Page 190 of Silent Target

Shark dives behind a support column.

“Cobra!”

“I see them.”

Cobra throws a smoke canister.

The lasers vanish inside the gray cloud, but the weapons continue firing in programmed patterns.

Fathom raises his tablet.

“They’re tracking movement through pressure sensors.”

“Can you disable them?” I ask.

“Not while running.”

Caleb watches the firing sequence.

Three bursts.

A pause.

Two bursts.

A longer pause.

“After the second pair,” he says.

I listen.

Three bursts shake the hallway.

Then two.

“Now!”

We sprint through the gap.

A bullet strikes Caleb’s armor.

The impact spins him against the wall.

I catch his arm.

“Caleb.”

“Still breathing.”

“Keep it that way.”

Pain tightens his face.

He tries to hide it.

He fails.

Another burst of fire begins behind us.