Page 56 of Hollow Code
"Fall back, and draw him west," Neve said. "I'm coming around behind."
"Moving."
"I need five more minutes," Gideon said. "And then I’m done."
"We’ve got a third vehicle," Scout said. "Coming up the access road. Same profile."
"How many?" Neve asked.
"Two men exiting. Geared up. Moving toward the south tree line, fast."
"We need to clear a path." There was an edge in Neve's tone that was rarely ever there. "Coulter, I’m in position. Let’s finish this."
More gunfire. More than ever before.
Then silence.
"Don’t think he’s going anywhere anytime soon," Coulter said. "Thanks for the backup."
"Anytime," Neve said. "To the tower. Zadie, what are the two fresh ones doing?"
"Can't see them from here." Zadie needed elevation. The transformer platform—there was a maintenance ladder on the back, six feet up. She ran for it, keeping low. Every step sent a jolt through her twisted ankle and bruised knee. Her elbow throbbed where she'd cracked it on the concrete.
The metal hummed under her hands as she climbed, vibrating with the current from the lines overhead. From up there, she could see the south fence, the tree line, and the two new arrivals working their way toward the cut section.
"These two aren't moving the same," she said. "They're still fast, but slower than the others."
"The original compound wears off as time goes on," Gideon said. "But if they weren’t given KTH-1, they’re going to have some serious issues."
Zadie sighted the first man at the fence. She held her breath and fired. The round hit his shoulder. There was no point going for center mass when someone was wearing Kevlar.
She needed to hit joints. Knees. Shoulders.
Or hit his head, but he was moving too fast, and she ran the risk of missing him altogether if she did that.
He staggered backward, caught himself, and kept moving through the cut section. Body armor. She adjusted down and fired again at the knee. He buckled and hit the ground inside the perimeter.
His partner dropped flat behind a tree stump outside the fence and returned fire. Three rounds hit the transformer platform. One so close to Zadie's position that she felt the heat of it pass her shoulder. She flattened against the metal grating, her ribs slamming the steel. Pain bloomed through her chest, and she tasted copper at the back of her throat.
"Taking fire on the platform," she managed. "One down inside the fence, one in the tree line."
"I've got an angle on the tree line from the ravine," Wynn said. "He's behind a stump. I need him to shift."
"Give me a second." Zadie rolled to the edge of the platform and fired two rounds into the dirt near the stump.
He rolled left, exposing his flank for half a second.
Wynn fired. The man jerked and went flat.
"He's hit," Wynn said. "Side of the torso. Below the vest. He’s losing blood fast."
Zadie scanned from the platform. The man she'd dropped inside the fence was on his stomach, trying to army-crawl toward the relay tower with a shattered knee. He'd covered maybe ten feet. At that rate, Coulter would reach Gideon long before he did.
"Coulter, are you at the tower?" Zadie asked.
"Thirty seconds out."
"Scout, what's Isaac doing?" Zadie controlled her breathing. She focused on the mission. Focused on what she had been trained to do.
