"Contact! Run," shouts Brad, and they move faster. "Here we go, boys," laughs Pappy -- the nicest, most normal/cold-eyed deadliest killer in the Battalion. Chaffin laughs at Christopher: "Happy birthday, bitch. Try not to get shot in the face!" There are bodies and gunshots coming from every place, on the ground, on foot, in the buildings, jumping out at random and shooting. Evan helps Brad reload his BFG and he blows up a car. They drive through town slowly, like an arcade game, heads popping up at random like moles. It's just like a video game. Things get fast and confusing as they roll. Manimal stands in his turret and takes down the entire cathedral. Evan nearly weeps. Trombley sights, and shoots. The guy falls off a roof, all the way to the ground. "I got one," says Trombley in a hushed voice, like he's about to double-check his lottery numbers. "I got one! I saw his knee explode!" His joy is palpable.

Up top, Walt's gun malfunctions just long enough to distract him from the cables that clothesline him, trapping him against the Humvee roof by his neck. Ray backs it up as quickly as possible, Walt gets free, and everybody screams at once: "Go, go, go!" Evan loudest of all. As they leave town, Nate calls for a radio check, and one by one they check in: "This is Two One Alpha, up 120 and up... Two One Bravo is up 700 and up... Hitman Two, this is Two Two, up 200 and up... This is Hitman Two Three, up 300 and up..." Evan stares, in the sudden silence; Trombley's predictably postcoital but not in a particularly humorous way; Brad stares out the window and Ray nearly bounces in his seat. "We got fucking lit up," Brad says quietly, and they all start laughing and shouting. "Man! Everybody is okay, right?" Evan's voice is a little shaky; Trombley still can't believe he got one. Softer now: "You all right?" Evan nods, and whistles, a long slow whistle that says it best. Ray laughs hysterically.