Breed

Chapter Fifty-two

"Goddamnit," Mahmoud said.

"What's wrong?" Sonya asked.

"Cameras. They weren't recording to the servers."

"So? I thought you were blocking them," Rox said.

"I was... but I can't be sure that my concentration never slipped. With the phones, odds are pretty good that even if we pinged a cell tower, they wouldn't get enough information to trace back to us. But with this... all they need is a fraction of a second of footage to get any one of us- maybe all of us. We have to wipe those tapes."

"We don't have time."

"I know," he said, closing his eyes. "Agents, not 50 yards down that hall. But I think I can chart us a path through the building, but around the agents, that will give us a chance to wipe their recorders."

"Do it," Rox said.

"But first," he squeezed his hand, and a metal door slid down from the ceiling. "Those are blast and fire doors. They'll have a hell of a time getting through them. Come on."

He started running down the hall. Rox ran faster as they approached an intersecting hallway, and slid around the corner on her knees. She fired shots from a pistol, and several agents went skidding past Mahmoud. Landing in a pile on the other side of the intersection.

"You killed-"

"They're rubber bullets," she said. "Snagged them while I was in the cop shop. Seemed like they might come in handy."

"You could have told me," he said.

"And ruin the surprise?" she kicked back up to her feet. "But come on. I've got a finite supply of them- and they'll be firing the real thing back at us."

"Rox, lookout!" Mahmoud yelled. He shoved her back, skidding into Rui and the rest. Then he took one step down the hall. A fire door slid down between them.

"You're trapped," she said, pulling herself off the ground.

"You're free," Mahmoud said over the intercom. "That hall leads right outside, and the agents are trapped on the other side of this door."

"But you-"

"Need to delete those frames. There wasn't time to escape and destroy the footage."

"You should have told me."

"And ruin the surprise?" he asked. "I'll get away. I'm not letting them put me in another black prison. But you need to go. Or I'll be so preoccupied with protecting you I might not be able to save myself."

Rox frowned. She didn't want this, didn't even know how to accept his decision. "No!" Mira screamed, and hit the door between them.

"Go," Mahmoud said, fixing Rox with a glare. Then he turned, and ran down another hall. "I'll wipe the discs and see you outside."

Rox's jaw set. "Come on," she said, putting her hand on Mira's shoulder.

"No," the other woman said, "I'm getting Mahmoud. We lost Elijah. I'm not losing another one. Get everybody else out."

Rox narrowed her eyes. She pulled on Mira's shoulder, and the other woman shook her off, and hit the wall again, leaving a dent this time. "Subdue her," Rox said, sharing a look with Ben, Rui and Sonya. "Everything you've got."

Ben shook the air and ground around her, Rui set her ablaze, and Sonya dropped boomlets at her feet. The resulting explosion was blinding, and left their ears ringing. But still they heard the sound of Mira's fists on the metal walls. When the smoke cleared, they could see that the dents from her fists had gotten deeper.

"Again," Mira said through tears, as she continued to pound the door.

"Does it hurt?" Sonya asked.

"Again!" Mira roared, striking the door.

Ben stepped between them, with his fists balled. He channeled force into his hands again and again as he hit her, until he could barely stand up.

Sonya peppered her with boomlets, so many that the expenditure of energy left her so dazed Ben had to help get her around the corner before they exploded. Rox stood in the open as they went off. She didn't want to look away.

"Clear the way!" Rui yelled. He was a plasma, flying down the hall faster than he'd ever attempted. At the last moment he transformed himself into a solid harder than flesh, and his impact with Mira made a sound like a metal bat on concrete. For a moment he laid crumpled on the floor at her feet, before transforming into a gas, then back to his normal form. "Not, doing that again," he said, staggering, holding his head.

Mira struck the door one more time, and a seam opened in the center of it. She squeezed her fingers into the groove and peeled the door back enough to slide through.

Ben tried to follow, and she bent the door back. "Go!" she bellowed as tears streamed down her face. "Take him!" Then she ran down the hall, after Mahmoud.