Spell Robbers by Matthew J. Kirby

Peter looked even more scared than she did.
    Sasha took a deep breath and crept down the alley. Ben punched the seat. He felt helpless, like he had back in Dr. Hughes’s lab when the Dread Cloaks attacked. He wanted to do something.
    Sasha took up a defensive position against the grille of the van behind them. Ben guessed she was loading an actuation. Which was what he should be doing.
    Agent Taggart squawked through the radio. “Agent Lambert! We took out the crew’s getaway. The target is coming for a van. You need to get out of there, now!”
    Ben looked at Peter. Peter just shook his head.
    The silhouettes of two men appeared at the alley’s entrance. One of them had to be Ronin, but which one? Ben looked at Sasha. She was peering around the edge of the vehicle, her hands balled up into fists. She was getting ready to attack. Where were the other agents? Where were Taggart and Spear?
    “I told you,” one of the silhouettes said. “Still the same playbook. Not even guarded.”
    Sasha leaped out and fired off a lightning bolt. It arced down the alley, lighting it up in a flash. But it missed and struck the brick wall. The two silhouettes dove for cover between the other vans.
    Sasha pulled back to her position.
    “We’ve got to help her,” Ben said.
    Peter shook his head. “I’m not good enough.”
    A fireball blazed past the van’s door, striking a dumpster farther down the alley. They could escape that way. Ronin only wanted a vehicle.
    Sasha shot off another lightning bolt. The two men returned fire. It went on like that for a few rounds. And then the van Sasha hid behind lurched. It started rolling forward. One of the men had actuated it into gear. Sasha moved with it a few steps, but if she didn’t get out of the way, it was going to pin her against Ben and Peter’s van.
    She dove free just before the van hit, jolting Ben. Their attackers were waiting. A fireball struck Sasha in the chest and sent her flying backward.
    “NO!” Ben shouted. “We’ve got to help her.”
    “Look.” Peter pointed, and through the vans’ windows Ben saw the two silhouettes climb into the last van. “They’re leaving.”
    “They’re getting away!” Ben said.
    He jumped out into the alley, pulled out his Locus, and readied a lightning bolt of his own. He grabbed a swarm of electrons around him, balled them up, and slipped down toward the two men.
    Their van’s engine roared.
    Ben had to act now. He leaped into view and fired the lightning bolt straight at the van’s grille. It struck its target, and the engine choked and died smoking. He’d done it. He’d stopped them.
    But now what?
    The two men burst from the van. Ben could feel their actuations forming, that same change in the air he’d sensed from Poole. Ben was about to form another actuation of his own when a little fireball sputtered over his head toward the two men, where it smoked out harmlessly on the ground between them.
    “I told you I wasn’t good enough,” Peter said from behind him.
    “Fall back.” Ben actuated another lightning bolt, but it missed.
    One of the men shot a fireball of his own, but Ben was able to actuate a shield of water. It stopped the fireball in a flash of steam, but most of the water splashed to the ground in a puddle at his feet.
    Ben looked down and felt what was about to happen, but he couldn’t do anything to stop it. In that instant, one of the men shot a lightning bolt. The bolt arced and struck the puddle beneath him. Ben flinched.
    Nothing happened. The suit had protected him. But that maneuver — fire, countered with water, then electricity — had been planned. He and Peter were clearly outmatched.
    “Morrow!” Agent Spear’s voice echoed toward them.
    The two men looked behind them, then charged forward into the alley. One of them flew by before Ben could react, but Ben jumped in front of the other one. They collided, and both went down hard. The impact had forced the air from Ben’s lungs. He gasped as