If Declan thought he’d beg for his life, Jamie would spit in hisfuckingface.
“I hear you turned down the Pavluhkins,Jamie,” Declanspitout.
No doubt anymore that their identities had been leaked to the enemy. Either by the Pavluhkins or rogue members of the CIA, Jamie knew it was only a matter of time before the truth got out in the publicsphere.
“I don’t waste my time with shitty deals,” Jamie saidcoldly.
“You think you can walk away clean? He has what he needs to take you down and place all the blame onyou. Do you really want to risk your family’s reputation that way? Or your team’s? Is everyone back at Boston Common worth yourpride?”
Jamie stared up Declan, swallowing against the pressure of the gun against his jaw. Right now, his family was safe. As for the suicidebombers—
I have them under control,Katie told him, sounding tense.They can’t detonate anything right now. They’re lucky I’m even letting thembreatheafterthisshit.
Leave it to his team to get the job done. Jamie’s pride in them would never fade. “In what future do I ever put myself first overeveryoneelse?”
Declan’s mouth twisted in a parody of a smile, lips peeling back from his teeth as he pulled a remote detonator out of his pocket. Further proof that Stanislav’s offer was nothing more thanalie.
Viper, get our people out of the subway! Get out of the bombers’ minds!Jamie shouted at her, hoping she would hear himintime.
Thoughts were quicker than actions, but in this one instant, Katie’s telepathy had no recourse against the ideological drive of a man determined to win through the sacrifice of others. They were too far away from Boston Common to hear the bombs go off, but Jamie knew what it was like when Splice went off in acrowd.
He’d lived through it,afterall.
“Should’ve stayed on the winning side,” Declansneered.
Later, when he could look back and reflect on that moment, Jamie would question his decision to stand firm in the face of Stanislav’s offer with so many lives at stake. The second-guessing would run rampant through his brain, and there would be no escaping the self-recriminations that would plague his thoughts, as they always did, after times like this in thefield.
In the heat of the moment, Jamie held hisground.
Thecrackof a gun going off split the air, a mere second before Declan’s howl of a scream was torn out of his lungs. Warm blood spattered over Jamie’s face as a bullet slammed through Declan’s wrist, shattering the bones there. Jamie threw his body to the side, jerking his head out of the lineoffire.
He was almost not quickenough.
The burn of the bullet grazing Jamie’s jaw and cheek from an upward angle seared through him, the noise of the gun going off so close to his ear deafening him. The hands holding onto him went lax in surprise for a split second, and Jamie took advantage of their mistake. He twisted on his knees, yanking one arm free in time to grab the wrist of the man holding the gun behind him and redirect it away from him. The shooter wasn’t in any condition to fight back as he fell to his own knees, blood pouring out of a wound in his hip area that his protective gear hadn’t quitecovered.
Declan scrambled to his feet and ran, shouting out orders as several mercenaries threw themselves between his path and the bullets chasing him down. Jamie saw him dive for cover behind an SUV, yelling loudly for a pickup. Several vehicles on either side of the street revved their engines and drove intothefray.
“You can fuckright the hell offwith your bullshit!” Kyle snarled as he appeared in the apartment building’s shattered entrance through a curl of hazysmoke.
Annabelle stood at his right, aiming in the opposite direction to cover them. Every shot Kyle took found its target with deadly accuracy. Jamie didn’t have to fight to get free so much as step over dead bodies, as the mercenaries who’d been holding him down died beneath Kyle’s assault. Jamie grabbed his face mask off the ground, but didn’t know where his weapons had gone, so he stole one from the nearest body. He held it close as he got to his feet and ran forcover.
Kyle covered Jamie’s retreat, laying down suppressive fire against the mercenaries still shooting at them as the rest scattered before the police showed up. Over his shoulder, Jamie caught a glimpse of Declan throwing himself into the safety of an armored SUV that barely stopped to pick him up. Its tires squealed as the driver peeled out of there, several mercenaries firing out the windowsatthem.
Annabelle stepped in front of Jamie to shield him as he ducked inside, returning fire and giving him a chance torecover.
“Are you all right, Apollo?” Annabelleasked.
“I’m good. Where’d you come from, Reaper?” Jamie asked as he wiped blood off his face from the bulletgraze.
“Hitched a ride on the combat jet. Why the fuck didn’t you stay with your family?” Kylegrowled.
“You soundangry.”
Kyle never took his eyes off the street, assault rifle like an extension of his body. “Can’t fucking imagine why. It’s not like I got down here and saw you almost get your headblownoff.”
Jamie winced. “Sorry?”
Kyle aimed at an SUV speeding away behind the one Declan was in and fired off a shot that must have hit the gas tank. Half the cars on the world’s many roads were electric while the other half ran on biofuel. The latter was still oil based, and the SUV went up in a fire. One or two people bailed out of the vehicle, bodies on fire, and Kyle put them out of their misery with a couple moreshots.
