One of the soldiers from earlier, the first one I’d taken down, suddenly lunged out of the shadows, gun held before him. Faith shrieked, swinging the rebar wildly as he appeared, catching him right in the face. He crashed to the floor again and lay still, while Faith scuttled behind Garret, breathing hard.

“Is he dead?” she squeaked, as I forced myself to exhale and relax my muscles, releasing the air that I’d sucked in slowly, and not in a violent explosion of fire. Garret walked to the fallen soldier, knelt and rolled him onto his back. His head flopped, blood streaming from his nose and mouth, and I couldn’t tell if he was breathing or not.

“The others will be on their way,” Garret muttered, not looking up from the body. He started rummaging through the soldier’s stuff, checking for guns and ammo, most likely, anything to help us get out of here. “We need to hurry. Ember…” He glanced at me, narrowing his eyes. “Can you Shift back before we leave the hotel?”

I cringed. Not without my clothes. “Gimme two seconds,” I said, and hurried to where I’d left my belongings, then changed back and slipped into them as quickly as I could. When I returned, Garret stood waiting for me, gun in hand, the soldier’s belt now looped around his waist. Faith hovered beside him, watching his every move with starry eyes. All her fear of the former St. George soldier seemed to have vanished, and I bit down a snort of disgust.

Garret tossed me a pistol as I came up, and I caught it grimly. “Let’s go,” he ordered, and we fled the room, knowing the rest of the force was still out there, swarming the building. I suspected we weren’t safe yet, and I was right.

As we turned down one last corridor, two soldiers looked up from where they guarded the stairwell at the end of the hall. The carbines blared, and we ducked back around the corner as bullets peppered the walls and floor. One of the soldiers called for backup, alerting the rest of them, and I snarled in frustration. So close; if we could just get past these guards, we were home free.

Raising the gun, I tensed to dart out of cover and fire, when Garret grabbed my arm.

“Wait.” Drawing me back, he crept to the edge of the hallway and pulled something from the stolen belt at his waist. A small metal cylinder with a ring at the top. Glancing at me and Faith, he narrowed his eyes. “Look away,” he ordered. “Close your eyes and cover your ears. Both of you.” And he hurled what was in his hand around the corner, toward the soldiers.