WHITE, RAJ, AND MANFRED were right behind me. With the dust settling it was a lot easier to see. The domes were all on their sides, and the Themnir were heading for the window and away from the fighting that was still somehow going on. Well, whoever was fighting was dealing with at least one A-C in the form of Jeff, so that explained why I could still see him and Chuckie.
Didn’t see Siler anywhere, so either he’d taken off for some reason or he was blending.
“There is no more poisonous gas that we can detect,” one of the Themnir said to Raj.
Didn’t think about it, because if I did I might not do it. Threw my arms around its neck and hugged it. “Thank you for saving everyone.” It was kind of slimy but not horrifically so. Hugged the other four Themnir, too.
“We were happy to be able to be of service in this way,” the first Themnir said.
“Raj, Manfred, get them through the gates.” It was likely going to take two A-Cs to move the Themnir—they were quite large and hella slow. “Once the Themnir are through, you two go as well.”
“But you need help,” Manfred protested.
“I need to know that the Chief of Staff is safely out of this. We still have a country and world to keep running. I have Mister White and the girls. I’m good.”
White and I took off. He’d grabbed the rolling purse. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking, Mister White?”
“I think so, Missus Martini. But I do fear that we’ll hit the wrong people.”
“Look for band t-shirts, because everyone on our team is in one. If you can’t tell, knock them all out and let the removal of gas masks sort ’em out.”
We slammed into the mass of fighting, gas-masked people as Joe Jackson’s “Look Sharp!” came on. Our gas masks were off and attached to our belts again, so we were easily identified. Meaning that Claudia and Lorraine didn’t try to hit us and instead pulled their masks off so we could see it was them.
Them doing that meant that Reader and Tim pulled their masks off too. Sadly, the people who had Jeff and Chuckie were still wearing their masks, though Jeff and Chuckie managed to get theirs off as they spotted us. White and I waded into the fray, White wielding the rolling bag like a very mobile, large, and effective mace.
But there were easily twenty who had Jeff and Chuckie. Jeff looked tired, and Chuckie looked like he’d gotten hit a lot where it didn’t show. And for every one that White or the rest of us knocked away, two more blocked us.
“Break off!” one of them shouted. The original language wasn’t English, and I could tell, but beyond that, I didn’t have a clue. Needed to learn more about how the Universal Translator worked. In the downtime. Whenever that might show up.
The larger group of thugs started dragging Jeff and Chuckie toward the stairwell. Chuckie managed a kick that knocked one of the people holding Jeff loose. White and I slammed through the thugs nearest to him and managed to reach Jeff. I pulled him away as hard as possible and we sort of flew out of the huddle. White was still slamming people with the bag, but they were blocking him from Chuckie.
“Thanks, baby,” Jeff said as we landed and spun around to head back.
My music changed to “Duck and Run” by 3 Doors Down as the thugs produced guns and they started shooting at everyone. Grabbed Jeff and pulled him down. Bullets flew over our heads.
“Run for the window,” White shouted, as he grabbed Tim and followed his own advice at hyperspeed. Lorraine grabbed Reader and did likewise. “Get through the gate!” White called to Mahin and Abigail.
Claudia was still trying to get to Chuckie. “Get out of here,” Chuckie yelled at her. Right before one of the thugs slammed the butt of his gun against the back of Chuckie’s head.
“GO!” Jeff bellowed at her as he and I leaped out of the way of more bullets. Jeff shoved me into one of the Lyssara domes, ran over, grabbed Claudia, and ran her to the window.
Meanwhile, did my best to get to Chuckie, who was definitely unconscious based on how hard that hit had looked and how his head was lolling. But someone grabbed me and flung me around a wall, just as bullets hit the air where I’d been.
“You don’t like to listen to your husband much, do you?” Siler asked as he unblended. Him grabbing me had happened so fast I hadn’t felt the tingling.
“They’re going to kill Chuckie!”
“Not yet.” Siler wasn’t letting go of me. He looked around. “Really?” He shoved me farther away and ran out. He and Jeff were back quickly. Happily, neither one appeared to be shot. “You both have a serious death wish. Do you actually want your children to be raised by others?”
“My parents did a great job with me, so I’m not worried. But I do see your point, Nightcrawler. Jeff, are you okay?”
He pulled me to him and hugged me tightly, hearts pounding. “Yeah, baby, I’m okay, all things considered. I have no idea where they’re taking Chuck, though.”
“We need to rescue the rest of the rescue team first,” Siler said. “Which includes your cousin.”
White joined us. “The gunmen have all left. We have a cleanup team coming,” he shared as a bunch of people in hazmat suits arrived. “They’re taking the Themnir excrement and any dead bodies. The moment they’re done, the gate is going to be gone.”
“I’d love to tell all three of you to go and let me handle it,” Siler said, “but I know what you’ll say, so I’ll save my breath.”
“We need to get up to the floor where Christopher went dark, is what I’m saying. And I’m sure I speak for Jeff and Mister White, too.”
“You do,” White said. He grabbed Jeff and hugged him. “It’s good to see you still alive and well, Jeffrey.”
“Thanks, Uncle Richard, and I’ll say the same for you, too,” Jeff said as he hugged him back tightly. “All of you.” He reached out and pulled me and Siler into the group hug. I was used to this, but I could tell it still sort of surprised Siler. But he went with it and hugged back.
“We need to get upstairs fast,” I said once we broke up the group hug. “And we can’t use the elevators.”
“I have plenty of ‘juice’ left, Missus Martini.”
“So do I,” Siler said. “Mostly because I gave up trying to get into the fight and checked our exit options instead. There are G-Company troops in the stairwell going down, and I assume it’s more G-Company thugs who have Reynolds.”
“They fought really well,” Jeff said. “As in, I couldn’t get them off of us, and normally I don’t have trouble with humans who aren’t Centaurion trained.”
“There were a lot of them, and I think they were using some sort of tech that made them stronger because I gave up due to not being able to make a dent, which I’m not used to. Kitty’s right to not trust the elevators, I think they’re shut down.”