“I need to clear more people.”
You got about six more suicide bombers on your floor alone.They’re all running for the main entrance, so get a move on, Katie ordered into their minds.
“You heard Viper,” Annabelle said.“Wraith, go do your thing.”
Jamie cut over her order, his words echoing in Alexei’s mind.Alpha Team, switch to comms.Call in.
“Am with Icarus and Wraith.He’s off comms.Have disarmed five suicide bombers,” Alexei replied.
Alexei took point, half his attention on their comms, even as he ignored the people who screamed at them because of the weapons they carried.Annabelle watched their six, but so far, no one was coming up the stairs they’d blocked with charred bodies.They cleared the long gallery and pushed into the smaller one after it.Art displays were a blur of color behind energy shields as they ran by, catching up to stragglers in the crowd.
Sean pulled ahead as they reached the other side of the small gallery, locked on to the crowd shoving their way into the next one.He ducked his head and walked through someone like a ghost, making them shriek.Since he was the only one of them not wearing nanotech strips, Alexei hoped Katie could scramble enough memories to make people forget their faces.
Seconds later, feet thundering on the stairs just ahead made Alexei and Annabelle pull up short.Half a dozen men in evening clothes raced up the stairway to their left with assault rifles in hand.They didn’t look like they belonged to the Reborn IRA group who’d come up through the tunnel, which meant they could’ve been trying to protect themselves if Alexei didn’t recognize the man at the head of the group.
Sean plunged back into view right about then and skidded to a halt as he caught sight of the group.Tomas snapped his head around in Sean’s direction, an ugly snarl twisting across his face.“Ye fuckin’ bastard.”
Alexei didn’t hesitate and got a shot off, but not before Tomas managed to get his own off.
Alexei’s bullet went through Tomas’ unprotected skull.
Tomas’ bullet passed harmlessly through Sean, slamming into someone behind him, judging by the pained scream.
Annabelle ripped the weapons out of their hands with her anti-gravity power, sending them floating out of reach like the last batch.One or two gaped at Sean in disbelief while the others desperately tried to get out of the line of fire as Alexei switched his assault rifle over to burst mode and took them out to keep Sean’s cover intact.
Sean didn’t seem all that affected by the carnage Alexei and Annabelle were leaving behind them, more worried about the job at hand.He gestured at the crowd of people practically trampling each other in their search for safety behind him.
“Viper can guide me to the targets, but I need to get moving.Take the stairs and get down to the first floor.Someone’s got to get control of the tunnel entrance.”
Alexei waved him off as he and Annabelle stepped over dead bodies.“Go.”
Sean disappeared.Alexei didn’t like leaving him behind, but since the agent could phase, he’d be safe from pretty much every attack the enemy could throw at him.Alexei knew they were running out of time.Katie could only stretch her telepathy so much, and at some point, something had to give.
He and Annabelle were halfway down the stairs, keeping their backs to the wall as they covered each other’s six with their weapons, when they heard the teeth-shivering sirens wail a warning into the night.
The pair shared a grim look before pushing forward, into the fray.
* * *
Jamie reflexively ducked at the sound of the bomb going off behind him.They were far enough away from the blast, with layers of bodies between them, that neither he nor Tariq and Samaira were affected in any way.
The same could not be said of the people surrounding the entrance.
The suicide bomber who detonated the Splice chemical bomb, subsequently blowing themselves up, did so at the entrance to the Victoria and Albert Museum.The explosion of Splice and blood and ravaged bits of human flesh tore through the surrounding bodies with deadly force.Those in the initial blast zone were ripped apart by the explosive aspect of the bomb, losing limbs and life in the process.The rest might be considered lucky if Splice hadn’t rained down on them like a plague.
When people realized what had happened, nothing on earth could stop the screaming.
“Viper!”Jamie called out over comms.
Jansen is still unconscious, Katie reported, her mental voice wavering loud and soft through his mind.Whoever detonated made the decision to do so on their own.Whatever the Pavluhkins have on them must’ve been too terrible to risk it getting out.
“How many are left?”
At least fifteen.Wraith is handling the last two up here.The rest are on the first level or outside.
“Shut them down, Viper,” Liam said harshly over the comms.“Any which way you can.”
I can do a hard strike and hit them all at once, but they might not survive it.They’re all human.The other option is I deal with them one by one, and they live to see prosecution.
