Newer World Order

Chapter 6: On the Way Out

Here we go. Miko fought the urge to peek around the end of the lockers as the door opened. If everyone could keep quiet, maybe the guy would make a quick visual sweep and then move on. Her dad thought the search party had spotted him, but he could be wrong. Maybe he'd ducked out of sight before anyone could look in the right direction.

"We know you're in here. You might as well come out where we can see you."

Fuck.

"Come out now, and we won't hurt you. If we have to go looking for you, it'll just make us cranky."

Miko concentrated on the sound of the boots moving slowly across the floor. She could make out at least three or four different sets of footsteps, but they kind of blended together. For all she knew, there could be twice as many people fanning out across the room.

One set in particular seemed to be getting closer. Miko slipped her gun back into its holster, cocked her robotic arm back, and waited. A woman in the familiar green MECH uniform appeared around the end of the locker, wearing a tactical vest and carrying an assault rifle. She spun to face Miko and raised the gun into firing position.

Miko lunged at her, swatted the gun upward, and drove an uppercut straight into the woman's crotch. She doubled over with an ear-splitting scream and curled up on the floor. Miko grabbed the rifle, plucked two spare magazines from her belt and stuffed them into a pocket, and then pulled the woman's tactical vest off. She put it on and zipped it up. It fit loosely, but it'd have to be good enough.

Okay. Now I've got some protection, at least. She backed a few steps toward the wall to give herself some room, raised the rifle, and crouched. In the corner of her eye, her dad glanced at the woman and back to Miko, and stared at her in shock. She shrugged and focused on the open space past the end of the lockers.

"What the hell?" someone muttered, followed by a sharp intake of breath. Miko frowned and decided to risk a quick peek. She found Raf standing beside one of the men at the rear of the group, his finger hooked through the pin on a grenade on the guy's belt. The man stared at Raf and held his breath.

Miko flicked her eyes around and counted six other people in MECH uniforms before Raf pulled the pin, flung it across the room, and vanished. The man let out a strangled scream, yanked the grenade from his belt, pulled the door open, and pitched it into the hallway. It bounced off to the left and exploded with a sharp bang. Everyone else winced and turned one way and another, trying to locate Raf, while the hostages let out a cacophony of terrified screams.

Miko drew her pistol and popped out long enough to drill two guys in the kneecaps before ducking back into cover. Across the room, a heavy piece of machinery rose off a shelf as the two guys collapsed, and shot through the air. It slammed into the side of another guy's head and knocked him flat on his back. He groaned once and passed out. The rest of them turned and opened fire on the spot it had launched from, and Miko caught a glimpse of the air rippling along the wall as Raf darted away from the hail of bullets.

Miko poked her head out again, picked the nearest enemy, and shot her in the left ass cheek. Her leg buckled and she dropped the gun and rolled around on the floor, screaming.

Something that looked like an oversized helmet launched from another shelf and fired across the room. Miko peeked around the corner just in time to see it hit another woman right in the face. She staggered back, blood pouring from her nose, and toppled over. She dropped her gun, clamped her hands over her face and groaned.

"Fuck this," she snarled, and scooted over to the door. She fumbled with the knob, smearing blood all over it, and then yanked the door open and scrambled into the hallway.