Read INVISIBLE FATE BOOK THREE: ALEX NOZIAK (INVISIBLE RECRUITS) for Free Online Page B

have to.”
    “Why?”
    “If you don’t, I die.”
    I closed my eyes again. No choice. If I could, I would have helped. The voice sounded scared, bone-deep petrified. But she was asking the wrong person. I couldn’t help my brother. I couldn’t help myself. No way could I help her.
    “On your own,” I breathed, watching the darkness creep closer. Darkness and the cold.
    Yeah, she was on her own and so was I.

     
    Chapter Seven
     
    As if a movie director had shouted, Stop action! Rhino Lisa careened to a halt, her legs locked up tight enough to cause her to topple horn-first onto the floor, peeling back the hardwood, leaving a deep gouge.
    This time when Stone grabbed Herc , the kid didn’t brace himself, which saved him from a nasty head-on with a rhino plow.
    Damn if Lisa wasn’t immobilized, flash-frozen into almost three tons of rhino flesh. The only thing moving on her was her small, beady eyes, blinking furiously.
    “What the Sam hell,” Stone cursed, casting a sharp glance at Herc before he warily circled around the twelve-foot long Lisa, her snorting breaths reassuring Stone she still lived. “What’d you do?”
    “My weapon.” Herc was standing shoulder to shoulder with Stone as they both looked down at the mound of prehistoric flesh, both of them breathing hard. “Told you it’d work.”
    But they ’d both forgotten about Jacques, who scuttled out from behind Lisa’s prone form, his scorpion tail poised high above his body in his scorpion shape.
    Damn, when had that happened?
    Bad question. Better question, how did they get around him? Stone and the boy were still on one side of the gym, Ling Mai on the other. If Jacques turned, the director was his nearest target.
    As a deathstalker , Jacques wasn’t the largest form of a scorpion but any arachnid with a deadly stinger aimed at you was scary. Especially one as super-sized as Jacques.
    Stone reacted first, shoving the kid out of the way , as Jacques responded to the sudden movement. Which was good. Keep his attention focused forward on me. He hoped like hell Ling Mai and the kid would use the diversion to get off the floor and out of harm’s way.
    The scorpion reared back then thrust its tail forward, needling the poisonous barb deep into Stone’s thigh as he scrambled backwards. An instant earlier and the stinger would have struck Stone’s chest. The kill zone.
    Stone danced one-legged away , preparing for a second attack, as scorpions could regulate the amount of venom they used, giving them more than one chance to kill.
    He bit down on his lip, drawing blood while calling himself twenty kinds of a fool. His leg felt like a swarm of wasps had stung it, but Jacques was acting as his species dictated—attack when threatened. Deathstalkers were by nature aggressive, and Jacques was already scrambling for his next assault.
    Then Herc skipped forward, did that hand waving ju-ju, and just like with Lisa, the smaller, cold-blooded shifter was immobilized.
    What the hell was going on?
    Stone leaned over, sucking a lungful of air as he fought vomiting. Damn, his leg hurt like a mother—
    “You going to die?” Herc sidled closer to Stone, his gaze fixed  on the two shifters.
    Maybe the kid was learning.
    Stone wasn’t sure if Herc’s tone sounded excited or scared. “Don’t think so.”
    Best answer he could give. The deathstalker was among the most lethal of scorpions on the planet, but as a healthy adult, Stone shouldn’t die choked by his own fluids, as the kid would have if he’d been stung. Besides, Stone wasn’t a total idiot. He’d arranged for a dose of a US Armed Forces investigational drug to be on hand. He now owed his buddy Trey a bundle, but it was worth it. And no way was he going to share with Trey that Stone had been the SOB who needed the stuff.
    Ling Mai eyed Stone’s leg as she crossed to stand between them, handing him the venom kit before smiling at the kid. “Nice job, Hercules,” she said.
    Stone jabbed an elbow