Live Free or Die Complete Series Boxed Set: Age Of Madness - A Kurtherian Gambit Series by Hayley Lawson (pdf e book reader .TXT) 📗

to him, and he shook his head and frowned. “What?” He looked blankly from Murray to Terrier, who repeated his question.

George paused again until Murray prompted him. “Yes, they can override the doors,” he told them.

Everyone listening in on the conversation had an “oh fuck” moment. They’d thought that when George had locked the door to Level Six and the drop hole they were safe, but Afana was on Level One now, and he was going to work out how to open the door.

They were screwed.

Chapter Two

Massimo was having somewhat of an open house. The group all spread out to relax, from the kitchen to the porch.

Fluffy was walking between everyone like he was trying to work out where to sit, or that was what Ryder had thought until she spotted him with his dish in his mouth. He dropped it in front of different people’s feet and they in turn poured some beer into his dish.

The sneaky fucker was getting drunk! Massimo would be proud of him.

Carter headed over to Ryder. “Hey, smelly, I got you a drink.” Carter passed Ryder a glass of water.

“Are you trying to get me drunk?”

“Of course,” Carter replied with a grin.

Ryder took it anyway, since it would help ease her pain…or maybe it just took her mind away from the pain. Either way, it worked.

She smiled at Carter and clinked her glass to his. “Cheers.”

Carter winked and took a seat on the sofa. “You’re welcome.”

Ryder dropped down next to Carter and sighed. She was at the limit of her energy. She’d had a shower; it was the first thing Ryder had done once she’d finished her glass of water and no longer smelt like horse shit. She remembered teasing Carter about her shitty hands and laughed.

While she’d been in the shower everyone had helped Massimo get his stuff put back, so the place was looking back to normal. That made Ryder feel better. She hated that Massimo’s house had been trashed by Sergei and Yegor because they were looking for her. I’ll apologize to Massimo later, Ryder promised herself.

Massimo wasn’t upset about it at all. He had his favorite ABBA tunes blasting from the record player so the people inside and outside could hear them. Ryder could also hear Massimo giving everyone a blow by blow account of what had happened, even though everyone had been there. He was good at telling stories, leaving out the horrible scary parts and embellishing the heroic parts.

Ryder smiled fondly. The kids in the bunker will love him.

Carter looked behind him at the group and then at Ryder, “We’ve got a good team. Do you think it will be enough to beat Afana?”

Ryder looked at everyone. They were chatting away about the fight. Carter had a point. They were good, but were they good enough? Including Ryder, there were ten of them. Could they really take over a whole bunker? “I hope so,” Ryder admitted. “I have to believe we are enough. Besides, we also have everyone in the bunker who wants to escape,” she added on a positive note.

Carter wanted to get into the bunker just as much as Ryder because he now knew that his little sister Natalie was in there. He frowned at Ryder, the movement almost causing his eyes to disappear under his shaggy eyebrows. “I’ve never seen Afana or the generals,” he admitted. “When they took Natalie, I was at the watering hole at the far side of our settlement where we wash our clothes. What I did see was the destruction they left in their wake, which was enough to show me their power.” Carter’s happy-go-lucky demeanor dropped away. He was clearly in a dark place when it came to his sister’s fate.

Ryder had seen him go there before. Time to pull him out of it, thought Ryder. “Afana doesn’t leave the bunker. He’s a different type of vampire than Massimo. He can’t go out in the sunlight. But he’s bigger and stronger than ten men. I’m not sure if he’s smarter than us, but I know he doesn’t have the heart and determination that we do,” Ryder said warmly. “Now drink up, you wussy. You’re looking like a lightweight.” She clinked his glass again and downed half her drink.

Carter laughed and shook his head. “Me, a lightweight? You’re the one drinking water.”

Ryder raised her eyebrow and smirked. “I can switch to alcohol if you’d like? Of course, it will be embarrassing when I totally drink you under the table.” She liked the idea.

“You know, that’s just cheating,” Carter complained. “Have you always been able to get drunk on water?”

Ryder nodded. “Yep. Well, as long as I can remember. The first time was funny. My mom thought I’d stolen my dad’s alcohol and tore him several new assholes. Then one hot summer’s day soon after, I drank loads of water, and it clicked for my mom. After that, I was on cow’s milk. No water for me.” Ryder sighed happily; she remembered the day as if it were yesterday. She shrugged and took another sip. “We’re living in a world with vampires and werewolves, and now the Mad. Is it really so crazy that water is like alcohol to me?”

Carter grinned. “Can’t a guy be jealous? It would be way cheaper to get drunk on water.”

“True,” Ryder agreed.

The two were quiet for a moment as they remembered their lives before Afana. They looked at one another after they’d finished their drinks and smiled.

Ryder wondered what he looked like under his wild hair. She could see that the warmth had returned to his brown eyes. She’d cheered him up and gotten him a little merry at the same time, and it sounded like the other men were getting merry as well. They were Massimo’s merry men.

“Hey, are you guys having a party without me? And I’ve brought all the toys.”

Ryder turned to see Graham. The blacksmith did look like he had some good toys. Ryder and Carter glanced at one another