As I rose, something hit me hard on the back, and I whirled to see a very old white woman with an umbrella. She began hammering at me and calling me some of the filthiest names I’d ever heard.

I let Sandman hush her up, but I caught her as she fell and laid her gently on the floor. Her hand flopped over and lay almost precisely in the outflung palm of the dead minister. I wonder if that would trend on Twitter.

Yeah, the world was mad.

I began moving, firing at active shooters, avoiding counterattacks by the dazed and confused.

When I was within ten feet of the dais, a voice rang out, sharp and clear, even with all the ambient furor.

“Ledger!”

My name had been yelled with such anger and shock that it jolted me. I turned and looked up, and there, on the stage, was Rafael Santoro.

CHAPTER 166

THE PAVILION

BLUE DIAMOND ELITE TRAINING CENTER

STEVENS COUNTY, WASHINGTON

The K-110 on the back of the semi bashed the crow drone away, sending it tumbling and broken into the grass beside the truck.

More of the bird drones swarmed in, but the fighting machine simply ignored them and kept pouring covering fire into the trees. The sheer destructive power of the minigun was denuding the slope of trees and shrubs, destroying any chance for a stealthy advance.

Fixers were now swarming up onto the semi and attacking the remaining packing crates. Two of them began tossing body armor to the others, who ducked down to gear up. But they froze as an explosion sounded deeper inside the Pavilion complex.

“Pappy,” yelled Bunny into his coms, “where the hell are you?”

“On my way, Farm Boy,” came the reply.

“Hurry the hell up, old man.”

Was that a laugh he heard or a curse? Hard to tell with all the noise.

He was out of the effective range of the minigun and well beyond the useful range of his own weapons, so he broke into a run as he began a wide circle. The fact that the camp was deliberately smothered by thick trees was a blessing in disguise, because it allowed him to make maximum use of cover.

Movement ahead made him drop to one knee and freeze beside an old oak. Two Fixers in full armor were running down the slope toward the road. They must have come from another guard post and managed to suit up before joining the action. They were heading directly his way, but he didn’t think they’d spotted him yet.

Bunny weighed his options. Let them pass and use their approach to disguise his own? Or ambush them and at least try to cripple both to prevent them from joining the fight?