by Bec McMaster
“Fight!”
“Are we not mighty?” Vex bellowed. “Who rules the night? The monsters? Or the people of Rust City?”
“Rust! Rust! Rust!” came the chant.
Jesus. He’d felt hatred from humans before, and knew what disgust and fear felt like. This was something else. This was joy at the thought of his inherent suffering. A lust for his misery, his defeat.
A condemnation of his own worth.
You are nothing, said the screaming voices. Just a moment of amusement for us before we bury you.
The chanting grew louder. Both he and Colton were turning in slow circles. He couldn't see the general anywhere. Maybe he hadn't arrived yet.
But Vex didn't throw him back in the cells. She probably liked the idea of watching him die too much.
Instead she let the crescendo build, watching the crowd with glittering eyes. She knew how to own her reivers. Maybe one of them might overthrow her one day, but Adam doubted it. He knew fanaticism when he saw it. She was giving them what they wanted, and so they’d love her for it, even when she tightened the leash and played them off against each other, one by one.
“Fight!” she finally screamed, bringing her arms down sharply at her sides.
Something silver arced high in the air, and a single knife flashed into being as someone threw it into the ring. Colton was already sprinting for where it landed, point first in the sand.
Adam shoved himself into gear, darting forward to meet him. If Colton got his hands on that knife, then he might as well kiss the game good-bye.
Colton slid to his knees, and Adam drove into him a second before his hand curled around the hilt of the knife. The impact rolled them both across the sand. Both of them were covered in oil and he couldn’t quite get a strong enough grip. A knee drove into his thigh, so he hammered his elbow into Colton’s jaw.
Colton blinked, his fingers digging for Adam’s eyes. Adam used his heavier weight to drive him into the ground, and locked Colton’s elbow into place.
“If you help me, I can get over the fence,” he whispered in Colton’s ear.
Then he rolled away as Colton flung a flimsy blow at him, offering Colton time to get on his feet.
The crowd booed and hissed.
“Kill him!” they screamed. “Give us blood! No mercy!”
Colton’s dark eyes flashed in curiosity as he climbed to his feet. Rolling his shoulders he looked around, as if surveying the crowd, but Adam could see him taking stock of their surroundings.
“Blood! Blood! Blood!” Someone in the crowd started up a cheer, one hastily taken up by the rest.
And they thought he and Colton were the monsters. Adam wiped the sweat from his brow, feeling sick.
Colton danced toward him, fists held up defensively. “What have you got in mind?”
Thank fuck.
They hammered together, both of them seemingly wrestling for control. “Throw me over. There.” He grunted as Colton drove a fist into his side. “I’ll take down the fence’s electrics. Then you can follow.”
“You’re fucking crazy.” Colton slammed his cupped fist into the muscle above his collarbone. “They’ve got gun turrets at both ends.”
Adam grunted and locked his cupped palms behind the other man’s head, bringing their faces close enough to share breath. “You draw their attention at one end, I take out the other one. Or would you rather die for their amusement?”
Another flash of dark eyes. They went down and rolled, Colton hooking a leg around his as both wrestled for supremacy, but his heart clearly wasn’t in it. He was thinking now. That lock should have broken Adam’s ankle, but he shoved free with a hard knee to the muscle in Colton’s upper thigh.
Both of them broke apart, panting. Colton’s eyes darted. His back was close to the huge electrical generator at the southern end of the arena. With a faint nod, he held his hand up and twitched two fingers. Come at me.
Adam started sprinting toward him. Hell if he knew if he trusted Colton or not, but this might be their only chance.
The crowd roared their approval. At the last second, Colton slid to one knee, cupping his hands together in a stirrup.
Adam’s foot hit Colton’s clasped palms, and then he was sailing up, up, arms and legs windmilling as if he were running through the air as the fence rushed toward him.
The crowd’s roar turned into a scream of thwarted rage—and fear.
And then Adam cleared the fence.
Twenty-Five
THE SLAVE MARKETS were closer to the arena than Mia would have liked, and just as lightly guarded.
Vex's reputation kept most of the reivers from attempting to steal from her, Zarina explained, as they slipped from shadow to shadow. There'd been enough demonstrations in the past that nobody in their right mind would seek to thwart the warlord.
"They'll have two guards on rotation there," Zarina muttered, her dark eyes focused on the markets. She pointed toward the pair of stone gates that led into the market from each end. "Another two in the back. They're not the problem. The alarms are. Right now the war games will be keeping Vex's attention, but she's going to start wondering where I am soon. And if one of the guards here makes it to the nearest alarm, then we're done."
"You're saying we need to separate," Mia murmured.
"Hit them all at once." Zarina nodded. "The bad news is that we're close enough to the arena now that we can't risk using guns. Maybe Vex will ignore the odd shot. Hell knows that reivers like to waste bullets. But if she hears enough in a concentrated burst, she'll send someone to investigate. She's not stupid."
"I can take them down without a sound," Jake replied.
"But you're just one man," Zarina countered. "There are four guards, in four different areas. I've got the advantage of surprise. They won't be expecting it from me."
"That's two of us. Mia?" Jake looked at her.
Shooting that reiver the first night in Vegas had been harder than she'd expected. It grew easier every time, but Mia didn't think she'd ever get used to killing someone. And whilst Jake had taught her to punch and fight as a young girl, she didn't have the same instinct the other two did.
Mia focused on the gates. Sage and the others were out of the question. With the pale robes that barely covered their skins, they couldn't pretend to be anything other than what they were dressed as: slaves.
"I can do it," she said, slipping Jenny's knife into her hand.
Jake squeezed her shoulder. "Take the girls with you. If there's anyone here who needs backup, it's probably you. I'll hit the ones at the back, if you and Zarina want to take the guards at each gate."
"Let's do this." Before she lost her nerve.
Jake moved to go, but Sage caught his wrist. They'd had a brief reunion in the courtyard at the stronghold, tears flooding Sage's eyes as she threw her arms around Jake's neck and simply held him. Not long enough, clearly, for Sage grabbed his collar and hauled him close for a swift kiss. "Watch your back."
Mia looked away.
"Always do," Jake muttered. "You watch your sister's."
They pulled apart.
"Keep an eye out for Rondo," Zarina called in a low voice. "He's dangerous. He'll be the bigger one with the gut on him, and if he gets you in his hands, you're dead."
"Got it." Jake slipped into the night.
"Go right," Zarina told Mia. "It's either Zeke or Millar on the gate there, and they're the easiest to take."
Trusting her went against every grain in Mia's soul. Zarina could be double-crossing them. All she had to do was slip away and sound the alarm herself.
"Ellie, go with her," Mia said, tossing her the shotgun.
Startled eyes met hers, then Ellie nodded. The young woman had hardened in the past few days. No longer the local cattle baron's daughter, now she had blood on her hands just as much as the rest of them.
"You two walk behind me, as though I'm wearing your leashes," Mia said, eyeing the gate right in front of her. She could see a shadow under the ar
ch, the faint flare of a cigarette gleaming at the bastard's mouth. There was no cover between here and the gate. She couldn't sneak up on him, which meant subterfuge. "Eyes downcast, nice and meek. At least until I put a knife through his throat."
"Give me the knife and I'll do it." This from Sage.
Maybe Ellie wasn't the only one who'd hardened. Mia handed her the spare she carried. "Don't use it until you get a free shot. Let's do this."
Mia strode across the dirt road as though she belonged there. She mimicked the low, hip-swinging strut she'd seen on Zarina.
Instantly the reiver on the gates stepped forward, plucking his cigarette from his lips. "What d'you want?"
Mia smiled. "What do you want, handsome?"
That made him take a second look at her. He put the cigarette to his lips again, eyeing the pair of breasts that threatened to spill out of the black tank she wore. "What I want isn't the sort of thing you say out loud to a lady."
"Who's the lady around here?"
His smiled grew wider. "In that case, I'd be interested in getting you out of those leather pants. And getting into them."
Mia slid a hand up his chest, her nose wrinkling at the stench that came off him. She maintained her smile, the hilt of her knife sliding into her palm. "Maybe that can be arranged."
"That sounds...." The smile on his lips faltered as he caught a better look at Sage. "Hey, where's her leash?"
Whoops.
Mia swung a punch at him.
Her left was her weaker hand, but she needed to keep hold of her knife. Knuckles crunched as she connected with his nose. Jesus. This wasn't like hitting the wheat bag Jake had strung up for her at fifteen.
The reiver staggered back and Thea drove into his midriff, taking him down like a professional. Mia suffered a moment of surprise, and then she leapt in too. Grabbing a handful of his hair, she tried to stab him but he threw her off.
"Bitches."
A sharp knee sent Thea flying. Both she and Mia scrambled to their feet, but Sage stepped in, hammering a rock down on his head. The reiver’s eyes rolled back in his head, and he slumped to the concrete.
Sage stood there panting, holding the rock high.
"I think you got him," Mia said.
Sage lowered the rock with shaky hands. Then she drove her boot into his side. "Scum."
"Scum or not, we need to get him out of here." Mia checked under his eyelid. Out cold. She grabbed him by the vest and hauled him into the shrubby bushes near the gate, blisteringly aware of how loud that had been.
"Hey," someone called. "What's going on there?"
Shit. Her pulse jacked through her veins. Mia stepped forward, but three reivers paused in the street just outside the gates.
"What are you two doing out?" demanded the one in the front, eyeing both Bethany and Sara.
Mia took a menacing step forward, and something in her expression must have triggered the reivers. Their smiles faded and the leader's hand lowered to his hip and the gun there.
"That gun better not clear your holster, Eduardo." Zarina Cypher strode into view, scowling at the three reivers.
Eduardo yanked his hand away with a respectful nod. "Cypher. Found these four slaves down here, and this woman. They're not—"
"They're here to meet me," Zarina told him, and faced him with just enough aggression in her tone that he actually backed away. "Are you impeding my guest and her slaves?"
Guest? Mia's gaze shot to Zarina.
"Aren't you supposed to be guarding the armory?" Zarina pushed him firmly in the chest, so that he staggered back a step. "You want my mother to know you're in here trying to get your hands on one of the slaves before they go up for auction? You know soiled goods don't fetch a quality price, Eduardo."
"We weren't—"
She grabbed a fistful of his shirt and leaned close, her voice dropping to a menacing whisper. "You fucking lie to me and I will cut your tongue out myself. I know what you're doing here. I know what you planned. I can smell it all over you. And if I ever catch you anywhere near this place again, I'll cut your fucking balls off and feed them to the pigs." She shoved him back into the arms of his two companions. "But I'm feeling lenient today. All three of you get out of here, before I change my mind. Return to your post."
Eduardo shot them a panicked look, then turned on his heel and fled, with the other two reivers at his side.
"You going to use that pig-sticker?" Zarina asked, arching a brow in Mia's direction. "I'll just warn you that if you try, I'll do more than take it off you."
Mia tucked the knife back up her sleeve. "You're letting them go?" What if they said something to someone?
"Eduardo had his hand on his gun," Zarina replied, glancing at Ellie as she checked Thea over. "You want to try and take it off him, sure, be my guest. But Eduardo's not someone you mess with. He won't say anything. Not after I just threatened him. He'll be sweating buckets, hoping I don't mention this to Vex."
"Any trouble?" Jake called, appearing out of the shadows like a cat.
"Nothing we couldn't handle," Mia told him, staring flatly at Zarina.
"Let's go get our people then."
It seemed to be going smoothly. Too smoothly.
Jake found the keys to the first row of slave pens, and broke in. The pens were covered in tin, and the narrow hallway stunk of unwashed bodies. It was stiflingly hot in here. Sweat dripped down Mia's spine.
Straw rustled as Jake flipped on the flashlight he'd worn clipped to his belt, and whispers broke out as the people in the cages saw him.
"Easy now," he whispered. "I'm not here to hurt you."
"What's going on?" someone called inside the pens.
There were people in cages in here. Her people. And others. Some of them crouched in the straw, peering up at them with sleepy eyes.
Tom Hannaway saw them, his mouth forming an O. "Jake?"
"Get ready, kid," Jake said, unlocking his cell. "We're here to bust you all out."
An excited babble filled the chambers.
"Quiet," Ellie rasped, helping drag a dirty Tom out of his cramped cage.
Mia guarded the door with Zarina, as the others worked their way inside, greeting those trapped in cages. Lights created a halo over the arena in the distance, and sound buzzed. The outcry was so loud Mia didn't think that any of the reivers would even hear it right now if she fired her gun.
McClain.
Her heart twisted in her chest, and nervous energy buzzed beneath her skin. So far the plan seemed to be falling into place.
Next step was escape.
But if she ventured down that path with the rest of her people, then there was no coming back.
"Blood, blood, blood!" came the distant chant.
And Mia made her decision. She'd done what she came here to do. Sage was free, and the others were out of their chains. Time to fulfill her promise to McClain.
"How long 'til the war games are over?"
Zarina tilted her head. "Sounds like this is the last match. They save the best for last, and that"—she pointed her finger toward the arena as a horn called—"is the final siren. They just started."
"We'd better get moving then," Sage muttered, helping a young woman out of one of the cages she'd been cramped in. "Get these people out, and head for the cars."
"Armory first," Zarina said, "unless you want to face reivers with your bare teeth. Only problem is: they have electric locks installed. You'll need the code, and I don't know it. It changes on a weekly basis."
"I can get through an electric lock," Sage promised. "All I need to do is short-circuit a few wires."
Mia paced a little. This was the first section of the market. She couldn't see Sonya anywhere, which meant she must be in the other section.
"How long until Vex leaves the games?" she demanded.
"Could be over in fifteen minutes," Zarina replied, watching her closely. "Could be an hour. Why?"
"I've got to go back." She'd promised him, after all. There was no way sh
e could walk out of here without McClain, and the others were nearly out of their cages now. Just one more row of slave pens, and then they'd head for the vehicles. Which meant she was running out of time.
"Mia." Jake looked up at her, the torchlight searing his eyes a weird blue. "We don't have time."
"I am not leaving without him," she snapped at him. "Warg or not, he helped us when he didn't have to, Jake. I won't repay that with treachery, so you can either leave me behind or help me rescue him."
"You've got a death wish," Zarina said.
"I know you wouldn't understand the concept of loyalty," Mia shot back, "but this is what good people do when they give their word. McClain is coming with me, or I'm staying with him. That's my choice, and none of you will change it. I’ll help you guys get the others out of the pens,” she said, loading two shells into the shotgun. “Then I’m going back for McClain.”
“Mia—”
“No, Jake.” She looked up. “You were right. We had to get Sage out first, and all of the other women. But I’ve had time to think through the shock of finding out what he is. McClain didn’t have to come on this rescue mission. He chose to. And I don’t know why—I think I need to know why—but that doesn’t sound like a man who meant to hurt any of us.” Me, was what she really meant. Mia swallowed. “Whatever the future holds, I owe him this. If I don’t get him out, then I won’t ever be able to look myself in the eyes again.”
“I can’t leave you here,” he began to argue, gesturing toward Sage. “What about your sister? She needs you."
Sage caught Jake's hand and squeezed it. "If he came here to help save me, then I'm not going anywhere without him either."
Jake swore under his breath.
"Thank you," Mia whispered.
Sage smiled a little sadly. "You'd do nothing less for me."
"Which do you want more?" Zarina asked. "The other slaves? Or McClain? Because you're not going to have time to do both."
Mia and Sage exchanged a look. She was so grateful she had her sister back—Sage was the only other person who could understand what she was thinking without her even saying it.
"We separate," Sage said firmly. "We'll head for the armory—Mia, how are you going on ammunition?”
