‘Thanks,’ Fawn said, pulling her own ketcom from where it was fixed to the waistband of her leggings. Two seconds later, she was saluting an image on her screen. ‘Major Deveraux Wescott, sir. First Lieutenant Fawn Tyrell reporting.’
‘We noticed the jamming field going down, Lieutenant,’ said a deep, authoritative voice. ‘Is that your doing?’
‘Second Lieutenant, Specialist, Nava Ward is engaging with the enemy, sir. She took the jammer down.’
There was a slight pause. ‘I see. Are they from Befreit Beherbergen? We’ve received no notifications of intent so far and they seem strangely well equipped for backwater terrorists.’
‘The majority are Befreit, sir, but they have Redwings with them. The agent designated DH thirteen, Maya, attempted an attack on Nava.’
‘Attempted? I see. It’s not like interrogating fanatics usually produces results. We’ll hold here and move in once the second lieutenant has disabled that tank. We’ve lost enough people today as is.’
‘Yes, sir. We weren’t expecting something on this–’ She stopped as an explosion shook the door to the meeting room. She looked up to see that their barrier was still on its hinges and shut, but another blast like that was probably going to bring it down. ‘I need to get back to you, sir. We have a situation here.’
‘Good luck, Lieutenant.’
Fawn closed her ketcom’s screen and picked up Maya’s rifle.
~~~
Nava cancelled her invisibility spell right after she had made sure that all of the terrorists were dead. A young adult in SAS2 uniform appearing on the stage amid the carnage was, apparently, something of a surprise. She figured the hostages had expected someone from the ASF, likely a marine specialist or something, to be the one who had dispatched fifteen armed men in under two minutes and with absolutely no sign of mercy.
Oliver Barnes overcame his paralysis as Nava walked toward the hostages. ‘You did all this?’
‘You see anyone else here?’ Nava asked.
‘We didn’t see you either.’
It was a valid point. ‘Please wait in this room until I’ve taken care of their tank. The ASF will deal with things after that.’
‘But you’re just a schoolgirl! That’s the SAS-squared uniform, isn’t it?’
Nava glanced down at the logo on her left breast and then back up at Oliver. ‘What can I say? The school provides an excellent educational service.’ She walked on past the hostages, heading for the back of the theatre, and was invisible again before she reached the door.
‘We just might have to increase their budget next year,’ Oliver muttered, mostly to himself.
‘That would be most appreciated, Assemblyman,’ Auberon said with a smile, though his eyes were on the spot where Nava had vanished.
~~~
Another grenade outside the door finally caused it to give way. It bounced against the force wall behind it and then fell outward. A burst of three bullets hit the wall and it shattered, letting the last two bullets pass through to embed themselves in the wall at the back. Through the door, the man who had fired became visible.
Fawn put three rounds into the man’s chest from her rifle, pushing him back across the corridor. He clutched at his chest, wincing, but he did not go down. That was when Courtney hit him with Concussive Force. She was not holding back either. The terrorist’s chest was turned into a most un-chest-like shape against the wall and he folded very unnaturally as he fell to the floor.
‘Not much point in me shooting him,’ Fawn grumbled. Louder, she added, ‘He won’t be all of them.’
Almost as if they had heard her, another Befreit operative appeared in the doorway, two more behind him. Kyle thrust out a hand and the man reeled backward, bumping into his two friends and then collapsing onto the ground; a punch in the face, even a telekinetic one, will do that. Another of them was slammed across the corridor, sliding down to lie beside his crushed compatriot, but the third managed to get his rifle up to fire, just as Melissa threw a new wall up across the doorway. It shattered on the first round but losing sight of his targets before he could fire meant his spray of bullets went high. Darius provided the return attack, a Slice spell that almost cut the man in two from right hip to left shoulder.
‘Four more,’ Rochester said. ‘One’s pulling a grenade.’
Mitsuko jumped to her feet, pointing at Melissa. ‘Wall up after I fire!’ She ducked out through the door, raising her arm. The four remaining combatants were about five metres away. She could see one of them holding a cylinder, his finger hooked through a ring attached to it. A standard fragmentation grenade, in all probability. Mitsuko fired off a burst of red-orange light and then threw herself back into the room. Fire roared past the doorway, hot gas licking at Mitsuko’s feet. She had her Armour spell active, however, and could not feel it.
Melissa raised another wall almost immediately, though she was not quite sure why. The fire was already gone and surely the men had to be at least unconscious after that fireball. She was just about to ask why Mitsuko had asked for it when the grenade went off outside. Metal fragments peppered the corridor, two of them hitting the wall. The energy field collapsed again, but it had done its job: neither the blast nor the fragmentation had made it into the room.
‘Um, I’m not going out there for now,’ Melissa said. ‘At least, if I do, someone will have to lead me since I’ll have my eyes closed.’
‘Problem with blood?’ Fawn asked.
‘Uh, yes.’
‘Nothing to be ashamed of. I used to be the same.’ She looked out through the open door at the torn and shattered bodies. ‘Of course, I got over it after a while.’
~~~
The tank was big. Nava came up to its knees and it barely fitted into the lobby, even though this floor had a higher than usual ceiling. The big, black, spiderlike
