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HALO: FIRST STRIKE
The instant he did this, two Brutes wheeled from their cover
on either side of the entrance archway. They held rifles with
large-caliber muzzles and padded stocks, fixed with razor-edged
blades. One of the Brutes saw John, aimed, and fired.
John darted back behind the basalt pillar; he saw the flash and
thunder of a grenade launched from the weapon—heard two
more rounds fired immediately after that.
The first grenade impacted on the opposite side of the pillar
and exploded. The overpressure rattled his teeth.
The Chief turned and dived, hoping to get behind the next
stone column before—
—the second and third grenades impacted and detonated on
the pillar he had stood behind a split second before. The solid
stone crumbled into fist-sized chunks.
He skidded and scrambled for cover as the upper part of that
column collapsed, raining stones that shattered the floor... and
would have crushed him.
So much for engaging these Brutes in a direct assault. John
wasn't up for another round of wrestling, either. Not with the
clock ticking. Not with every Covenant on this station about to
tear them to pieces. Complicating all this was the enemy's appar-
ent ability to locate them when they used the COM.
That only left one tactical option: run.
He wasn't going to leave Grace behind, though. Not until he
knew for certain she was dead.
He removed his backpack and took out one of his two Lotus
antitank mines. The disk was a quarter meter across with spikes
set along the rim to stabilize it when buried. He set the detona-
tion selector to countdown mode, seven seconds. He then slid
around the edge of the column.
He threw the mine with a flick of his wrist. It spun in a wide
arc across the temple hall and embedded into the wall just over
the entrance archway.
Two seconds until it blew.
John clicked on his COM and said: "Fire in the hole!"
The Brutes again wheeled around from their cover and lev-
eled their deadly grenade launchers.
The Lotus mine detonated—it was a flash and an instant of