and they have numbers on their side. We must not underestimate the backlash that will follow.”
“Surely you’re not frightened by their precious machines and guns and bombs,” he grunted.
Minh’s human face had soft, Asian features. Her hands slipped through the fur on his chest and her thin lips curled into a wide smile as she said, “Their machines are useless without anyone to operate them. Guns and bombs can’t do anything if there is no human hand to fire them, and with the Torva’ox, such a thing can be arranged.”
“Now this,” Liam said while reaching around to grab her hips with both hands, “is why I’ve continued this conversation. You have vision, my darling.”
“I do,” Minh replied. “Which is why I can see where this road of yours can take us. Perhaps it is too late to hope for us to go back to quiet times when the humans were blissfully unaware of what hunted them, but we must truly know what we’re starting. What do you hope to accomplish? Do you want to rule them?”
“What I want is to set things in their proper order. The strong are supposed to prosper through strength! Not by keeping their heads down and staying away from gnats who’ve survived through sheer procreation and strut like kings because they can throw lead pellets in mass quantities or burn their own cities to the ground. We know how to take the machines out of the picture. We know how to knock the humans back down to where they need to be. All we lack is the will to put this knowledge to use. I may have forced our hand, but can you honestly tell me that a part of you doesn’t want to thank me for it?”
After a heavy pause, Minh sighed and said, “This will get bloody. Bloodier than it already has. Bloodier than anyone could anticipate. Bloodier, even, then you may anticipate. What will be left when all that blood is spilled? What will be left when the humans retaliate and start those fires they’re so fond of? What will be left for us when the world finally stops burning?”
“I don’t know,” Liam said with an eagerness that Paige could feel from where she hid. “Let’s find out!”
Chapter Twenty-One
Twelve miles north of
Raton, New Mexico
“So what now?” Cole asked.
Paige’s voice came through in a rush. While telling him the basics of what she’d learned, she’d been running down side streets and hopping fences from one backyard to another. She’d listened to his update without panting more than Cole after climbing too many stairs. “Now, we get our asses to another safe house and prepare to clean this city out. I need to mix up a batch of Half Breed bait to try and draw enough of those things away from here and give the locals a chance to get out.”
“Anything other than that? This sounds like some pretty big news.”
“I was kinda hoping to hear a good idea or two from you,” she said. “I hate to say that I’m out of my depth here, but . . .”
“Yeah,” Cole sighed. “Even with your Army buddies we may be out of our depth. Have you tried calling them again yet?”
“No,” she snapped. “I sent Rico to check them out and I’m leaving it at that. After what happened with you, Adderson deserves to deal with him. And what about your wolf girl?”
“We’re meeting her somewhere in New Mexico.”
“Jessup’s idea?”
“Yep.”
Although the rattling on her end of the phone had stopped, Paige’s breathing was getting heavier. “He’s kind of a hick, but that backwoods stuff of his may be what we need right now. Should keep you off anyone’s radar. Let me know what you come up with.”
“Will do.” Cole tapped the front of the phone, realized it wasn’t his own touch-screen beauty, and put the sparkling monstrosity away. The scenery flowing past him on the other side of the Ford’s window consisted of dusty rock and shrubs that were tough enough to survive the punishment doled out by a sun that only grew fiercer as it shone farther south of Chicago. “Why the hell is your window open?” he grunted.
“Because the fresh air feels good,” Jessup replied. “Don’t tell me you expect there to be AC blowin’ on your face no matter where you go. Besides, it’s a dry heat.”
“You know what else is dry heat? The middle of a freaking oven. Crank the AC.”
“So what’s Paige got to say?” Jessup asked without even