He landed on his side with a grunt. It was only a twelve-foot drop, and the floor was only concrete. It took more than that to break his bones. From the noise, the mini-gunner was still ripping the place to pieces, and others had joined in as well. Dirt and splinters fell through the hole. The smell told him that something above had caught on fire. Strayhorn had better be using this opportunity to get Myers out of here. . . . Franks tapped one of the small LEDs on his vest, which provided enough light for him to see. The place was filled with rusting machines that had served an unknown purpose. There were stairs in the back. As he walked he opened the grenade launcher, dumped the empties, and began reloading the cylinder from the spare shells on his vest.

The gunfire tapered off. The Hunters would be cautiously approaching his last position. His boots clanged on the metal stairs. It was odd, thinking that Myers could die. He was angry, of course, but anger was normal. This was something else as well, and he did not like it. This unusual feeling rested in the pit of his stomach, making him uncomfortable. The door at the top of the stairs was chained shut, but Franks ripped the rusty old handles off and shoved it open.

The factory complex was burning well now, but it had started raining, so the fire probably wouldn’t spread. It was a downpour. Good. Between that and the smoke, the humans’ visibility would be impaired. Franks could see the beams of powerful flashlights stabbing through the thousands of new holes that had been placed in the walls.

Crouching, Franks moved through the broken glass and rusting pipes until he reached a window. Most of the Hunters had gotten out of the open and moved away from the burning SUV. One fire team was coming up on his last known position. Franks spotted the SUV with the mini-gun. Since it was so heavily modified, it would surely be armored to withstand 40mm, but the gunner in the turret wouldn’t be. Franks came around the corner, sighted on the man’s helmet, and fired.

The gunner disappeared in a flash of light and meat. Franks leaned out and cranked off the next few grenades at the men searching for him, then put the rest into the remaining SUVs. Explosions rippled across the yard, but Franks didn’t see them. He’d already turned and was walking away before the Hunters returned fire.