Apocalypse Cult (Gray Spear Society) Read Online Free PDF

of welded steel girders and probably weighed a ton. Four guards stood at attention in front of the gate, all facing the same direction. They hadn't moved since Aaron had arrived. These freaks run a tight ship , he thought.
    "Sixty seconds," Ethel whispered, her voice muffled by a gas mask.
    He also wore a gas mask, and he detested it. It felt like a heavy rubber bag wrapped tightly around his head. The late afternoon sun was beating down on him. Sweat stung his eyes, but he couldn't wipe his face without breaking the air-tight seal, so he just had to suffer instead.
    Ethel had decided on a daytime attack because of the need to rescue Brittany Waters. Locating her at night would be nearly impossible. The sunlight also reduced the chance that an innocent person would get trampled when the tear gas hit. Even so, Aaron was certain somebody would get hurt during the chaos.
    Both he and Ethel wore black and gray camouflage tights. She had given him the tights and had insisted he put them on. For some reason she had felt it was very important for him to wear "the right colors."
    The tights showed off her body, which was shockingly athletic for a middle-aged woman. She wasn't bulky, but her muscles were exceptionally lean and toned. She was in fabulous condition for a woman of any age. She wore a gun belt with a single light pistol. A pair of machetes was strapped across her back in leather sheaths. It was a strange choice in weapons.
    "Are you good with those machetes?" Aaron asked.
    She turned to him. "Very." Even with the gas mask, her eyes were disturbing to look at.
    He believed her.
    She had returned the photo of Brittany to Aaron. He glanced at the picture for the hundredth time to fix the image in his mind, and he paid extra attention to the bone structure of the girl's face. Two months of living in a cult had probably altered her in a lot of ways, but her bones would always stay the same shape.
    "Thirty seconds," Ethel said.
    "I can't believe we're actually doing this," Aaron said. "It's crazy."
    "It will work."
    "Where do you get the authorization for an operation like this?"
    "From the highest authority. Now hush."
    He still had his doubts about her ability to protect herself in a fight. A woman of her maturity and light build just didn't have enough raw strength to deliver a knock-out blow. All the skill in the world couldn't overcome the natural limitations of her ageing body. She had ordered him not to worry, but it was hard to follow those orders.
    "Zero," she said.
    Aaron heard distant screaming. Victor and Marina were lobbing tear gas canisters over the fence at the south end of the compound. If the breeze held, it would sweep a cloud of gas north, towards the front gate. The plan was to drive the entire cult past Aaron's position into the forest so he could get a good look at everybody.
    Soon hundreds of people in green robes were stampeding towards the gate, coughing and gagging as they ran. Tendrils of smoke gave chase like a giant monster with a thousand wispy arms. Children struggled to keep up with their mothers, and the old were pushed aside. This was the chaos that Aaron had feared.
    He focused his attention on the many faces. He would get only one chance to locate Brittany before she disappeared into the forest. There were a lot of young women in the crowd.
    "There!" He pointed at a short girl. "That's her!"
    She had lost a lot of weight, and her hair was cut so short that he could barely tell it was blonde. Complicated green tattoos surrounded her eyes, which made her look like a mutant raccoon. Aaron hated the effect.
    "Great!" Ethel said. "Don't lose sight of her."
    The mob streamed through the front gate and into the forest. Closely spaced trees forced the crowd to split into small, ragged groups, fleeing in different directions. Aaron could smell the tear gas now, even with his mask, and the pungent odor made his nose itch.
    When the moment seemed right, he followed Brittany, and Ethel stayed close