“Marines. Figures,” Alex chuckled, picking up a go bag from the truck. “Alright, I’m out. You empty that mag and make for the buildings. I’ll cover you.”

“Roger that,” she said. “Get out of here.”

He went.

She gave him the full twenty count, even though they’d wasted a few seconds talking, then settled in on the closest of the alien beasties and winked at it through the scope.

“My, aren’t you a strapping big bastard?” she whispered, finger curling around the trigger. “Meet Hecate, Goddess of the Crossroads.”

The big rifle roared and she rode the kick back without lifting her eyes this time, firing the next round as soon as the scope settled roughly on target. The Hecate IV incorporated the latest methods of recoil compensation available, but it still kicked like the south end of a northbound mule. Lyssa ignored it though, putting a third round into her target a little under two seconds after the first, and then moving on to another invader. She figured that she’d be lucky to be sore in the morning.

She put three more in the next target and moved on, not even looking to see if her first two had gone down. She didn’t have time to be making confirmations, and number three got his fair share of her attention in the next couple seconds.

Good thing they’re so damned big. Hardly have to aim.

Of course, as she thought that, she realized that it was also because they were a lot closer than she’d thought. She had two rounds left in the gun, having fired nine of her ten plus one, and she was trying to decide who got the honors when a now familiar crackle of sizzling energy lifted the hair on the back of her spine.

Lyssa threw herself aside, abandoning the Hecate as a beam swept the SWAT truck and literally cut what was left of the unarmored vehicle in half. She hit the ground rolling and made it back to her feet as scraps of the black vehicle began to rain down around her.

Run girl, run!

She didn’t know if they’d finally just spotted her, or if maybe they were using motion tracking systems, but as she started pumping her legs the air filled with that ugly sizzling sound. All around her she could hear loud cracks, almost like gunshots. Lyssa didn’t turn around to see what it was. She stayed on target as she bolted for the closest alley, where she could see gunfire erupting from multiple sources.

Running toward gunfire was not a natural response, even for a cop or a Marine, but she just tucked in as low as she could go and kept running. A beam scorched the asphalt in front of her, sweeping toward her from the side, and she had to throw herself clear. Lyssa hit the ground hard, but alive, and rolled behind a chunk of cement that had either been thrown up by the enemy weapons or by the big chunk of spaceship resting only a few dozen meters away. She didn’t know which, but she curled behind it for cover and started praying as she heard that sizzling sound again.