Heroic Measures (continued)

"What's he saying?" Westin demanded.

"Dunno," Kenniston replied. "Can't hear him over the noise."

Whatever Westin said next was lost in the shouts of people and the smashing sounds from bits of the furnishings as thugs were thrown into them or they were used as projectiles to bring down the ones who tried to flee.

Iron-Clad lifted the man in question and held him close to his armored helmet. The [criminal] seemed unaware of his predicament, continuing to mumble repeated phrases that none of them could make out.

"No, Grant!"

Walter did not know who had called out, but it was too late. Iron-Clad toss the man aside. It seemed to cost him little effort. Walter watched as the man sailed across the room, smashing against a set of metal racks mounted against the wall. They rang out as the thug hit them. Walter was certain that, had he been closer, and in less noisy surroundings, he would have heard bones break.

The thug rebounded hard against the vertical rack supports and then slid to the ground in a limp heap. It reminded Walter of an oversized bean bag. There was no doubt that the man was dead. Walter felt a sick wave of nausea at the sudden brutality of the man's death. He had no time to dwell on it, though, for he heard renewed shouts coming from the main melee deeper in the warehouse. Walter took one more quick glance at the limp form of the dead man, and then turned and sped away.

#

"We've processed the voice logs and video feeds from the mission recorders," Raynes announced.

On the large screen behind him played out the scene from the warehouse from the vantage point of Westin's camera. The sound was muted, or else playing too softly for Walter to hear. The image shifted to one from Iron-Clad camera. Raynes touched a control and the playback paused.

"It some time to process the audio tracks due to the ambient noise . . . and other factors."

Raynes aimed a sharp stare at Grant. Grant was either oblivious to it or choose to ignore it. Walter would have put the same odds on either option.

The playback was resumed at a slower rate. Walter saw the head and face of the now-deceased thug come into view. He still found it hard to believe that only a few moments after this scene was played out, the man would be dead.

The view of the man's face was magnified and then moved even closer on his mouth. His lips moved in extreme slow-motion, but that did little to help Walter better identify what the man might have been saying. There was a deeper rumble in the foreground that must have been Grant speaking within his helmet.