Stone explodes inches from my face.
Too damn close.
“Get them behind cover!” Lucas shouts from above.
The civilians scramble through the narrow passage while Miles and Clay fire downslope.
Olivia twists slightly toward the gunfire. “I can help—”
“Move.”
My hand tightens hard around her arm.
No room for argument.
Not now.
She sees something in my face that makes her stop fighting me immediately.
Good.
Because I don’t have enough attention left to fight her and keep everybody alive at the same time.
I pivot and fire toward movement breaking through the rocks below.
One man drops instantly.
Another disappears behind cover.
More shadows move behind him.
Too many.
“They’re spreading again!” Miles yells.
Of course they are.
“Clay!” I bark. “Smoke!”
“Already on it!”
Canisters bounce off the rocks seconds later.
Then the canyon explodes into thick gray clouds.
Visibility vanishes instantly.
Perfect.
Gunfire turns wild behind us as smoke swallows the pass.
“Push through!” Lucas shouts.
The group surges forward.
Children coughing.
Mothers stumbling through the haze.
