Page 96 of Fury

With a yelp, she realized she was standing in the middle of a gunfight. She ducked—and even as she did, she saw Leila crouched along the safety wall at the edge of the building, tapping furiously on her device.

Oh no. No no no.

Hollyn peered out. Could Davis or Bennion intervene? “Stop her,” she called out.

Bullets pinged the metal transformer, forcing her back.

Blinking around the dust and debris kicked up, she looked over at Leila. Still crouched. Still tapping. Absolutely unfazed by how many men had fallen in her defense in the past few minutes. They were only numbers to her. “C’mon . . . c’mon . . . ” She willed Davis or Benn—someone—to see her. But they were all engaged in fights. The last time she’d leapt without looking—to pursue Archie—hadn’t ended up well. In fact, she’d been a hostage. Nearly killed.

She had to do something. Couldn’t let more people get killed. With one more check to Davis and Fury, fighting a vicious battle with two different guys now, Hollyn thrust herself up. Sprinted across the distance. Dived into a distracted Leila, who looked up too late to stop her. Knocked her back. Took her to ground.

Momentum carried Hollyn into the concrete wall.Crack!Pain skidded down her neck and shoulders. Her vision blurred.

She groaned but struggled back up. Knew Leila?—

“You stupid?—”

A missile made of fur and teeth careened into Leila. Clamped onto her arm. Her scream ricocheted as the two tumbled. Leila bent backward—and the two went over the wall.

“No!” Hollyn screamed, shoving herself forward.

Davis manifested out of nowhere, his face a mural of rage and panic. He careened toward the edge, and Hollyn’s stomach climbed into her throat.

He collided with the edge of the roof.

“Fury!” Davis barked.

She half expected him to go over the side as well, but he wedged himself in. Straining. That’s when she realized he had hold of the shepherd.

A strange, foreboding silence dropped over the roof sans any other attackers. Light seared their vision as a chopper whirled overhead with a spotlight.

Bennion darted forward and grabbed hold of Davis’s belt as the two struggled to pull the dog back up.

A sickening compulsion pushed Hollyn to peer over the edge. That’s how she saw a panicked Leila holding on to the dog, who was yelping and whining as Davis struggled to keep the two from dropping. Without warning, Fury shook his spine and snapped at the clinging Leila. A chunk of fur came loose . . . and freed Fury of the weight of the woman, who fell away . . .

Hollyn gasped. Couldn’t watch. She jerked back and dropped with her back to the wall, squeezing her eyes tight, willing that last image of shock and terror on Leila’s visage to go away. She didn’t need that image seared into her brain. The sound of fading screams was enough. Please, God . . .

“Hollyn!” Hands gripped her.

She looked up at Davis, who shoved something into her hands. When she glanced down at what landed in her lap, she felt sick. The program . . . “She launched it.”

“Stop it!” Davis barked.

“I . . . ” Her fingers obeyed his command, even if her mouth and brain weren’t there yet. “I don’t know if I can . . . ”

“Base, this is Actual. Missiles launched,” Davis spat. He leaned in to examine the tablet. “Two mikes to impact.”

“Can you stop it?” Glace crouched next to her.

It took a hot second for her to simply bypass the security protocols without an error. Her shaking hands had been defying her efforts. “Now to redirect the navigation . . . ” She worked through it and breathed in relief.

Correcting navigation.

She gaped at the message on the screen. “No.” She redirected again.

Correcting navigation.

“No no . . . ” What was going on?

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