Bent to peer under the raised front bucket, Gray rode past the cabin as an explosion blew out its windows and tore the door off its hinges. Smoke rolled out. He fumbled with his gears in surprise and worry.
Seichan...
Silence fell over the battlefield for a heartbeat-then the noise resumed. Two men popped around the cabin's corner. Monk strafed from his advantage atop his steel castle tower, balancing the front of his rifle between two teeth of the front loader. A third assailant threw a grenade from where the commandos were hiding, lobbing it over the roof toward the backhoe.
But they didn't know that Monk was an expert sharpshooter-or how pissed he was about getting tagged in the gut. Monk swiveled his weapon and pinged the grenade as if he were shooting skeet. It fell back behind the cabin. Another explosion blew back there, casting up dirt and smoke. A helmet rolled into view. It wasn't empty. Screams followed.
Then gunfire.
It sounded like a brief firefight-a one-sided firefight.
After a moment, through the smoke, a figure appeared.
Seichan, covered in blood and with her clothes still smoldering, crossed into view. She must have dived out a back window as the grenade inside the cabin blew. She pointed toward the parking lot. She wasn't indicating that it was time to go. A single figure remained, standing next to a Humvee.
Mitchell Waldorf.
The traitor turned toward the vehicle, but Monk was one step ahead of him. From his perch, he took out the truck's tires and drove Waldorf back from the vehicle. If they could capture him alive-a Guild operative buried deep in the government-he could prove to be invaluable, a resource capable of exposing much about the workings of the organization.
Waldorf must have realized the same thing.
He lifted a pistol to his chin.
Gray swore, goosed the backhoe for more speed. Seichan ran toward him. Waldorf smiled and shouted at them cryptically: "This isn't over!"
The single pistol shot rang brightly.
The top of the man's head erupted in a blast of skull and brain matter. The body slumped to the pavement.
Certainly looks over to me.
Still, the sight of the man's last smile stayed with Gray. A cold fear settled in his gut. What did the bastard mean?