They were five cars away from it when the remote gunner swung around in their direction, the .50 caliber machine gun spitting out bullets that tore into the vehicles around them and passed harmlessly through their bodies. They kept running in a straight line, passing through cars left haphazardly in the street.
The MRAP’s engine changed pitch as it started to back up, maybe looking for an escape, but Alexei was on the warpath and Sean was merely along for the ride. The people manning the MRAP had no chance.
They phased through the armored vehicle, getting heads and shoulders into the open interior. Sean caught sight of three men handling the wheel, the remote gunner station, and communications. They weren’t ex-special operations forces loyal to Declan judging by their attire. He assumed they were Sons of Adam members ready to die for their beliefs, like every terrorist around the world.
And die they did.
Alexei thrust his free hand over his head, fire crackling around his fingers. He made a fist and fire exploded into the small space. It burned straight through Sean’s phased state, eating away at his vision. He closed his eyes to spare his sight as Alexei’s pyrokinesis burned the screaming men to death.
Sean pulled a grenade off Alexei’s tactical vest, lobbing it toward the driver’s seat and the burned body slumped over the wheel. He dragged Alexei with him out of the MRAP, but they didn’t get clear before the explosion. Sean was certain the military would want their missing armored tactical vehicle back, but he’d rather it not fall into enemy hands again during the fight.
Blowing it up seemed the way to go.
Fire and smoke rolled through their phased bodies as they got clear, heading toward a line of police cars down the intersecting street, half of them with their lights shot out. Shouts off to their left caught Sean’s attention right before bullets peppered the air around them. Alexei skidded to a stop and Sean had to follow suit to keep them phased.
Alexei released his AKR-75, letting the weapon hang from his tactical vest by the strap. It freed up both his hands as they faced off against another contingent of Sons of Adams fighters. Sean tightened his grip on Alexei and didn’t flinch at the numerous bullets cutting through their phased bodies.
Sparks turned into fire at Alexei’s fingertips, winding up his arms as he planted his feet wide and braced himself. Sean looked away from the enemy to watch as Alexei raised his arms and thrust his hands forward in a pushing motion.
The fire gathered around his arms ripped away from him in a wave of heat and flame, roaring through the air with a crackling burn that lit up the night around them. Sean squinted through the brightness and watched as Alexei’s pyrokinesis slammed into the men and women who’d taken up positions behind the doors of two armored SUVs and set them on fire.
The loudpop pop popof bullets exploding in the midst of fire reached Sean’s ears, as did people’s screams. Death like this was still difficult to get used to—he’d been a spy, not a soldier—and while he’d killed people before joining Alpha Team, he’d never done it to the degree everyone else seemed used to.
That didn’t mean he would balk at pulling the trigger. The Sons of Adam were United States citizens waging war against a government they didn’t believe in but which everyone else did. Sean was all for proving the error of their ways with a bullet if it meant saving an innocent life.
Alexei was of the same mind and his fire wasn’t one a person could put out by rolling on the ground. People on fire ran, but didn’t get very far before collapsing, the flames eating through their bodies. When their screams faded away to nothing, only then did Alexei put his fire out, leaving behind blackened corpses and destroyed vehicles.
“We’re gonna need some backup,” Sean said.
Alexei didn’t respond. Sean chewed on his bottom lip before making the decision for them. He tugged at the strap on Alexei’s tactical vest, getting his attention. Sean jerked his head in the direction of where the police were hunkered down behind their armored squad cars.
“Come on. If any of them are able, let’s bring them with us,” Sean told him.
“Civilians get in way,” Alexei retorted, ignoring the fact they were police officers.
“We need them.”
Because Sean knew, given the first chance, Alexei would leave to go after Kyle with Jamie’s blessing, and Sean would go with him. They neededsomeoneto cover their position if no other MDF personnel were available.
Alexei spat out something in Russian that Sean couldn’t understand, but he followed where Sean led, and that was all that mattered.
“We’re MDF!” Sean shouted as they headed toward the police line. “Intersection is clear but we still got a ways to go down the street. We need any able-bodied officers to act as backup.”
“We got officers down and are waiting on ambulances,” someone yelled back, sounding a more than a little frantic.
Officers slowly came out from behind cover, guns pointed their way, but no one fired. Sean phased himself and Alexei through a couple bullet-ridden squad cars that had taken the brunt of fire from the MRAP and arrived in an open section of the street between several more vehicles.
Officers were lying on the ground in pools of blood, with several crouched over the ones still alive speaking into their comms. Still others were braced in firing positions, keeping watch, though more than one set of hands were shaking from adrenaline.
“Leave them,” Alexei ordered everyone at large. “We move. Now.”
“We can’t just leave them!” a woman yelled, rising to her feet. On the ground lay a fellow officer, a pool of blood spreading beneath what was left of his right hip. “We have to wait for backup!”
Alexei wasn’t moved at all by the grief Sean could hear in the officer’s voice. Alexei pointed a finger at the dying man on the ground. “Not survive hit from fifty-caliber without medevac. Bleed out before then. Enemy have street and maybe air. Fightnow. Mourn later.”
It was harshly said, sounding harsher due to his Russian accent, but it was a truth Sean couldn’t argue with, even if the officer tried.
“He’s mypartner,” she snarled at them, stepping closer.
