Read Online Reed: Scifi Alien Invasion Romance (Hell Squad Book 4) by Anna Hackett - Free Book Online Page B

gun-wielding soldier stomping on a raptor. Reed thought it was pretty good.
    In the room, he pulled out a chair for Natalya at the large conference table. As she sat and crossed her legs, her skirt hem lifted and he stared at her legs. God, he had to have her soon.
    He looked up and noticed Shaw grinning at him. Reed shook his head at the sniper, then took up a position against the wall with the rest of the squad. They were all too dirty to sit in the chairs. A minute later, General Holmes strode in, followed by Elle.
    “Hell Squad.” He nodded at them. Holmes, in his neat and tidy uniform, carried an air of command. He’d been a poster boy for the Army—a young, handsome and talented general who’d shot up through the ranks. He often rankled the troops, but no one could fault his dedication.
    Reed thought the man looked tired. Since the first hybrid had snuck into the base, Holmes had been busy devising ways to keep the raptors from infiltrating again. And reassuring the spooked residents. The second hybrid would have made his job that much more difficult.
    Holmes yanked a chair out and sat. He raked a hand through his dark hair with its dash of silver at the temples. “What have you got for me?”
    Marcus clicked the comp controller and images of the raptors making their new base filled the screen. “This is a small town sixty kilometers south of Blue Mountain Base.”
    The general’s jaw tightened. “You think they’re planning an attack?”
    “They don’t appear to be, at least not in the immediate future,” Marcus said. “But the location of this base indicates it must be on their agenda. They’re flying in on pteros and, as always, are steering clear of the trees.”
    “Geek squad worked out why the raptors hate the trees?” Shaw asked.
    Holmes shook his head. “All we have are theories. Maybe something to do with their vision, maybe some substance the trees give off that they don’t like. Who knows, maybe they have killer trees on their planet.”
    Reed pondered the theories. The canids—the raptors’ alien-hunting dogs—hated cedar oil. Now all the squads carried cedar oil grenades. It was possible there was something else in the trees that acted as some sort of repellent.
    “So we think they’re getting ready to hit our base?” Reed said. “Payback for the Genesis Facility?”
    “Yeah,” Marcus agreed. “I’d guess we graduated from pains in the ass to viable threat.”
    The images were on slideshow, showing the raptors moving supplies into a building that must have once been a city hall. The next image showed a raptor ptero landing on the town’s main street.
    “Stop!” Natalya leapt to her feet. “Stop on that image.”
    Reed narrowed his gaze, staring at the boxes the raptors were moving into the building. “What is it? They’re just boxes.”
    She pointed. “No, they aren’t. Go back one image.”
    Marcus clicked back. And this time, because Reed was staring at the boxes, he saw what he’d missed the first time. Some of the boxes were blinking with red lights.
    “Those are energy cubes joined together.” She swiveled, beaming at him. “That’s the power source for whatever they’re doing at this new location.”
    Shit . And Natalya had a way to neutralize the cubes. They could take out the raptor’s power source at this new base. And at their other facilities.
    “And?” General Holmes asked, frowning.
    “I’ve found a way to upload a virus to one of the command cubes. We click it into those—” she pointed again “—and it’ll destroy their energy supply.”
    “Hot damn,” Claudia said.
    “So, you get this cube ready and show us what to do,” Reed said. “And we can head out and finish this alien base.”
    Natalya shook her head. “It’s too complicated. None of you have the capability to do it.”
    “She just call us dumb?” Shaw asked.
    Natalya straightened, all prim and proper. “Of course not. But could you tell me how to use a carbine right now