Russ leans around the hood of his truck and fires two controlled shots.
One of the attackers dives behind a tire.
“Six total!” Russ shouts.
“Five now,” Adam replies.
A man near the back SUV drops suddenly, rifle clattering onto the pavement.
The others react instantly.
One throws a smoke grenade.
Gray cloud explodes across the parking lot.
Visibility drops to almost nothing.
“Smoke!” Russ yells.
“No kidding!”
The attackers start moving again.
Trying to break contact.
Trying to escape.
Which tells me something important.
They weren’t here for a firefight.
They were here for a snatch-and-grab.
Probably me.
Mara steps out of the church behind me.
Weapon raised.
“Those guys are not part of the network leadership,” she says.
“Figured that.”
“They’re cleaners.”
I glance at her.
“Meaning?”
“They remove problems.”
That’s encouraging.
Across the lot Adam moves forward through the smoke.
Fast.
Precise.
