“Don’t worry,” Alicia hefted the shotgun, “I’m Wonder Woman and this here is The Slug. We’re on your side.”
Russo grunted in resignation, then moved past her. They reached the end of the aisle and peered carefully around a crate of on-sale DVDs.
“Clear,” Russo said.
The team sprinted to the far end. Another quick recce revealed two more shoppers escaping an aisle marked DIY and the sounds of angry men shouting in a Middle-Eastern dialect.
Alicia crossed the supermarket aisles quickly. To left and right were high shelves stacked with all manner of goods, everything picked out in bright lights, red labels that shouted Reduced and Buy Two Get One Free positioned at eye level, but in truth this was an alien place to her. Alicia couldn’t remember the last time she’d visited a megastore like this.
She checked the DIY aisle with Russo at her side. Even as they glanced past an eight-foot-high stack of beer cans two men came at them, guns out as they rounded the corner. Alicia saw no alternative. She threw herself at the beer cans, toppling the entire stack just as bullets were fired. The tumbling metal cascade collapsed and slithered across the floor, smashing into the knees of their attackers.
Alicia followed it, falling among the cans herself but hitting the two men with effective force. Both staggered and went down amid the cans. That left Russo standing, skipping to the right to evade the flow. He picked the first attacker off instantly, shooting him through the head. Blood sprayed the beer cans and the man fell dead. The second scrambled at Alicia; the two slipping and sliding among the cans. Several burst then — their contents shooting up and out in forceful jets.
Crouch came around the corner to witness it.
“What on earth? What happened here?”
Russo tried to sight the second attacker. “Alicia happened,” he said.
“Say no more.” Crouch led Caitlyn and Austin down the next aisle, trying to hang on to the thieves.
Alicia ignored the sudden soaking of her legs and hair, and jabbed a fist up at her opponent’s throat. The man choked, but still held on to his gun. A shot was fired, the bullet slamming into the cans and then glancing away. More beer spewed across both of them. Alicia jumped at the gun arm, pinning it down, taking several blows to the ribs and the back of the neck, but ignoring them in favor of grabbing the weapon. Her own shotgun had slid under a nearby rack of shelving. In pain now, she broke the man’s wrist, yanked the gun away, and turned it upon him.
“Hands up.”
He lunged for the gun.
She shot him through the face. More blood mixed with the pooling beer. Alicia rose quickly, dripping, and tried to squeeze the legs of her jeans and her hair dry. She pocketed the gun and took off after Crouch.
Russo was with her, chuckling to himself.
“What?” she grumbled.
“I’ve never seen anyone stop for a beer in the middle of a fight before.”
“Fuck off.”
“You do smell better than normal though.”
Alicia shepherded a gaggle of scared shoppers away from the area and then caught up with Crouch. The thieves were running along the back wall of the store, passing the bedding aisle and then hurrying among the freezers. Alicia parallel-tracked them, taking the next aisle and ducking as bullets burst through the shelving. She didn’t fire back in case she hit Terri or Cutler.
Pure instinct saved her life then, and the lives of some of her crew. Something changed in her peripheries. It was sheer impulse; just the knowledge that they were suddenly under intense threat. She yelled out and rolled, then looked up.
A man lay over the piles of toilet paper stacked on top of the shelves, twelve feet high. Had she seen a shadow? Heard a rustle? She didn’t know, but fired instantly. The bullet missed but the man shifted in fear. The plastic-wrapped piles crumbled away from each other, sending him sprawling to the floor, landing flat on his face. The groan told her he was hurt. Austin didn’t ask, just jumped over to restrain his arms.
Alicia jumped up and made the end of the aisle in just a few seconds. The thieves were being pushed through a rear door whilst four men watched their backs. Bullets peppered the shelves all around Alicia.
She fell back quickly.
“They definitely have a plan,” she said. “They’re exiting through a fire exit back there.”
“Time to stand up and be counted.” Russo loaded his weapon.
Alicia accepted a gun Crouch had collected from one of the fallen thieves. “Austin, stay back. The rest: We ready to save America?”
Crouch nodded with determination. “We chased the bloody treasure this far. How much further can it go?”
“And watch out for those two thieves,” Alicia said. “They might be scared, but they could be tricky too.”
Russo sniffed at her. “C’mon, beer breath. You’re stinking up the store.”
Alicia moved out.
CHAPTER SIX
Russo stormed the fire exit door, shooting bullets that sprayed all around the frame. Guards stationed there jumped through the exit just in time, retreating under the onslaught. Alicia backed Russo, ranging to the right. Together, they approached the exit and peered through.
The door was open wide, banging against the wall. It led to a rear parking area and a row of enormous delivery bays. Alicia fell to one knee, sighting on several fleeing men, but then her attention was taken by an altercation to their right. Terri Lee and Paul Cutler were making a break for it.
Cutler had dislodged the banner from his shoulder, turned, and leapt upon a guard. The two men wrestled around the floor. Terri was on her knees, trying to unbuckle the rear catch that held the banner to her own shoulder before any other guards noticed. Cutler fought his man — the thief looked immensely strong but possessed no real fighting skills. The gun rattled away. This alerted another guard, who then trained his weapon on Cutler. Terri jumped up and ran at him, arms outstretched. Even from here Alicia could hear the scream:
“Noooooo!”
Sounds like she cares for Cutler.
Storing that one away, she fired at the guard targeting Cutler. Bullets flashed all around him, making him scuttle away quicker than Terri ever could. On the floor, Cutler succumbed to a blow to the head. The guard rose and started screaming at both of them, motioning that they retrieve the fallen banner.
Alicia surveyed the rest of the area. The thieves or terrorists or guards — or whatever the hell they were — numbered six strong and were ranged across the parking lot, sheltering behind concrete stanchions and a single parked truck.
“Too exposed,” Russo muttered. “We wouldn’t make it ten feet under gunfire.”
“Neither will they,” Crouch said. “But we do need backup. Let me try these goddamn muppets again.”
Alicia watched the men outside scrambling for cover and pulling the two thieves back into line. The banner itself was right there, as clear as day under the bright lights, not twenty meters from her. It might as well have been three hundred. They couldn’t advance without more firepower.
Crouch cursed. “Now they understand our situation,” he spat. “But are under incredible pressure of their own. They told me to handle it.”
“Wait,” Caitlyn said. “What’s that?”
A small car was arrowing its way across the parking lot, coming from behind the thieves but aiming straight at them. The driver looked vaguely familiar.
“Shit, that’s Will Austin,” Crouch groaned. “I told you — enthusiastic but stupid.”
“He’s gonna take some fire,” Alicia warned. “When they turn, we shoot.”