Siege of Shadows (Effigies #2)(44)

Calm down, I told myself when my heart began beating out of whack. I saw my burning house in my mind’s eye, but I banished the image. Don’t think about your family. You’re not there; you’re here. The heat spread down half the length of the wall. Belle was pulling herself over to Rhys as the circle above us neared completion.

“Rhys, get up!” Belle gave him a hard slap just as the laser above us stopped.

One last kick sent the ice barrier crashing down. Belle knocked a block of it away with her arm, yelling out in pain. With a grunt, I let the fire explode out of my hands, closing my eyes from the blast. What was left of the van’s wall soared off and skidded across the ground. Rhys was conscious enough to grab on to Belle as we jumped out after it.

I landed on my back, turning just in time to see the woman’s boots clicking into the van, too late to reach us. She didn’t seem to mind. Instead of coming after us, she stayed inside the van, busying herself as we dragged ourselves to our feet. Busying herself . . .

The ring. That must have been it.

“She’s stealing the ring,” I yelled as Rhys and Belle got to their feet. “We have to—”

The Sect agents by the checkpoint lowered their weapons only to pick up the guns in their holsters.

The bullets hailed. One flew past my head and another tore across my right arm as we ducked for cover behind the van. Effigies healed fast, but right now the stinging pain was hard to bear. Belle was breathing heavily, holding her stomach, still reeling from the explosion. Eveline and Lock, still alive, dragged themselves out of the van’s window to take cover with us. But that woman remained inside the van. It was bulletproof, Sect-grade protection. With us occupied, she had plenty of time to take what she needed.

“This is insane.” Rhys already had his knife in hand; the other held his head in pain. “Unit Six!” He’d yelled it instead, not bothering with his comm. “We need back—”

He couldn’t finish, because he finally saw them through their windshield. They were dead, their heads rolled over at odd angles, blood dripping from the single bullet holes in their foreheads, shot through the window.

“Rachel!” Lock screamed in anguish as his hand dove into his holster.

Their murderer hopped down from the roof of Unit 6 onto the hood, crushing it a little. He had to be at least a foot taller than the woman and a hundred pounds heavier. Maybe more. He was huge, a bodybuilder on steroids. The man was armored from limb to limb, his head covered with the same sleek, robotic white helmet. But Big Guy’s movements were strange, almost alien. His body seemed to convulse with each clunky step. It didn’t stop him from raising his gun at us.

Lock charged past us, gun in hand.

“Wait!” Eveline cried, but Lock’s sleeve slipped out of her grip. She ran after him.

Lock shot a hail of bullets, and every one of them found Big Guy’s chest only to bounce off his armor with a loud clink. But did this thing even need armor? One of Lock’s bullets shot through Big Guy’s gloved hand as he raised it. He didn’t even flinch. No blood oozed out of the hole.

One of the agent’s bullets from the railings caught Lock’s arm, and he cried out in pain. That distracted him long enough for the mysterious enemy to lurch forward and grab his neck. Eveline wasn’t fast enough to reach him before the snap. Her hands weren’t nimble enough to take her gun before Lock’s murderer pointed his at her head. But Belle launched forward, wincing in pain, and with a swing of her hand, froze the gun in his hands before his bullet could leave the barrel. But something told me this guy didn’t need a gun.

First, I had to get rid of the treacherous Sect agents. There was no other way. With a yell, I stretched my arm forward and a wall of a fire exploded from below the walkway, sending the agents into the air, shards of railing with it.

“Get back!” I told Rhys, and I tried the trick again, this time blowing our delivery van toward the wall and hopefully that woman with it. Better no ring than the ring being stolen by a couple of murderous cyborgs.

I was too late. While the van was sailing in the air, the woman jumped out through the busted back doors just as the van hit the wall. I had barely registered the crash when she rushed at me. Belle’s sword was out before I could react, but the woman expertly dodged her swings.

Rhys grabbed his knife.

“Wait!” I said, clutching his shirt instinctively. “Are you okay? You’re still injured.”

“I’ll be okay,” he told me, though he couldn’t hide his sudden wince. A fresh wave of fear shot through me as I watched him.

“But—”

With a gentle hand, Rhys wiped the blood staining my cheek. I fell silent at his touch. “Help Eveline,” Rhys told me before tightening his grip on his knife and joining Belle’s fight.

He was right. With great effort, I tore my eyes from him and followed the order. The other enemy was built like a fridge and moved like one. He didn’t bother to dodge Eveline’s gunshots, even when one bullet cracked his helmet. But that was good. It made him an easier target for me.

You can do this, Maia, I told myself. Well, it was either I did it or I died.

“Move back,” I told Eveline, and, biting my lip, I forced my breath to calm. Fire erupted at my feet, the smooth pole forming in my hands. With the familiar weight balanced across my palms, I ran forward, flipping it around like I’d done so many times in training, bringing my blade down on him.