Vic sighed. “Locked up behind the desk in the laundromat. You know, where the bad guys are right now.”
Great. So now they had well-armed bad guys. “I still don’t want you amped up.”
Vic grimaced but set down his glass. “You’re the boss.”
Just then another boom rocked the building and that one hit the foundations. He could feel it in the way it concussed around them. Vic knew it too because his expression tightened. He stopped arguing and grabbed the gear. They both knew that whomever was doing this was making sure the building came down around everyone’s ears.
Then it was back into the hallway. One sniff told him that Alyssa was up here, too. Then he heard her bang on someone’s door.
“Mr. Pinero, it’s Alyssa. You need to come out. I know it’s scary, but there’s a fire in the building. Mr. Pinero.”
She banged again and Simon pivoted, intending to help her. But one step in her direction, and she abruptly waved him back.
“I’ve got this!” she hissed. And apparently she did because right then the door swung open and she jerked back. “Mr. Pinero!” she said with a shaking voice. “You’ve got your…um…blunderbuss. Okay. Just point it to the ground as we get out.”
Even in this chaos, his heart warmed with pride. These were Alyssa’s people and she knew how to lead them. He had to let her do her job while he attended to his. So he turned and followed Vic up to the roof. They were stopped two more times by others who needed to be told not to go through the front doors. It was a measure of how scary life had become that no one argued at the possibility of snipers. They just nodded grimly and headed downstairs.
By the time they made it up to the roof, Simon could smell the acrid scent of smoke. The building was on fire, all right. The laundromat was likely a gaping hole right now, and it pained him that Alyssa’s building was going to be destroyed because of him. Worse, they both heard the pops of gunfire. They had no idea who was shooting where and didn’t have time to figure that out as Vic eased open the roof door. As soon as it was cracked far enough, Simon slipped through.
And just as he expected, someone was waiting right there for whomever came up. It was a young man who smelled of sweat and aggression. The BO was thick, indicating he was a hybrid, but he wasn’t in control. Which made it easy enough for Simon to end him. If there’d been more time, he might have tried to simply knock the kid out, but the hybrid was ferocious.
Once the hybrid was down, they made a quick circuit of the roof. No one else was up here, but looking down gave them a wealth of information.
The building was on fire, and there were people down at the front and back of the building. People who obviously hadn’t met up with one of them or simply hadn’t listened. They didn’t look dead, thank God. Just wounded as they crawled to lie beside cars in the parking lot.
A quick look to the side where Alyssa’s window stood showed a couple people slipping out and running hard for the safety of the dumpster. It didn’t appear that anyone had seen them yet, and that was good news. Simon picked out the likely places where the snipers were hiding. Thanks to the city light and the moon, they were pretty easy to spot. None of them was trained, and most of them were too hopped up to remain still. They danced on their feet, adjusted around cars, and one even hit the roof of a car in glee when he shattered a second story window. Apparently, he was bored with waiting for targets and was now just shooting out windows.
That was good for the people still running to the dumpster, but bad for Simon who intended to rappel down a wall. The last thing he needed was for that bastard to look up.
He needed to pick his best point of attack. He wouldn’t do anyone any good if he was shot while descending from the roof. But at that moment, he ran out of time.
There was a shout as someone bellowed, “Over there!”
They’d seen the fleeing people. He heard Alyssa scream, “Run!” and then Vic cursed as another boom rocked the building.
Shit.Things were going south fast. Which meant he’d have to do his best with what little intel he had. So he pointed to a spot on the wall. It was to the side of most of the action, then gestured to Vic. Without another word, he secured his tether and leapt. He didn’t wait for Vic, and he sure as hell didn’t slow his descent until the last possible second. This was about speed.
He landed on the top of a carport with a thud that would be heard by anyone who was listening. Then he stripped off the rope and dashed over the side, dropping down to sprint across the parking lot. Someone did see him. The ping of a bullet hit nearby, but by the time he registered it, he was already across the lot and starting his own hunt.
More shots. Same shooter. He zeroed in on it and began an oblique approach. He glanced behind him once, hoping to see Vic coming in safely behind him. He would have heard the drop if the man had fallen, but sirens sounded in the distance and so he might have missed it. Fortunately, he saw his friend slipping in beside him with a nod.Damn.Vic wasn’t even winded. Which meant he’d either been working out more than he ever had in the military or he was a lot stronger now that he was a hybrid.
Either way, it was a good thing and Simon gestured to coordinate.
A moment later, he came up behind a thick man with ugly tats who stank of the taint in the water. He was jittery and uncontrolled. Simon took him out. Vic handled his partner.
Meanwhile more people had spotted them. Shouts came from either side. All variations on, “The bastard’s over there!”
Confirmation that the bad guys were looking for him. Simon zipped around another car and crouched to see who was coming. He hated this urban warfare crap. A thousand ways to patrol and evade in trees surrounded by natural scents. But this was cars, brick buildings, and the stench of exhaust. He made it work though and he and Vic steadily advanced to where he guessed the shooter was.
Next came the guys who had raided the laundromat. He knew that from the clink of coins in their pockets and the smell of explosives. They went down too easily.
Too late he realized that they’d been the bait. He’d barely turned away from the thieves when a shifter attacked. It was the one who had spoken in the laundromat, and now he remembered the bastard’s name. Richard Howell. Plumber who smelled like beer and sewage. And amped-up testosterone.
He clocked Simon with the butt of a sawed-off shotgun and Simon careened against a car hood. Vic was too far away fighting another shifter, and the air was suddenly filled with stench. Vic had gone monster, but Simon didn’t have the time to pray that the man kept it under control. He was busy recruiting all his strength to roll off the car hood and defend himself. He had enough time to see that Dick was aiming the weapon straight at him and there wasn’t room to duck away.
He kicked up some gravel. It was his only hope as he dove to the side. And then the weapon went off with a deafening roar. Simon tensed, waiting for the impact, but none came. It took him a moment to realize that someone else had come up from behind and knocked Dick over. The shotgun had discharged too high and that saved Simon’s life.
Squinting, Simon saw an elderly black man with a very wide grin on his frail body. He’d used an old-style weapon as a club and was now raising it again just as Dick was coming around with fists the size of hams.
