Page 95 of Viral Justice

Chapter Twenty-Two

Ali ran.

The explosion hadn’t sounded like it impacted the old hospital itself, though dust continued to rain down from the cracked ceiling as the seconds passed. Behind her, their booted feet pounding like bullets on the fly, ran Max, Hunt, Tom, and Holland.

As they approached the entrance, gunfire became audible. A lot of gunfire.

Jessup was crouched a couple of feet behind one of the big glassless windows, his weapon braced on a chair, but he wasn’t firing.

“What the fuck?” hollered Max.

“We’re not under attack,” Jessup said. “Not yet anyway. The explosion detonated farther out in the valley.”

Hunt, Tom, and Holland took up positions in the other windows.

“Is Nolan or any of our team back?” Max asked Jessup.

“No, sir. They will be trying to find out what’s going on.”

“Fan-fucking-tastic.”

“Kid at three o’clock,” Hunt called out.

“Looks like a couple more behind him,” Jessup said. “They’re coming straight for us.”

“We’re not a fucking daycare,” Tom snarled. “We’ve got too many civilians in here as it is.”

Ali was about to tell him to shut up when the air rattled with the sound of multiple bullets. But it was too far away for it to be something as simple as a rifle.

“That was no rocket-propelled grenade,” Jessup said. “What the hell are they firing, a Howitzer?”

“Whatever it is,” Max replied, “I hope to hell they don’t point it in our direction.”

“Where did those kids go?” Hunt asked.

Ali glanced in the direction that they were coming from, but saw no one. “Maybe the noise made them duck into a house.”

Small arms gunfire popped faster than Fourth of July fireworks somewhere outside their field of vision.

“Someone is getting their asses handed to them,” she said under her breath.

Max must have heard her because he said, “If Nolan or someone from his team isn’t back within five minutes, I’m going to need a volunteer to find out what the hell is keeping him.”

“I’ll go,” she heard herself say.

Max didn’t respond right away. A few seconds passed. A few seconds that lit an angry fire in her gut. If he was hesitating because she was a woman, she was going to kick his ass.

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