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ERIC NYLUND
315
fire. The temple opening and Brutes vanished, replaced by a
cloud of dust and a cascade of stones that fell from the ceiling.
One gray arm remained exposed under the rubble, still flexing.
John moved up. The entrance was sealed. They were safe for a
few seconds.
He knelt next to Grace. Her biosigns had flatlined. He tried to
roll her upright—but there was no need. The detonations he had
heard while wrestling the first Brute had been three of their
high-velocity grenades... which had blown Grace's midsection
apart.
Fred and Will emerged from their cover. John looked at mem
and shook his head.
John opened the tiny access panel on Grace's armor power
pack and entered the fail-safe code. They still had a mission to
finish, which meant they couldn't carry her out; it would slow
them down too much. They wouldn't be leaving her for the
Covenant either, though. Her armor's tiny fusion reactor would
overload and burn everything within a ten-meter radius—
Grace's funeral pyre.
"Let's move," John said. "Cortana, which way?"
"Proceed into the temple thirty meters. Turn right. There will be a
sealed doorway, an access hatch for Engineers. I will open it and
lock it behind you. Hurry. I'm encountering increased resistance
from the station's AIs. While I have their security COM channels
blocked, word of intruders is speeding via private COMs."
There was a curious echo to her voice. Maybe it was feedback
from the Covenant triangulating on their signals. Or maybe there
was some other effect at work. What had she warned him about?
Unforeseen complications using a copy of a copy of Cortana?
"Roger that," he said and waved Fred and Will forward. He
took one last look at Grace, then marched quickly and silently
ahead.
There were no more motion contacts in the temple. The Chief,
however, saw Grunts and Jackals, Elites and Hunters in murals
painted on the walls. In the shadows and stained-glass filtered
light, those pictures seemed to move. They genuflected to some-
thing farther ahead. The Chief wished he had more time to take a
full video record.
Blue Team moved thirty meters and turned to face a section of
the wall. It parted. The passage could have fit two Engineers side