Free Doomsday Exam [BUREAU 13 Book Two] by Nick Pollotta

bandoleer of throwing knives, plus a bow and quiver of arrows. Jessica had the van, a taser in her belt, a Mac-10 spray-n-pray machine pistol, and on the seat beside her was a 12 gauge Remington shotgun normally reserved for Father Donaher.
    God, I wish we had some real weapons with us.
    Scratching away, as Raul always did when near major evil, our mage took a position in the right corridor, Mindy the left, George covered the rear entrance, and I took the front. Situated in the middle, Jess stayed as our anchor in the van to operate the missile pod and other weapon systems. As a precaution, I jammed the side door open so she would have a fast escape route. Then I set the self-destruct and left the keys in the ignition. My poor wife had a very grim expression of her face as we parted and I flashed her a grin. The gentle telepath hated lethal combat, but from past experience I knew that she could kill when absolutely necessary.
    As ready as ever in such a short time, my team cut the overhead lights, sprinkled thumbtacks, communion wafers, kosher salt, wolfbane and marbles on the floor, then settled in to wait.
    During this, Mrs. Cunningham had been busy at the reception desk activating every automatic defense and offense the building possessed. In the cool quiet darkness, she had shifted the position of the video monitor on her desk so that we could also see what was happening outside the steel shutters. Currently, the glowing screen showed a small aerial picture of the Quonset Hut on the grassy knoll surrounded by the deserted traffic circle. Everything seemed peaceful with nothing out of the ordinary. I glanced at my watch, three seconds to go, two, one ... now.
    In a boiling wave, a hundred monsters stormed out of the hut, a hodgepodge of every conceivable boojum, including a few that I had never seen before, and a couple that I couldn't properly focus my vision on. There were vampires, werewolves, basilisk, giants, elves, gnomes, squids, vapors, golems, lumbering robots and shapeless disgusting blobs. Oh him again, eh? Filling the television, a brace of scaled titans had the pitiful remains of men and women in guard uniforms held before them as living shields. I recognized old friends, but over my helmet radio, I heard Warden Lapin order the warehouses to attack with a sob in his voice.
    Instantly, the view withdrew to show the warehouses extending their sides and joining together to form an unbroken hexagon. The cinder-block walls then fused with a blinding light that expanded to engulf the Quonset. Then a solid expanse of dirt filled the area, earth that visibly hardened into gray rock, then solid granite. It was the first of the Elemental defenses.
    In the dim lobby, I held my breath. Looking good, guys.
    On the monitor, a giant fist broke through the granite, its owner climbing out of the hole with a dozen smaller creatures scampering along the behind. In a hundred other spots, the granite was smashed into gravel and more of the bedraggled hellspawn clambered into view. Precisely on cue, the rest of the stone vanished and the creatures tumbled painfully down to the pavement. Ha!
    Next the warehouses hosed a Niagara of water at the monsters. The crushing spray a deluged the boojums in a torrent of rivers that became raging wild ocean. Drops of moisture blurred the picture and the scene shifted to another camera. Tidal waves rose and fell with pile-driving force, smashing the prisoners against each other. Topsy-turvy, the creatures churned hapless and helpless in the endless brutal cascade of the megaton tsunami.
    Momentarily, a mass of wiggling tentacles came into view to snatch a fellow creature and hurl the horned demon through a wave crest and straight towards the ring of warehouses.
    The beastie almost made it when a brisk wind came from nowhere, flipped the escapee over and hurtled it right back into the monster soup. Steadily increasing in force and noise, the air above the warehouses went round and round, faster