“I’ll be a while with the sergeant,” Jacopo said. “She’s bad.”
“Firing,” Mateo said.
Comms muted out the sound waves of the weapons in his warbot arm until they sounded like pops.
“I missed the shooter pinning down the other sergeant,” Mina said. “I need you to take him out, Jacko. I’ll target the woman.”
“No,” Jacopo said shortly.
Mina laughed. It was a peculiar laugh that said she knew what he was thinking. That he assumed she’d let the woman die or simply kill her for taking up too much time and too many resources. Psycho laugh. “Whatever, brother,” the girl said. “Collect your pets if it makes you happy. I promise not to torture them.” But her tone said she was lying and she liked to hurt people. She called them pets.Bloody damn.
“I have her stabilized,” Jacopo said, “but she needs a med-bay ASAP.”
Jagger said, “Mina. I’m coming in from the street leading to Logan. Where’s the one you missed?”
Mina gave him directions. The man had run behind HQ.
“Providing cover,” Jacopo said. Muted pops of a long-range rifle came over comms. In the midst of it, we heard Mateo’s heavy weapons fire.
Mateo fired again. “Target wounded,” he said, “but not a lethal hit. He disappeared toward the street. They have triage capable armor similar to ours. He’ll be back fighting in seconds. I’m taking down a chain-link fence topped by razor wire to reach the front.”
The other sergeant said, “I have movement at the pawnshop. Targets acquired.” Shots sounded, the effects muffled by the comms system. A moment later, a lowkey explosion came over comms. “They were shielded. No shots landed. They just blew the front door.”
“Bengal and I will take the pawnshop,” I said. “Jagger, Mina, make sure the Hatfield house and occupants are okay. Mina, you will follow Jagger’s orders.”
“Somebody doesn’t trust me,” she sang, the melody a childhood taunt.
Blood froze in my veins. “You’re right. We don’t. Jolene, harden Mina’s armor.”
“Armor hardened.”
Mina was instantly screaming; curses as inventive as my father’s came through her mic. I didn’t laugh. Mina was on the edge of turning into a killing machine. Or, from her threat to Jacopo, maybe she had already fallen off the edge. She’d kill for fun now.Pets.
Bloody hells.
“Jolene, Turn off her mic,” I said. “Send a recording to her father of all this. Mina is his responsibility. But I don’t want her anywhere near me or mine again.”
“Roger that,” Jolene said, her CAIT voice grim.
As if he had my nanos—which he most certainly did not—Bengal and I slowed our vehicles at the same moment andstopped. He walked his bike under the cover of overgrown shrubs and what might have been a drought ravaged magnolia tree. I pulled in behind him. We met eyes, and he pointed to the back.
Before I could agree, something bumped my shoulder, and I jumped with a soft squeak.
Spy’s head was inches from my helmet when I turned. She said, “Mrow. Siss haah.” It was cat for, “We are dangerous invaders.” She looked at the front door to the pawnshop, hanging open to the night air. Flashes of lights danced around inside. The sound of breaking glass came through the busted door.
Bengal looked from me to the cat to the pawnshop and back to us with a hard frown on his full lips. “What?” he demanded.
“You want to go scout? Through the front?” I asked Spy.
“Hhhhah mmm.” She added, “Mrower.Mrow. Siss haah.”
It was the first time I’d heard the sounds used together. I pieced a meaning out of it. She agreed that going in the front was a good idea. She was demanding to be the dangerous invaders. “You want to go in the front alone.”
“Hhhhah mmm.”
“What the hell?” Bengal asked.
“You get hurt, I don’t have a cat friendly med-bay. You get killed and your qu—” I stopped before I said the word queen in front of Bengal, “—Tuffs will kill me in my sleep.”
