Dusk by Erin M. Leaf Page A

my
territory,” Greyson said tersely. “I’m taking your starship. I’ll pick you up.
Head for the nearest open space. I’ll find you.”
    “Did you do a scan?” Solomon asked him.
    “Just a quick one. The infestation is limited to that one area,”
Greyson told him. “Hurry up. I want to deal with this as soon as possible.”
    Solomon frowned. “Are we ready to go public with our ships? Bruno will
not be happy.”
    “I don’t give a flying fuck if Bruno farts pink rabbits when he
hears,” Greyson barked. “There are at least a million Spiders massing in a
cave. I think a starship sighting is the least of our problems.”
    “Rabbits?” Solomon asked, torn between amusement and worry as he
hurried down the block. A couple pedestrians stared at him oddly, but most of
the people ignored him. That wouldn’t last long, not if Greyson was serious
about picking him up.
    “Just find an open space, Solomon, and stop debating semantics
with me. It might take both of us to deal with the Spiders.”
    “Are they replicating?”
    “Not so far as I can tell. Hell, if you hadn’t placed the extra
sensors around town, we’d never have picked them up. I thought I sensed
something weird the other day, but I couldn’t pinpoint anything. As soon as
your sensors fully integrated with the Stronghold net, I got a hard reading.”
Greyson blew out a harsh breath. “We need to get moving and handle the
situation. Clearly, some of our longer-range sensors are failing.” He paused. “Okay,
I see you. Head for the grocery store.”
    “Understood,” Solomon said, disconnecting the call. He shook his
head, then broke into a jog. When he reached the end of the street, he headed
directly for the supermarket parking lot. Greyson was already setting the
starship down at the far end. Solomon ignored the shocked looks on the
customers loading groceries into their cars and climbed into the rear seat of
the ship. The energy shield that formed the dome over the cockpit materialized.
Displays sprang into view along the interior of the dome, and Solomon tapped a
few commands into the net, trying to tweak the sensors a little more. The
Sentries’ tech was part organic, and used their energy to function, but it in
turn boosted their natural abilities.
    “Status?” he asked, settling back into the seat. From what he
could sense and see, they were working with a limited incursion.
    “No change.” Greyson eased away from the lot and headed into the
air. “Can you feel them?”
    Solomon nodded. “Yes. I was talking to Lucy when the sensors
pinged me. It takes time for them to integrate into the net properly, so as
soon as they were fully functioning, I sensed the infestation.”
    “Same here,” Greyson said, easing more southward. “I informed
Bruno and Isaac. They’re standing by in case we need help.”
    “I am going to pick Lucy up after,” Solomon said.
    Greyson twisted slightly in his seat. “Does she know that?”
    “It does not matter,” Solomon told him. “She won’t argue with me.
And I need to be sure she’s safe.”
    His brother snorted. “Uh huh. You just keep telling yourself that
she won’t freak out on you when you snatch her away. Because women are always
so calm about things like that. And also, what happened to you not wanting to
commit?”
    Solomon frowned, but before he could reply, Greyson banked hard
left.
    “There, I see the cave entrance. Three o’clock,” his brother said.
    Solomon peered out of the ship. “I see it.”
    “I’ll set the ship down just west of the entrance, in the meadow
near the creek.”
    “Very well.” Solomon prepared himself mentally, dismissing
thoughts of Lucy so he could concentrate. She had his ring. It should keep her
safe. Sentries were mostly immune to the Spiders, but killing such a large mass
of them would take a great deal of energy. Unless…
    “Do you have any of the energy grenades left?” he asked Greyson.
They’d used one earlier in the summer with great