The front passenger-side door of the lead APV swung open, and a single black-clad operator climbed out. Rifle up, he advanced on the burning Charger, scanning back and forth for targets. Jed watched as the dark operator surveyed the battlefield. Taking a knee beside one of his fallen cohorts, the man lowered his rifle and inspected the body, probing the dead warrior’s neck with two fingers. The dark fighter’s eyes flashed amber and he abruptly angled his chin up in a primal posture and appeared to sniff the air. Jed had seen this very vulpine behavior before from the Dark Ones, and he wondered just how fine-tuned their senses were.

The fighter stood and settled his gaze on the APV where Jed was hiding.

Jed stared back from the armored shadows of the enemy vehicle he occupied and resisted the urge to reach out and probe the enemy warrior’s mind. After a long pause, the fighter turned and jogged back to his APV, climbed inside, and shut the door.

Then nothing happened . . .

With each passing second of inactivity, the compulsion to do something grew inside Jed, but he fought the impulse and held his team.

“One—want me to light them up?” Johnny said, his voice a strained whisper on the comms channel.

“Hold,” Jed came back, noting that he wasn’t the only one feeling the need to act.

He exhaled through pursed lips and forced himself to embrace the uncertainty.

They’ll eventually do something. I just need to be patient.

Ninety seconds later, the call from Nisha came: “Sword, Mother—get ready, the fighters inside those APVs are prepping to step out.”

He answered her with a double click and watched in unison as all the doors of the lead and trailing APV opened and a platoon of Nomex-clad operators stepped out onto the access road. The enemy fighters formed up into two five-man arrowhead formations, one taking the left and the other the right side of the road. Jed gritted his teeth as the Dark Horizon fire teams maintained good separation as they advanced. Too good. He wanted them more compressed so the missile explosion and shrapnel would take out as many as possible.

I need to wait for them to get into the kill box.

Then he remembered how fast Dark Ones could run.

What if they slip the ambush by sprinting through the gauntlet so fast we can’t keep them pinned in cross fire? Once they get inside the complex, the battle is lost. No way we can take out all ten before they reach the school.

“Three, One—stand by,” he said, modifying his plan. “When both fire teams are passing the Charger, launch the missile.”

“Check,” Johnny came back.

Heart pounding in his ears, Jed waited and watched as the two fire teams vectored around Perez’s smoldering Dodge.

Now.