“Get in the goddamn car!” Seanyelled.
Shock made his family a little slow, but with Madison’s help, he got them into the armored SUV and buckled up. Madison claimed the front passenger seat while Sean got behind the wheel and slammed the door. He started the engine, put the SUV into reverse, and backed out with a squeal oftires.
Trevor didn’t need to be told twice to get in the car. Sean waited long enough for Trevor to scramble inside and close the door before he slammed his foot onto the gaspedal.
“Shields are holding,” Trevor said from where he sat between Sean’s parents on the seat bench, one hand extendedforward.
“How long can you keep them up?” Sean demanded as he nearly ran over the three men lined up on the ramp to the exit. They flung themselves out of the way at the last second, which was a pity, because Sean honestly wouldn’t have minded runningthemover.
“If you’re gonna drive at the speeds I think you’ll hit, might be better for me to conserve my energy for when we need mypower.”
Sean nodded curtly as he took the rounded corner of the ramp to the first floor at a rubber-burning speed. “SUV is armored. We’llmakedo.”
Madison braced herself against the dash as she opened up the vehicle’s comms. Sean let her deal with getting a live uplink since he was too busy racing out of the garage while under fire. Sean glanced at his side mirror, catching sight of several cars pulling into the street with a squeal of tires, before snapping his gaze back to the road aheadofthem.
“I don’t think they’re going to just let us go,” Sean said as he yanked on the wheel and took a hard left on a redlight.
He cut between three cars, nearly clipping one of them. Horns ripped through the air in protest, but Sean had more important things to worryabout.
“They never fucking do,” Madison said. “Nova to Alpha Team, doyoucopy?”
“Alpha Team?” Caleb practically shrieked from the farbackseat.
“Apollo to Nova, we copy,” Jamie said, his voice coming loud and clear through the SUV’s speakers. “Status?”
“Packages secured, but we’re running a little hot. Could use an extraction right aboutnow.ETA?”
“Fifteen minutes,” Annabelle answered swiftly. “Headquarters is tryin’ to clear the skiesforus.”
The cracking sound of bullets slamming against the reinforced rear windows had Sean instinctively ducking, just for a second. His brothers yelled, grabbing at each other in fear as they tried to duck. Sean spared half a second to get eyes on them in the rearview mirror to make sure theywereokay.
“We’re gonna need you guys to cut that time in half,”Seansaid.
“Workin’onit.”
“Get out of the city center,” Jamie ordered. “You have Declan’s people and a Sons of Adam cell on your six. They aren’t going to care about civilian casualties likewedo.”
Sean swore. “That’s coverforthem.”
“Weknow.”
The CIA always let other people do the dirty work for them. Sean could see how the fallout would be spun when the fight was over. It wasn’t going to bepretty.
“We’ll head for Highway 203 South. Can you track us?”Seansaid.
“We have you on satellite through an uplink with headquarters. If things get bad, have Nova send up asignal.”
Another barrage of gunfire against the rear window had Sean grimacing. Movement out the corner of his eye made him look at the side mirror, catching sight of the motorcycle coming up fast behind them. He shoved his hand down into the open compartment on the door and grabbed the H&K MP 19 submachine gun Madison had stashedthere.
“Take the wheel,” Seansnapped.
Madison didn’t argue, just grabbed the wheel while bracing herself on the dash, eyes on the road ahead. Sean snapped off the safety and grabbed the handle on the ceiling for support as he twisted in the seat. Keeping his right foot on the gas, he dug his left knee into the cushion as he phased half his body through the closed SUV door and window. The demarcation in his body between solid flesh and his intangible half was a strange sensation in his gut he’d long ago learned totuneout.
The motorcycle was two car lengths back, carrying two people. Sean raised his weapon and took aim, pulling the trigger and holding it down. Bullets sparked against the protective shield the motorcycle had protruding between the handlebars. The driver and his passenger ducked down to get out of the line of fire, but the wheels were fair game. Sean angled the weapon lower, letting off another round of shots that tore through the frontwheel.
The tire blew out, metal scraping over asphalt as the front arm of the motorcycle hit the ground. Both men were thrown from the motorcycle as it flipped end over end, skidding across the street. Sean didn’t see where they landed, only saw the way the cars around them veered frantically out oftheway.
Sean retreated into the SUV, going solid, and handed Madison the MP 19. She relinquished the steering wheel back to him and took the submachine gun, holding it in her capablehands.
