by Bec McMaster
There were a thousand things he wanted to say to Colton, but now was not the time. He stabbed a finger toward the cell. "This bastard's dead. Tell Vex he's bad odds."
"Funny thing," Rykker replied, "'cause it turns out he's our current champion."
"Rykker," someone called. A reiver poked his head through the door. "Zarina sent a message. Wants you to meet her outside, right now."
Rykker paused. "What? Right now?"
"Now," the reiver replied.
Rykker scowled. "You two"—he pointed to the reivers who'd guarded Adam's back—"you're on the door. Gnat, with me." Jerking War Dog's leash he was through the door, taking all of his men with him.
Rykker slammed the door behind him, and Adam realized he was too late when the lock clicked into place. He slammed against the door.
"Let me out, you bastard," he said as his world plunged into darkness, and Rykker laughed through the door.
"Have fun in there, McClain. Maybe I'll come and fetch you after I pay my respects to your woman."
No! The warg howled within him.
TIME TO MAKE THEIR MOVE. Mia's heart pounded in her throat as Jake picked the lock into the cells below the arena. She gestured across the street to where Ellie waited with Sara and Bethany. All three of them darted across the street, into the shadows where Mia waited.
"Got it," Jake whispered, easing the door open.
"Go," Mia said, shoving Bethany ahead of her.
The second they were inside the storage rooms under the arena, Jake shut the door. Ellie flicked on the flashlight she'd brought, looking around. Metal gleamed. An underground garage, filled with enormous war machines and rally cars. At least there was no one here.
"The cells must be on the other side," Jake murmured. "You ready for this, Mia?"
"Yeah."
As ready as she could be. Ever since Jake returned without McClain, her heart had been in her throat. Why the hell had McClain gone off with Rykker? She understood the need to not piss off Vex, but surely Rykker was up to no good. Everything seemed to be moving too fast. She wanted desperately to rescue her sister, but without McClain their odds were poor.
And a part of her was purely terrified on his behalf. What had happened to him? If he could have returned, then he would have, surely.
Swinging her shotgun into her hands, she started out across the garage. She wore as much ammo as she could without drawing attention in the streets, and both knives were at her belt, but she still felt woefully unprepared.
"We get McClain," Jake said, "then we head for Sage and the others. If this general arrives tonight, we're up shit creek without a paddle."
"Got it." Mia moved between cars, following the flashlight's path to the opposite door.
"What are you doing here?" demanded a firm voice, just before she reached it.
Zarina Cypher stepped out of the shadows, dressed in head-to-toe black, her hand sliding to the butt of the gun at her waist as she eyed them suspiciously. She ignored Ellie and the girls, focusing all of her attention on Mia and Jake. "You guys shouldn't be in here."
Ellie was the one who saved the day, withdrawing her pistol from beneath her robes and pointing it at the back of Zarina's head. She clicked the safety off. "Don't move, bitch."
"TELL ME," Colton muttered, pacing inside his cell. "What are you really doing in Rust City?"
"None of your business."
Colton stretched his neck from side to side. "It's not as though you've got anywhere to go. And the second that bastard gets back, you're a dead man."
"You wish." Adam paced the hallway. There was only one way out of this room. All of his nerves stretched on edge. He'd beaten his fists bloody against the door in the first couple of minutes, but, as Colton mockingly pointed out, it was built to withstand wargs.
Which meant Mia was out there on her own, and he could barely tolerate it.
Other wargs shuffled in cages nearby, watching with beady eyes. Some looked beaten down, resigned to their fates. Others simply looked hungry.
"I don't really," Colton said quietly.
"What?"
"Wish you dead."
Adam looked at him for the first time. "All of this happened to me because of you."
"Partly. I know. But Cane's dead now. I'm free, and all I ever really wanted was to vanish. You just couldn't let that happen." Colton sighed. "What are you really doing here? You seemed just as surprised to see me as I was to see you."
"Ran across a town the reivers just hit," he snapped. "I was trying to rescue some of their people. They brought them here."
Colton's dark lashes shuttered his eyes. "You smell like a woman. Intimately."
He lost it, stopping just in front of the cage, his hands shaking as if he wanted to reach through and slam Colton up against the bars. "She's got nothing to do with you, so keep your filthy mouth shut."
Colton cocked his head. "I would. But there's someone coming."
What? He heard it then. Footsteps in the hallway outside.
The cell door unlocked, and Adam pointed his pistol directly at the door. Rykker had been gone for ten minutes, and Adam had no idea when—or if—he was coming back. Sweat dripped down his spine. He just hoped Jake got Mia out of there before Rykker found her.
The door opened, and Jake burst through.
Adam pointed the pistol at the ceiling, letting out a relieved breath. His eyes sought Mia and found her, shoving Zarina Cypher through the door with her shotgun digging into Zarina's back.
"What are you doing?" he demanded. "Are you guys crazy?" Vex would obliterate them if she realized they'd kidnapped her daughter.
"It's complicated," Mia said, handing her shotgun to Ellie and then throwing herself into his arms. "Aren't you glad to see us?"
He allowed himself the briefest moment to hug her back. More than you could ever know. "Rykker locked me in here, then went to pay you a visit," he said gruffly. "I didn't know what was happening to you. It's been killing me."
"When he gets there and finds we're gone, he's going to be suspicious," Jake said.
Right. They needed to move, and now.
"Everyone's gearing up for the war games out in the streets," Jake said. "There's a big crowd out there, starting to drink. Which means this is the worst place to get caught, because there'll be reiver attendants in here shortly, getting the wargs ready for the games."
"Let's do this—"
Zarina took that moment to smash an elbow into Ellie's face, knocking the shotgun from her hands. It all happened so quickly, and Adam shoved Bethany out of the way as Zarina smashed a roundhouse kick into Jake's head.
Jake went down, then Zarina spun on Adam, darting under his outstretched arm and aiming a punch to his ribs.
Adam blocked the blow, and used her own force to spin her under his arm, and slam her face-first into the wall. Twisting her arm up under her shoulder blade, he applied just enough pressure to keep her there.
"McClain!" Mia gasped.
"Got her."
There was a split second where he thought it was done, and then Zarina pushed away from the wall just enough to twist back under her own arm, driving a roundhouse kick straight toward his face. His ears rang as her heel connected with his jaw.
Maybe he hadn't applied enough pressure? He hadn't wanted to hurt her.
Metal clicked, as someone removed the safety on their gun. "Don't move," Mia said, in a cold hard voice, and as he blinked and looked up, he realized she was pointing her pistol straight at Zarina's face.
"Pull the trigger," the other woman sneered, though her hands were half in the air. "You'll have every reiver within hearing distance down upon you."
"I don't think so," Mia countered, cocking her head. "Can't you hear that?" Something in the distance echoed, like a drumbeat. Or maybe boots stamping on the wooden stands of the arena. "They're all heading into the arena. And even if they did hear it, all I'd have to do is fire off a couple more in the air and shout a bit, and they'd think I was celebrating
." She smiled, and it wasn't very nice.
"WHAT DO we do with her?" Mia asked.
Zarina glared bloody murder up at them from where they'd gagged her and thrown her in one of the cells.
McClain scrubbed at his mouth. "Fuck. This is not good. Vex will notice she's missing. And we can't keep her quiet."
"Then we have to move now." Mia rested her hand on his arm. "Rykker will be back soon. We don't have time to wait until we've sounded this place out. We can use Vex's games as a distraction. Free the girls, create some noise to cover our tracks, and then get the hell out of here."
Zarina cocked her head, as if listening intently to them.
McClain gestured her aside, his voice dropping. "We don't know enough about what to expect at the stronghold," he whispered fiercely. "If we rush this, we might have to make a choice between Tom and Sonya, and Sage and Thea."
"We split up," she countered. "Jake and Ellie can hit the slave markets. You and I take Vex's stronghold and get the girls. Everyone will be at the games. You saw what it was like last night."
He hesitated.
"If Vex realizes Zarina is missing, then she'll turn this place inside out. You know that. And Zarina will spill what we're up to. We don't have a hope in hell then. Then there's this general who hasn't arrived yet."
Slowly McClain tilted his head toward Zarina. He and Jake connected for a moment, and Mia shivered.
"I can't just kill her in cold blood," Jake argued. "No way."
A sigh escaped McClain. "Me either."
They all looked at one another. Bethany and Sara held each other subconsciously.
"Okay," McClain continued. "We're going to have to do this fast and hard. Ellie, you and Jake return to the rooms and get the rest of the weapons. Then you need to take the slave markets and get everyone out."
"Everyone?" Ellie faltered.
"I'm not leaving any of these people here as slaves." Confidence seemed to fill McClain now the decision had been made. "That gives us more hands to carry guns, and more people to fight with us."
"Where do we get that many guns from?" Mia asked.
"The armory," Jake murmured. "Vex has an armory nearby. She's a trusting soul."
Behind them Zarina started kicking in the straw in the cell. McClain's hand shifted to the gun at his hip. "As soon as you get the slaves, hit the armory then head for the vehicle lot. Take what you can and slash the tires on everything else. After that we need a distraction."
"I hope you're not talking about lighting a match again," Mia muttered.
"People out first," he countered. "Then we watch this shit hole burn."
"Deal. I'll even light the match." She took a deep breath. It was finally happening.
Boots echoed on stone. McClain moved between her and the stairs.
"Zarina?" Rykker bellowed, leading three of his men down into the cells. He froze when he saw all of them there. "What the fuck are you doing?" His eyes narrowed in suspicion and he reached for his gun. "I knew you were up to something."
Everything happened so fast.
Mia slammed into the wall as McClain shoved her out of the way. "Get down girls!" He and Jake hauled their weapons clear.
"Easy now!" One of the reivers called, looking nervous. "Jesus, Rykker. What the fuck?"
Stalemate. There were four weapons drawn, and the uneasy-looking reiver seemed to be thinking about adding his own. Mia froze.
"Draw that gun and you're dead first," McClain warned him.
"I knew you were trouble," Rykker said, with a sneer. "Should have trusted my instincts."
"Easy," McClain warned, "or no one's walking out of here alive."
Where the fuck was her shotgun? Mia's mind blanked. All she had were her two knives, and the pistol at her belt. She'd given the shotgun to Ellie. Blood rushed through her veins, drumming in her ears.
Noise rustled as Zarina thrashed on the floor of the cell they'd shoved her inside. Rykker saw her, his eyebrows lifting. Then he smiled. "Got the drop on the Warlord's brat. That'd be a first." His smile turned oily. "Guess we'll take care of you, then we can deal with her. Guess what, honey? It looks like I'll be taking what I was promised from you, after all." This was aimed at Zarina. "Afterwards we can just pretend these fuckers put a bullet in your skull."
Mia's heart thumped in her chest. She hovered on the balls of her feet, her hand curled around Sara's upper arm in case they needed to leg it, but she didn't dare move.
Footsteps thundered on the stairs behind the reivers.
"Rykker?" someone called.
"Down here!" Rykker half turned his head, and that was when disaster struck.
"And you call us the monsters," Colton said, lashing out through the bars of his cell.
He grabbed the unarmed reiver, hauling him back against the bars so hard that his neck snapped.
Rykker and his remaining reiver turned on Colton, shots firing. Some of them hit the metal bars and ricocheted off. The reiver’s broken body jerked as Colton used it to shield himself, but then McClain drove both Mia and Ellie into the wall, using his body to protect them.
Jake was firing. Noise thundered through the cells. Shouts. Gunshots. Mia jerked every time a gun went off. McClain shot over his shoulder, still protecting them.
"Jake?" he bellowed, when everything fell silent.
"I'm good," Jake rasped.
"Kill them!" Rykker yelled, and more gunshots shattered the silence.
More reivers flooded the cells. Three... four of them?
"Take cover!" McClain hauled Mia to her feet, sending her and Ellie darting ahead of him.
Mia slid to her knees behind a barrel in the corner, and dragged Ellie in with her. Sara and Bethany were already tucked in the corner, curled around each other.
Everything fell silent again.
Jake? Her head spun in shock. It all happened so fast. What was going on? Where was Jake?
"Looks like your friends can't shoot for shit," Jake called. "Now you're on your own."
Jake. Mia's heart slammed against her ribs in relief. She drew her knife, though hell if she knew what she was going to do with it.
"Just drop the gun, Rykker," McClain warned. "You might still walk out of this alive."
"Two against one," Jake pointed out.
Mia peered around the barrel. Dead reivers littered the floor. One of them moaned a little. And Rykker stood surrounded, both Jake and McClain taking careful steps toward him, with their pistols trained on him.
"You know what?" Rykker's mouth curled up, all on one side. Blood dripped from his arm and thigh, but he held a pistol trained on Jake, and the shotgun on McClain. "Fuck the pair of you. How 'bout we even the odds?" he asked, then aimed the shotgun at McClain's chest and pulled the trigger.
Everything in Mia's world froze, her vision narrowing.
"Adam!" she screamed, as he began to fall.
TWENTY-ONE
RECEIVING A CHEST full of hot lead felt like razor blades slicing straight through him. McClain slammed back into the wall, his knees giving out, and his hands clapping over the bloody wounds. A chill ran through him as he slid slowly to the ground, hot blood pumping through his fingers.
"Adam!" Mia screamed, sliding to her knees at his side.
Couldn't... breathe. Fuck. He clapped a hand to the worst of the wounds, his lungs whistling sharply as fluid bubbled inside them. Everything hurt. But it felt distant, as though shock insulated him from the worst of it.
Rykker had shot him in the chest.
And just like that, everything collapsed in upon him. Adam's head swam as pain lit his chest on fire. All he could see was Mia's worried face. Beautiful. She was beautiful, even now. He tried to touch her, but his arm wasn't working properly. Pressure popped in his ears as his head began to swim.
"Don't you dare!" Mia yelled, easing him onto his back. "Ellie! Someone help me!"
Adam coughed as his chest heaved. Couldn't breathe. Damn it. He tried to suck in air.
"Hold your hand d
own firmly," someone yelled. "It's pierced his lung. Jesus, let me out of here."
Mia’s hands were on him, and Adam tried to shove her away. “Don’t!” he tried to say, and coughed. Don’t get… my blood on you.
It would take a bite, or a scratch from his warg claws to curse her, but he didn’t want to risk it. Who knew what poison was running through his blood?
Jake slammed into Rykker, wrestling for control of the shotgun. Adam coughed again, and blood spattered Mia’s shirt. Jesus. What was going on? He could hear the two men fighting. But he world was starting to close in around him. He couldn't quite see. Something tangled in his numb fingers. Mia's hand?
"Don't you dare, don't you dare," she called, her face following him into the dark.
"Mia," he whispered, and wondered if she even heard the faint sound on his lips.
“JAKE!”
A rough grunt greeted her yell. Mia caught a glimpse of Jake’s black shirt, and then both he and Rykker slammed into the cell wall. Clearly he wasn’t going to be much help. Something wet her cheek. Tears. She was crying. No. No. No. This wasn't happening.
"Here," Ellie said, resting her knees under McClain's head. "I've got him."
Mia stripped out of her loose shirt, scrunching it into a fistful and slamming it over the bloodied wound in McClain’s chest. He gasped, clapping a hand over hers. Their eyes met, and she shivered as the cool air met her bare skin. The only thing covering her was her white tank. Correction: previously white tank.
“It’s okay,” she told him, her voice weirdly distant and calm. “I’m not going to let you die.”
“Mia….” A rasp.
“Don’t waste your breath.” There was a horrible whistling sound, and it was coming from his chest.
Lungs are punctured….
Don’t think that.
“You are not leaving me like this,” she breathed, assessing the damage. Ten wounds, possibly more. He’d been standing at least twenty feet from Rykker when he was shot. “Damn you, why?”
McClain’s pained eyes met hers. “I’m—”
“Not supposed to speak.” This time it was a growl.
Most of the damage had been to his abdomen and side, which made her feel sick. Punctured stomach. Sepsis. Her mind kept going down dark alleyways, even as she worked to stanch the worst of the bleeding. Even though he’d taken at least seven shots in the side of his abdomen, it was the two or three in his chest that bothered her.