Weapons of the Gods

CHAPTER FORTY ONE

Hayden’s mind was in cooldown. The enemy were beaten. Not even the jab of faint worry nagged at her. Later, she understood it was always going to end that way — Tempest could never let themselves willingly be taken alive after all the horrors they’d perpetrated.

Gleeson reached for a gun and then so did three of the others. Troy let a small handgun fall from the sleeve of his shirt into his hand. Another — Hayden recognized Mark Digby of the CIA — threw a live grenade high into the air.

“You think we didn’t prepare for this?” Gleeson screamed.

It was the matter of but a moment to line the general’s forehead up in her sights. She thought: I don’t care what you think, asshole, as she squeezed the trigger. Gleeson died instantly, which was unfortunate, falling into another man. The grenade looped lazily down. Smyth moved faster than an exploding firework, shifting his aim to Digby even as the aide leveled his handgun.

Smyth fired first. Digby flew back. Hayden grunted with approval.

The grenade came down as Delta and the bodyguards threw themselves to the grass. It exploded a meter above ground, killing several men. One of the dead was a member of Delta Force, sending a jab of pain through Hayden’s heart.

Bodies littered the grassy knoll just in front of the gazebo. Hayden approached the remains, desperate to find at least one still living.

Smyth already had the unlucky felons under close watch. He shifted his eyes briefly as Hayden approached.

“I believe these two are Urban and Carmine,” he said. “My Delta friend here showed me the CCTV captures from the parking lot where they attacked Lauren. I’m happy to fire as much lead into them as you require.”

The Delta leader was kneeling down beside his fallen colleague. “My eyes are blurred because my friend is dead. I see nothing, and so do my team.”

Hayden’s face was mud-streaked, careworn and vicious as she stared at the two mercs. “Where is Secretary Crowe?”