“I got you,” Sean said as he wrapped an arm around the taller man, keeping himupright.
The emergency sirens were still going off, Artemis’ warning ringing in his ears, louder than the pained pants coming from Alexei. Which was odd; Declan or Adrian should’ve canceled it by now. Sean shoved that thought aside as he waited a second for Alexei to get his feet underneath him. The belt was pressed over the towel, holding it in place, but Sean wasn’t sure how long the makeshift bandagewouldhold.
He fumbled for Alexei’s hand and placed it over the towel. “Keeppressurehere.”
Alexei nodded jerkily, well aware of what continued blood loss would mean. Sean got a shoulder under Alexei’s arm, shoring him up, before reaching for the gun. It wasn’t biolocked, which was helpful. Tucking it into the waistband of his pants, he took a deep breath and got them moving forthedoor.
They exited into a hallway full of people rushing for the stairs since the elevators were inaccessible. Sean half-thought about phasing again, but losing their identities to Adrian and Declan was one thing. Losing them to the general public was another thing entirely. Alexei was more aware now, but still in a great deal of pain, judging by the way he clenched histeeth.
“Can you handle the stairs?” Seanasked.
“Can make it,” Alexeigrunted.
Sean didn’t doubt it. Alexei seemed more shaken by the neuro-jammer hit than the bullet wound. He didn’t know if that had to do with Alexei’s Strike Force training or not, but neither of them had Kyle’s ability to heal quickly. Which made dealing with the people shoving their way into the packed emergency stairwell painful for Alexei. Sean could feel Alexei jerk against him every time someone pushed too hard against hiswoundedside.
Sean shot a worried glance at Alexei, noticing the sweat beading on his pale face. They could pass him off as drunk, but Sean wondered how long thatwouldlast.
Not long, itturnedout.
They got down the stairwell, with Alexei nearly losing his footing a couple of times, but Sean kept him upright. They spilled into the restaurant wing of the first floor, plunging into a sea of people streaming for the front exit. Sean kept his head ducked down a little, hoping they could hide from the cameras. They were swept into the gambling area, where people spread out to dart past rows of slotmachines.
Sean angled them in that direction, hoping to give Alexei some relief from the press of the crowd. They may have left the crush of people behind, but they ran headfirst into several of Declan’semployees.
Sean got eyes on their adversaries first, prompting him to phase immediately. Two seconds later, one of Declan’s people opened fire at them, not caring about the crowd of innocent people surrounding them. The suppressor on his gun couldn’t completely hide the sound of it going off. While the bullets passed harmlessly through Sean and Alexei, the same couldn’t be said for the peoplearoundthem.
“You fucking asshole!” Sean yelled over the sound of someone screaming inagony.
“Targets in sight and still intangible,” the man snapped over comms as he and his partner sought toflankthem.
Alexei shifted his arm off Sean’s shoulder. He had a split second moment of panic that Alexei was going to pass out on him, but then he felt Alexei yanking the handgun out of his pants and thumbing off thesafety.
“Go,” Alexei muttered, transferring the gun to hisrighthand.
Sean never let him go as they pitched forward, racing toward the exit straight through the rows of slot machines and screaming people. The holographic displays sizzled before going dark, leaving gaps in the air between machines in the wake of their passage. Declan’s people were forced to go around the slot machines to try to cut them off atthepass.
They cleared the slot machines and came out into an empty bar area between them and the card tables. Beyond the tables, Sean could see another area of slot machines, the place a veritable maze of gambling. The crowd was following the holographic arrow signs pointing the way to safety. Sean twisted on his feet, turning his back on the exit in favor of the far wall facing the direction of thestreet.
Before they could even take a step, a bright bolt of energy cut through his chest, crashing into the synthwood paneling of the bar with acracklinghiss.
“Neuro-jammer is ineffective on them,” someoneshouted.
“Lucky,” Alexeimuttered.
“How’s your head?” Sean asked rather than argue who had the better power in a shitty situation allaround.
“Not seestraight.”
That answered his question pretty bleakly. “Then maybe you shouldn’t usethegun.”
“Take risk.” Alexei looked down at the weapon in his hand, flexing his fingers a little. “Will work ifphased?”
“The biolock won’t. Rest of it is mechanical and chemical, not electrical.It’llwork.”
That was all the assurance Alexei needed before he jerked away from Sean just enough to bring his left arm up and take a shot. Sean dug his fingers into Alexei’s hip, hoping he wasn’t aggravating his wound. Alexei only pulled the trigger once, his target dodging the shot with a quickness that only came with some serious training. The bullet slammed into a counter holding liquor bottles,shatteringone.
“Too many bystanders,” Sean warned, eyes flicking over the people running beyond their area. Unlike Declan’s employees, they actually needed to care about collateraldamage.
“Da,” Alexei grunted, leaning heavily againstSean’sside.
