“How long will Jansen be out?”Madison asked.“These bombs are more like chemical IEDs, Apollo.The blast can do some damage outside of the Splice chemical.It’ll be real messy if they blow.”
“I can go back and shoot him,” Tariq offered as they reached the set of doors that would lead them back into the museum.
Jamie thought about it for half a second—he was tempted,verytempted—but shook his head.“Viper, see if you can’t keep Jansen under.”
Copy that, she said.
The doors wouldn’t budge; either someone was holding them closed, or they had locked it.Jamie waved Tariq aside and braced himself.With one hard kick, he broke the doors open, knocking one completely off its hinges from the strength of the blow.It hit the floor with a loud clatter, catching someone’s bodyguard on the shoulder on the way down.The man yelled out in pain, his arm hanging oddly as he staggered away.Jamie edged through the now-open doorway, pausing only long enough to ram the butt of his weapon into the face of a guy who thought he could sucker punch them, knocking him out.
All the artwork around them was now encased in protective energy shielding.Either someone had manually triggered the alarm, or some of the earlier gunshots had hit an exhibit and the museum’s smart building AI had triggered the shields.Jamie would put good money on the latter.
A gun going off had them both ducking out of instinct.Jamie signaled Tariq the direction he wanted to go and got a thumbs-up in response.Jamie counted down from three using his fingers before swinging his weapon around, holding down the trigger for a fully automatic spray as they sprinted across the way for the museum store.Some of the rounds hit several enemy combatants while the rest ricocheted off the artwork shields.What few his aim didn’t take down, Tariq took care of.
Tariq’s power wasn’t flashy, but it was formidable.The group of enemy advancing went down as one, having no time to clutch their chests before their hearts exploded.Manipulating the iron in people’s blood at a micro level might not look impressive, but it sure was deadly.
So was the counterattack.
What looked like a horizontal pillar of fire exploded down the length of the sculpture gallery, burning past exhibit shields.Jamie and Tariq retreated deeper into the museum store as fire ripped through the air, licking madly at the walls and ceiling.It lasted only seconds before the main force of the fire faded away, leaving only the flames crawling up the wall.Jamie shielded his face with his arm, heat making sweat drip into his eyes.
“They’ve got a pyrokinetic,” Jamie snarled over the comms.
“I’m on it,” Samaira replied, her crisp, accented voice barely sounding ruffled.“Take out the windows and get clear.”
Jamie pointed at the open entrance between two pillars connecting the main store to the long gallery.“Handle the windows.I’ll head to the next gallery for recon.”
“Copy that,” Tariq replied.
“Knight?”Jamie snapped.“What the hell happened?”
“Looks like the police on duty at the South Kensington Station are either dead, or they weren’t ours.They aren’t responding to our hails.The Reborn IRA got through the underground tunnel and into the museum,” Liam replied in a flatly furious voice.
“Fuck.”
Jamie spun on his feet and sprinted through the museum store, taking a sharp right through a connecting entrance.Seconds later, he heard Tariq shoot out the windows facing the courtyard.Glass shattered and fell to the floor, the sound of it setting Jamie’s teeth on edge as he cased the side gallery he’d entered.It didn’t open up into the sculpture gallery, so he kept moving, crossing its length into the next gallery after making sure no hostiles occupied it.
Two entrances looked out onto the sculpture gallery and the still-burning fire.Grimacing, Jamie headed for the one closest to the Exhibition Road museum entrance, hoping he wasn’t cutting off his own escape.Not being in tactical body armor meant he couldn’t be as aggressive as he wanted to in this fight.Unfortunately, the enemy didn’t care about his caution.He was almost to the far entrance when a wave of water appeared out of nowhere in the sculpture gallery, slamming into the fire and putting it out.Water poured into the gallery Jamie was in, slicking the floor and soaking his feet.The resulting explosion of hot steam sent a trio of Reborn IRA fighters running for cover right toward him.
Jamie pulled the trigger, getting a burst off that took out the point man.The two remaining hostiles scattered in opposite directions.He went left, ducking behind a large Islamic vase encased in a shield, catching one of the two fighters by surprise.Jamie pulled the trigger, a three-shot burst cutting across the man’s unprotected throat in a gruesome, bloody line.The body collapsed to the floor, gun falling free of lifeless hands.Rather than leave the weapon for someone else to find, Jamie kneeled down and wrapped his hand around the barrel.Squeezing his fingers, he crunched the metal into a useless mess before kicking the broken weapon aside.
He stayed where he was, keeping his breathing quiet as he listened intently to the space around him.Distant gunfire was ignored.The faint splash of water from footsteps coming closer was not.Jamie flexed his fingers against the grip of his gun, eyes narrowing as he placed the other fighter’s position.His eight o’clock.
Jamie didn’t wait and came up firing.
The Reborn IRA fighter dove out of the way of the spray of bullets coming from Jamie’s weapon, sliding across the slippery floor.Jamie advanced, sighting down his assault rifle and pulling the trigger.The hostile was wearing far more armor than he was, which managed to deflect the bullets.Jamie closed the distance between them and grabbed the other man’s gun by the barrel.With a snap of his wrist, he broke it in half.
The man gaped in shock at him, giving Jamie a precious few seconds to grab him by the front of his second-rate tactical vest, pick him up as if he weighed nothing, and throw him out of the gallery.Jamie’s enhanced strength meant the man went flying into the sculpture gallery, slamming headfirst into the base of a large sculpture.
He didn’t move after that.
Knowing he couldn’t hold this position without more firepower, Jamie retreated back to Tariq’s position two rooms over.
“Apollo to Drake.I’m coming up on your nine o’clock,” Jamie warned over the comms.
“Copy that,” Tariq replied.
Jamie made it back to Tariq’s position at the rear of the museum store.Beyond Tariq, Jamie could see a panicked crowd of people struggling to flee the museum.The two main entrances were sealed shut, and no amount of pounding on them would get the doors to open.
“Apollo to Knight.Status of the perimeter?”Jamie said.
