Yuri hit the ground as soon as the shooting started. Just in time. Half the wall behind him disintegrated into a swirling cloud of fragments and dust as a gang member strafed it. His two escort drones zipped forward, blasting away in retaliation.
“Holy shit,” he screeched. His head came up. Lucius was on the ground in front of him, also scanning around urgently.
“Looks like they saw us coming,” Lucius shouted.
“No fucking kidding!”
The first clash ended as gang members either died or retreated deeper into the building. Yuri scrambled up and hurried along the smoldering wreckage of the main corridor. “How many gang members are there?”
“Four fatalities,” Boris said. “Estimated seven hostiles remain active on this level.”
Yuri reached the room that was drawing all the power. Its door was gone, wrenched off to leave a slim, jagged rim still attached to the hinges. Four drones sailed through the hole ahead of him. Someone opened fire on them. The response was swift. He heard the definitive sound of super-velocity rounds punching through furniture. A man started screaming—a long, terrified wail of pain.
“Hold fire and isolate the hostile,” he ordered the drones. The visor graphics showed them surging deeper into the room. One of the paramilitaries went in just ahead of him. “Careful, sir, there’s a floor breach.”
“Got it,” Yuri said. It took him a moment to make sense of the chaos laid out before him. So much of the room had been damaged by grenades and bullets. There were five hospital-style gurnez lined up along one side, most of them lying on their side. Medical equipment towers were shredded, pulsing out fluids from their torn casings. Two of the gurnez had unconscious bodies lying on them, which made Yuri’s heart lurch in panic until he realized they were both female. One had taken a bullet to the thigh and was bleeding profusely.
“Shit!” He stared around, searching for a first aid kit. He couldn’t see one.
Another firefight erupted somewhere down the other end of the building. He flinched, ducking down as bullets came slamming through the thin composite walls. “Jessika?”
“Hell, boss, are you okay?”
“Yeah. I need a combat medic case. Fast!”
“Are you hit?”
“Not me. Found our first victims.”
“On my way.”
“No. Stay in the vehicle. I’m sending someone to collect.” He turned to the paramilitary who’d accompanied him. “Go!”
As the paramilitary left, Yuri snatched up a sheet from one of the fallen gurnez and jammed it against the woman’s bullet wound, tying it on hard with a length of tube from the wrecked medical tower. Then he went over to where a pair of drones was hovering over the wounded gang member. Two laser target dots illuminated his forehead. The man had taken three hits, two in the arm, one in the chest. He was already ashen, gulping down breath. Blood was pooling on the floor. “Help,” he beseeched.
“Sure thing,” Yuri knelt down and pushed his visor up. “One of my people is bringing a medic kit. You’ll be fine.”
“Yeah?”
“Sure. I’ve seen worse.”
“Man, it hurts!”
“I need to know, where are the other people that were brought here?”
“Please. I’m sorry. I just drive the vans, you know?”
“Sure.” Yuri held up the card with Horatio’s picture. “Did you see this kid? Is he still here?”
The man had trouble focusing. “Jeez, it hurts bad. Deep, you know, deep inside. Is that the bullet?”
“Keep it together. The paramedics are almost here. Before they give you a shot for the pain, tell me: the kid?”
Yuri heard more gunfire hammering in the big warehouse directly underneath. Then a series of grenades went off. The whole room shuddered for several seconds.
“Did you see him?” Yuri persisted.
“Yes. He was here. Overnight.”
“Where is he now?”
“They took him downstairs.”
“Downstairs where?”
“Ready—”
“Ready for what?”
The man’s limbs started to shake.
“Ready for what?” Yuri shouted.
“Go.” He held an arm up, fingers grasping for Yuri, as if that contact would somehow help. “Ready to go.”
Yuri stood up, ignoring the clawing hand. “Our prime target may still be in the building. Ground floor. Proceed with extreme caution.” He snapped the visor down again and studied the tactical display before striding out of the room and hurrying down the stairs. One of his drones flew point, the other took up position behind.