Page 74 of Dark Rebel's Mystery

Max rushed to Yamanu's side.

"I'm okay," the guy assured him. "The wound is already healing. Give me a moment, and I'll continue the shroud."

"Don't. At this point, they know we are here. I'd rather you join the fray when you're ready."

"I will." Yamanu held a hand over the wound, which seemed more serious than the guy was willing to admit.

Max helped Yamanu behind the concrete barrier. "Can you cover me?"

The guy was able to sit upright and hold his weapons steady by this point. "I will. Go."

Max turned to look for Drova.

They needed her to compel the Doomers, but so far, they had only encountered those first two who had been dealt with. Hewas sure there were more, though, and the human soldiers were a menace as well.

One command from Drova and this battle would be over.

He found her crawling on the ground.

"Drova!" her mother shouted into the comm. "Are you hurt?"

"No. I lost my loudspeaker." The girl sounded frantic. "I can't find it."

Could things get any worse?

A hail of bullets whizzed above Max's head, biting into the thick concrete he'd ducked behind and spraying a volley of rocks over his head and shoulders. Gritting his teeth, Max waited for the lull between bursts. "Use your voice without it!"

But Drova's panicked voice came over the line, "No one will hear me!"

As if to confirm her assessment, her words were drowned by the rifle racket.

From the edge of his vision, Max watched Jade slam into one of the guards who seemed impervious to bullets, and not just because he had a bulletproof vest on. His reflexes were incredibly fast. Still, the guy seemed just as terrified of the Kra-ell as the others and turned to flee with a speed that reinforced Max's impression that he wasn't human. But even a Doomer couldn't outrun a pureblooded Kra-ell animated by bloodlust.

She tackled him to the ground, but instead of sinking her fangs into his neck, she used her bare hand to punch him. That wouldn't hold him down for long, not unless she cut out his heart or chopped off his head, but they didn't have time for that.

Oops, Max had forgotten how strong Jade was and how vicious. With a bone-crushing punch, her fist went through the Doomer's chest, and when Jade pulled out her hand, she was holding his heart, dropping the bloody mass on the ground.

Max was a hardened warrior, but he'd never seen such savagery, and as his stomach heaved, he gulped air to keep it from emptying on the ground. Drova, however, didn't have the benefit of his battle experience and puked her guts out.

"Weakness will get you killed, girl!" Jade barked. "Get moving!"

On the other side of the courtyard, Mehira threw a knife at a soldier who was advancing at her with unnatural speed. He hissed but kept running with his fangs bared and his eyes flashing, only to get tackled by Anton, who grabbed him by the neck and twisted. A sickening snap followed as the Doomer collapsed.

Max was impressed. The Kra-ell had no compunctions about using lethal force, and these Doomers wouldn't regenerate. They were gone, and good riddance.

The moment of quiet that followed was interrupted by Jade's voice in his earpiece. "Drova, that's your chance!"

The girl inhaled shakily before cupping her hands around her mouth. "Stop fighting!" she yelled in Farsi, one of the phrases she'd been taught, projecting from her diaphragm as best she could. "Drop your weapons and lie face down on the ground. "

Only those close enough to hear her paused, confusion and then frustration on their faces before they obeyed her command.

The rest were too far away to hear the command over the thunder of battle. Drova's voice alone wasn't enough. Theminiature loudspeaker was supposed to have amplified her command so it would carry across the courtyard, and without it, half the soldiers didn't register her words at all.

Max made a mental note to find and collect this proprietary piece of equipment before they left the compound. It should not fall into the Doomers' hands, as it might reveal the clan's involvement. Nor should it find its way to the regime's labs, where it could be reverse engineered.

Max grunted and fired a short burst from his custom-made clan-issued weapon, aiming high to force a small group of Iranian soldiers back behind a stack of metal crates. "I'm going to flank them," he said into his mic.

Jade's response was a clipped affirmation. She and her warriors were pinned down near a toppled guard tower, forging a path through the ones who didn't hear Drova's command.

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