The Crane War by Graeme Rodaughan

Author:Graeme Rodaughan
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Tags: vampires, Paranormal, fantasy, supernatural, Action, Suspense, thriller
ISBN: 9780994595294
Publisher: System Zero Productions Pty Ltd
Published: 2019-12-30T05:00:00+00:00

* * *

A stuttering rip of assault rifle fire came to a halt on the far side of the hanger.

Oblivious to the gunfire, General Clayton Maze shouted, “What the hell! Who opened the hanger doors?”

His eyes flashed over the praetorians and the humans huddling in front of them. The intolerable sunlight was spreading in a widening rectangle. In moments it would cover the four nightfalcons in the middle of the hanger. The doors were supposed to be shut until he was safely onboard a helicopter. Then they would be opened to allow him to escape. How could he approach them now with bright sunlight cutting an ever-widening toxic perimeter around the blessed helicopters?

Commander Siobhan Ulysses, stared at him nonplussed. “Sir?”

“Get them closed.”

Ulysses shook her head. “That can’t be done from here, Sir. We’d have to get back to the command and control center or,” she pointed at the nearest helicopter gleaming in the bright afternoon sunlight, “we operate the hanger doors from the cockpit controls.”

Clayton snarled.

“Sir,” said Holdsworthy, one of the three surviving praetorian squad leaders. He pointed past the nightfalcons with an armored fist to the eastern side of the hanger. “Order operatives.”

Clayton’s head flicked left, the concrete past the helicopters was littered with slumped armored forms. A young man with dirty-blond hair was on his knees, cradling an older man who was lung shot and spitting blood.

Francis Mirovar was at death’s door and Jay Creeley was alone and distracted. Clayton smiled with avid glee, at least two scalps would be his before he departed the doomed fortress. “Carney, Holdsworthy,” he snapped, pointing at the vulnerable Ramp masters across the hanger. “Secure the nightfalcons. Kill Creeley and Mirovar, and bring me their heads.”

The two squad leaders and their praetorians blurred away, veering left and right around the sunlight encased nightfalcons.

Once the two Ramp masters were eliminated. It would be a simple matter to get the nearest helicopter to lift off, slide twenty yards out of the sunlight and into the shadows. He and his remaining praetorians could board the craft, and protected by the armored skin of the nightfalcon, they could escape the coming disaster.

But first they would have to play out the final act, the use of the hostages to secure the Panopticon P-Case when Arthur Slayne inevitably arrived with it in hand. Clayton whirled upon the cowering humans, his fangs bared and hissed, “Strip off your uniforms. You are no longer part of Shadowstone. I free you of your oaths of service. Strip!”

The humans fumbled and stumbled, attempting to obey his orders. Only Ulysses maintained her composure, frowning briefly before unbuttoning her shirt.

Once the P-Case was secured, only the vampires would be leaving. The humans would be left behind to be claimed by the raging forces rising from beneath the fortress. Of course, it was only fitting that the mortals perished while their betters survived.

It was the natural order of things.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.