They poured out of the diner in a throng of panicked people and Riley tucked his gun back under his jacket and joined them. The wind stirred up by the helicopters slapped his face, made him duck his head and push forward against the resistance. Though they were not quite as near as the one in the back, they looked vicious enough to scare the crap out of Riley as they loomed over the lot, black metal and glinting glass, rotor blades cutting through the air with a deafening, chilling relentlessness. So much more alien than the creature currently clutching Riley’s bones and evaluating the scene through his eyes.

The baby was howling now and the little girl lost her grip on her mother’s skirt and shrieked, terrified by the hulking, roaring things that had looked so cool from the safety of the diner and so intimidating up close.

It was blind instinct that made Riley veer off course toward the child.

He’d almost reached her when something hit his thigh like a fist. He staggered, more from shock than pain. The girl yelped then shut up

abruptly. She sat down on her plump behind with a thump and a hiccup, stared up at Riley with swimming, too-wide eyes. A bright line of red had appeared on her tiny arm, the skin gaping like a slack mouth. Blood was spilling out, flowed down the dangling limb and dripped to the dirty concrete. Riley’s stomach turned.

Sniper, McClane said, tightly. In the helicopter. Run.

Another smack, this time against his shoulder. The leather of Riley’s jacket ripped open as though it’d been sliced by an invisible knife. A flowerpot dangling from the awning in front of the nail and hair studio exploded in a shower of clay and earth. Riley barely felt the blow; just a tingle that traveled through his entire body. He didn’t have to check beneath the torn leather and fabric to know his skin was untouched. With a final glance at the girl who’d almost been killed by the first ricochet, Riley turned around and darted back into the diner, pulling the doors closed behind him.

TWENTY-SIX

“WHAT. The. Fuck.”

Misha leaned forward in the passenger seat and stared across the street, mesmerized by the scene on the other side. They’d pulled into the parking lot only minutes before, picked up Kolya, and had been discussing how to best extract Riley when the shit had hit the fan in the most spectacular fashion. Misha was peripherally aware of Andrej’s presence next to him and Kolya in the back, and part of him wanted to glance at them to check whether they were seeing the same shit, but he couldn’t pull his gaze off the mess unfolding before his eyes. Helicopters. Soldiers.