By now, Gray was certain the soldiers were not only aided by night-vision, but also with thermal scopes. He and Seichan jumped off the roof into the next street. Gray gasped as he hit his ankle wrong, the one already badly sprained. He fell to a knee.
Seichan crouched next to him. “Can you keep going?”
“Don’t have much choice.”
He shoved up and hobbled on, more hopscotching than running. They passed a recent rocket impact. The area still smoked. The site’s heat was an open oven.
Seichan grabbed his arm and pointed to where a wall had fallen crookedly, balancing on the stump of one of the city’s many pillars. “Under there,” she said. “It’s warm enough it should mask our body heat.”
He nodded, limping after her. “We’re not far from the icefall. There’s a little reflected light reaching here, which should help us.”
As they reached the shelter, a savage barking erupted, picked up by another.
Gun blasts followed.
“Tucker,” Gray whispered.
He and Seichan had heard spats of automatic fire from deeper in the city, indicating the former Ranger was still on the run, putting up a determined fight. But this barking was far closer.
A soldier ran past their position, weaponless and panicked.
The Russian moved too fast for Gray to pick him off. Then a shape burst low and sped after the fleeing man. A body thudded heavily, followed by a scream and savage growling. Another armored shape pushed into view, his face hidden by a helmet and night-vision goggles.
Seichan twitched her SIG Sauer in the soldier’s direction, but Gray pulled her arm down. A dog hugged this newcomer’s side.
Kane.
The Malinois whined and pointed his nose toward their hiding spot.
Gray pushed up. “Tucker.”
The Ranger lifted an arm, clearly unsurprised. He stared in the direction that Marco had gone.
Distracted, Tucker failed to notice a shadow running across the rooftops toward them, rifle at his shoulder, heavy with a grenade launcher. It was likely the sniper who had taken potshots at them earlier and was now rushing in for the kill.
Gray lifted his AK-12, took a breath, then let it out slowly as he pulled the trigger. The weapon rattled out a short burst. Startled, Tucker ducked low. Kane spun in a circle. But no one was more surprised than the sniper. The impact of rounds lifted him off his feet. The Russian fell backward. As he crashed, his weapon fired. A grenade flew—but not at them.
A trail of smoke through the darkness led to the ice wall.
The grenade blasted into a ball of fire that reflected tenfold off the ice.
Gray grimaced at the unlucky shot.
If that all came crashing down...
Marco raced back, joining Tucker and Kane. “Time to move,” Tucker warned. “Don’t want to stay in one place too long.”
Gray and Seichan headed over, both eyeing Tucker’s combat armor.
“Borrowed it. The guy wearing it no longer needed it.”
“How did you find us?” Seichan asked.
Tucker patted Kane, then Marco. “A dog’s nose is better than any thermal scope.”
They set off.
With each step, Gray’s ankle shot electric fire up his limb. After a minute, a howl of raw agony echoed to them, coming from the direction of the waterfall.
