Covenant

70

Keep low and stay behind me,” Ethan said to Griffiths.

The fossil hunter grunted in reply as they hugged the side of a low wall. Aaron Luckov, the sawed-off shotgun cradled in his grasp, led the way.

Even as they were coming within firing distance of the two MACE guards, Ethan saw one of them press his finger to his ear and frown in concentration as he listened to a message presumably coming through an earpiece he was wearing. Ahead, Aaron Luckov moved out to the right as Ethan saw the two guards suddenly reach for their weapons.

“They’ve made us!” Luckov hissed.

Ethan saw the guards turn to face them, both handling machine pistols with military efficiency as a burst of semiautomatic fire shattered the hot morning air. Ethan flinched and ducked aside as from the corner of his eye he saw a parked vehicle’s windshield smashed into a web of cracked glass.

“Aaron, covering fire!”

Luckov popped up from behind the parked car and unloaded two rounds in the general direction of the MACE troops, who leaped desperately down into cover as a hail of buckshot hammered the warehouse doors.

Ethan lunged forward, reaching a low wall no more than twenty feet from the warehouse before he took aim and fired off four rounds at the brickwork behind which the guards had disappeared. Bullets whipped past in response, zipping and twanging as they ricocheted off the car beside him.

“Keep them down!” Ethan shouted to Aaron.

The Israeli popped up again, letting both barrels fly this time before rushing forward and ducking into a narrow alley almost opposite the warehouse. Firing by sections, Ethan and Aaron edged closer to the two men, flanking and pinning them down.

Aaron fired again, causing both guards to remain out of sight. Ethan was about to fire and advance when the doors to the warehouse suddenly burst open and four suited figures rushed out into the sunlight, firing as they moved. Ethan cursed, ducking back down as bullets shattered masonry all around him.

“Balls.”

Griffiths shot Ethan a dirty look.

“Cover Aaron!” Ethan shouted. “Try pulling the trigger!”

Griffiths angrily let fly a half-dozen rounds in the general direction of the warehouse as they began falling back.

“We’re outnumbered.”

Ethan cursed, retreating alongside Griffiths and firing as he went. Aaron Luckov was coming back toward them between bursts of automatic fire when the MACE vehicle appeared behind them, tires screeching as it pulled into the street.

“Enemy rear!”

Luckov’s warning was audible even above the clattering automatic fire.

Ethan whirled, firing off three rounds at the vehicle as it skidded to a halt and a half-dozen MACE troops dispersed from within and took up firing positions on either side of the street.

“We’re surrounded!” Griffiths shouted, his voice high in alarm.

“Stay low!” Ethan countered, shouting out across the street to Luckov. “Where does that alley go?”

Luckov fired a single shot that burst one of the front tires of the MACE vehicle before shaking his head at Ethan. Clearly, there was no escape to be had down the alleyway.

“Glad you thought this through!” Griffiths shouted.

Another hail of raking fire swept the street, and then suddenly everything fell silent. Ethan, crouched with Griffiths behind the crumbling bricks of a low wall, heard a voice call out.

“You’re outgunned and outnumbered. Step into sight with your hands where we can see them!”

Ethan looked across the street at Luckov, who held his gaze for a moment and then nodded slowly.

“They’ll kill us if we give ourselves up now,” Griffiths hissed.

“They’ll kill us if we don’t.”

Slowly, with one hand holding his pistol high for the MACE troops to see, Ethan stood up from the wall in plain view. One of the MACE guards shouted out again.

“And the other one, the bastard with the shotgun!”

Reluctantly, Luckov stepped out, his shotgun held above his head. As Ethan stepped out into the street, Griffiths stood and followed him until the three of them were standing in a row.

“Drop your weapons, slowly!”

The MACE guards came out into view, machine pistols pointed at the three men standing before them. Ethan recognized Cooper and Flint, the MACE guards he’d incapacitated the previous day, as he laid his pistol down, Luckov and Griffiths doing the same on either side of him.

“Now stand back three paces!”

Ethan and his companions did as they were ordered, acutely aware of the four MACE guards now standing behind them, having moved out of cover from the warehouse.

Agent Cooper walked forward, and a brittle smile cracked his jaw as he reached up and keyed his earpiece microphone.

“We’ve got them. What do you want us to do?”

There was a short pause, and then Cooper’s smile grew broader. He nodded, and then raised his machine pistol once again and pointed it at Ethan. His next order went out to the men standing behind Ethan.

“You four, get back into that warehouse and kill the surgeon and everyone else in there.”

Ethan felt a sudden chill as the MACE soldiers dashed back toward the warehouse. He watched as Cooper and Flint raised their weapons to point directly at him, hungry for revenge.