Page 147 of Nothing Special X: The Last Stand

“Police! Get down! Get down!”

A few members from the custodial crew hit the pavement. The driver at the south barricade raised his weapon toward a wounded guard trying to crawl behind the broken booth and God fired.

The driver went down hard beside the crushed truck and didn’t get back up.

“Driver threat down,” Day called. “South side secured.”

God didn’t stop moving.

Another shooter fired from behind a grip truck as two crewmen ran towards the locked gates.

“Green!” Ruxs barked.

“I see him.”

The attacker fired toward them and Green returned fire, his shots hitting inches from the man’s head, forcing him back.

“Police! That was a warning!” Green roared. “Drop the weapon!”

The attacker answered with more bullets.

Ruxs came around from the side and fired once, hitting him in the right shoulder. The man jerked, stumbled, still trying to raise his rifle.

Green fired the second shot, same arm, and the rifle clattered across asphalt.

“Threat down,” Green called.

“Attacker apprehended,” Bishop grated a few seconds later.

“That’s six. We’re code ten,” Free said. “We’re still the fuckin’ baddest.”

“And always will be,” Day added.

God almost smiled.

Cassidy’s voice was strained and rough through the comms. “Starlight secure. Free, confirm all threats neutralized.”

“All angles checked. We’re green,” he answered.

“Free,” God said. “Tell me we have all this.”

“Affirmative, I got it all.”

Tech arrived at his side. “Steele left two alive. Cassidy’s guys got ’em cuffed at the north gate.”

“Alive is proof,” Day said over comms, approaching from the south with blood on his sleeve.

God glanced around the lot. “I need a count.”

Free answered immediately. “Two suspects alive with non-life-threatening gunshot wounds. Three suspects deceased on scene. EMS one minute out.”

Sirens screamed closer.

Cassidy’s voice came through again. “Collateral damage?”

“Three West Protective agents wounded, nonfatal,” Free said. “No crew casualties. Cast and production personnel all accounted for.”

God glanced down at his husband, his eyes bright with adrenaline from the fight. He’d never looked more handsome.