Sharkbait Down Under

Hammer’s POV

Maribel and I alternated shifts watching the office building throughout the day. We counted a dozen people going inside, mostly in the late afternoon, while only one person came out. “Do you want me to follow her,” Maribel asked? We’d seen the woman go in just before sundown, leaving about thirty minutes later.

“No,” I said. “We can’t give any tips that other supernaturals are around, not this close to the attack.” I watched the vampire walk back up the street, carrying a black bag over her shoulder.

Picking up the radio, I asked Ken Waltrip if he and Matt had seen any activity out the back. “Nothing,” he reported. “The windows are painted black, so I can’t see anything.”

At six, I made a call to Alpha Leo to update the team on the situation. “We know the girls are inside, and we think about a hundred vampires are with them. Is it a good idea to attack against those odds? Why not wait until the number thins down again?”

“Master Pontalba says they can handle that number of newborns, so we proceed as planned. We’ll stage the vehicles in the parking lot of your hotel and drive from there. You and Matt will stay on overwatch, in case any of the vampires try and go out the windows.”

“What about Ken?”

“He’s following the assault team heading to the emergency exit in the back of the office building.”

“I should be going in the front door, Leo. I have more experience than anyone in taking down buildings.”

Leo just laughed. “You’re not the only one with experience in the sandbox or Afghanistan, Hammer. I need you covering their asses as they roll in.”

Dammit. “Yes, sir.”

“We’ll be in the lot at six-fifty. Tell Maribel that Anna will meet her in the lobby then.”

“I will. I’ll call you if anything changes.” I hung up the phone and went back to my scope. “Maribel, I’m supposed to tell you that Anna will meet you in the lobby at six-fifty.”

“This is going to be fun,” the little mermaid said.

“What are you going to do?” I’d never dealt with mermaids before.

“It’s easier to show you than explain,” she said. “You should eat something.”

“I can never eat before a mission,” I said. “I’ll take some Gatorade, though.”

She went over and took one out of the insulated compartment in my bag. “Thank you,” I said as she handed it to me. “We have fated mates, but how do mermaids find each other?”

“Mostly by arranged marriages, but some of us find someone to love on our own,” she said. “We don’t live in large groups, and our families live on the coasts around the world. Unlike wolves, we cannot turn someone, and a male mermaid getting a human female pregnant results in a human child. We cannot reproduce a mermaid unless the mother is a mermaid. Our elders strongly encourage only mermaid pairs.”

“Have you found someone?”

She blushed and shook her head. “No, and I’m not in a hurry to find a man.”

“Werewolves hold annual get-togethers where they hope to bring mates together. Do you do anything like that?”

“No, but I’d like to see it.” She let out a breath, moving a stray hair from in front of her face. “We don’t have anything like the Pack structure you have. No one wants to listen to another, and that hurts us. Maybe what Vicki is planning for Australia will carry over elsewhere.”

“I’d hope so.” She asked me about my love life while we waited. I talked about my first marriage and my wife’s loss, and then my whirlwind romance with Susan. “Once I made the change and became a werewolf, it was like everything magnified five times. I can FEEL her love for me, and I’m hopelessly in love with her. I’d die without her.”

“It sounds wonderful,” she said as she wiped away a tear.

“It is.” I squeezed her hand as I kept watch on the building. “When this is all over, talk to Leo and Adrienne, or Vicki and Nicholas. I’m sure they’d love to do something to help you out.”

“I will.” Pretty soon, it was time for her to go. “Stay safe, Hammer. Your mate needs you.”

“I’ll talk to you when it’s over,” I promised. The door closed, and I went back to overwatch. No one had gone in or out since sundown.

“We’re in place,” Leo said over the link. “We’ll be using our vehicles to take down the gate and the doors. The vamps will follow us in since we have to secure the entrance to the basement.”

“Roger that,” I sent back. I kept watch, and a few minutes later, I saw Maribel and Anna walking down the sidewalk towards the office building. Maribel stopped a block short of it while Anna kept going.

And then they began singing.

It was beautiful, and I opened my window to hear it better. I didn’t recognize the melody, the words, or the language.

Then I started to notice the humans.

They were staring at the girls, and it was like they went into a trance. People stopped what they were doing and stared at them. All movement stopped; traffic ground to a halt, and they started following the mermaids away. People in cars got out, and people in businesses came out onto the sidewalk. Like Pied Pipers, the girls led all the witnesses away. “Fuck me,” I said as I watched it. I was glad that we weren’t susceptible; it was a powerful ability.

“We’re moving,” Leo sent.

I watched as a line of vehicles moved out of the lot. The first five of them crossed the street; they would link up with Ken to attack from the rear.

The lead vehicle picked up speed, tires squealing as it made the turn and crashed through the fence. The other SUV’s stayed right behind it as it raced for the entrance. It didn’t stop, crashing through the glass doorway and into the entry. The remaining werewolves stopped outside, running into the newly-created opening with their weapons up and ready.

The second half of the vehicles veered to the right, the lead vehicle crashing through a closed garage door and into the warehouse. Two dozen vampires jumped out of the cars, moving in a blur through the opening.

I kept my eyes on the windows as the assault continued. The gunfire sounded like thunder, mixed with the whoosh of the flamethrowers. A burst of light caught my attention; a burning burst through a window on the ground floor, rolling on the rocks outside. I took three shots, putting two into the vampire’s head, and he stopped moving.

Nicholas Corcoran’s POV

When I saw that Leo had put me in the fourth of the five vehicles, I was pissed off. Vicki was MY mate, and I should be first in the door to rescue her. I made my objection known, loudly and publicly, before our mission brief. Leo then demonstrated how a mantled Alpha handles dissent.

I was on my back with his hand around my neck, defeated before I knew I was in a fight. I tried to get free, but he was strong as an ox, and his fingers were crushing my neck. I stopped struggling and bared my neck in submission. He let go of my neck, then helped me up. “There are reasons behind my decisions, Nicholas. There are ways to ask for them without questioning my judgment.” I just nodded, not wanting to get him angry again. “Each car has a purpose. The lead car does a forced entry into the building. They will fan out and eliminate any guards at the front of the building. Car two owns the warehouse entrance; they will have to hold back a hundred vampires to keep us safe. Car three owns the front stairway; they have to keep the vamps from ambushing us and clear the upstairs offices with a team coming in the back. Guess what car four does?”

“The stairway to the basement.”

“Exactly. Now, do you want to switch cars, or do you want to trust me to put you where you need to be?”

“I’ll trust you,” I said.

“Good.” I kept my mouth shut during the mission brief. Being an Aussie, I didn’t have experience with firearms like the Yanks did, and they weren’t going to trust me with one. Leo was leading Car Four, and he handed me a big pair of bolt-cutters, two small breaching charges, and a pry bar. “You open the door, we take out any vamps, then you bust the girls out,” he told me. “Turn the breaching charge on and push the button, and it blows three seconds later. Use the tools if you can, but decide quickly on how to do it. We’re sitting ducks on the stairway.”

“I’ll handle it,” I told him.

Waiting sucked; I couldn’t sit still, and I couldn’t eat. Some of the warriors recognized what was going on and talked me into a card game. It worked to distract me, and I ate some snacks while we were playing.

Once we loaded into the cars, the leaders of each group briefed their team on the plan. Leo brought Emily onto our team after discussing it with the other Masters. “We can’t use flamethrowers or firearms once we hit the stairway, or we risk harming the girls,” Leo said. “Tom, Dick, you’ll be with me to clear a path to the door and hold it. You’ll stay and secure the stairs. Nicholas opens the door, and Emily goes down first in case a guard is on the stairway. Our contact said there is another gate at the bottom, and then the door to the cell. Nicholas, you follow Emily down to get the gate, and I’ll follow you. We get through the gates, free the girls, and get out.”

Emily picked it up from there. “Our priority is to get the girls out. Once we have them, the rest of the teams will collapse around us as we head to the cars. Any vampires remaining won’t be our responsibility.”

It all made sense. As we sat in the parking lot, I used the breathing exercises I learned for diving to calm myself. When the SUV started moving, I opened my eyes and looked out. “What’s going on with the people,” I asked as I saw them standing around, staring up the road.

“Mermaids,” Leo said. “Hang on.”

The engine raced as Tom accelerated out of a hard turn. We raced into the parking lot, screeching to a halt. Emily had the door open and was out before I stopped moving; I ran out, following behind my team. Gunfire was everywhere as we ran inside, and I ignored it as I stayed behind the rest of my team.

I shoved the pry bar into the door gap just above the handle and wrenched it open. Emily rushed in with me behind her. “VICKI!”

“WATCH OUT!”