Horsemen's War (The Rebellion Chronicles #3) - Steve McHugh Page 0,114

man with short hair, took a bullet to the head and crumpled to the floor as Layla grabbed a second injured agent and dragged him back into the corridor.

“How do we get up there?” Roberto shouted over the sounds of bullets tearing into the furniture, floor, and walls of the main office. Everyone moved away from the wall that joined to the main office and ran into a smaller office that gave more protection from any gunfire.

“We’ve got wounded here,” Selene said through Layla’s earpiece.

“Here too,” Layla said as another wounded agent was dragged into the room, leaving a trail of blood.

“We’ve four down here,” Selene said.

“Three here,” Jinayca said.

“And we have no idea how many enemies are up there,” Chloe said.

“I have an idea,” Jinayca said. “There are runes all around this place. They used elven runes on those windows. They’re less powerful than dwarven, but as you can see, they’re still quite potent.”

“And the plan is?” Chloe asked.

“We go up and come down on top of them,” Jinayca said.

Layla looked over to Roberto. “Is that possible?”

“You’d have to go through several feet of concrete and metal,” Roberto said. “But there are runes up there too.”

“That’s fine; I can change the direction of the blast,” Jinayca said. “Where’s the door to the roof?”

“Other end of the corridor,” Roberto said.

“Selene,” Layla said. “You think you guys can keep our trigger-happy friends occupied?”

“Yeah, I think we can do that.”

“When I give the signal, the ceiling above the balcony is going to collapse,” Jinayca said. “I would advise you not to be under it.”

Jinayca, Roberto, and Layla left the FBI agents to tend to the wounded and help keep Lamashtu and her people occupied. It was easy enough to get to the roof, and there was no one up there to bother them as they ran across it, until Roberto pointed to a spot just above the stairwell to the balcony.

Jinayca did some quick measurements in her head and strolled around the roof until she stopped. “We’re above where the enemy is,” she said.

“What if they’ve put more runes on the ceiling of the office?” Roberto asked.

Jinayca pointed at him as if to say that was a good point and found a second site a few feet to the side.

Layla and Roberto stood guard while Jinayca went to work, the sounds of gunfire easy to hear from below. Sirens could be heard in the distance, and Layla hoped that none of the police would try to involve themselves. She was all for humans standing up and doing what was right, but human police weren’t in a position to help with what they were fighting against. If it weren’t for the residential area, she might have just asked Roberto if he could arrange a drone strike, although she wasn’t exactly sure how that would go down on the news channels, some of which were still spouting Avalon propaganda.

“I’m done,” Jinayca said. “We’re going to want to move back.”

Everyone did as they were told, crouching down behind a huge air-conditioning unit on the other side of the roof.

Jinayca placed a hand on the floor, where she’d drawn another rune. “Good luck,” she said, and the roof imploded.

Layla was already up and running around, her weapon in hand, as the gaping hole in the top of the roof got larger and larger.

Roberto and Jinayca were the first two to jump into the hole, with Layla not too far behind them. All three of them took advantage of the stunned shadow elves that were inside the office they’d landed in.

The fight was brutal and short, and even without Layla’s hand once again, the half dozen enemies were no real match for them.

Layla spotted Lamashtu in the office at the far end of the floor. She raised the Glock in her hand and fired twice through the open door of the office she was in. The bullets impacted on the thickened glass that surrounded them. The elf was busy finishing up a drawing on the wall beside him, while Lamashtu bared her teeth and howled with laughter as she raised her hand, showing a detonator in it. She pushed the plunger, and the windows along one side of the floor were blown out. She waved at Layla and pushed the elf out of the window before jumping down after him a moment later.

Chloe and Selene, who had both been in the middle of the floor below just after the roof had caved in, gave chase. Selene turned