Live Free or Die Complete Series Boxed Set: Age Of Madness - A Kurtherian Gambit Series Hayley Lawson (ebook reader play store .TXT) 📖

me go, I’ll go down and fix the cameras faster than Advisor George,” he whimpered. His face was beet red, and his tears flowed freely. “Please!”

Not a bad idea, Afana thought, but then his senses were assaulted as the sour tang of fresh urine filled the air, and all of Afana’s patience with his cattle was gone.

He was thirsty now.

He sank his fangs into the advisor’s neck and drank him dry, then flung the lifeless body away, discarding it like garbage onto the glass floor. The corpse slid into a corner as Afana wiped the blood from his mouth. He licked his hand and sighed with satisfaction.

Equanimity restored he turned to the useless advisors, who gazing in a stupor at the corpse in the corner. “If you want to live, you’d better get the cameras fixed,” Afana warned them. He waved a dismissive hand at the body. “And get that removed before it starts to stink the place up.”

The cattle scurried to do his bidding.

Chapter Two

Ryder glanced up from her plate as Massimo and Leandro came back into the kitchen.

Carter looked over at the two men. “Did he drain the rabbit?” he asked, eyeing the vampire curiously.

Leandro nodded. “He did.”

Ryder thought Massimo did look a little healthier than he had when he’d woken her this morning. Which made perfect sense. He was a vampire, after all. If he drank more rabbit blood, would he get stronger?

Ryder wondered how many rabbits he’d need to drain to be strong enough to fight Afana. It would be impossible to force Massimo to drain that amount of blood from rabbits. Just getting him to drink from one was a challenge. I’ll ask Leandro when we’re alone.

“I did.” Massimo frowned, recoiling at the memory of his unhappy breakfast. He shuddered and quickly changed the subject. ”So, what’s your plan for getting everyone out of the bunker, Ryder?”

It appeared that everyone was more interested in what Ryder had to tell them than Massimo’s breakfast, since even Carter stopped eating to listen.

Ryder wrinkled her nose when Carter let out a loud and long burp.

“That’s better.” He grinned, then rubbed his stomach and kept eating. “Go on, then,” he added, waving his fork before biting down on the end of the piece of sausage. The juices dribbled into his beard, staining the hair darker.

Maybe he wasn’t that interested, the bloated pig-face!

Ryder raised her fork at Carter jokingly, but Massimo caught her eye and she sobered. “I’m not going to lie. It’s not going to be easy,” she admitted.

Carter snorted, almost choking on his sausage. “You’re really good at pep talks,” he snickered. His chuckles dried up when Massimo frowned at him. “Sorry,” he mumbled, looking bashful for all of two seconds.

Massimo shook his head. “Please carry on, Ryder.”

“Any more out of you and my fork will be going through your hand,” Ryder told Carter sternly.

“I see you woke up on your normal side of the bed—the wrong one.” Carter was about to laugh at his own joke again, but the smile quickly disappeared from his face when Ryder’s fork hovered over his hand.

“What part of me threatening to stab you did you not get?” She narrowed her eyes at him, but couldn’t keep a straight face.

Carter flung his hands up in mock surrender as she burst into laughter. “You really shouldn’t allow sharp objects at the table, Massimo. Actually, Ryder shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near me with them.”

“If we are going to free Ryder’s people then I believe we will be glad of her skills with sharp objects,” the vampire replied.

Ryder’s amusement faded instantly. “Massimo is right.” All the humor was gone from her voice. “The bunker is a fortress. Armed guards, locked doors, not to mention the freaking badass vampire. All of those things stand between the kids and us.”

Carter grinned. “Well, that sounds like it’s going to be a blast.”

“It’s going to be one hell of a fight, but we’re strong and smart enough to win it!” She slapped the table, making the plates rattle. “Here’s what we’re up against. First, we need to take out the guards at the bunker entrance. Second, we get past the guards inside the bunker. Third, we switch off the cameras on Level One—that’s where the control center is, and also where Afana lives. Then we need to get down six levels and get everyone out of the bunker to freedom.” She sat back and folded her arms. “Like I said before Carter interrupted me, it’s not going to be easy.”

Massimo scratched his head and Carter pulled his beard, while Leandro cleaned away the empty dishes and started to wash them.

They sat and contemplated the enormity of the undertaking ahead of them. The only noise was the squeak of Leandro’s cloth on the dishes, and the occasional clink as he placed a clean dish on the sideboard to dry.

Carter eventually broke the silence. “I don’t see how we can do this. Not with just the four of us.”

Massimo jumped up and slapped Carter on the back. “That’s right! We can get more fighters in Pinewood. I can think of a few, what about you, son?”

Leandro came back to the table, his hands covered in bubbles from the sink. “Great idea, Pops. We’ll need Byrant, since he’s the best shot I’ve ever seen. Willard, he’s good at throwing knives. Javier is a good bare-knuckle fighter, and Koda’s good at tracking. He also might be of help for negotiating inside the bunker, because he’s good at anticipating people’s next moves.” He dried his hands on a towel, and then picked up the rest of the dishes as he spoke. “And Graham can handle himself with an axe. There’re a few other people we can see if we can round up on the way. I think these will help if we give them the right payment.”

Ryder looked down. “I don’t have any money.”

Leandro smiled, “We can take care of that.”

“Why are you helping me?” This didn’t sit right with Ryder. All of