The buildingshatteredaround them, practically disintegrating in front of their very eyes as a wave of smoke and red-hot fire ripped through the area they stood in. Debris fell through their bodies as they ran through the smoke and fire, heading in the general direction that Kyle hoped would get them clear.
Sean’s grip was like a vise that Kyle had no intention of breaking. Fire crackled and burned all around them, the flames passing eerily through their bodies. Air was starting to become an issue; the filtration masks they wore were working overtime to clean out the smoke. Fire wouldn’t last long after an explosion like this without fuel to burn. It died out quicker this time around due to Alexei.
Kyle knew when his brother’s power was in use. The lingering fire abruptly collapsed, the smoke still difficult to see through. Sean lifted them higher and higher, trying to clear the debris by going upward rather than through. They needed air.
A flash of stars against inky blackness caught Kyle’s eye before smoke drifted in the way again. He spared a glance down at the mess they were wading through, the crumbling debris of old buildings broken into pieces. They hadn’t been at the epicenter of the hit, but it was still ground zero.
Status?Kyle asked worriedly through the mental links.
Everyone got clear. Icarus moved who she could out of range and Bones shielded everyone else,Katie assured him.
Trevor, code named Bones when in the field, was also the team’s telekinetic. He couldn’t use his power to fly, but shielding was second nature to him by now. Annabelle could make numerous people weightless at the same time and fly them to safety. Kyle breathed a sigh of relief that everyone had made it out of the attack alive.
I’d ask how they knew we’d be here, but I’m pretty sure we all know the answer to that,Kyle said.
You think?was Katie’s caustic reply.
Stanislav was a few seconds off.
You sure about that?
He wasn’t—he couldn’t be in the face of a precognitive power—and that pissed Kyle off.
For now, just get clear, Reaper.
They picked up the pace, running through the dark in the direction Donovan indicated. Their HUDs were dead, and the world was black instead of green-lit. Donovan’s eyes got them out of the destroyed distribution center to rendezvous with the rest of their team.
Even in the dark, Kyle’s instincts were running hard, and his keen eyes caught sight of a figure moving toward them in the dim moonlight. Even without his HUD to see in the dark, Kyle recognized Alexei.
“All right?” Alexei asked, sounding a little tense.
“We’re fine, Inferno,” Kyle assured him.
Sean finally let go of their wrists, shaking out his hands. “That was a fuckingcruisemissile.”
“We know,” Donovan said.
“If Declan and the Sons of Adam have a damn cruise missile launcher, what else do they have? If they’re hoarding weapons of that caliber, then we have to ask ourselveswhy?”
Kyle grimaced, knowing Sean had zeroed in on the issue at hand. He could guess at the answer, and it wasn’t one he liked.
They’re planning another attack,Katie said into their minds.
Question is where and when?Madison replied.
Kyle flashed back to Boston all those months ago and the moment he’d walked out of that apartment building to see Jamie on his knees in the street and Declan holding a gun to his head. The terror he’d felt at that moment was hard to forget, and he doubted he ever would.
Whatever they have planned, we’re not going to like it,Kyle said.
The quiet agreement by everyone in the mental link left a sour taste in his mouth. Kyle knew that it wasn’t only Declan they had to contend with. Stanislav was dictating everyone’s moves and Kyle hated being treated like a blind puppet.
He knew Jamie hated it even more.
The fallout from abruptly ending the Pavluhkin mission was still reverberating through their lives. Out of all of them, Jamie had it worst, but Kyle knew none of them could escape what was hurtling toward them.
“>” Alexei said in Russian.
“>” Kyle replied in the same language.
