Reckoners 01 - Steelheart

and unwrapped the flashlight from the stock of my rifle.
    “I’m almost there, gentlemen,” Tia said. “No more attempts to kill Steelheart. All phases aborted. We need to take this chance and leave while we can.”
    “I don’t think Prof is going to go,” Abraham said.
    “I’ll deal with Prof,” Tia said.
    “Fine,” Abraham answered. “Where are you going to—”
    “Guys,” I cut in. “Be careful what you say in the general link. I think our lines may be hacked.”
    “Impossible,” Tia said. “Mobile networks are secure.”
    “Not if you have access to an authorized mobile,” I answered. “And Steelheart might have recovered Megan’s.”
    There was silence on the line. “Sparks,” Tia said. “I’m an idiot.”
    “Ah, finally something makes sense,” Cody said, firing a shot at the soldiers. “That mobile—”
    Something moved in the opening to the building behind Cody. I cursed, raising my rifle—but without the stock it was
very
hard to aim properly. I pulled the trigger as an armed Enforcement soldier leaped out. I missed. He fired a staccato burst.
    There was no sound from Cody, but I could see the blood spray.
No, no, NO!
I thought, taking off at a run. I fired again, this time clipping the soldier on the shoulder. It didn’t get past his armor, but he turned from Cody, sighting on me.
    He fired. I raised my left hand, the one with the tensor. I did it almost by instinct. It was tougher to make the song this time, and I didn’t know why.
    But I made it work. I let the song out.
    I felt something thump against my palm, and a puff of steel dust sprayed off my hand. It smarted something incredible, and the tensor started sparking. A moment later a series of gunshots sounded, and the soldier dropped. Abraham came around the corner behind the man.
    Gunfire from above. I dashed and skidded against the ground, sliding behind Cody’s cover. He was there, gasping, eyes wide. He’d been hit several times, three in the leg, one in the gut.
    “Cover us,” Abraham said in his calm voice, whipping out a bandage. He tied it around Cody’s leg. “Tia, Cody is hit badly.”
    “I’m here,” Tia said. In the chaos I hadn’t noticed the sounds of the copter. “I’ve created new mobile channels using a direct feed to each of you; that’s what we should have done the moment Megan lost her mobile. Abraham, we
need
to extract. Now.”
    I peeked up over the rubble. Soldiers were climbing down from the stands to move on us. Abraham casually pulled a grenade off his belt and tossed it into the hallway behind us in case someone was trying to sneak up again. It exploded, and I heard shouts.
    I swapped my rifle for Cody’s, then opened fire on those advancing soldiers. Some went for cover, but others continued moving,bold. They knew we were at the end of our resources. I kept firing but was rewarded with a series of clicks. Cody had been almost out of ammo.
    “Here,” Abraham said, dropping his large assault rifle beside me. “Tia, where are you?”
    “Near your position,” she said. “Just outside the stadium. Head straight back and out.”
    “I’m bringing Cody,” Abraham said.
    Cody was still conscious, though he was mostly just cursing at the moment, with his eyes squeezed shut. I nodded to Abraham. I’d cover their retreat. I took up Abraham’s assault rifle. To be honest, I’d always wanted to fire the thing.
    It was a very satisfying weapon to use. The recoil was soft, and the weapon felt lighter than it should have. I set it on the small front tripod and let loose on fully automatic, dozens of rounds ripping through the soldiers trying to get to us. Abraham carried Cody out the back way.
    Prof and Steelheart were still fighting. I downed another soldier, Abraham’s high-caliber rounds ignoring most of the soldier’s armor. As I fired I could feel the handgun under my arm pressing against my side.
    We’d never tried firing that, the last of our guesses at how to beat Steelheart. There was no way I could hit Steelheart at this range, though. And Tia had decided to pull us out before we tried it, calling the operation.
    I gunned down another soldier. The stadium trembled as Steelheart fired a series of blasts at Prof.
I can’t extract now
, I thought,
despite what Tia said—I’ve got to try the gun
.
    “We’re in the copter,” Abraham said in my ear. “David, time to move.”
    “I still haven’t tried phase four,” I said, climbing up to a kneeling position and