Wonder Woman: Warbringer (DC Icons #1)(64)

Panic flooded Diana’s body as that high whine reached a crescendo. Her muscles itched to dive, evade, run. Instead, she listened to the fighting instinct that had been trained into her over countless hours in the Armory, that had flowed into her with her mother’s blood and the blessing of the gods—the warrior’s call that refused to let her flinch. If she didn’t have a shield, she would make one.

The floor was set with huge slate tiles. She flattened her palms and drove her fingers into the narrow space between two of them, ignoring the pain, and yanked the slab upward.

The man with the big gun fired. Diana glimpsed a flash of glowing blue light and a wall of pressure slammed into her, knocking her off her feet and hurling her backward, the slab blown to dust in her hands. She struck the wall, breath releasing in a grunt, and slid to the floor. Then she was back on her feet, shaking off the force of the impact. What was that thing?

Diana heard that electrical whine begin again as the weapon repowered—but this time the soldier was aiming toward the temple. Her mind registered Jason trying to herd partygoers to shelter, her ears plucking the steady command of his voice from the chaos. She couldn’t see Alia, but she had to be behind the temple with Theo.

Diana knew she wouldn’t reach the gunman in time to stop him from firing. She looked down at the tiles fitted together on the floor. She needed reinforcements. Maybe they could be her army. She took a running leap toward the soldier and came down hard, foot and fist connecting with the ground at the same time. The tiles lifted in a rippling wave, and the man with the pulse gun screamed as the floor heaved beneath his feet. He toppled.

Diana sprang toward him, seized the weapon from his arms, and snapped it in two. He skittered backward in a crouch, his eyes wide and terrified.

He drew his sidearm and fired, but her mind had registered his intention in the shift of his shoulders. Her wrists were already moving to deflect the bullets, bracelets clanging like finger cymbals in some bloody dance. One of the bullets pinged off her right wrist and struck his thigh. He yelped. She grabbed him by his collar.

“What are you?” he gasped.

A hundred answers came to mind, but she opted for the easiest one. “A tourist.”

She tossed him into the reflecting pool.

Diana wrenched two more slate slabs from the edge of the pool, stepped back, and hurled them at the snipers on the balcony. It was a bit like trying to knock down ceramic targets with her Amazon sisters. Except these targets grunted or whimpered instead of exploding into pieces.

The other soldiers around her were recovering, getting to their feet. Diana raced toward Nim and grabbed her under one arm.

Nim squeaked but thankfully didn’t fight her. Diana wasn’t sure how much she’d seen, how much any of them had seen of what she could do—what she hadn’t even known she could do—but she couldn’t think about that now.

Again, she heard weapons being cocked. This time she was ready for the gunfire that would follow. She dove to the floor, protecting Nim’s body from the fall, and rolled until they were at the back of the temple. Alia grabbed hold of Nim and hugged her tight as they both sobbed and another round of gunfire erupted through the air.

“You made it,” said Jason on a grateful gasp. He squeezed out a couple of shots from behind the additional cover he’d constructed from a stack of tables, and Diana saw that he’d managed to get a fair number of guests behind the temple. Some were still crowded against the room’s exits, trying to push through the doors, but at least snipers were no longer picking them off.

Diana and the others crouched in a knot against the temple wall. They didn’t have much time. She could see the fear in their faces as Alia held tight to Nim and Theo. Jason’s eyes were bright, his jaw clenched. Only he looked ready for a fight.

“They’re going to blow the temple,” Diana said as loudly as she dared over the roar of gunfire.

“The helicopter—” Alia began.

Jason shook his head. “It was on the roof.” The men had rappelled down from above. The roof must be compromised.

The gunfire stopped.

In the eerie silence, Diana could hear the soldiers’ murmurs and shouts. They were speaking a language different from Alia and Jason’s, but Diana understood it. German, she realized, and they kept repeating the same word: Entzünderin. Igniter. They might have been talking about the bombs, but Diana had a feeling they were referring to Alia.

“They’re setting explosives,” she said.

Nim’s eyes were dazed. “They’re going to blow up the museum?”

Theo gave his head a sharp shake. “What is all this? What do they want?”

“We’ll explain when we’re out of here,” said Jason.

“If we get out of here,” said Alia. “There’s no helicopter—”

Jason’s brow furrowed. “What if I can get the jet here?”

“Where would it land?” said Theo. “You can’t put that on the roof. We need a runway.”

“The Great Lawn,” offered Nim.

“It’s a long sprint to the park,” said Alia.

Jason bobbed his chin toward the blocked doors. “First we have to get out of this room.”

“You’ll get out,” said Diana. “I’ll make sure you do.”

Jason jabbed at his phone and spoke rapidly into it.