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He was on the stairs of the building, worn-smooth stone steps that he bounded up five at a time. John saw three friendly con?tacts behind him on his motion tracker ... and at the periphery of its range a solid mass of enemy contacts.
"You're good so far," Linda reported. "There are Elites, but they're unarmed. No, wait. A Hunter pair is advancing on your position. Stand by."
A quartet of shots split the air like thunderclaps.
"Threat neutralized," Linda said. "The rest of them are scat?tering. Banshees approaching. I'm moving."
John cleared the stairs and skidded to a halt on the threshold of the temple. The interior was cold; external temperature read?ings were near freezing. Light filtered in through stained-glass windows in the ceiling—tinged lavender, cobalt, and turquoise. Three rows of giant columns made of blue-black basalt ran the length of the thirty-meter-long rectangular structure, casting long shadows. It was a good place for an ambush. He set his back against one of the pillars and swept the entrance, covering his team as they entered.
"Cortana, update on station security?" John said.
310 HALO: FIRST STRIKE
"There are dozens of reports on the security channels. I've got them covered."
Another Cortana voice broke in over the first: "Also be ad?vised, Chief, that there are ceremonial guards in this temple—a race we have not encountered before. Roughly translated from Covenant dialects, they are called 'Brutes.' They shouldn't be a significant threat or they would have been used in previous mili?tary situations."
John wasn't so sure of that. The name Brute didn't sound promising. He also wondered why there now seemed to be more than one Cortana in the station's system—but that could wait. They had to keep moving now that they had revealed their posi?tion. He waved Blue Team forward.
John took point. He moved up to the next column in the mid?dle of the building. Fred and Will stepped over to the columns on either side behind John. Grace had their backs.
There was a flicker on his motion sensor—just ahead. It vanished.
John held up his hand. Blue Team froze.
His motion detector was clear ... but there had been some?thing there.
He pulled out a frag grenade.
The transient contact was back—a shadow moved around the same pillar John used for cover. It moved faster than an Elite— as fast as John.
He fired his rifle point blank into the shadowy silhouette. It didn't slow—it only howled with rage.
Will and Fred fired three-round bursts from their rifles into the creature. It flinched with each bullet impact.
Three explosions detonated behind them. Grace's biosign alarm shrilled and flashed on John's heads-up display.
"Ambush!" Will cried out.
The creature Cortana had called a "Brute" stepped from the shadows and faced John. It was taller than an Elite—wider and more muscular. Its mouth was lined with razor-sharp teeth, and its red eyes burned with hate. Its blue-gray skin was riddled with bullet holes.