Shadow Tyrants (Oregon Files 13)

The woman refocused on her phone but just before Raven reached out and knocked it out of her hand, the woman tapped the screen.

Instead of exploding, to Raven’s shock the cake erupted with gunfire.

* * *

—

Linc and Eddie took out the guards in the stairwell using a coordinated attack. Linc sucker punched one of the guards from behind just as they were about to enter the level where the offices were. Simultaneously, Eddie rushed out and slammed the head of the other one into the wall.

They started to drag the guards to join their colleague in the bathroom when the buzz saw sound of rapid machine gun fire clattered from the direction of the ballroom.

Eddie and Linc tore down the stairs.

* * *

—

Torkan pulled Mallik behind him as bullets ripped through the air above their heads. The aim of the gun was off, and rounds raked the ceiling and upper walls of the ballroom.

“It’s her!” Mallik yelled. “Natalie Taylor! I saw her fighting with Kiara Jain.”

“Then that can’t be Kiara Jain,” Torkan shouted above the screams and gunfire. Half the guests had dove to the floor while the other half were running in panic.

“Come on!” Torkan grabbed Mallik’s arm and dragged him toward the emergency exit, into the bathroom hallway, and rushed to the stairwell door.

On their way through, they passed a black man and an Asian man headed in the other direction.

* * *

—

Raven’s knocking away the phone had caused the machine gun to temporarily tilt up, which had prevented the assault from becoming a massacre, but if the woman got the phone back, dozens of people would die.

Raven kicked off her mile-high platform pumps as she prepared to finish off the woman when she saw a panicked Prisha Naidu running straight toward the line of fire. The machine gun’s aim was now inching down from the recoil, threatening to slice her to ribbons.

Raven made the only choice she could. Instead of taking the assassin down, she raced toward the Indian actress, tackling her to the floor moments before she would have been killed.

Raven turned to see the assassin run toward the balcony. Then she had to hold the shrieking Prisha down again as the machine gun made another pass over them.

* * *

—

MacD could see that the machine gun’s aim was falling, and it was only a matter of seconds until bullets began chewing into the guests huddled in terror on the floor.

S

omeone must have summoned the elevator because its door suddenly opened. He maneuvered himself behind the cart and waited until the machine gun was firing away from him. Then he pushed the cart toward the elevator, hoping the door was wide enough for the cake to fit. The cart gathered momentum until it was hurtling through the door and slammed into the back of the elevator. Sparks flew as bullets churned into the brass walls of the cab. The door closed, muting the sound of the continuing fire.

He spotted the nearest security guard and raced over to him.

“Get on your radio and tell someone to shut down all the elevators! Now!”

The startled guard nodded and got on his radio.

MacD turned and sprinted away to look for Raven and the assassin.

* * *