You’re afraid for Lisette. Roland is the same way before every battle. He becomes even surlier than usual because he’s terrified Sarah will be harmed.
Zach glanced at the antisocial immortal, but couldn’t tell whether or not the scowl that often darkened his features had deepened.
Just breathe through it and stay sharp, Seth advised.
Zach took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
Lisette glanced up at him.
Seth was right. Zach did fear for her.
Okay, everyone, Seth told them mentally, Chris is making the call. . . .
Weapons slid silently from sheaths.
Seth vanished.
Wonk! Wonk! Wonk!
An alarm began to blare. The soldiers at the gate jumped and gripped their weapons tighter as they tried to look in every direction at once.
Boom!
Flames and debris seemed to fly from four different locations at once as Seth teleported from generator to generator with lightning speed and tossed the grenades. The alarm ceased. Mercenaries ran helter-skelter about the compound, trying to figure out what the hell was going on.
Zach saw two grenades skip across the ground toward the gate.
One of the guards caught the movement and looked down as the object came to rest at his feet. “Ah, shi—”
The explosion that followed hurt Zach’s sensitive ears and left them ringing for a few seconds. Bodies and body parts flew. The gate blew open and broke apart.
Zach and the others ducked as pieces of metal embedded themselves like bullets in the trees around them. Then they raced forward, David in the lead, to confront their enemies.
From the corner of his eye, Zach saw Chris’s network battalion surge forward in their armored vehicles.
Shouts rang out.
Mercenaries opened fire.
The front of the main building exploded into chucks of granite and glass.
David never slowed, just plowed right through it.
Zach followed, running in front of Lisette to take the brunt of the shrapnel as they dove inside.
More explosions rocked the building, sending dust and debris raining down upon them.
How the hell many grenades had Chris given Seth?
A quick survey revealed two main hallways off of which other, smaller hallways branched. Mercenaries poured into them all as Zach stopped to take stock, Lisette bumping into him.
Marcus joined them.
Wielding deadly katanas, David cut through the mercenaries on the right before they could get off more than a handful of shots. Marcus dove into the hallway on the left, his short swords Jackson-Pollocking the white walls with blood and gore.
Take the basement, Seth said in Zach’s head.
Gunfire erupted directly behind him. Spinning around, Zach found Lisette peppering a dozen or so mercenariess outside the entrance with bullets from her Glock 18’s.
Zach jerked as a mercenary bullet struck his arm.
Lisette did the same. Okay, she spoke in his head. I’m liking the new suit better. It actually stopped that bullet.
The mercenaries all fell. They must not have been wearing body armor while they trained. Either that or they hadn’t been training and had only had time to grab their weapons.
To the basement, Zach told her.
Together they burst through a stairwell door and faced more mercenaries running up the stairs. Lisette’s Glocks barked out bullets while Zach’s daggers and throwing stars found purchase in soft throats. Bodies fell, cluttering the landing below them.
Zach heard more boots scaling the stairs. Grasping the railing, he leapt over it and plunged into a dozen or so men bearing automatic weapons, sweeping them down to the basement level and slamming them up against the door through which more tried to pour.
His blades flashed. Bodies piled up against the door.
Once all had been dispatched, he looked up in time to see Lisette jump over the railing.
Grinning, he caught her in his arms.
“Hi, handsome,” she said from behind her mask, a smile in her voice.
The suits work, Étienne said in their heads. At least the thicker parts do. I was just hit with a dart, but it couldn’t penetrate the armor.
“Good to know,” Lisette said as Zach set her on her feet.
Bending down, he grasped the dead mercenaries by their shirts and tossed them up onto the stairs, away from the door.
The door burst open.
Bullets slammed into him.
Zach didn’t even draw his knives. He just lunged forward and started snapping necks.
Mercenaries dropped like limp rag dolls. Others retreated down the hallway and into another, firing while they ducked out of sight.
Behind Zach, Lisette grunted.
He spun around, saw her sinking to the floor, and swiftly caught her up against him.
“Lisette?”
She moaned.
Panic threatened. Not again!
Kneeling, Zach searched for a dart and instead found a bullet hole in her mask just above her left eyebrow.
“Lisette!”
Jerking, Lisette opened her eyes. “What?” Pain streaked through her head. “Ahh!”