He saw through a porthole—thing was full of reborn.
Raphael hoped the fine nets in place across the mouths of the Hudson and East Rivers would stop the wreckage from floating into his city. The more pieces of infected reborn they could keep out, the better. Any survivors?
Unknown, but we have the area under constant surveillance.
Lijuan’s squadrons broke fighting formation, scattering in a disorderly manner. They hadn’t expected an attack from below. Shortsighted of Xi, but the general wasn’t used to fighting at a water border. No one had attacked China in thousands of years.
Another explosion in the water, followed by a third.
Did our divers get away in time?
They’re safe, Dmitri confirmed. We’re picking up at least three more subs but they’ve started firing into the water around them. Short-range guns. No missiles.
Tell the divers to withdraw. He didn’t want to lose experienced people when there was little chance of success. We’ll tangle the craft in the nets below the waterline. Those nets had been activated when Lijuan and her army were first sighted, would now be rippling silent and invisible in the cold dark.
The nets weren’t strong enough to stop the subs, but they’d slow them down. It’d give Dmitri more time to come up with possible solutions.
Raphael. Dmitri’s tone was sharp. Scheduled commercial flights that took off from Charisemnon’s territory in this general direction but to different cities are now altering their flight paths to head to New York. Pilots have ignored all attempts at communication.
Realization was instant. Charisemnon never gave up their alliance. The Archangel of Northern Africa and the Archangel of China had played them from the start—there was no way enemy planes, most probably packed with reborn, could take off from another archangel’s territory without that archangel being aware of it.
Charisemnon had betrayed them all. Warn Titus, then alert the rest of the Cadre.
Titus was an honorable warrior, wouldn’t expect a knife in the back during a catastrophic fight to save their people from the scourge of the reborn. Charisemnon, however, wouldn’t hesitate to slam in that blade. If they couldn’t get a warning to him, Titus would never see the death blow coming.
53
As Dmitri fought to contact a trusted member of Titus’s court, Raphael turned his attention to the others of his Seven in the city. Indications of Lijuan since the previous sighting? They had to be on constant alert for the possibility that the Archangel of China would go noncorporeal again with part of her army.
His city would never see the ambush coming.
Aodhan and Venom, both positioned a good distance from the port, had caught no sign of her presence in their sectors, but Illium said, I think she’s in the center of her army, three deep behind Xi. Squadron Jason’s ID’d as her most elite is flying in a protective pattern around her.
Jason responded at the same instant to point out the elite squadron.
Raphael rose higher and saw it at once: the pattern being flown wasn’t just protective, it was that of an honor guard in old and traditional courts. It could be a double bluff, Xi more than smart enough to orchestrate that, but Raphael decided against it. Lijuan was too aware of her status to be so cunning in this particular way.
He headed toward the water.
Lijuan’s forces caught sight of him while he was still on this side of the fireline; arrows whistled toward him, along with lances of energy fired by the more powerful of Lijuan’s forces. He avoided the energy strikes, swatted away the arrows. He wasn’t about to reveal any more about his own power than necessary. His task was to engage Lijuan, gauge her power.
This was no battle. It was war and this was only the first skirmish.
Wings of brilliant stormfire below him as he passed the skyscraper on which Elena knelt with a bow in hand. He felt her mind touch his, her mental kiss vibrant with the life that ran so defiant and strong in her body.
He crossed the fireline.
A horde of Lijuan’s angels streamed at him with swords drawn, battle cries tearing through the air.
Will you hide behind your people? He transmitted the comment widely, so it would hit the mind of every angelic fighter, every individual in the submarines. Are you so weak?
I AM A GODDESS! A blast of crackling obsidian twined with pearlescent gray starlight blasted past his shoulder. He barely avoided the obsidian hail and that only by dropping precipitously. So, Xi had managed to get through to her about