“Stop backseat driving the fucking car, Knight.”
Liam leaned back a little with a grumble but didn’t release his hold on Sean’s shoulder. Sean kept his eyes on the gate up ahead that separated the street from the piers of the harbor. A resort-wide emergency message had ordered all guests to shelter-in-place and get off any road. Sean’s gaze flickered from the gate to the harbor where a dozen yachts were moored—all except one.
He could see the running lights of the yacht in question dimmed due to the sunlight as it pulled away from the pier directly ahead of them. The harbormaster must have received an order to open the gate, because the metal barrier slid open with a squeal of metal. Sean gunned it through the entrance, teeth clacking together as the car jumped a speed bump.
“I hate not knowing if Bennett is on that yacht or not,” Liam said.
“They wouldn’t have blown the biodome if they weren’t coming to extract him. We just need to hope we chose the right threat.”
Sean didn’t spare a glance for the smoking hole in the side of the biodome, too intent on their target. There wasn’t enough of an incline to get the car airborne, but the speed they were going at came with enough force to get the three of them onto the yacht if Sean phased them.
That was the plan anyway.
It didn’t go accordingly.
The roar of a jet echoed in the air above them, and Sean grabbed for Alexei’s hand instinctively, holding on tight and pushing his phase power into both Alexei and Liam. Heavy-caliber bullets tore up the pier they were driving on before tearing up the car. The bullets cut through them but didn’t kill them, and that was all Sean cared about.
They shot through the burning car, and the speed they’d been driving at meant they hurtled through the air as the car careened off the side of the pier into the water. Sean reached for Liam’s hand on his shoulder, got a good grip on the other man’s wrist, and then twisted his arm around to reposition Liam by his side rather than at his back as they flew through the air toward the yacht, losing speed with every second.
If they’d been solid, they never would have made it. As it was, Sean didn’t have the power of flight, and their landing spot kept moving—but not for long.
Liam wrenched his free arm around as if he were throwing a baseball. In this case, it was a crackling bolt of electricity that slammed into the yacht like a lightning storm. The running lights sputtered and died, the deep hum of the engine fading to nothing. Machine guns going off replaced the noise of the engine dying, and Sean tightened his grip on Alexei and Liam.
“Hope those bullets don’t harm any civilians,” Liam said. “Inferno, clear us a landing spot.”
Fire exploded around Alexei’s right arm, twisting like a living thing. He formed it into a fireball that he sent streaking forward to clear the way for them. Bullets couldn’t put out the firestorm that erupted on the rear deck of the fancy yacht, catching men and women on fire. Since they were all dressed for a fight rather than a day on the beach, Sean didn’t care about their predicament.
With the yacht dead in the water now, it was easier for him to close the distance, using the last bit of momentum from being ejected from the car to float down to the yacht. When Liam and Alexei made to tug free, he tightened his grip on them, giving Alexei an annoyed look.
“Neither of you are in field uniforms, we don’t know what they’ve left behind on this boat, and we don’t know where that second jet is. I’m not letting either of you out of my phase field,” Sean snapped.
“That first jet is coming back around,” Liam said, electricity crackling around his left hand.
Alexei smiled grimly. “Will handle it.”
“Don’t bring it down over any resort buildings.”
“Not promise that.”
The resort had medical services, but no hospital. A jet crashing into anything risked causing multiple casualties and damaging the island itself. The machinery that kept it afloat in the Mediterranean Sea couldn’t be risked, or it would sink andeveryonewould die.
That was not how Sean wanted to start the rest of their life together.
Alexei made a circle in the air with one finger, drawing the fire burning on the deck into a twisting pillar of heat. In his phased state, Sean couldn’t feel the temperature, but he knew it must have been hot from the way it scorched the deck.
The tornado of fire twisted and snaked its way through the air as Alexei controlled it with his power, attempting to intercept the jet. The aircraft was military grade though, and capable of quick maneuvers that Alexei couldn’t hope to counter. Sean thought he’d be more annoyed until Liam raised his left arm and pointed two fingers at the sky.
“Find me some cover, Inferno,” Liam ordered.
Distraction was the name of the game, and the jet banked hard on its left wing, coming back around. Alexei flattened out his pillar of flame, creating a wall for the few seconds Liam needed. If Sean was solid, he thought all the hair on his body would be standing on end when Liam let loose an electrical storm into the sky bright enough to burn his vision.
The jet dove under Alexei’s fire, straight into Liam’s electrokinetic attack. Its overloaded engines exploded, sending fire and bolts of electricity punching through the body of the jet. The wreckage plummeted toward the harbor, trailing smoke, and Sean forgot how to breathe as he watched it fall, breaking up as it went. It hit the sea, sending water shooting into the air to mingle with the smoking trail that had followed it to earth.
“Oops,” Liam said, not sounding in the least sorry for his actions.
“You better hope that doesn’t hit anything vital down below,” Sean warned.
Liam finally had grace enough to wince. “The floating machinery is under the land portion of the island.”
