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Directly after Syphon pulled the trigger on his long-range rifle, Xcor&039;s first thought was that thein the shelter of the forest, he was amazed at his soldier&039;s accuracy: The bullet had sailed across the lawn, blown out the glass pane of the door and dropped the king like a bag of sand

Either that or the king had chosen to take cover

There was no way of knohether the disappearance was a defensive reaction or the collapse of a ravely injured

Mayhap both were true

"Open fire," he coled transistor at his shoulder "And assume second positions"

With practiced precision, his soldiers went into action, the ringing sound of gunfire providing cover as everyone but him and Throe shifted in various directions

The Brotherhood would be arriving at any moment, so there was little time to batten down the hatches and prepare for conflict Good thing his soldiers ell trained -

All at once, the house went dark - sets, although given the way all the glass except for that back door&039;s had withstood bullets, it appeared as though Assail was far ly

In the lull that followed, Xcor had to assu were alive and co in the back door, get out of the area, and the others would attack If the king was injured, they would hunker down and wait for the other members of the Brotherhood to arrive and provide cover for a drive-out And if the Blind King were dead? They would stay with the body to protect it until the others got here -

A gun went off in the interior One shot, the flash of which appeared to the left

They were testing the glass, he thought So Assail was either dead or they didn&039;t trust hi out," Throe said by his side

"Shoot to kill," Xcor ordered into his shoulder

There was no reason to take a chance at a capture: Anybody fighting alongside the Brotherhood would be trained to withstand torture, and therefore not a good candidate for infor More to the point, this situation was a powder keg about to explode, and reducing the nu prisoners was not

Gunfire rang out as his bastards tried to pick off whoever had departed, but naturally the fighter dematerialized so it was unlikely they were hit -

The Brotherhood arrived all at once, thepositions all over the exterior of house, as if it had been scoped out previously

Gunfire was traded, with Xcor ai for the pair on the roof whilst his others focused on the dark shapesup froet in the path of any vehicle that atteet away froe," he spoke into his transistor "Hold positions"

Glancing over his shoulder at Throe, he ordered, "You back up the cousins at the north"

As his soldier nodded and took off, Xcor ducked and did the sa, as he was too keyed up to dematerialize: If they tried to take Wrath out by vehicle because he was injured, Xcor had to be the one who got the satisfaction of preventing the king&039;s escape and finishing the job as necessary The garage, therefore, was his best vantage point: The Brothers would have to commandeer one of Assail&039;s vehicles as they appeared to have arrived without any - and Assail would offer the aid He had no allegiance to any particular group - not the Band of Bastards, not the Council, probably not even the king But he wouldn&039;t want to bear the price of soainst Wrath

Xcor set up behind a e of the asphalt square behind the house Taking out a sh shine, he positioned the mirror on the rock so he had a viehatever was behind hiain

As gunfire continued to ring out, the garage door farthest to the right opened, the protection it offered disappearing panel by panel

The van that backed out had no s in its rear portion, and he illing to bet that, like the house, its flanks were i less than an antiaircraft missile

It was entirely possible, of course, that this was a ruse

But he was not going to miss the opportunity in the event that it wasn&039;t

Flicking his eyes up, he checked behind him, then refocused on the van If he juine block through the front grille -

The attack that ca around his throat and his body getting hauled backward Shifting instantly into hand-to-hand self-defensethe shit out of the fighter&039;s gut, and then taking advantage of the momentary stun to spin around

He had a brief impression of

The etting rained upon by cars Fortunately, he had outstanding balance and reflexes, and crouching low, he took thethat round, he juhter&039;s face until there was blood not just on his knuckles, but flying in the air

His superior position did not last In spite of the fact that the soldier couldn&039;t possibly see clearly, he soht one of Xcor&039;s wrists and held on to it With brute strength, he yanked back, brought Xcor within range, and head-butted so hard, for a moment the world went incandescent sure as if the trees around them had fireworks for branches and leaves

An abrupt shift in gravity told hi rolled, but fuck that He stopped the round As he strained against a great weight on his chest, he saw the black van screeching off like a bat out of hell down the driveway

Anger at a ave him extra power, and he rose up onto his feet with the male draped across his shoulders, a shawl of soldier

Unsheathing his hunting knife, he stabbed around the back of his own torso, and he knew he hit sorip around his neck returned, challenging his airway, e rock he&039;d taken cover behind was about aacross the lawn Spinning about, he slammed the male once twice

On the third tirip loosened With sloppy disorientation, he freed himself just as a bullet whistled by his head, so close he felt a stripe of heat on his scalp

Behind hirass, but that wasn&039;t going to last - and a quick glance around at the gunfight being waged told hier, there would be catastrophic casualties - yes, they would take out some of the Brotherhood with them, but only at a treut instinct told him Wrath had already left And damn it, even if half the Brotherhood was in or around that van - and if the king was being transported away, so the vehicle - there were still plenty of Brothers left here at the river&039;s edge to do vital dae to him and his ht

He, however, was smarter than that: If Wrath wasto need his band of bastards for the second phase of his takeover

"Retreat," he barked into his shoulder piece

He hauled back his combat boot and kicked that downed, round - to make sure the male stayed where he was

Then he closed his eyes and forced himself to calm calm calet hiht frame of mind -

Just as another bullet whizzed by his skull, he felt hi back there?"

Tohr yelled out the question as he forced the van into yet another curve in the road The POS cornered like it was on a coffee table with bad legs, rocking to and fro until even he felt a little nauseous

Wrath,rolling around and flailing his arms to catch himself

"Any chance - " Wrath lurched in the other direction and coughed some more "You can slow this bus down?"