The Puppet Assassin [TTR sequel]

The Puppet Assassin - Ch 34 [sleep can wait]

The shouts got louder, as did the bangs and thuds. It seemed that the group who had grouped up downstairs weren’t as compliant as the ones who’d been arrested upstairs. We walked to the end of the hallway and down another set of stairs, to a level I hadn’t even sighted in any of the blueprints. If all things had been going to plan, the first two changer teams should be waiting at the bottom of the stairs so that we could split up properly.

Garth stood there with a male and female plus one cat.

“What happened to the others?” Luke asked irritably, rolling his shoulders and, so casually, switching his hands between paws and palms.

“Luther was hit by shrapnel, you heard the explosion. It was embedded into his muscle and made it dangerous for him to change back without more tearing. I ordered Heather to change and get him to Paddy’s right away.”

Luke sighed and flexed his hands. Sharp claws shot out with a click before slowly retracting. “Fine, we’ve got this ourselves I suppose. Marvel, team with Chase, also, Blunt, you make three. Lei, you’re with Garth. Three teams…” Luke narrowed his eyes. “Dizelde and I will take the first two possible cell areas, Garth, the next two and the last one is yours Marvel. There will be guards, stay vigilant even if they do not appear immediately. Free your hostages only when you’ve checked every nook.”

Garth hesitated, looking at me. “Luke, you should take Blunt with you. It seems silly for you two to take two rooms while the group of three have one.”

Luke glanced at Garth and then at me. “No changes will be made.”

The spotted cheetah growled.

“Blunt, make your disapproval after this is over. This is my call.” Luke spun and strode to the first door. “Get going.”

The others left with no more dissent but I could see Garth gritting his teeth. I could understand why he was worried, I didn’t know why Luke didn’t accept another member either.

“On two,” Luke muttered. He grasped the handle. “One… Two.” He slammed open the door and immediately shots rang out. I rolled out of sight, along the wall, but nothing made it through the door or the plaster surrounding it.

“WITCH!” Someone cried out angrily from the inside. I spun back to the door and noticed that a bunch of bullets littered the floor in a line. Witch indeed.

Luke leapt forward and smashed the gun out of one of the guards hands. Not wanting to be left out, I moved towards the unarmed fellow. I was a metre away when he attacked. He was fast. Not, wow, he’s so fast I might have a hard time of this… He was so fast I couldn’t see the outline of his body.

“DIZELDE!”

I heard Luke just as I was slammed into, the momentum sending crashing into the wall behind me. The air left my lungs and I heard the crunch of bone. I flopped to the floor where I scrambled to get up. The blur came again and I tried to get my timing right, no time to think. I slashed upwards and my knife’s edge caught something lightly… Probably his clothing.

I felt my wrist twist and dropped the knife as my grip loosened through its own will. The man had paused in front of me and I used this moment to smash my foot against his knee. He broke a bone in my wrist as I shattered his kneecap. It took all I had not to cry out in pain.

Luke knocked the guy out cold as he tried to get back onto his feet and then proceeded to handcuff the two of them. “You okay?” he grunted.

“Mm-hmm,” I answered. I could move my hand a fraction both ways but, thankfully, it was only my left one. The pain wouldn’t bother me until this was over.

“These guys have been playing with their genetics.” He stated the obvious to me. I’d never seen anyone move so fast.

“I’ll be more careful next time.” I tore off the bottom of the shirt beneath my bulletproof vest and wrapped it around my wrist and thumb. It hurt like hell but it made it harder for my hand to flop, meaning that it would delay any more damage to my ligaments.

He snorted. “More careful. That guy was steaming at you and there was nothing a regular human could do, trained or not. Next time just stick your knife out. If he’s stupid, you’ll stick him. If not, you’ll delay him long enough for me to help out.”

“That’s why I’m stuck with you, right?”

“Yeah.” He looked at my rapidly swelling hand. “Let’s hope we find Larkin in one of these cells and that he’s in good enough shape to help you out a little.”

My heart jolted with alarm. Hope that he’s in good enough shape… What if he wasn’t?

Luke picked up a set of card keys and made our way to the first door. Luke groaned when he saw the code accompanying the card entry slit. I took the keys from him.

“I can get these open quickly but you’ll need to guard me.”

On cue, the door was pushed open and with a yell, two more assailants charged in. They fired their weapons again but this time I noticed that they hit a shield before falling to the floor. Was this Luke’s doing? Was it even possible to hurt this guy?

I worked on the code and, a minute later, the lock snapped open. At the same time I heard the snap of a rifle being loaded. I looked up to see Luke standing over two more handcuffed bodies. He raised an eyebrow as I watched him, dumbfounded. How was that possible?

I returned my attention to the door and opened it. The stench of rotten flesh hit my senses and I quickly turned away, my eyes filling up with tears and the reaction to the odour. I heard myself moan. Oh please no. Don’t let it be like this! Don’t let it end like this!

Luke swore and strode over to me, pulling the door shut. “Come on, Dizelde. We have to try the rest.”

“Was it Larkin?” I asked in a soft voice.

“No,” he grunted. “That was Rooney. He was one of the first. Stay strong now. We have to try the rest.”