bound up to the wall. Let’s see if we can find a way to the top.”

He realized as soon as he said it that going up a vertical wall by the waterfall versus going up the taller but not-quite-so-steep glacis seemed silly. Yet given the rough structure of the wall itself, he had a feeling the whinnies could handle the climb and not lose their rider in the process.

Ahead, on the wall of the fortress itself, Stewart saw a potential path. While it appeared smooth and well-made in places, there was an area that looked like it may have once been breached. The patch was rough stonework that stood out from the rest of it by a couple of feet at the base and tapered up gently into the wall itself. It might have been a weak spot if they could have hit it with artillery, but without any guns bearing on this side of the city, it didn’t matter. What it provided, Stewart thought, was claw-holds and purchase for the sure-footed whinnies.

Olympia must have seen the same thing. Without a command, she leapt onto the wall and scrambled more than halfway up in the space of a couple of heartbeats. From there, the going was tougher, but before Stewart could rein her in, she scrambled to the top of the glacis and stood spanning the two-meter-wide walkway. There were no soldiers from his vantage point all the way down to the waterfall on his right. Only a handful were visible on the first section of the wall to his left.

They saw each other at the same moment, and both sides brought up their weapons.

* * *

Aliza focused on remaining perfectly still. She held her breath and willed herself to become smaller and more unnoticeable. The act brought back memories of her first days in Dachau, but here there was no crowd to shrink into and no protective adults to stand behind. Likewise, there wasn’t a gang of guards to cull a crowd where she might be lost. Her pursuer was one man, and he’d seen her enter the room. While it was much bigger than she imagined it would be, it was still just one room.

Footsteps crunched closer.

“Come out, woman. I don’t know who you are, but you have brought trouble. Your curiosity will be your end.”

Aliza flexed her fingers and re-wrapped them around the grip of the pistol in her hand. Her sweaty palms made it difficult to hold steady, but she dared not reach down and dust her palms as Sergeant First Class Whittaker had taught her. Any noise could relay her position to Waornaak. Which was clearly what he was trying to provoke with his threats.

“There’s nowhere to hide,” the man said as he searched the barrels on the far side of the room. “Sobiturni will pay me handsomely for your pretty head.”

Aliza tried to picture his location based on the sound of his voice. If she could surprise him, she might have a chance to end their conflict before it began. She closed her eyes and listened. He was close, no doubt of that. She steadied herself and wiggled her feet as silently as possible into a better position from which to spring out—

A powerful hand roughly grabbed her garment at the back of her neck and yanked her up. She sprawled painfully across the pile of logs and twisted herself from his grasp. Sensing freedom, Aliza brought the pistol up as she turned toward her assailant. There was a sickening smack and white-hot pain shot through her right hand and upper arm. The pistol clattered away across the stone.

Aliza screamed in both pain and surprise. But before she could move, Waornaak stepped forward and reached for her throat. She rolled