Garrick let the foot-thick door slam shut behind them. Anna jumped, so he slid his hand into hers in a gesture of reassurance and gave her fingers a gentle squeeze.

Bolts slid into place one after the other.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

A wave of claustrophobia swept through his body, making his stomach roll. He still didn’t like being sealed underground like this, even if it did mean safety. The air was surprisingly cool. The muted hum of air conditioning filtered down from vents set in the wall above his head.

They stood at the top of a long tunnel that slanted down for almost a hundred feet. Flickering lights set in the ceiling every ten feet or so cast enough of a glow for them to make their way.

Walking towards them was a tall, lean man, his head clean-shaven and smooth. He was wearing army fatigue trousers and a grey t-shirt that was torn at the neck, revealing an elaborate line of inked script decorating his collarbone. He was grinning widely as he approached Garrick. Garrick ’s own face cracked into a tired smile in response.

Behind the tall man jogged a tall redhead with an auburn tangle of hair softening her face. She was dressed in tight-fitting black cargo trousers and jacket with a loose black scarf slung around her neck. Black leather gloves covered her hands, and she carried not one, but two weapons. A rifle was slung over her shoulder, and an MP5 was ready in her hands, held across her belly.

The two men stepped forward and clasped each other in a bear hug.

“Foster. Am I glad to see you.” Garrick slapped him on the back. Some of the tension and anxiety of the last four days eased from his body—he’d brought Anna to safety as he’d promised. Foster returned the slap and Garrick staggered slightly. The other man released him, a furrow of concern on his brow. “You ok?”

“Nothing to worry about.” Garrick made a dismissive gesture with his hand, but his skin was hot and tight under the artificial lights. He needed to sit down. But Anna first. He needed to make sure she was taken care of; then he could rest.

“Need to check you out in medical.”

Garrick shook his head. “Later. Hardy and Sawyer?”

Foster laughed. “Going to take a bit more than some leggy insects to take them down.”

Relief washed across Garrick’s nerves. All of his team had made it out in one piece. He body swerved Foster and pulled the redhead into his arms, crushing her and all the weapons against him. “Good you came prepared, sis.”

She snorted from the confines of his arms. “You never know what kind of low-life will come crawling through the door. Look at the state of you.”

Releasing him, she gave his grizzled cheek a gentle punch. “Good job you’re still alive, otherwise I’d have to come and kick your ass.” Her attention slid to Anna.

“Hey. I’m Violet. I hope my brother’s taken care of you.” She reached out a gloved hand in friendship.

“Anna.” Anna returned the gesture, her face pale with bone-deep fatigue. Garrick’s fantasies of Anna Ward in his bed over the next few days would have to wait. She needed to rest first.

“Dr. Anna Ward,” Garrick expanded. “Anna was at Magdon Down when we got trashed by the Chittrix.”

Foster shook his fingers as if they were coated in wet mud. “Heavy shit. When Hardy and I got out, and there was no one around, we assumed everyone would make their own way back. We jacked a truck we found stashed in a garage and drove home. Your tracking device showed us you were moving. Sawyer and another woman arrived yesterday. They were pretty roughed up.”

“Julia.” All eyes turned to Anna at the sound of her voice, scrutinising her. “He was with Julia. My colleague, Julia Simmons. We worked together at Magdon Down. He rescued her from the building.”

Foster rubbed the top of his shiny head in a frantic motion.

“That place was rigged, man. They were waiting for us. Like ants all over a freaking jam sandwich.” He glanced at Anna, distrust evident in his voice.

Garrick grunted in agreement. Foster was right. He’d come to the same conclusion. The Chittrix had been at Magdon Down for a specific reason. There’d been nothing random or coincidental about their presence. It niggled under his skin, but he just hadn’t worked out what it was yet. “I still don’t know why they were there. There are a million possibilities. What’s happening with Sawyer and Julia Simmons?”

“The woman needed patching up. She’s in the infirmary. Sawyer’s ok.” Foster crossed his arms. “He’s probably with Fox now, bending his ear about retaliating. But you know Fox. He’s the safety guy.”

“We need to speak to Fox. Anna and I tracked past the main hive on the Isle of Dogs on the south of the city.”

Anna interrupted without apology, her voice urgent. “The Chittrix are swarming. Young queens are getting ready to establish their own hives.”

Tiredness threatened to overwhelm Garrick as he struggled to form coherent sentences in his fatigue-muddled brain. “Julia Simmons may have a weapon we can use against the Chittrix. You know anything about that?”

“Nope.” Foster narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “Swarming?”

Garrick nodded. “Just hatched.”

“What does Julia Simmons have?” asked Violet.

Anna answered. “It’s called a Sweeper. It uses hypersonic sound to detonate Chittrix. Blow them up.”

“Holy crap,” Foster said, rubbing his hand together with glee. “Right up my street.”

Violet frowned at Foster. “Not everything is a game, Lincoln.” She turned to Anna. “I can take you to see Julia in the infirmary. Edwards, our medic, will want to check you out anyway. You can speak to Julia and find out if she has this Sweeper Device. She’s been a bit out of it since she arrived.”

Foster’s eyebrows climbed his buffed scalp. “We’ve been lucky this week. Soon we’ll have scientists coming out our ears.” He stared directly at Anna. “What are you wearing? Is that more of the secret shit I predicted was at the labs?” He touched her waist.

Garrick shifted, moving closer to Anna and forcing Foster to take a step backwards. “You made a good call Foster. Anna developed the armour. It’s already proven its worth getting us back here.”

A cultured voice cut through the conversation. Garrick’s stomach twisted.

“Glad you made it back, Major.” Fox was too stupid to be insincere. He really thought he was good at his job.

Garrick grunted, exhaustion leaving no room for pleasantries.

The older man approached, softer at the edges than Garrick and Foster, and in full military uniform with ribbons pinned to his chest.

Foster shot Garrick a surreptitious questioning look, but Garrick kept his face impassive. “With all due respect sir, if you’d listened to us before we’d left, we wouldn’t have been put in such a precarious position. We had too few men and not enough fire power to deal with any kind of sustained Chittrix assault.”

Fox’s lips thinned in disagreement. “Major, you would do well to remember your position in this base.”

Garrick straightened, bristling. Dick.

“General.” Anna’s feminine voice sliced through the tension that hummed in the air.

Fox’s attention snapped from Garrick to Anna. “I don’t believe we’ve met?”

Anna stuck out her hand. “Anna Ward. Entomologist. Bio-weaponry. I worked at Magdon Down prior to the Chittrix invasion. Your Major,” she inclined her head in Garrick’s direction, “helped me. I wouldn’t have made it out alive if it wasn’t for him.”

The General raised his eyebrows and shook the proffered hand. “Gerard Fox. I run the helm here.” He chuckled at his own humour while Garrick flexed his fingers in an effort to avoid clenching them into fists.

“I need to speak to my colleague, Dr. Simmons. Young Chittrix queens are swarming at the primary hive. We may only have hours before they leave.”

Garrick was impressed at how calm and measured Anna sounded.

Fox nodded his head as if placating an unruly child. “Yes. Yes. We’ll need to have a think about the best way to deal with that.”

Anna rounded on him, drawing herself up to her full five- foot-five. “General. They can fly several hundred miles in a day. In a few days, those new queens will be adding to the already comprehensive decimation of the UK or heading across to what’s left of Europe. They will rapidly increase the density of the Chittrix population, wiping out the few paltry groups of human refugees that remain. This is the second stage of their acquisition of this planet.”

No messing, straight to the point. Garrick had to respect her spunk. His girl was indomitable.

Fox reached for her, his stubby fingers grasping her shoulders, sweeping her away from the men and turning her in the direction of the rest of the base. “I have significant battle experience so you can rest assured that the best decision will be made on how to handle this recent development.”

Anna shook him off her shoulders, her eyes darkening with frustration.

“You don’t understand the gravity of this, General. Each of these queens can establish a hive equivalent to the primary hive in London. There won’t be any space left for humans if they manage to keep reproducing and spreading like this. We’ll literally be squashed underfoot on our own planet, suffocating under the sheer volume of Chittrix.” Her eyes flashed with righteous anger.

“Anna may be right.” Garrick’s voice was soft.

But Fox’s mouth thinned to a bloodless sliver. “I’ll give this my full attention, but any attack on the primary hive is a potential suicide mission, and I am not going to agree to men running off on the speculation of one scientist. No offence.”

“It’s not an attack as such. We can plant the Sweeper—”

Fox raised his voice. “Especially when you are talking about using experimental weapons.”

Garrick slipped his hand into the crook of Anna’s elbow. His knuckles grazed up against her ribs briefly as she resisted his touch, but then she relaxed enough to let him lead her. He guided her past Fox, pushing her further down the corridor. Fox frowned but allowed them to pass. Violet slipped in behind as Garrick spoke.

“Dr. Ward is tired. I’ll take her down to the medical bay for a check-up.”

Anna’s body was stiff with tension, but she remained silent. Relief flowed through Garrick as he shouldered both their backpacks and steered the unbending scientist away from the General.

“C’mon. Let’s find your friend.”