Adrian's team pushed out of the destroyed lobby in a tight moving formation.
Two operators took point.
Ryan stayed near Adrian's right side.
The MK48 gunner moved in the center, sweeping the ruined street with controlled bursts while the rear security team fired backward toward the Hunter still trying to force its way through the shattered building entrance.
The street outside was worse than it looked from above.
Ash covered everything.
Abandoned cars sat fused to the cracked asphalt from heat and blast damage. Some vehicles were overturned. Others had skeletons still trapped inside, burned into the seats from the nuclear flash.
The air tasted metallic through the respirators.
Every step kicked up gray dust.
The Geiger counters clicked faster now.
Not lethal yet.
But enough to remind everyone that Beijing itself was still poisoned.
"Six hundred meters east!" one operator shouted through comms.
