Del agreed wholeheartedly.They dropped back to the defensible intersection, Henderson behind a bank of stacked chairs, Del crouched and melding with shadows.
Running feet, more gunfire, and an agonized scream.The empty hall, smelling of industrial floor-wax and human pain, echoed eerily in the dark.
“Just hang tight, guys,” Yoshi murmured.“She’s not hit, not hit, not doing half bad either.She just took out two guards, nice shot.Here she comes.Get ready.She’s got four more after her.”
Shouts echoed.Another scream, high and girlish.
God, I hope that’s not her.
Then the cacophony tumbled nearer.“Guys?They’re setting the detonators now.Get ready to move like a motherfuck.”Yoshi’s tone dropped to a murmur, the only sign of strain.
“Lovely,” Del murmured.
“Always a pleasure,” Henderson murmured back.He raised his gun; Del’s own came up in a weirdly synchronized movement.
“Oh, wonderful.”Yoshi sounded disgusted, and Del’s pulse kicked up a notch.“The whole complex is starting to wake up.Can we move it along, please?”
And then, skidding around the corner, Rowan appeared.She dropped, taking advantage of cover, her pale hair glowing in the dim light.He heard her breathing, fast and light.She squeezed off two shots, reached into her pocket as she ejected the empty mag, and reloaded with blurring-fast fingers.
The connection blazed to life, his head suddenly thudding with pain, her fear singing between his veins.She hadn’t been slammed with Zed or shaved yet.How had she gotten loose?
All he cared about was that she wasalive, and he almost rocketed to his feet and ran for her.Rowan!Dammit, move back here.We’ve come to get you out.
She glanced around wildly.
“Rowan!” He had to shout over the sound of running feet and the howling, which had taken on a weird animalistic quality, raising the fine hairs on his nape.She backed up, covering the intersection, her ribs flaring with deep, rough breaths.
Moving too slowly.They would be on her soon.
Her mind flooded his with pain and urgency.One mag left.Pick your targets, headshots if you can.Remember, most gunfights end with a lot of noise and nobody getting hurt.Pick your shots.Take your time,her voice whispered in the middle of his brain.He could feel her feet bruised from running without shoes, the exhaustion weighing her down.She wasn’t going to last much longer before making a fatal mistake.
He slid along the side of the hall.
“What thefuckare you—” Henderson began.It was the first time Del had ever heard the old man sound surprised in the middle of a job.
Rowan didn’t turn, but she stiffened and began backing up more quickly, a fast light shuffle.
“Comeon!” Justin shouted.“Trust me, Rowan.Let’s just get the fuckoutof here!”
That did it.She whirled and ran for them, her hair a pale banner and sock feet drumming so hard he almost winced.Then they had no time, because the trackers piled around the corner.
Human, but scrabbling on hands and feet like monkeys, the bald psions drooled and gibbered.Thin as scarecrows, their bodies moved in ways human joints weren’t supposed to.They howled as they saw her, and streaked forward on thickly callused bare feet, palms slapping the floor.
Revulsion cramped Del’s stomach; training took over.He picked a target, squeezed the trigger.There were three of them, Henderson picked off another.The third was rapidly drawing nearer, Del shot..and missed.
Goddammit.“Down!”he yelled.
Rowan obeyed, rolling with sweet natural grace as he and Henderson peppered the lone tracker with lead.She gained her feet again in a skidding rush, not bothering to glance back, and he realized just how beautiful it was to see her running again.He’d missed seeing her go all-out.She looked like a cheetah, as if it was no big deal to be moving over ground so easily.
She almost ran into him, barely slowed; Henderson whirled and took point to lead her out.Del checked the hall, turned on his heel, and fell in behind to cover.The crackle of her talent washed over him, a lightning storm about to happen.Bullets pocked the wall as they made another corner, pursuing guards shooting wildly, uncomfortably close.
As they scrambled down the stairs, he wished he could stop and give her some shoes.When they hit gravel outside she was going to get hurt.
Yoshi’s voice suddenly crackled to life in his ear.“Keep moving.You’re clear for now, so go.Go, go, go.The timer’s set, counting down, twenty seconds.Eighteen.Fifteen.Watch your flank, Del.There’s heavy fire over there; Henderson take the left turn.Move, guys.Move.”A pause sizzling through the comm, Yosh letting them work, keeping his mouth shut when he had nothing to offer.Then, “Five.Four.Three.Two.One.We have liftoff.”
A massive faraway boom shook the air as Henderson kicked a door open; then they were outside, cutting across a graveled drive, Del’s boots crunching, bullets popping, digging into dirt.Darkness, movement, confusion reigned supreme, conspired to make every shot miss.
Fire began in the bottom of Del’s lungs.He’d abused his own frame not only tonight but before, with no time to rest up between Carson’s bodyguard and this little shindig.
