Aftershock Read Online Free Page B

burning remains of the vehicle. The point man signalled for the other soldiers to spread out around the car as he approached the passenger door. He knelt down and carefully peered inside. He immediately saw that the passenger compartment was empty and the door on the other side was ajar. There was the sudden clinking sound of something metal hitting the road behind him and he spun round just as the flashbang stun grenade detonated. He dropped to one knee, trying to regain his composure as bright swirling blobs of colour filled his vision, his retinas temporarily overloaded by the overwhelmingly bright flash from the explosion. At first there was nothing but ringing in his ears but that slowly cleared, replaced by startled screams and snapped bursts of what sounded like uncontrolled panic fire from his own team. He rubbed his eyes as things slowly came back into focus. A blurry figure strode towards him holding a pair of long, thin objects glowing with purple light.
    ‘Such a shame, I was starting to really like this dress,’ a woman’s voice with a Russian accent said, still muffled slightly by the ringing in his ears. Then there was a flash of purple and everything went black.
    Raven stepped back as the last member of the assault team toppled forward on to the road in a pool of his own blood. She glanced up the road towards the men around the lorry and saw that they were pulling more weapons from the boxes on the pavement. She ducked behind the still burning wreck of their car and dashed between the parked cars at the side of the road. Nero, who Raven had dragged from the burning wreckage, was unsteadily getting to his feet, an angry expression on his face.
    ‘The driver?’ he asked and Raven simply shook her head.
    ‘Time to go,’ she said, pulling the sheaths for her katanas from the back of the ruined car and strapping them on to her back.
    ‘Do you actually go anywhere without those?’ Nero asked, gesturing to the glowing purple blades of Raven’s modified swords.
    ‘I didn’t wear them to the opera, if that’s what you’re asking,’ Raven replied, looking down the street towards the men from the lorry who were cautiously advancing towards the burning car, weapons raised. ‘I left them in the car. I thought they might draw a little too much attention.’
    ‘It is a shame about your dress,’ Nero said as they hurried down the pavement away from the advancing assassins, using the parked cars for cover. Raven’s dress was scorched and torn in several places.
    ‘You can buy me another one when we get out of here,’ Raven replied as she glanced towards the far end of the road where she could see flashing blue lights. ‘Hold these.’ She handed Nero her swords.
    The policeman was just climbing off his motorbike as Raven ran towards him.
    ‘Oh, officer, please help,’ she said in a frightened voice as she approached him. ‘There’s been a terrible accident.’
    ‘It’s OK, miss,’ the officer said. ‘Just calm down and try to tell me exactly what happened. Ambulances are on the w—’
    He would later tell his colleagues that he had no memory of how he had been knocked unconscious. It was less embarrassing than admitting he’d been sucker punched by a beautiful Russian woman in a cocktail dress.
    ‘Get on,’ Raven said, taking her swords back from Nero and strapping them to her back before climbing on to the unconscious policeman’s motorbike. ‘And signal the Shroud.’
    ‘You are aware, of course, that I hate motorbikes,’ Nero said with a sigh as he climbed on to the back of the bike. He reached into his inside pocket as Raven started the bike and hit the emergency signal on his Blackbox. Raven gunned the engine and the bike shot away down the road.
    ‘This is not dramatically improving my opinion of motorbikes!’ Nero yelled from behind her as she wove at high speed through the slow-moving traffic ahead of them.
    Raven glanced at the rear-view mirror and caught a glimpse of something