“Listen, asshole—” I jumped when the bullet struck the pavement three feet from my boots. Fragments pelted my armored shins. “Shit! Okay, okay, I’m going back inside.” Turning, I walked back toward the front entrance. “Son of a bitch.”

There still hadn’t been any official word from the government as to why they’d locked us in here. All we knew was that they’d worked fast, completely containing the casino in less than half an hour from the initial alarm. The agents that had been staying here had been seen receiving calls and practically running out of the place. Someone had given them an order to pull out within minutes of the event. Who that someone was, and what they knew, was still a mystery.

My radio hissed in my ear. “Told you that would happen.”

She had warned me this wouldn’t work. “Thanks, dear. Any luck?”

Julie and a few other Hunters who had brought sniper rifles had gone up to the roof to get a better picture. “None of our regular MCB contacts are answering. They cut the landlines a few minutes ago. I wouldn’t be surprised if they get a jammer here soon and shut down everything else. I think they’re instituting a complete communications blackout. I got off a message to Grandpa in Alabama, so at least somebody on the outside will know what’s happening.”

“Aw, hell. I’ll be there in a second.” I took one last look at the outside. As far as I could tell, the authorities had locked this place down tight. Other people had tried to leave from some of the other exits, but they’d been turned back too. Some of the anti-Hunting activists had even been turned back with a tear-gas canister, and a Hunter from Jai Jiwan Security from New Delhi had a nasty welt from a rubber bullet. The fact that they’d launched a real bullet in my general direction wasn’t a good sign that they were getting more patient.

The main lobby of the Last Dragon was in complete pandemonium. In addition to the hundreds of Hunters and assorted hangers-on that were here for ICMHP, there were also a bunch of hotel employees and some construction workers who were still finishing the upper floors. There were also a handful of non-ICMHP guests trapped, people who had been in the casino gambling when everything had been locked down. Luckily there weren’t that many of those at four in the morning, comparatively speaking, but it was still another hundred or so angry and frightened people that had no idea what was going on. A large percentage of them had gathered in the lobby, trying to figure out what was going on, or to loudly demand that they get to leave. I heard that an armored car was blocking the exit ramp of the parking garage and a couple from Florida had popped their tires driving over a set of spike strips and then been herded back inside by men with guns and gas masks. They were especially pissed off.