“Zuri!”
Even from this distance, Blaze
recognized the scream as Shima’s. The response was instantaneous -- the night
was shattered with the crack crack crack
of gunfire.
York cursed and leapt to his feet.
“Stay down, Smith!”
Blaze heard a metallic click, followed by the deafening blast
of a military-grade pistol. York added his deadly contribution to the raging
firefight on and around the factory grounds. Blaze hoped the ISPP captain’s
split-second pauses between each trigger pull were evidence that he was aiming, and not just blasting anything
that moved.
Empty bullet casings rained down on
Blaze from York’s hand-held cannon. The engineer didn’t like feeling helpless and
scared. Random screams from the factory grounds made his skin crawl. Blaze
prayed that none of those screams were Shima’s. He extended an arm and picked
up the binoculars, quickly wiping dirt from the lenses.
Blaze heard York move off a few
steps, pausing only two seconds to reload his pistol with a fresh magazine. “Begin
sweep now!” The Captain shouted orders to his teams on his earcom. “We’re
moving up the raids! Repeat -- begin
sweep now!”
I
have to see! Blaze’s heart was pounding against his ribs. I just have to see if Shima . . . he felt
cold, despite the warm night air . . . if
she’s been . . . he couldn’t finish the thought. He rose to his elbows and lifted the binoculars to his eyes.
