Liam stepped into his line of sight, forcing Jamie to look at him. “Apollo, we need to move.”
Jamie blinked, and blinked again, before shaking his head hard. “I need to—”
“I know,” Liam interrupted. “But you can’t.”
The raw sorrow in Liam’s voice came from a place Jamie recognized, though he wished he didn’t. He closed his eyes tightly, even if he couldn’t close his ears to the shouting from nearby soldiers, the distant sound of gunfire, and the screams beginning to fill the night.
Every battlefield always sounded the same; it was only the location that changed.
Jamie swallowed thickly, and then did what he had to do to compartmentalize the soul-deep fear he felt over losing Kyle like this to the back of his mind, locking it away tight. He locked away the screams he wanted to release as well. Succumbing to either of them wouldn’t keep him alive.
When he opened his eyes again, the world had steadied, but not by much. It was enough for Liam to let him go and take a step back.
“Lead the way,” Liam said in a low voice.
Jamie took a step forward, marching with authority for the checkpoint, trying to ignore the way his hands shook and the cracks beginning to snake their way through his resolve.
14
Let the Bullets Fly
Sean brakedto a hard halt at a green light on Massachusetts Avenue NE near Lincoln Park as the first explosion ripped through the night sky, drowning out the sound of traffic. He couldn’t see where it was located from their spot between two residential skyscrapers, but the sound of bombs going off was unmistakable.
“Pull over,” Alexei snapped.
Sean ignored the horns going off behind them and yanked the wheel to the right while hitting the gas pedal. The car raced through the intersection as the light went from green to yellow. They came to a stop in a bus zone, ignoring the warning that lit up the control screen on the dash about illegal parking and a guaranteed ticket in ten seconds.
“All teams, gear up,” the director barked over their embedded nanotech comms on an encrypted channel.
Traffic on the street had come to a standstill for vehicles while pedestrians out for a night on the town began to run, looking for cover. Alexei was out of the car before Sean even popped the trunk. With their apartment outside the central zone of the Washington, D.C. megacity, they’d been ordered to patrol the streets on the central zone perimeter. It meant they weren’t dressed for war, but they’d brought what they could of their gear with them.
Sean got out of the car and hurried to the rear of the vehicle, eyes on the sky above them. The night sky was edged in neon from light pollution, but the brightness couldn’t obscure the fast-moving combat jets cutting through the air. Washington, D.C. had a strict no-fly-zone policy. Sean doubted those combat jets had clearance to be here.
“Possible airstrikes incomin’,” Annabelle said over comms.
“Fighter jets have been scrambled,” Stirling replied. “MDF flyers, be advised skieswill notbe clear.”
“Copy that,” a multitude of voices responded.
Alexei tossed Sean’s tactical vest at him and he hurried to buckle it on. They already wore nanotech strips on their faces to hide their identities from cameras, but the second Sean employed his power, the strips would be useless. Protection was protection at this point, and they needed to get moving.
He put on his hard helmet and tactical goggles, securing them in place. They weren’t in full tactical body armor, but with his power, it wouldn’t matter. Sean strapped on two thigh holsters and holstered two tactical pistols from a weapons-carrying case while Alexei picked up an AKR-75 assault rifle.
Another loud explosion ripped through the air and Sean turned in the direction of the blast. The HUD on his tactical goggles brought up a map as agents back on base downloaded satellite feed in real time.
“Fuck,” he said heatedly. “They hit the Capitol Building.”
Alexei only grunted as he slammed the magazine home in his assault rifle. “We go.”
“Wraith to base. We’re heading to the National Mall via East Capitol Street Northeast.”
“The enemy has set up vehicular barricades on all major avenues leading to the National Mall. Enemy nullification power is active around the National Mall, including the White House. All field agents are to eliminate Ella Blanchett on sight,” Nazari said.
If theLibération Nationale Françaismetahuman’s range was restricted to the National Mall, it meant everyone outside it was in the clear. It also meant Blanchett had to be onsite within that area. Nullification powers were rare and extremely effective, but they weren’t ones that could be used from a distance. The metahuman had to be in the field in order to deploy their power. They could, however, target their power to keep those metahumans on their side out of their power’s reach.
“Viper, scan for Blanchett,” Jamie ordered over comms.
“Already trying, but she isn’t the only metahuman the Sons of Adam has deployed. They’ve got a few with mental powers on the field and every person within twenty kilometers of the central zone is mentallyscreaming,” Katie said, sounding frustrated.
