Wyatt chose a corner where there was no sound at all. There had to be storage closets, and according to the original blueprints, one was built into that corner. Whether or not it had been changed was anyone’s guess, but it was his best bet for point of entry.
I’m goin’ in first, Draden. Stay back until I call you in. We’ve got company.
He felt Pepper’s gasp. Soldiers? How many? You can’t go in alone. Wyatt, please, no.
She’d never said “please” to him. She’d never sounded so anxious over him.
This is what I do, babe. Get our girls out of there.
Wyatt laid his palms on the concrete, pressing hard. At the same time, he uttered a low hum, a sound that couldn’t be heard by humans. He waited while the energy built around him. The pressure built until he wanted to scream. His head felt as if it might explode. He slammed his palms down again, pushing the pulse through the cement. As a large chunk disintegrated, he “felt” for the large chunks of debris and stilled them in midair, even as he muffled the sound.
It took a great deal of concentration to accomplish all three tasks nearly simultaneously and his brain actually hurt. He breathed away the pain and slowly floated the debris to the floor. He kept track of the movement of the soldiers in the laboratory. He’d counted five of them scattered around the room. Each moved differently, some more restless than others, but all of them shifted positions often.
No one came to investigate the hole in the roof. He peered down. Below him, he saw several brooms and a mop bucket on wheels. He’d caught a break – the original blueprints hadn’t been altered there on the third floor. He dropped down fast, landing lightly on the balls of his feet, as silent as a stalking cat.
Light spilled under the crack of the door. The laboratory was lit up, but the windows had been blacked out so from the outside, the room appeared dark, as if no one was in it. Wyatt knew better. He stayed very still, his cat sonar stretching to find every source of light in the room and mark where the soldiers were waiting.
There were five of them, but they had no idea he was inside the building, or that his team was making their attempt to rescue the children. To the soldiers it was like every other day they’d stayed in the laboratory, under orders to wait for an attack, and that meant they were bored, tired and not paying much attention.
Even now he heard the constant rustling as they shifted position and occasionally whispered to one another. They had no idea the civilian guards had left their posts to attend a birthday party or that down below, in the cells, two of their small army were already dead.
He went over every detail in his mind, planning out every move until his body knew what it was supposed to do. Wyatt exploded out of the closet, moving with blurring speed, going for each of the overhead lights, running up the walls to smash the bulbs, landing on a table and springing to the next light.
He knew the precise location of each heat source and he went after each of the lights first until the room was plunged into darkness. With the windows blacked out, he could see clearly with his cat’s vision, but the soldiers would have a much more difficult time, especially those first few seconds. He utilized those precious seconds while the bored and stiff soldiers were shocked and confused. He hit the first one directly in the face, coming off a table with both boots, smashing hard.
He heard the terrible crunch of bones breaking and the man went down. Wyatt kept moving, landing on the floor and springing toward the location of the next nearest soldier. He ran up the wall and launched himself, dropping behind the man who had crouched down and was coherent enough to bring up his rifle. He couldn’t fire because he couldn’t see, but he was ready.
Wyatt felt energy wash over him and knew immediately this soldier was enhanced. Just as he caught the soldier’s head, the man jerked away from him, throwing himself forward and rolling, bringing up the gun. He let loose a short burst just as Wyatt sprang into the air above the man. The bullets streaked toward the wall where he’d been, leaving behind flashes from the muzzle.
Wyatt landed on the table above the soldier’s head. He crouched low and waited while the man rolled to his left.
“Put on your gas masks. Put on your gas masks,” someone shouted.
He heard the hiss of a gas canister. Immediately he attacked, dropping flat to slam his knife in the chest of the enhanced soldier. He rolled away off the table, landing lightly on the other side.
The other three soldiers were a distance away. The nearest one was in the very center of the room. He could see the man pulling on his mask. He moved with blurring speed, reaching the soldier even before he could fit the mask to his face. Catching the head in both hands, he whirled around, snapping the man’s neck over his left shoulder and dropping the body all in one motion.