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Geraint slapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t know much about these things, but it sounds good to me."

"When you’re alone out there, it’s a good idea to design something that doesn’t force you to depend on anyone else. But it works just as well when you’re working with another person, too. Only problem is, the drain is pretty heavy. I’ll be a bit groggy for a little while. Make sure you shoot straight.”

They set off for the hill, their boots sloshing in the fouled waters of the field until they reached the incline. They crawled to the top on their bellies, and looked down over the Fuchi site three hundred yards to the west. The headlights of the first convoy began to crawl along the road toward the front gates after a frozen half-hour.

Geraint slipped off the woolen gloves, breathing on his hands to keep them warm. He edged the rifle forward and squinted with his left eye as he lined up the IR sight, ignoring the cars and aiming just inside the gate. As the cars got closer, he drew back and looked away from the glare of their lights.

Serrin was scanning the scene with binox, shifting to IR and low-light. Casting his spell as silently as he could, he made the briefest of checks as the cars spilled their human contents out onto the tarmac inside the gates.

"Geraint, I don’t think it’s him.” Despite the elf’s low whisper, his voice was urgent, stressed. “Hold your fire.”

“Checked the plates?"

"Yes, it’s the right limo, but that’s not him. It’s a damn good double, but not good enough. Something feels weird here. I’m sensing that they’re not paying much attention to this side of the place. They’re looking south.”

Geraint was still peering down the sight, but with the slightest of movements he could see that the security guards were all looking that way. "Of course they are. It’s where the gates open.”

“No, it’s more than that. I don’t dare probe, it’ll give us away. But I-wait a minute. North, look!" he hissed.

Geraint lifted his eyes away from the rifle sight and gazed out toward the far gate. Two shadowy vehicles were headed that way, gliding silently across the fields. They were going straight for the smaller northern gate, on the far side of the complex from the security compound. "We were right. The dummy’s coming in from the south. Here’s the real thing.” He shifted position, drawing the gun around gently to face the far gate, settling to his aim again. "Two cars, say ten men. I can down four of them before they know what hit them. Let’s pray one of them is who we’re looking for."

Geraint never made that shot.

Whatever the noise was, it made them both suddenly duck their heads, utterly bewildered. Then they heard the drone of a helicopter, coming in low from the west. It had to be one of the IWS-licensed super-stealths; the thing was almost over the far wall before they heard it. Serrin began his spellcasting as Geraint desperately tried to revise his plan of action, waiting for the chopper to land, certain that this must be their man. The sudden flare took him completely by surprise, ruining his aim.

Then the gunfire began.

Aqib’s improvised launcher worked pretty well the first time. The flareshot landed whack in the middle of the compound, illuminating a large group of black-visored orks and trolls waving down the chopper. The gates were already opening when Sachin’s Ceska started chattering. He and Wasim were almost whooping as their guns spat, and Imran had his beloved Predator readied for some carefully aimed fire.

Rani was the first to realize something was very, very wrong. “Look out! They know!”

The security men were already storming out of the gates, and a couple of real grenade launchers were coughing missiles at them from the security tower. Damn Chenka’s powders, Rani screamed to herself. The men’s blood is too hot, they don’t see.

It was swift and bloody. Aqib’s launcher disintegrated as he let fly a second time, the young Sind samurai thrown backward, arms bathed in flame. To her left, another blast exploded Wasim’s body into bloody shreds of gore. The others had no time to take in the horror of it as a great pillar of flame roared to life behind them, then began to streak across the brilliantly lit terrain at staggering speed.

In the distance, Serrin gasped, appalled. "Christ, a fragging fire elemental. Those guys are dead meat."

Geraint wasn’t stopping. He’d already torn the top off his vial and was screaming at Serrin to do the same. As he turned, he dropped the rifle and dragged a Bond and Carrington pistol from his padded jacket, loping away across the mud and muck toward the stashed bike.

Serrin wasn’t hanging around to argue. Whatever it was they’d strayed into, there wasn’t a hope in hell of finding Kuranita in this madness. He could only hope his spell would cover their exit, given that security was looking elsewhere.

His leg betrayed him. A deep rumble from the area of the compound set the ground to shaking underfoot, and the elf stumbled and fell. Mouth choked with mud and the sour taste of saline and acid, Serrin dragged himself to his feet, his pulse racing crazily. To his right, two figures were racing desperately across the road with the retina-searing elemental close behind. A detachment of security also was hot in pursuit, SMGs chattering.

Serrin didn’t know why he did it; it was crazy and stupid. Dropping his sustained protections was absurd under the circumstances, but something told him that no one was after him, no one had seen him. He began to chant slowly. He got lucky. The elemental wasn’t a tough one, its force fairly weak, and it took the elf mage no more than fifteen seconds to banish the spirit. The spell sapped the creature’s power, and its flames flickered and died. All those other people had to do now was evade a posse of heavily armored and cyberware-toting hulks with automatic weapons.

Well, at least I’ve bought them a chance, Serrin thought grimly as he turned and ran. In his haste he didn’t hear the car engine revving in the distance. He never knew that she’d seen his face in a chance flash of light. He was unaware of what she would remember all her life.

Now some of the troopers were searching around, well-trained enough to hunt the source of something that could dissipate an elemental. Serrin’s leg throbbed viciously as he lurched toward where he thought they’d left the bike. The leg felt as if he’d been hamstrung with a meathook. Distantly he heard Geraint’s desperate cry to him, but the drain was beginning to take its toll and he could do no more than half-run, half-limp onto a riverbank that shouldn’t have been there. He just managed to crawl over it, hoping to find some cover where he could hide. A foul liquid bubbled up from his lungs, and his breath came in ragged gasps. He stumbled again and landed up to his neck in water and reeds.

The last thing Serrin saw before passing out was the river serpent. The thing was probably ten yards long. Rearing over him, the beast opened its powerfully muscular jaws to reveal its dagger-sharp teeth set in a huge, gaping maw as black as the entrance to hell.

10

Geraint retained enough self-control not to exceed the speed limit as he headed through Bar Hill’s dreary low-rise houses on the way back to Cambridge. His thoughts, however, raced furiously.

Serrin had vanished into the night. Geraint, meanwhile, had hordes of heavily armed Fuchi security guards rushing toward him, forcing him to take off on the elf’s bike, praying no copters were after him, too. It was bad enough that Serrin had disappeared. Now he also had the unexpected arrival of another group of raiders at the lab to disturb and confuse him.