Jon peered up through the dim light of the shaft along with the rest of them, feeling his hands curl into fists, maybe because he didn’t know what else to do with them. He found himself overly aware of Wreg, but he couldn’t let himself think about that, either.
He could see Jax and Jorag now, their falls already speeding up. The opening above stood too high for Jon to see if there were people in it, but Wreg yanked Jon back by the arm, forcing him to join the others under the nearest metal outcropping.
Less than a second after he’d done it, a shot rang out from above.
It bounced off the sides of the shaft, sending up sparks.
Jon’s heart leapt to his throat, then began slamming into his ribs.
The sickness in his gut worsened. Gods. He didn’t want to stand there and watch Jorag and Jax get shot. He’d never felt so helpless in his life as he huddled with the rest of them, Wreg’s arm firmly around his chest, holding him back.
But the other shots didn’t come.
Jon could feel some kind of commotion at the top of the shaft.
Then distant explosions, sounding strangely hollow down the shaft.
The guns, Wreg told him from behind. Nenz just got their guns. He’ll go after the actual soldiers now, before they can––
Before he could finish, Revik cut him off.
“Fuck,” Revik cursed aloud. He switched to the headset. “That bitch is shielding them. Drop! Now! Before they yank up the lines. They’re trying to get you alive!”
Even as he said it, Jon saw both Jax and Jorag jerk to a stop in midair.
There was a pause while Jorag and Jax struggled with their belts, looking like fish caught at the end of a line. Limbs flailing, they seemed to be fighting with the locks, even as their limbs pinwheeled, yanking down the harnesses. Their trajectories got messed up in the seconds that passed, and now they slammed into one another and the walls, making hollow clanking noises when the sound of their metal winches collided with the walls of the shaft.
Next to him, Jon heard Wreg curse under his breath in that Asian language that wasn’t Mandarin, that Allie once guessed to be Mongolian.
Just then, Jorag dropped free of the ropes.
His legs and arms windmilled even more wildly in the air, but he fell straight down, even as Revik moved sharply to the side, holding out a hand, maybe to focus his concentration. The light green in his irises flared, enough that Jon flinched.
Right then, Jon felt a slam against their shield, the first real one since the op started, and a lot heavier than anything he’d felt on the airfield that morning.
He managed to hold on to the shell around Revik, but let out a surprised gasp, even as pain exploded in his head. It felt like someone had just hit him in the back of the head with a mallet. The pain worsened enough that he gasped again, clenching his jaw.
He did his best to compensate but could feel someone trying to worm their way in.
He could feel them messing with him, trying to get him to react, trying to get at pieces of his mind through his emotions, even as Balidor’s presence abruptly overwhelmed his, along with Maygar’s––then Ullysa’s and Tenzi’s.
Impressive, Jon-boy, Cass murmured in his mind. I have to say, that’s very impressive indeed for a little half-worm like you. I guess it’s true you’ve got a little seer in you. I think you’ve just given your pal Terian a hard-on.
In the background, Jon heard Terian laugh.
It’s true, he told Jon cheerfully. Gods, I do so want to fuck you, Jon, my friend. I miss your blow jobs like you wouldn’t believe…
The seer’s words seemed to echo off the insides of Jon’s skull, sharpening the pain to unbearable. Jon gasped, gripping his forehead as he watched Revik.
“Hurry up,” he managed. “Fuck, hurry up.”
Another hand grabbed his arm. Instantly, some of the pain lessened.
When Jon turned his head, he found Maygar looking at him, his brown eyes glowing in faint yellow-tinted rings in his face.
Jon hadn’t seen Maygar’s eyes glow very often, even during the training sessions in San Francisco, and never had he seen them so close up. He found himself staring, unable to look away as he lost himself in those gold-green flickers and sparks. It couldn’t have been long, though, given that Jorag hadn’t even reached them yet.
“Easy, brother.” Maygar’s eyes held sympathy, maybe more than Jon had ever seen on him. “You’re doing well, brother… very well. Don’t panic. They want you to panic, it’s the easiest way in. You are not weak. Do not believe them. Don’t let anything they say get to you.”
Jon let the other’s light calm his, and nodded.
Taking a deep breath, he nodded again, exhaling.
Slowly, that feeling of presence from Cass and Terian faded. The background of Jon’s mind grew still, almost peaceful. Unfortunately, the headache didn’t.
Fade, that is.
“Good, brother,” Maygar soothed. “Very good. You are doing great. Just remember to ask for help if they hit you like that again.”
Jon nodded, clasping the other man’s arm in gratitude.
More gunshots went off from above.
When Jon looked up that time, he saw Chinja and Neela firing back, using the rifles they’d worn slung around their bodies on their trip down the shaft.
Now that they’d reached the bottom and stashed their rappelling gear, they’d locked the weapons back onto their waists and shoulders with smaller, lighter harnesses that looked organic. Whatever those harnesses consisted of, they had a kind of ball-joint swivel feel to them, in terms of how they moved, which gave them a strangely animal quality as they slid soundlessly and precisely at the lightest touch, like an extra limb.
Jorag had nearly reached them.
In all of that time with Maygar, which felt interminable to Jon, only seconds must have passed. Now Jax was free-falling down the shaft, too. Jon couldn’t help wincing, fearing they would slam into the metal, beam-laden walls even before they exploded at the bottom. He realized then, that neither of them were dropping at free-fall speed.
A few seconds later, Wreg called out to Chinja and Neela.
“Cover me!”
Neela gave a short nod.
Both of them fired up the shaft as Wreg ran out to catch Jorag.
He caught hold of the tall seer a few seconds later, staggered, nearly fell, then shoved the taller man roughly to his feet, pushing him in the direction of the alcove even as Wreg looked up once more, readying himself to catch Jax.
Maygar moved away from Jon to catch hold of Jorag. Without waiting, he began unbuckling the harness from around his body.
Wreg caught the smaller male with a lot less strain, Jon, noticed, although Jax cried out as soon as Wreg had a hold of him. He was gripping one of his thighs, and the first thing Jon thought was, fuck, somehow Chinja or Neela had––
“A little faith, brother.” Chinja snorted, giving him a hard look as she stopped firing, pretty much the second Wreg had Jax under the alcove. “It wasn’t us.”
Jon’s face warmed as he realized his mistake, and remembered Shadow’s guards had been firing down the shaft, too. Although, he supposed, as far as Jax was concerned, the difference constituted more of a technicality, anyway.
Putting all of his attention back on the shield around Revik, Jon bit his lip when the pain in his head flared.
“We need more people on Jon,” Revik said, speaking into the link. “They’ve figured out he’s the main connect for the shield.”
“We’re working on it,” Balidor answered.
“Work faster, goddamn it,” Revik snapped. “Protect him! Pull Tenzi if you have to. I need more people on him. Now.”
He clicked out before anyone on the other end could answer.
Jon gave him a grateful nod when they met gazes briefly, but Revik barely seemed to notice. He motioned Chinja over to keep an eye on Jon, then focused up above the alcove, his still-glowing eyes concentrated. Jon’s head hurt so bad by then he
found it difficult to even see Revik clearly, Barrier light or no.
Jon watched as Revik climbed up to the double doors just above the alcove where they stood. Wreg climbed after him within seconds, and Jorag quickly followed, practically vaulting to the top after he’d grasped the rough edge.
Jon glanced at the others and saw Neela yanking off her belt after she got off Jax’s harness. Once she had it off, the smaller, dark-haired seer cinched the belt around Jax’s thigh. Jon saw Jax’s face screw up in pain, even as he gripped her shoulder, groaning when she tightened the belt still more.
Jon could see the gunshot wound now. He couldn’t tell how serious it was. They got him in the leg, so likely, Revik had been right; they weren’t trying to kill them.
He wondered why.
Given Revik’s approach to their people, and what they’d done to Garensche, it struck Jon as uncharacteristically restrained, especially now.
“We’re back in the hall of mirrors, little brother,” Chinja muttered to him, clearly hearing his thoughts from where she helped protect his shield. “Best not to try and psychoanalyze things too much. I have a feeling they want us to do that.”
Jon turned, looking at her.
Chinja’s light orange eyes remained focused on the level above, and her gun on the elevator shaft above that. Revik and Wreg continued to work over the door, their backs jammed into the edges of the metal beams on one edge of the platform to avoid the bullets that continued to rain down on them from above.
The sound of gunfire struck Jon as deafening now that he wasn’t focused on anything else. The bullets let off sharp reports as they ricocheted off metal, echoing up and down the shaft as they set off sparks.
He had no trouble hearing Chinja, though.
He remembered her words back in that castle down in Argentina. She’d been one of the first to point out the illusory nature of the construct there, too.
“Yeah,” he muttered.
He suddenly wondered exactly what they would find behind that door.
“Let us know if that shield starts to go for real, brother,” Chinja told him, her voice sharper. “We can’t afford to let them take the boss down, like before. We go fully to guns and grenades on your mark. Got it?”
Jon nodded, feeling another surge of sickness in his chest.
He heard a metallic clanging sound then, a lower, duller thud than the bullets, and looked up to see Revik and Wreg wedging a metal rod into the crack between the two elevator doors. It was the same kind of tool he’d seen them use upstairs.
Jax was more or less on his feet again. His skin looked pale, deathly so in the dim light, and Jon could tell without using his light that the other man was in a lot of pain. Even so, Jax tested his weight on the leg with a kind of methodical focus.
After a few more minutes, he let go of Neela.
When Neela continued to stand there, watching him, Jax gave her a nod and a few more hand gestures to tell her he would be all right. He pulled his gun a few seconds later, and Neela gave him an affectionate slap on the shoulder.
Still watching him, she rotated her rifle back around on its harness, yanking it down slightly and forward so that it aimed in front of her, but still up the shaft.
Jon glanced up right as Maygar joined Wreg, Jorag and Revik at the door.
Jon couldn’t help smiling a little, even through the pain in his head, when he saw Maygar shove Revik back from the opening none-too-gently, giving him a hard stare when Revik seemed about to protest. A short, muttered discussion ensued between Maygar and his father, too low for Jon to hear, but Jon got the gist when he saw Maygar replace Revik in the door’s opening, working with Wreg to force open the doors.
Revik receded deeper into the protective cavity between the beams, Jorag standing over him with a gun.
The gap in the door was almost two feet wide now.
“That’s our cue,” Chinja said. She patted Jon on the shoulder, then swiveled her rifle up and forward, firing a few shots up the shaft. “Get up there, little brother. I’ll cover you and the others until you’re on the platform. I’ll be right behind you, so don’t wait if the boss tells you to go through that door. I’m sending Neela and Jax up, too.”
Revik glanced down, snapping his fingers at Jon, his face expressionless.
“Listen to her, Jon,” he said through the link. “Up here. Now. You and Neela help Jax up first, if you can.”
Gritting his teeth against the pain in his head, Jon only nodded.
Jax went up first, like Revik said, with Neela and Jon pushing him up to the beam from below. Again, Jon could tell it hurt the other man like hell, pretty much whenever he put weight on that leg, but he didn’t make a sound other than breathing a little harder as he climbed up the metal beam to reach the top.
Jon watched as Jorag walked out of the alcove to grab Jax’s arm at the top, helping him up the last piece without taking his gun sights off the shaft. Once he got Jax on the platform, Jorag released him, retreating back to cover Revik.
He and Chinja continued to fire up the shaft to cover Jax until he could get to shelter. Jax crawled along the platform to reach the others, remaining on his hands and knees until he reached the edge of the second alcove.
Once there, he used the wall to pull himself to his feet.
By then, Jon was hoisting his own upper body up onto the platform.
He paused once he had most of his weight on the next level, looking back to offer Neela a hand. The female seer had already started to yank herself up to the top of a second beam, though, climbing so fast Jon couldn’t help smiling.
She waved off his offered hand with a head-cock of thanks and a smile, right before she vaulted the rest of the way up.
Jon followed her, feeling clumsy in comparison, and gave her a grateful nod when her light flooded his, reinforcing his shielding briefly, along with Chinja.
Neela ended up holding out a hand for him at the top.
Jon took it gratefully, along with the increased focus of her light on his.
“Thanks, sister,” he murmured.
She grinned at him.
Jon let her pull him to his feet. When the gunfire started again, Neela yanked him deeper against the wall, even as Maygar and Jorag disappeared through the opening between the two doors. Chinja was following the rest of them up now, her rifle slung over her shoulder.
“Don’t wait for me, boss,” she sent through the link.
“Understood,” Revik said.
Jax and Jon covered Chinja as she climbed, firing up the shaft with handguns when they felt more seers and humans up there. Jon got a signal through the headset that Revik was going through the doors with Wreg, even as he felt Revik shut down the communication channels so that they wouldn’t be using the hotel’s network.
It would cut them off from Balidor and the others, at least temporarily, but Jon figured Revik must have his reasons. He always did.
Their signal could still be tapped, of course, but it was a lot less likely if they shared it only between the eight of them. Well––sixteen, assuming Loki’s team met them on the other side.
Jon continued to fire up the dark tunnel as Neela disappeared through the opening.
Towards the end, he felt one of his bullets hit. A body started to fall down the shaft. He couldn’t yet see it, but he could feel it. Before he could react, Jax punched him playfully on the arm, even as Chinja joined him on his other side.
“Nice shooting, brother,” Jax grinned.
Jax’s face still looked drawn, but Jon found himself smiling back.
“We’re going,” Chinja told both of them, shoving them towards the elevator doors as she pulled her rifle down from where she’d slung it down on her back to free her hands for the climb. “Jax, go in front of brother Jon. I’ll cover from the rear.”
It occurred to Jon that normally a comment like that would have gotten a gleeful, sexually-ridden innuendo from Jax. This time, the East Indian seer remained quiet, merely holding up his gun
as he inserted his body in the hole between the doors, gripping Jon’s vest with his free hand.
“Stay with me, brother,” he muttered.
Jon nodded, feeling his nerves ratchet up a few more notches.
He glanced back at Chinja, watching her orange eyes shift around the empty space behind them, even as she continued to push them both forward.
Then Jon fell through the opening.
Once he had, he came to a dead stop.
Air got stuck in a hard lump in his throat, right before he let out an involuntary gasp.
Nothing stood beneath his feet.
Nothing.
“Gods!” Chinja let out in an involuntary cry. She grabbed at Jon’s arm, as if to pull him back, but movement to the side jerked Jon’s eyes that way.
Standing in a huddled group with the others, Revik held up a warning hand, his irises glowing a pale, iridescent green, this time in direct contrast to a dark, star-filled night sky. He appeared to stand only a few yards away, but his feet rested on nothing but vacuum-like black, decorated with stars so vibrant, to look at them tumbled Jon into a state of vertigo.
“Quiet!” Revik said, his voice unforgiving, but lower than a whisper. “We’re being scanned.”
Jon could only stare at him.
Then, he could feel it, too.
He thought about Loki, wondering what happened to the other group of seers, if they had already been captured on the other side.
Then, without warning––
The floor, or whatever held Jon up once he walked through those jacked open elevator doors––abruptly vanished.
42
TWIST AND SHOUT
JON HEARD YELLS, all around him.
He fought to keep his body upright as he fell, but by then, he had no idea which direction that was. Bodies slammed into him in midair, bringing grunts, cries, curses, gasps of pain from what sounded like Jax, attempts to cling to one another.
Jon felt fingers grasp fleetingly at his arms, his clothes, but all he could see around himself was that deep-black of night––and stars, more stars than his eyes could take in.
Revik’s voice remained calm, erupting on the transmitter.
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