Combat philosophy!
He never admitted it afterward, but Jim was as surprised as anyone else at the sudden bubbling, and extremely unpleasant, howl of pain. He started moving as soon as he heard it, though; unless that shot had gone through all four people, the remaining three would be extremely pissed at him. There was indeed another burst of fire, and another bubbling scream. But it was coming from inside the smoke, so thankfully not from Alex.
Jim kept moving, keeping his breath steady and his awareness wide, just like from training. You see more than you know, his combat instructors had told his class. You hear more, too. But if you try to force yourself to see and hear everything you can, you end up blind, deaf, and dead. Just let all the data flow over you. Feel the pattern. Then shoot anything that’s not part of it.
And then there was something in the pattern. Jim put two in its center, one more on the ground where it had fallen, and kept moving through the now-thinning smoke. Whatever it was down there – and hopefully it wasn’t a civilian – could wait until Alex.