Swamp Kings 2 (Bayou Bishops #20)

CHAPTER NINETEEN

“No, no, no, no,” Bishop muttered at the barricade before the bridge. “Give me an alternative route,” he told Spook.

“Already on it.”

Bishop checked mirrors then the setting sun. He had every asset wide open and on high alert, every gift, every talent. 8-Bit and the Kings were on standby for emergency extraction while Beth, Maggie and Lucy played happy games in the back bedroom, and he drove as fast as he could from whatever impending doom he felt circling them.

“Okay, there’s a road just before the bridge you can take.”

Bishop hit the gas, heading toward it. “Where does it lead?”

“To a very small town with two red lights. Worst case scenario, you can plow through anything.”

He gripped the steering wheel tight. “How far.”

“Two point three miles. Pulling up every alternate route from here to our main exit just in case.”

“Good. 8-Bit sent you that backroads map?”

“I got it. Paved roads, gravel roads, dirt roads, water roads, bike trails and foot trails.”

“Fuck, I’m glad you’re here.”

“It’s gonna be alright brother.”

Yeah. He wished to fuck his useless gifts would confirm that. His mind was a chaotic vortex, and the numbers and equations seemed to be trying to define it. It didn’t help that everybody who looked at that picture only saw a forest of trees. Even the triplets. Fucking amazing. Well, they were driving in a forest at that second, maybe everything they saw was relevant, all a coming reality. But that didn’t explain rescuing those kids, or the random adoption of one by a triplet. That had to be fucking relevant to something important.

“It’s coming up,” Spook said.

Bishop rounded a curve and jammed on the brakes, encountering a wall of people on the road.

“What the fuck,” Spook said, as Bishop threw the vehicle in reverse, looking for a turnaround.

The cab door flew open. “We’ve got company behind us,” Fetch said. “Zodak, you’re on the girls with your life.”

He headed out as Fetch grabbed Bishop’s shoulder, showing him what they saw. Oh Christ. Fucking line of convoys behind them. “What is this, what’s going on?”

“I don’t know but the crowd isn’t happy,” Seer observed.

“I thought this was a small town, Spook!”

“It was!”

“It’s a Chaos Point,” Fathom said with his eyes closed. “People are here to get aid.”

Hope flashed through him. Maybe that’s what the convoys were. “We need to turn around, I need eyes to help me get us turned around. Now!”

“People are surrounding the rig,” Fin said.

“Get them off,” Bishop ordered.

“They’re desperate civilians,” Fathom said.

“Then do it fucking nicely!” Bishop said. “Non-lethal.”

“We’re programed to protect and help the innocent,” Fathom reiterated.

“He means we have to help them,” Fetch further explained, sounding pissed about it.

“How did you manage last time we crossed innocent civilians?” Bishop half yelled.

“By helping them,” Fetch shot back. “If your wife hadn’t ordered it, we would have.”

“What are you saying we’re supposed to do,” Bishop demanded, “there’s hundreds of people out there, we can’t help all of them! ”

“Call the Kings,” Fin ordered. “Tell them to send their extraction team.”

Bishop fumbled his phone.

“I got it Eveque,” Spook called, phone already on his ear. “8-Bit, send the extraction team, we ran into a fucking Chaos Point. You have our location? Good.” He hung up and hurried to the window as the rig shook.

“How long, Spook,” Bishop asked. “Fetch, what’s up with those convoys.”

“Fifteen minutes,” Spook called.

“Convoys are military,” Fetch said.

“Is this an aid operation or a riot containment?” Bishop called out as he sped walked toward the women. “I need to know you’re planning, what you can and cannot do so I know what I need to do,” he yelled over his shoulder.

“What’s happening?” Beth gasped, quickly exiting the bedroom and shutting the door.

“We’ve sent for the extraction team. You and Maggie will stay in this room with the girl and Zodak. I’m going to see if we can find another way out of here.”

“There’s people everywhere,” she whispered. “What’s wrong with them, what happened?”

“I don’t know. Just lock the fucking door!”

Bishop turned, eyeing the people climbing the rig, hitting the windows with sticks and whatever they could find, some with their fucking heads.

Fetch looked up, scanning the roof.

“Why are they like this, what’s happening?” Bishop asked.

“Fin detected scopolamine in their blood,” he said, scanning the walls and floor before eyeing him. “A drug that causes confusion and hallucinations. It’s potent when inhaled and isn’t something readily available outside of military use. And Fathom determined the convoys aren’t coming to deliver aid.”

“What are they coming for?” Bishop demanded as Fathom and Fin grabbed hold of each other’s arms.

“We don't know!” Fetch yelled, clearly pissed over that. “Some of our defenses remain dormant until in combat. ”

“Fuck,” Bishop whispered, looking around for some fucking answer. “Spook,” he yelled. “ETA!” He turned to Fetch. “What are you going to do?”

“We have to fight them,” he said, glaring at him like he didn’t like his options.

“Can’t you fucking override that directive? There aren’t enough of us!”

“Brother!” he shot out, his breaths thick as he eyed him. “I am not a Quantum Architect. But even if I were, we’re out of time.”

“Extraction team is five minutes away,” Spook yelled. “These convoys have mega fucking firepower!”

It hit Bishop’s brain like a supernova, and he spun to Fetch, grabbed his head and sank his fangs in his neck. Fetch groaned and dug his fingers into his shoulders so hard it buckled Bishops knees. He focused his adaptive evolution traits at Fetch’s DNA, ensuring the code embedded into his epigenome where all his primal orders were stored.

He released him and Fetch seethed, dropping to a knee, sucking in air.

“Hurry,” Fathom said, understanding what Bishop had done and giving him his neck.

“Convoys are fucking here!” Spook yelled.

Bishop executed the same bite to Fathom and by the time he was done, Fetch had recovered.

“How long before this takes effect, Marsh King?” he growled.

“Four minutes,” he said the second the concrete fact presented itself.

“We need a distraction,” Fetch breathed as Bishop grabbed hold of Fin and gave him the codes to override the genesis directives.

A loud roar suddenly flew over the rig.

“That’s our boys!” Spook yelled.

“And our distraction,” Fetch realized, hurrying to the door. “Fathom and Fin,” he called. “Let’s see what these war bodies can do.”

Bishop raced to the door, nodding at Fetch before opening it for them. They dashed out and he slammed it shut, locking it. “Spook!” Bishop called, hurrying to the front of the rig.

Spook flew out the door and Bishop grabbed his shoulders, driving his fangs in his neck and flooding him with every bit of power he could without killing him.

Loud explosions rocked the rig followed by the roar of their rescue again shooting past.

He released Spook and ran to the front, finding Seer eying a flood of advancing soldiers entering the crowds.

“That’s them,” Spook growled behind him, winded. “What the fuck did you do to me?”

“Packed you with power,” he whispered, still winded from it.

Seer shook his head, eyeing his extended fangs. “Don’t need it, brother.”

He held a 357 Magnum, checking the bullet chamber then the incoming swarm.

“They won’t be able to land,” Spook heaved as Bishop searched for signs of the triplets, his gaze snagging on what the soldiers were doing.

“What the fuck,” Spook breathed as the giants gripped people’s heads, locked eyes, and let them collapse like things being unplugged.

A huge explosion sent them all running into the main cabin, searching out the window for the source. He spotted the triplets out in a field, a blue ball of fire encircling them. “Fuck yes, they’re luring them away,” Bishop realized, his pulse beating down his eardrums.

His phone buzzed and he fished it from his pocket, answering it. “8-Bit!”

“We’re here but we can’t land.”

“We know. The triplets are in the field, creating a diversion. We either need a path out of here or we’re in for a hell of a fight. They’ve done something to these people, drugged them. Now they’re dropping them like flies, are they killing them or what, I don’t even fucking know.”

“What the hell is that?” 8-Bit worried.

Bishop shot to the window, pulse hammering as tremors raced through his bones. He angled his head up seeing the air blackened and rippling with a growling force. Holy fuck. Thousands of ravens and crows screeched and swarmed, their dark fury igniting his own.

“That’s fucking birds !” 8-Bit realized, right as a whomp-whomp BOOM rocked the rig.

Bishop flew to the other side of the cabin, looking out, his stomach twisting as he saw the ground littered with lifeless bodies.

“They’re leaving!” Seer called from the front.

Through the open cab door, Bishop watched as the soldiers retreated in reverse. He made his way to the exit and peered through the glass, seeing no signs of the triplets.

A sharp twist in his blood sent him hurrying to the bedroom, throwing open the door.

“They’re leaving,” he shot out, freezing at the sight of Maggie, crying with the little girl in her lap. His gaze shot around and landed on a jagged hole in the floor.

Terror jolted him as he scanned the room. “Beth,” he barely got out, unable to breathe as he tore apart the room. He spun to Zodak and jerked him by the shoulders. “Where’s my wife!” he roared.

Zodak stood there, motionless, as if he couldn’t answer. Bishop spun to Maggie and saw that she and the little girl were paralyzed the same way. “Oh fuck, please,” he gasped, reaching for Zodak’s head and closing his eyes, terror clawing at him as he searched for the source of this nightmare.

He found a mental prison in Zodak’s mind, one that locked his movements and voice, and instantly knew what he had to do to break it. Biting Zodak’s wrist, he gave his blood the code able to free his mind.

Every second felt like an eternity as he waited for it to take. Zodak suddenly jolted forward, letting out a roar so forceful it knocked Bishop back onto the bed.

Zodak’s gasps filled the room as his freakish eyes brimmed with devastation.

“WHERE'S MY WIFE!” Bishop begged on another roar.

“HE TOOK HER,” Zodak thundered, agony breaking his voice. “When I heard them coming through the floor, your wife...” His face twisted in an agonizing fury. “She said, 'Shhhhhh, ‘Shhhh… nobody move.’”

He gripped Bishop’s shoulders. “I couldn't. Move!” he strained. “I couldn’t. Speak! And he took her!” he yelled in his face. “He took her because she told him, ‘I know you, do not hurt them, just take me… and leave this place.’” Zodak’s back hit the door as his breaths turned ragged and bitter. “And he did... exactly as she commanded.”

He grabbed Zodak as fresh panic hit him. “I need to stop them!” He shot out of the rig, and raced toward the convoys, leaping over fallen bodies.

“They have Beth!” he yelled at the triplets as he raced past them. He focused all his gifts into his muscles and ran with all his might, aiming for the last convoy. The ravens and crows flew with him, a screeching river of onyx behind, above, and before him. Bishop could feel their bond in his blood as thousands descended on the convoy.

The back door blasted open with soldiers flooding out, his crows and ravens attacking with the same fury pumping through his veins.

Gunfire erupted and his feathered brothers formed a wall before him as he ran harder, dodging left and right, his entire being locked onto the back door of that convoy.

The triplets overtook him with a massive power leap, landing in the chaos, their offense restrictions overridden as they met the soldiers with lethal force.

Bishop reached the convoy right as a triplet yelled, “INCOMING!”

A rocket slammed into the side of the convoy, the blast sending fire and metal tearing through him. Mid-air, the world around him fractured in a roar of heat and pain as wings buffered his impact with the ground.

Shock and pain pulsed in every nerve as the ravens and crows swirled around him, wings slicing through smoke and fire, feathers beating against his skin while they pecked all over him with an eerie focus.

Darkness closed in as yelling cut through the haze. “It’s Spook! We need immediate medevac—priority fucking one, it’s critical, it’s fucking critical!” he yelled hoarsely. “It’s Eveque! He’s torn to hell! ”

Bishop forced a breath, rough and jagged, his lips parting with the only thing he cared about. “Beth…”

The triplets were suddenly there, surrounding him, their grim faces close. “We have a hostage soldier, brother,” they said in unison. “We will make him lead us to her.”

Bishop realized the left side of his head was completely numb, his sight on that side black as night. “I can’t… see.”

“Hold on, my Eveque,” Spook breathed just behind him as the scream of a jet engine roared directly above.

“We’ll hold him together until we get him to Quantum,” the triplets all said. “The seconds are crucial.”

Seer’s panicked face appeared above him, his eyes glowing with tears as a sob tore from him, shredding Bishop more. “Mon frere!” he strained right before his face. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry! I saw everything wrong!” he said frantically. “I saw everything wrong !”

“Brother, we’ve got to move him,” Spook urged, his words choked as he pulled him back.

“I’m sorry mon frere!” he cried louder, his grief devastating as the triplets lifted him. “I’m so sorry!”

TO BE FUCKING CONTINUED

AND IT’S GOING TO BE FUCKING EPIC!!!

SO DON’T HATE ME!