Their rifles fired as they stumbled, and her vest caught a round as she lurched aside. Anik entered behind her and added more shots to each man in tightly grouped clusters that hurled them into the wall where they slumped awkwardly. Cara reached for the handle to open the exit, but her teammate put his hand on hers and shook his head.
He retrieved a device she hadn’t seen before from a pouch on his thigh. Her look must have betrayed her thoughts because he spoke quietly as he set it against the door. “It’s a sniffer. If there are explosives on the other side, it’ll warn us. It doesn’t work on grenades, unfortunately. If it were me, I’d have put traps down.”
She nodded. “That makes sense.”
Anik pulled it back and frowned. “There’s nothing obvious.”
Cara pointed at a stack of heavy crates. “Rig a line. We can pull the door open from behind these.”
He stuck an adhesive hook on the floor and threaded a thin metal cable through it, attached the line to the door, and joined the others behind the barrier before he yanked sharply. The door opened and a grenade clattered, then detonated to ignite several boxes and canvas covers. Tony snatched a wall-mounted extinguisher as the other man jumped the gap to the small platform on the rear of the next car and repeated the process of demolishing the lock.
This time, the detonation wasn’t as much of a shock to those inside, and a hail of bullets greeted them as soon as it swung open. Cara and Tony retreated behind the metal walls of car one, and Anik lobbed a grenade into the other with a quiet, “Flash out.” It exploded and released light, sound, and concussion through the metal box. The gunfire neither slowed nor stopped.
What the hell? Cara realized that the only explanation involved some kind of magical protection, which made entry a real risk. She frowned, considered their options, and grinned. “Ready to breach car two. Here’s what we’ll do.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Diana had listened in when Cara and Anik rigged the line to exit the car and approved the plan. Her strategy had to be a little different, though. She and Rath ducked behind protective stacks of various supplies before she peered around and pulled down using her telekinesis. This time, the trap was a frag grenade that sprayed shrapnel toward them. The one piece that made it through the crates was slowed enough that it bounced off her vest with hardly a jolt.
She stared across the gap to the car on the other side. “It sure would be nice if we had an armed drone to demolish that door for me.”
Kayleigh groaned. “Stop. Cara, say nothing.” The ex-Marshall’s chuckle was tease enough. “You’re magical. Do magic.”
Diana shrugged. Good point. Her lessons with Nylotte hadn’t yet provided the key to drawing on her full power reserve, but she had learned to make the most of what she already had. She closed her eyes, focused, and willed all the force magic she had to coalesce in her right hand. Once she’d formed it into an orb the size of a softball, she gestured gently toward the car ahead. The ball hurtled forward with all the energy of her power and telekinesis behind it and punched through the handle, the lock above it, and part of the wall.
Rath clapped approvingly. “Nice shot.”
She looked at her palm, a little surprised. “It was more powerful than I expected, but I suppose that’s a good problem to have.” She brushed her hands against one another. “Ready?” The troll nodded. “Okay, I’ll yank it open and lead. Rifles first, magicals second, Kilomea third.” He confirmed with another brusque nod. Diana yanked the door wide magically and raced toward the opening.
Automatic weapons’ fire erupted through the entry. Her force shield protected her when it absorbed the impacts and bounced the bullets off to clatter on the metal floor. She hurdled the gap, slid into the fourth car, and thrust her magical barrier forward to batter the two gunmen who had opened fire. The energy wave propelled them into the unyielding wall at the far end, and bones crunched distinctively as they fell and their rifles clattered away.
Diana had a moment to enjoy it before new assaults struck her from behind.
The first was ice. She could tell by the haze that formed around her when the attack pounded home and was consumed by her anti-magic deflectors. Two of them blackened immediately. She realized that the second blow had landed as well when her third deflector shattered and the fourth darkened. She dove behind a nearby stack of uniformly stenciled military crates. Rath skidded into the car as she ducked securely behind cover. His feet thumped on the metal floor and he reached her in time for her to cast a shield to protect him from a repeat of the same bombardment. Ice and darkness flowed past the barrier she conjured.
Shadow. Why does there always have to be so much shadow? When a rare nightmare stole her sleep, it was invariably in the form of dark misty tentacles that pursued her, snatched at her, and squeezed the life from her. Her inner voice interjected with its usual snark, and she pictured herself standing with arms folded and a condescending look on her face.
Perhaps a traumatic incident in your past? You know, therapy is good for that.
Shut up, you. I’m busy here. And you’re apparently too stupid to recognize a rhetorical question.
Mental Diana flipped her off and vanished.
The internal conversation banished any fear, and she glanced quickly at Rath. She held an open palm up and counted down from five. When she closed her fist, they moved. The enemy saw her first when she stepped into the aisle created by the storage boxes while the troll still clambered up and over the obstruction he’d taken cover behind. She thrust a hand at a witch on the left and a wizard on the right. Her telekinesis failed to steal the wand from her first opponent, but it did delay the woman’s attacks. Diana’s force bolt met the ice blast in midair and spun shards like shrapnel in an expanding circle. She flinched when one sliced into her right cheek immediately below her eye. The wizard absorbed some of the blowback as well, and Rath made small yelp of excitement as he barreled toward the witch.
The distraction proved useful against the woman. Her effort to bring her wand to bear on the troll might have been in time but for the icy needles that struck her in the leg, torso, and ear and broke her concentration. Rath’s two-footed kick connected with her face as she ducked to avoid the missiles and her skull connected with the metal behind her. Her eyes rolled back in her head as she sagged to leave a bloody smear on the wall. He landed cleanly, but shards of ice under his feet stole his balance and he flailed momentarily before he fell.
The wizard waved his wand in an arc to create a frozen barrier around him. Diana sensed the continuing magic as he reinforced it.
Damn it. They’re playing the delaying game again. I hate these people.
She focused on raising the largest force blast she could and hurled it into the protective shield, but it failed to penetrate and the divot it made was quickly filled. Instinct made her reach within for fire, but as it always did in her exercises, the element still escaped her. She growled in frustration.
Rath clapped once and she turned in surprise. He pantomimed an arc in the air, and she glanced up with a smile. She nodded and cupped her hands as he flicked his batons out. He took three running steps in her direction and hopped onto her palms. She flung him to the apex of the barrier. The way he disappeared from view confirmed that the enemy had only thought in two dimensions and had left the top unguarded. Shouts of pain and the sharp cracks of the stun batons signaled the troll’s success. A triumphant warrior soon climbed out of the makeshift shelter at a higher height and shrank back to his smaller size. “Great idea, buddy. Did you get their wands?”
“Yes.” He produced them and passed them to her.
“Excellent.”
She found cover and waited until he was protected as well before she used her magic to manipulate the handle of the exit door. There was no reaction, and she peered carefully around the corner. The next car was a flatbed filled with enemies of every sort—Kilomea, wizard, witch, and mundane weapon-wielders. One of them stood at the center and pointed his wand d
own at the tracks.
Bloody hell.
Cara assumed that wizards supported the riflemen in car two, based on the way the flashbang had failed to stop the incoming barrage. Now, each agent held a grenade. Tony had a sonic, which might drive its attack unhindered through a physical shield. Cara had chosen pepper, which could potentially curl through the cracks in any defense. Anik gripped a frag grenade, which he would pitch in first. He had complained that he wouldn’t hit anyone if the defenses were up, but that was the point. She wanted the mages to focus on defending against the first grenade in the hope that the distraction would leave crevices in their protection against the others. It was divergent thinking, to say the least.
She took a centering breath. “Go, Anik.”
The man threw his grenade and ducked behind the cover of car two’s metal wall, his feet sure and balanced on the small platform. She waited for the space of two heartbeats and gave her next signal. “Go, Tony,” she ordered and flung hers at the same time. Their grenades were still in flight when the first detonated. As the second wave erupted, the fusillade from men, Kilomea, and magicals faltered, and she barreled ahead with Tony a couple of steps behind her as she cleared the gap between the cars.
She’d been wrong about her assumption about the wizards. They were actually witches if one were to demand specifics in the heat of battle. The enemies were arranged with the magicals on the outside and the gunmen on the inside a step back. All four women coughed, sputtered, or moaned from the effects of the grenades. It was quick work to disable the enemy after that. Soon, they were lined up and bound with zip-ties. Anik looked up from where he worked to secure the final prisoner and grinned. “That was too easy. Good plan.”
Diana’s voice startled them all. “Get to the roof, fast. Kayleigh, get the chopper in here. They intend to separate the cars.”
The tech’s voice replied a moment later. “Thirty seconds out.”
It took a moment for the gravity of that report to sink in before the three agents responded to their boss’ warning and exploded into action. Cara was first out the door and clutched the rungs on the right ladder to climb to the roof. Anik took the left. Vibrations from below told her the detective was close on her heels. In other circumstances, she would have voiced a taunt, but this wasn’t the time. She made it to the top, raised her rifle, and aimed ahead but found no targets as she walked steadily toward the center.
The others soon clambered up behind her. Tony saw the chopper first. “There it is,” he said. The black aircraft was only visible in the darkness by the blinking lights that were doubtless for their benefit. The sound of the rotors rolled over her ears moments after, and despite her lack of knowledge of helicopters, it definitely seemed to be in a hurry. With a distinctive crackle, the pilot’s voice joined the comms channel.
“It looks like we need to do this fast. I have two lines out. Someone will have to climb up first.”
“There’s no time to waste,” Kayleigh added briskly. “Diana is blocking them, but it’ll only work for a few seconds more before they find an angle to hit her.”
Anik tapped Cara on the shoulder. “You probably want to do the hero thing and go last, but you have the best skill to jump and scramble up. Fortunately, I’m a big enough person to admit this. I’ll keep an eye on the front and jump on after you.”
She frowned but pushed down her automatic dismissal of the idea.
Damn it, he’s right.
With a curt nod, she moved into position across from Tony, who faced the back of the train on the left. The detective looked nervous and she flashed her teeth in a reassuring grin. “Easy peasy, fellas. Grab the rope and don’t let go. There’s no need to climb too high since we’ll be off again shortly.”
Tony’s face was locked somewhere between panic and exhilaration, which seemed like an entirely reasonable response given the circumstances. The wind picked up as the helicopter dipped and pulled its nose up to swing the ropes toward them. The heavy-duty carabiners glinted in the moonlight. Cara crouched and vaulted upward to seize her line several feet up and focused on nothing more than getting higher. The cable jerked when Anik caught it a moment later, and she looked down to where he held on with both hands. His boots dangled awkwardly.
He saw her expression and gave a small laugh. “I’m good. For a while, at least. It’s not your fault. The rope jerked right before I caught it.”
As she spun on the line, she peered into the darkness around them and said a quiet prayer to the universe that they’d make it in time to help Diana and Rath.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Diana held the barrier for as long as she could, but keeping it directional to protect the connection between the cars left her open to attack. She deflected a rifle with her telekinesis to force the shots to fire wide, then jerked a wand out of the line, but her efforts would ultimately prove futile. The rapid thump-thump of the chopper assured her that her teammates had secured their ride, but she was once again forced to duck behind the door. A giant fireball washed into the car, which lurched as the steady pull from the front vanished.
She screamed, “Rath, go!” and followed him onto the small platform at a sprint. The gap between the cars widened with every precious second, and the enemies on the flatbed were incredibly pleased by their success, judging by the looks on their faces. The troll jumped at an angle to the right, and his acrobatic talent was such that he would make it even though his trajectory wasn’t direct.
Her own skills were less adequate, so her only option was through. She launched herself across the space and folded her body into a shield of force. Her path rocketed her directly at the mage who had thrown the fireball as his wand came forward to cast again. The vicious flames wound around her, and the increased temperature made her vision swim. Thankfully, her defense held.
The rumble of the helicopter became a distant sound as she careened into the wizard and thrust him off his feet. Her head struck his unintentionally, which left her a little dazed, but she had enough presence of mind to scramble away and regain her footing. She raced for the only cover she could find—the Humvee strapped down across the train car. Bullets pounded into the metal as she skidded around it for cover. Several of the projectiles found the back of her body armor and pitched her forward onto her face. Survival instinct kicked in and she floundered toward the tire without conscious thought. She sat with her spine against the vehicle and used the wheel for cover and used the brief respite as she tried to gather her wits.
Yells and more weapons’ fire preceded another telltale whoosh of flame. Rath appeared around the rear corner of the car at a run. “Too many,” he panted. “Get up.” He yanked both grenades from his bandolier and threw them one after the other over the top of the vehicle. Frantic shouts were cut off when the canisters detonated, causing a lull in the relentless fusillade.
The troll scampered over and studied her face with concern. “Diana. Healing potion?” His anxious expression penetrated where the rest of the surrounding action had not, and she shook her head. “I’m good, Rath. I only need a minute.”
His expression was grim. “No time. Flanking.”
She nodded and lurched to her feet with a groan. “I’d say we should make a break for it since these assholes are trying to slow us down, but leaving them at our backs would be a bad idea.”
The troll grinned. “Have plan. Keep them busy.”
Diana shrugged. It’s not like I have any better ideas at the moment. She clambered onto the hood of the Humvee to give the enemy a clear target and summoned a force shield that extended in a curve to both sides. It stretched from the body of the vehicle to just over the top of her hair. Magic battered it instantly but the flame was unable to penetrate, and for once, no shadow tentacles appeared to torment her. Another witch thrust a blast of force out, but it failed to pierce her defenses. Bullets peppered the barrier in a steady beat and each added to the throbbing in her head, but she gritted her teeth and fed more power to the shield.
&n
bsp; Come on, Rath. Whatever you have planned, do it. She gestured, and the clasp on one of the straps securing the goods to the flatbed flicked open. The crates it had restrained slid across the surface, inward and back, and her enemies paused their attacks in order to protect themselves.
She redirected a crate’s momentum enough to sweep it into a witch on the far side and jolt her off the edge of the train. Her mouth froze in a horrified scream that was drowned out by the noise of the wind and the tracks.
Diana targeted a rifleman on the other side and flicked at his knee to make it buckle, then pushed him outward as well. He fell frantically to his stomach to avoid tumbling off.
All right, now we’re getting somewhere.
Suddenly, the world decelerated, and her vision expanded to the now familiar panorama. A new enemy emerged beyond the outline of the Humvee and she noted his peculiar behavior absently. The man was a wizard she hadn’t seen before. He crouched low to the ground and had apparently crawled under the vehicle while she was occupied with the others. His wand was pointed at her, and his lips moved. She did the only thing she could think to do and backflipped off the hood.
A burst of light energy streaked through the place where she had stood. The slow motion threw off her sense of balance given the fast motion of the train, though, and she stumbled when she landed and fell hard enough for it to hurt. She only realized her real danger when her head failed to connect with the flatbed and the wind surged into one of her eardrums. Panicked, she flailed her right hand in search of anything at all to take hold of, and her magic saved her again. A thin line of force emerged and whipped out to wind around the enemy’s legs. She yanked forcefully, and the effort simultaneously pulled herself onto the platform and flung him onto his back. His wand spun free when she flicked her left fingers and time snapped into its normal speed.
Federal Agents of Magic Boxed Set Page 62