Free Allie's War Season Three by JC Andrijeski

in the entryway before Jon saw him move, and Allie's knees bent as his did. She had her gun out too, although she wasn't firing...instead, she seemed to be hiding behind the wall.
    Seconds later, Revik stepped out into the room beyond the stairwell, motioning to her...
    ...when suddenly a much louder sound shook the monitor's speakers, causing all three men to flinch away from the wall.
    At first, Jon thought it was something that had been recorded by the camera in that stairwell...then he realized the sound had come back on through the live feeds. The past recording from the stairwell had been silent.
    "What di'lanlente a guete was that?" Jax said, staring open-mouthed at the wall.
    Before either Jon or Wreg could answer, a woman's face filled the screen.
    It struck Jon at first that something was wrong with her avatar. Then he realized in shock that she wasn't wearing her avatar. For most newscasters, that was the equivalent of delivering the news stark naked. She'd either forgotten to activate it prior to going live, or else had accidentally de -activated it...Jon didn't know which. Either way, her face, looking significantly older, less smooth and wrinkle-free, nearly filled the monitor as she spoke in a low, panicked voice. It struck Jon that the falsetto purr the woman used previously had been completely fictitious as well.
    "...Interrupting our interview to bring you a real-time event, occurring at the lower levels of the bank as we speak..."
    Her voice fuzzed out briefly, then returned, stronger than before.
    "...At least two seers, from what security can tell us at this time," she said, still breathless, her voice a bit deeper. "They've broken into the private security boxes of some of the bank's top clients. When security began to close in..."
    Another burst of static obliterated her face.
    Jon could see the building shaking behind her, and glass raining down on the sidewalk from windows shattering on the upper floors.
    The woman's voice grew into a near-shout.
    "...Appear to be attempting escape by blowing a hole in the wall of the vault itself. We've been told by security that the walls down there are over five feet thick and poured of concrete reinforced with steel and military-grade shielding..."
    Jon had time to think he actually liked her real voice a good deal more than the fake one, when another explosion behind her turned both her image and voice into static.
    That time, instead of her face, they got an emergency broadcast signal. The two-dimensional symbol jerked a few times, then went to a clean-looking newsroom with a long desk where four avatar-clad humans sat facing one another and arguing. They seemed unaware of the interruption in signal, and continued talking loudly and over one another about the probable motive of the terrorists in attacking the bank.
    Before Jon could really wrap his head around what they were talking about, Jax was already shouldering on a gun holster and gun that had been sitting in a pile on a nearby barstool. He didn't glance at either Jon or Wreg as he began buttoning a heavy wool shirt over the holster and the worn T-shirt he wore underneath.
    Jon glanced at Wreg when the seer began walking towards the door of the suite, his face now set in a determined glare.
    "Where are you going?" Jon said, speaking to both of them, but mostly to Wreg.
    Wreg gave him a disbelieving look. Then he paused long enough to face Jon, gesturing towards the television with one hand.
    "Where do you think I'm going, little brother?" he retorted. "They just detonated an anti-terrorist device on the ground floor of that fucking Kraut bank...with the Sword and your sister inside. Now there's been another explosion. You and I both know there is no second team on the upper floors...so whatever they're after must be in that vault. If the two of them are alone, which you and I both know very well that they are, that means they just sat through at least one explosion, probably two. It also means they might