Pete vanished down the stairs, and Grayson did not watch him go because he didn't have the time to even ask.
He was in a hurry.
Grayson turned on his heel.
The barrier was still holding despite the increasing Insectoids trying to breach its walls. The creature's bodies hammered against the outside and lit it briefly with their impacts.
In the middle of it, a man-sized hole in the ornamental hedging had been kicked outward. The green and white wood was all torn and wrecked. There was a crushed-shell path with a long, ugly furrow running across it where something heavy had landed badly and dragged.
Grayson saw his target and immediately went to join the fire with his sidearm plasma pistol already coming up in his off hand.
Thiago and Ciel, who heard another firing coming towards them, adjusted their positions to avoid being shot by the other.
