Federal Agents of Magic Boxed Set

by T. R. Cameron

  When the two finally located one another, she pointed at the staircase, and he nodded. She seemed to be struggling to get there, so he abandoned any thought of taking the wizard prisoner and hurried around the cubicles toward her.

  It soon became clear why she had difficulty. Cara dragged an enemy along beside her with the arm that had been wounded at the Museum. His eyebrows furrowed in a question, but he noticed the blood that seeped out of her other arm. He rushed forward to offer aid, but she shook her head.

  “Flesh wound. It’s no biggie. Take this guy.” He obeyed and she pulled a compression patch from her belt pouch. She bound it around the wound and used her teeth to pull the first tie closed while he shook his head in bewilderment.

  “You’re an idiot, you know that?” He threaded the other fastener and stretched it tight. She nodded and seemed about to thank him when her eyes widened. He spun to look behind him, certain that he was about to be attacked, but no enemy loomed anywhere near them. His gaze settled instead on a device that hadn’t been there when they’d entered. It looked very much like a timer attached to explosive charges and stuck on the wall. Several more were affixed in a similar fashion around the room. He imagined there would be some among the cubicles, too. They all counted down with the same number and ticked past the eight-minute threshold.

  Tony triggered his mic. “Boss?”

  Diana’s voice was soft, almost a whisper. “Go.”

  “It looks like they’ve set bombs on this level. They’re not familiar enough that I’m confident I can disarm them. Plus, there’s no way to know where they’ve put all of them. Timers on the ones I see read seven minutes and forty seconds.”

  Her voice was much calmer than the investigator felt. “Okay, time to put an end to this party. Meet us on four. We’ll clear the way for you.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Diana watched the stairwell from the fourth floor. Her carbine was loaded with anti-magic bullets and trained on the entry as she waited for her team to push through. Bryant was ready with their remaining grenades to throw down after them to delay the enemy.

  She toggled her mic. “Kayleigh, have SWAT clear the area. Warn them that the building will explode and get that chopper in here. If anyone complains, tell them they can take it up with me later. Also, release the windows.” Bryant grinned at her. “Being in charge suits your tyrannical streak.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Quiet, you.”

  Kayleigh replied, “Affirmative on SWAT. They're moving, but I read a malfunction on the lockdown. Did anything happen?”

  Diana looked at the steel barriers that blocked their exit. “No.”

  “That’s not good.”

  “No, it isn’t.” Tony and Cara turned the corner of the landing below and struggled with the body they dragged between them. Diana used her telekinesis to take some of the weight and allow the pair to move faster. Shouts echoed through the stairwell, and Bryant threw a flash-bang. It detonated and generated more shouts, and they heard what sounded like every adversary in the tri-state area pounding up the stairs.

  Diana pointed Cara and Tony to the far side of the room. “Get one of those covers off. We need a window to go out.” They dragged their prisoner to the wall with Rath’s help and set to work. Bryant waved at her, and she looked down the staircase. He held up their last two grenades, and she nodded. He primed and threw them, but no sooner were they out of sight than they boomeranged back. She swatted them away with her telekinesis, and they detonated before they could reach the enemy.

  Bryant frowned as he moved away from the stairwell. “Well, that sucked.” She nodded her head in agreement and joined him in a dash to a defensive position. The floor was a giant open workspace, with tables and chairs scattered in clusters throughout and the familiar and seemingly mandatory corner offices. They managed to rearrange some of the furniture into makeshift barriers, and each crouched behind a different one.

  She called, “Incoming,” and Tony huddled into the protection of his own collection of junk and raised his pistol. The first wave was mundane. The troops carried rifles and fired at random to keep them pinned so the reinforcements could enter. Diana leveled her rifle barrel over the top of the bulwark, exposed as little of her head as was necessary to see the enemy, and took single shots aimed at the magic users behind them. Tony fired at the mundanes in the lead, and Bryant divided his fire between the two groups.

  Their foes continued as a mixed force, which meant the team wasted anti-magic bullets on those who didn’t require them. Diana’s magazine clicked empty, and she rammed in her last set of the expensive rounds and fired at anyone holding a wand. She eliminated a couple, but the remainder summoned tables, chairs, and filing cabinets and used them to block her fire.

  By the time the rounds were depleted, the enemy had filled a third of the room and now spread in all directions.

  Kayleigh’s voice was annoyingly calm. “Ninety seconds on the chopper.”

  Diana dashed from her cover a scant second before an enemy mage ripped it apart with a force blast. She charged the rifle-carrying woman nearest her, made sure to use her as a shield against the line of sight from the others, and snatched her weapon. Before her opponent could wrestle it back, Diana kicked her hard below the edge of her vest. The blow to the stomach jerked her back, while the rifle Diana held kept her close. She yanked down on the weapon and drove the woman’s face into her rising knee, then dropped both her and the rifle to dive to the side as a blast of lightning struck the wall where she’d stood.

  Bryant thrust from cover and attacked the wizards with a pistol in one hand. He whipped his offhand forward and yelled, “Get over here!” One of them unexpectedly complied, fell on his back, and slid across the room with his leg outstretched. The agent timed his play and vaulted up to land on the wizard with bone-breaking force. He kicked the wand away for good measure.

  Tony was surgical with his shots. He squeezed off single rounds and exposed as little of himself as possible. Despite the other battles that raged around him, he confined his fire to those who might threaten Cara, who had opened the electrical panel for the metal window covers with her multi-tool and now hastily rewired it.

  When the leader they’d last seen ducking cowardly into the vault appeared, the battle frenzy increased as if his very presence inspired involuntary violence. The riflemen renewed their relentless barrage, and Cara had to stop her work to assist their team. Diana had lost count of the bullets in her pistol, which she’d drawn after the fight with the riflewoman since she was out of anti-magic rifle rounds. She was shocked when it locked open but shoved it into its holster and sent a force blast at a distracted witch to dislodge her wand. With her other hand, she summoned a table and hurled it at an enemy who had drawn too close to Cara for comfort.

  Diana growled. “Cara, get back to the window. Tony, your only job is to protect her. We’ll deal with this asshole.”

  She noticed the detective handing Cara his backup gun but ran out of time to wonder why when Kayleigh said, “Sixty seconds to the chopper, five minutes on timers.” The battle paused for a moment as the riflemen retreated to the stairs, taking only enough shots to keep the BAM agents at bay. The leader smiled his superior smile, stared Diana in the eye, and intoned, “I’m so glad it’s you again.” He raised his hands, and a whirlwind of furniture took flight to circle at random and hinder their ability to shoot. The bastard was delaying them. Again.

  Bryant confirmed it. “If he stalls long enough, boom.”

  “Yeah, not gonna happen.” Diana attacked without preamble. She used her telekinesis to subtly redirect anything aimed toward her, and every time an enemy appeared in a gap, she shoved them aside with a force blast. Still, it was slow going, and each delay made her angrier, which caused the power to build inside her. She finally reached the eye of the storm and found the leader, his right-hand witch, and another pair of magicals with wands pointed directly at her.

  The shadow bolt struck her first and it was so fier
ce that all her deflectors shattered at once. The witch’s ice blasts sought her next, but she had already rolled away by that point. Lightning crackled as she continued into the position she wanted, and her vest absorbed the spell with the staccato music of popping resistors. Once in place, she marshaled the power within, threw her hands up, and propelled a wave of force outward in all directions with a defiant yell. The leader staggered back, and his lieutenant was hurled into the wall nearest the stairs. The other two wizards tumbled in different directions, one toward Bryant and the other toward Tony, exactly as she’d intended.

  I love it when a plan comes together. Heh.

  Bryant only had time to shove his empty pistol into his holster before the wizard’s involuntary flight brought him close. The enemy had recovered well and wrapped himself in an electrical shield of some kind that protected his landing. He whipped his wand, and the agent raced toward him. Even after his deflectors and resistors did their work, the force of the enemy’s magic was still powerful enough to make him stagger, and he dropped to one knee.

  He threw his magical line out and snagged his foe’s feet, but the mage fired a blast of electricity, and the powers canceled where they met. As Bryant rose, another electrical attack reached him to raise a wicked burn on the side of his neck. His vision blurred. He stepped closer, and the wizard released another blast. He dropped to one knee as his grasp on consciousness faded. “Aspida. Sanitatem,” he whispered, and two charms burned into his chest as they were consumed.

  The first summoned his backup shield, which would protect him against anything physical and most things magical for a shorter time than the other. The second was a healing charm, which flooded his body with the magical equivalent of painkillers and kicked his systems into overdrive. He hadn’t had the opportunity to secure an energy charm, so he felt depleted once the healing had done its work but was undamaged. Kienka had told him the magic could rescue him from death’s door, but he’d hoped to never have to test her word.

  He lunged and timed his punch to land at the same moment that his shield dropped. The studs on his gloves struck the mage’s cheek, and the shock knocked his target back. He cursed and raised his wand, but Bryant didn’t hesitate. The next blow struck the man in the stomach and he folded. The final delivery crashed into his temple to sweep the last semblances of consciousness away.

  Bryant straightened to go to Tony’s aid, but the man already had his opponent well in hand. The wizard threw shadow magic at the detective, and his suit shrugged it off. Tony responded with his gunslinger routine. He held his Glock and Ruger at the same time and fired each calmly at the mage. Then the enemy did something truly unexpected. He summoned a portal and sidestepped into it to avoid the attacks, then immediately emerged again to launch his own assault.

  I have to remember that one, Bryant thought.

  The distraction allowed the wizard to send in a shadow bolt that dislodged the Glock and shoved Tony’s arm back. He turned the involuntary move into a quick draw and hurled the Bowie knife he snatched from the small of his back at his adversary. The wizard reacted in what seemed like slow motion and a curl of his wand summoned an oval of darkness to deflect the blade. The shield wasn’t positioned right to do anything about the anti-magic rounds that pierced his thigh, chest, and shoulder, though. He collapsed to his knees, and Tony stepped forward to kick the wand out of his hand.

  Rath had waited near the ceiling, crouched like Spiderman atop one of the cameras that jutted from the wall at intervals throughout the room. When the witch was hurled back, he dropped to the attack. He missed her shoulders as she toppled and growled in frustration. The troll landed cleanly and spun, drew his weapons, and swept them in an X before him. They crackled as they scraped across her chest and she shouted in pain and anger.

  He brought them back and stabbed forward. The witch responded by whipping her head to the side to avoid the batons. She kicked out at him, and he swiveled so her heel caught his thigh, rather than his knee. He turned the motion into a spinning hook kick but was intercepted by a blade of ice that extended from the top of his adversary’s wand. Fortunately, the sharp edge faced away from his skin, but the impact still hurt. He rolled into a backward somersault as she swiped the magical weapon at waist level. She used the delay in his attacks to scramble to her feet.

  Rath sensed the enemy leader behind him and circled toward the inside of the room to avoid any surprise attacks. The witch fired a cloud of icy needles at him, and he fled, using his acrobatic tricks to spin, tumble, and otherwise evade them.

  He considered growing bigger, but the moment seemed to call for agility over power. At the thought of power, he pushed the button to retract his left baton and slid it into his right holster before he retrieved, primed, and threw a pepper grenade in a continuous swing. The woman waited until it landed at her feet, then created a canopy of ice over it with a wave of her wand. It exploded, but a second gesture sealed the cracks in the cover and no damage was done.

  He changed direction to careen toward her and hurled the flash-bang. He’d hoped that it would at least give him time to get close, but his canny opponent intercepted it with a ball of ice and it ricocheted to where Cara knelt by the windows. Rath sighed in relief as Tony smacked it with the butt of his pistol and forwarded it to Bryant. It detonated, but the troll looked away and his headphones protected him. The woman gestured with her wand again, and the floor became slick with a coat of ice. By now, his momentum had become too great to halt. He slipped and slid inevitably toward the witch.

  Uh-oh.

  Diana narrowed her focus on the enemy leader. Her fingers flexed with the desire to punch his arrogant expression down his throat. She advanced cautiously, as he seemed content to wait until the last possible second before engaging. No words were exchanged, but his eyes conveyed his lack of respect for her in particular, and for all humans in general.

  I fucking hate bullies.

  She threw both her fists forward and used her telekinesis to deliver a blow to his left leg and her force blast to his left shoulder. He absorbed the strikes, then twitched his wand and a nearby table hurtled at her head. She slashed with her right hand, and the projectile split down the middle as if chopped by an ax.

  I’m getting better at this force thing.

  He gestured to launch more items in her direction. She picked them off smoothly—redirected some, blocked others, and destroyed the rest. Her anger surged again when she reminded herself that he was toying with her. A ball of shadow formed in her hand, and she lobbed it at his face. He looked shocked for a moment, then slipped to the side and used yet another table to deflect the attack.

  This stupid room has way too much furniture in it.

  She used the distraction to dart in, only to circle out again as he raised his hand and eight wickedly barbed tentacles spiraled to swipe at her from all directions. Her survival reflex kicked in and she threw herself prone and summoned her force shield to hold them at bay as her mind spun through the appropriate denials.

  He’s a wizard. He can’t do that! What the hell? That didn’t come out of his wand.

  Diana indulged the protest for only an instant before she resumed the battle. She waved her arm in a circle and imagined a line following it, then yanked hard. A rope of force materialized around the tentacles and drew them together.

  The enemy nodded as if to congratulate her on her innovation. He banished the appendages only to call them again immediately. She deflected or avoided seven, but the eighth caught her calf and hauled her to the floor. His superior grin became more smug and she fumbled for her final grenade and threw it at him. He circled the wand to create a portal unlike any she’d ever seen. The gateway opened to a barren world and tortured screams and cries emanated from within. He flicked it into the grenade's path, and the explosive detonated in whatever world or place lay beyond the rift in reality.

  He barked a command to his left, and Diana turned her head quickly. Rath slid along a sheet of ice toward the witch they�
�d faced before. An identical swath appeared beneath her as the tentacle yanked her harder toward the portal. Her mind gabbled briefly to remind her she did not want to go to wherever that was. She drew her Ruger with an awkward twist and aimed it at the leader, but he twitched the tentacles and one grasped her hand to make all but the last round miss. That scraped his leg and dropped him to a knee, but his magic did not fail.

  Diana had nothing left and no way to eliminate him before he pushed her into the rift. She did the only thing she could think of, which was to roll and fire a blast of force in front of Rath. He made it look like that had been his plan all along when he used the barrier to stop his slide and hurl himself upward to twist in midair, strike the wall with both feet, and launch himself at the witch.

  The troll grew as he powered downward and collided with her halfway to his largest size. She stumbled toward Diana. It was like watching Bryant’s game of pool with Gillians. She saw the opportunity and threw all her remaining power into a force bolt directed at the woman’s chest. Physics took its course, and she screamed as she was thrust into the rift. She conjured a frost rope in a last frantic attempt to save herself and tried to lasso the nearest object. The rope missed its target and glanced off her leader, instead. This distracted him enough that the tentacles vanished and the portal collapsed.

  Diana slid on until she careened hard into Rath, who had met the wall and sank to the floor an instant before. The wizard turned in a fury, but at that moment, the steel barriers over the windows opened.

  Kayleigh shouted, “Everyone down!” over the comm. Tony was the only one still standing, but he dropped prone as minigun rounds from the weapon mounted on the side of the Air Force chopper chattered and swept over the area as the airman sought her target.

  The wizard reacted swiftly, created a different portal, and stepped through it to evade the bullets.