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

General Murray had no intention of being down here very long, but getting back into Level One would bring its own problems. Would Afana let them in–or would he turn them into lab rats? If that was the case then maybe he ought to think about taking advantage of Afana’s distraction and make a run for it with Martin. He’d have to work out what he was going to do after they’d fixed the cameras.

The scrawny advisor had to scurry to keep pace with their long strides. General Murray could see the spidery shadows of George’s wiry hair bouncing along the tunnel walls as he sprinted. When they stopped George peeked between the two men, making the Murrays shudder in unison as they felt his breath on their necks.

“Stay behind us, soul sucker,” General Murray ordered.

Martin smiled at his dad. “Nice one. By the number of freckles on his face I reckon he’s stolen loads of souls…but he’s not taking ours. Step back, we know the truth!”

“Freckles don’t come from stolen souls, you morons,” George whined. Murray realized they’d found George’s weakness—his frizzy, red hair.

Martin grinned. “You do know that pubic hair is meant to grow around your balls, not your head?”

“Really, is that the best you’ve got?” George tried to affect a bored tone.

Martin was ready to fire another smart comment at George, but his dad noticed the men approaching and stopped him.

Murray was prepared for a confrontation with the men, but his preparations meant nothing in the face of a level full of men who were wound up tight with anger and fear.

The men bristled, and Murray could feel the potential for mob violence rippling through them.

General Murray hushed the quickly-forming crowd and did his best to hide his relief when the men listened to his instructions. The last thing he wanted was to be there if a riot broke out despite the comforting weight of the extra rounds in his pockets. Before leaving to fix the cameras they had rearmed themselves, since Afana had handed their weapons to the hunters he had sent after Ryder. There were ten rounds in each pistol, and their pockets were filled with more. The men on Level Four were dumb, not suicidal. However, they were afraid, and he knew that if the men turned on them, it would be certain death for both him and his son.

Martin’s hand hovered over his gun, ready at any point to shoot the men if they rushed him. Murray placed his hand over Martin’s and shook his head. They were massively outnumbered; guns or no guns their authority would only hold as long as they remained calm and in charge.

Martin knew what Murray meant. His trembling hand moved away from his gun. Murray gave him a minute nod, glad that his son was smart enough to understand that they walked a fine line.

“Why are we locked up?” one of the men asked, and the mob followed with similar questions.

General Murray spoke loudly to the crowd. “Afana has placed the bunker in quarantine for everybody’s safety. Today, Ivan’s head was brought to him with a potentially contagious disease.” The mention of disease brought a few gasps and murmurs from the men. Murray hushed the crowd again. “So far, Ivan’s has been the only case of the disease and Afana would like to keep it that way, but in the meantime, we need to fix some cameras which were broken so we can keep an eye on you and make sure that the disease isn’t spreading.”

This was a lot for the men to take in. They began to clamor, asking the same questions over and over.

General Murray did the best he could to quiet the crowd and answer all their questions but started to get annoyed at repeating himself. Patience at an end, and satisfied that the mood wasn’t going to turn ugly, he snapped at the mob. “Go back to your beds and let us do our jobs. George, go fix the cameras.”

Chapter Five

Leandro sniffed, catching a ripe scent as soon as the gang left Massimo’s house. Massimo wrinkled his nose when he picked it up as well. There had been others outside their house, but it didn’t smell like the Mad man.

He remembered his father telling him about the three men from the bunker who had tried to kidnap Ryder. Massimo had knocked one out, and two had run away. After the bar fight, Leandro had spotted the body of a stranger on the floor with an arrow in his head. If the body was one of the would-be kidnappers, maybe it was his buddies he could smell.

Or it could be more Mad.

The thought put him on high alert. Leandro scanned the house and the woods around it. He couldn’t see anyone, but there was a faint smell of unwashed human hanging in the air. If they were close he’d sense them, but if they used the bow and arrow like Ryder then they wouldn’t need to get that close to begin with.

Everyone looked around to see if there were any more Mad close by. Leandro hadn’t recognized the one who’d come into the house; he wasn’t from Pinewood. He could have been from Darkwell, the neighboring town about two hours walk from Pinewood, or a wanderer passing through.

“Why don’t you go for a run and check that there are no Mad around?” Massimo requested.

“Yeah, go on…turn into Fluffy. We’ve missed him, haven’t we, Ryder?” Carter mocked.

“Yeah,” Ryder teased. “Come on, I want to see Fluffy again.”

FUCK! I want nothing more than to turn into Fluffy! Oh, shit. Even I’m calling myself Fluffy now…He shook his head at the others. “It’s nothing, just rats. Come on, we’ve got a lot of people to see today.”

Massimo looked at his son, but Leandro pretended he hadn’t noticed. He knew that if he made eye contact then his father would work out that there was something wrong with him.

Leandro led