"I'll be there in a few."
"Brady, you can't cross with the missile fire!"
"Guardian out." He closed his personal net, needing to concentrate. Brady set his micro to track any laser fire before pulling his mask over his face. He counted to three then ran.
The micro warned him of incoming fire, sending the visuals to the implant in his brain. He darted and dashed, stopped and sprinted at its commands, focused on navigating the dangerous territory.
If Dan were with him, he'd agree: this was the fun part of their job. Brady's body soared with adrenaline as he silently defied death and reach his goal.
The sound of a helo broke his concentration, and he glanced upward before the micro warned him of another incoming strike. Brady threw himself down, rolled, and ran, taking cover behind a boulder as the laser missile exploded the ground in front of him. He looked again for the helo and spotted it flanking the area of destruction from a short distance away, traveling the same way he did.
The micro vibrated, and he bolted up and forward, determined to find Lana before someone else did.
Lana hid between the boulders, gaze glued to the area where the laser missiles dropped. Jack was restless, and she rested her hand on his head to keep him still. She'd watched the laser missiles fall around her micro for almost an hour.
Someone wanted to make sure she didn't survive. She shivered in the chill of dawn. A helo thumped in the near distance, and she shrank down farther to keep it from spotting her.
Brady had closed his channel. It might save them both, since every inch of her being wanted to scream at him to stop. The sats would be on backup power right now, eliminating her chance of communicating without drawing the fire of the missiles.
So she waited. And waited, growing as anxious as Jack. It took too long for Brady to appear, and her stomach twisted as she imagined him blown to pieces.
Not again. She couldn't lose her Guardian again.
The thump of the helo returned, this time much closer. Lana scrunched down as far as she could in the shadow of the massive rocks around her. When the helo circled the rocks, she began to suspect they'd picked up her transmission. She held her breath.
The helo moved away. Lana twisted to watch it lower itself to the ground a hundred meters behind her position. Her heart began to beat even faster, and she pulled free the laser gun. Three men leapt out, a blond man in PMF grays flanked by two fed special security members.