جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 460

PaigeThe sun sat well below the horizon by the time I mustered myself enough to get up and rejoin my guards in the common area. Something heavy had taken up residence on my ribs, making every breath just a little shallower than I needed, and I couldn’t get it to go away.“Hey.” Sam leaned away from the table my security team was gathered around, revealing the pile of weapons and technology on top. “You want to play some more cards?”That couldn’t possibly be worse than sitting in the dark alone. I nodded and walked over to the low table that still held the remains of our poker game. Rico, Sam, and Eddie joined me. Thankfully, I’d already hustled Eddie. I didn’t have that in me now. Harry remained at the supply table, bent over a laptop that I didn’t want to ask about.Sam shuffled the cards. I checked the time on my phone: 9:02. Prayer call would be soon. Sam dealt the cards, two apiece.“Ante two,” he said. “And no dinosaur arms.”I tossed in two candied nuts and looked at my cards.

TommasoI gripped the wheel tightly as we pulled out into the night. Killian sat in the front next to me, and men I didn’t recognize with their masks already on filled the back.“I see Paige decided to stay home,” Killian said. “She’s a smart girl.”Smart. Beautiful. Stronger than even Killian would ever know. That memory of her I had on the ride to the house, at her lowest but still finding the guts, the power, to glare at what she presumed was her new owner, returned to me. My worries melted away, and pure, concentrated rage filled my veins. Paige was so strong she inspired me, but she shouldn’t have fucking had to be. I couldn’t fix that, but I could keep one of the bastards who tested her resolve from ever doing it again.“Tommaso?” Killian said. “Did you hear me?”I grunted noncommittally. The time for conversation, for jokes, seemed over. I focused everything I had on picturing Zahur, his guts spread on his perfect marble floor before him. Maybe I’d take the time to cut him in t

TommasoWe waited for another five minutes. Nothing came through on my phone. Nothing moved at the house. The goosebumps wouldn’t completely leave, but I shoved them out of my mind. Probably just nerves. Maybe Zahur had the bulk of his men inside. I silenced my phone and gestured everyone over. The grappling hooks swung again. I glanced at Teddy. He nodded and lifted a packet of explosives. He and two other guys would stay on this side, waiting for the final signal to blow the wall. The first three mercs made it over. Then, another wave.Takka-takka-tak.Carp swore as automatic gunfire split the night, and floodlights flicked on. I launched myself at the ropes to get over. We had to move before Zahur’s guys wised up and unhooked our only way over. We could always blow the wall early, but I didn’t want the cops here any sooner than necessary.On the other side of the wall, it was already chaos. The “handful of men” Killian had seen suddenly tripled in number, raining bullets down from

TommasoFuck. Fuck. Fuck. I stared down at Zahur’s cackling guard as goosebumps raced across my body. Fucking Mostafa. That two-faced piece of shit had to have ratted on me. He fed Stan, fed all of us, bullshit. And I had fallen right into his goddamn trap. Zahur wasn’t here; Zahur was never going to be here. I had to pretend for everybody else’s sake that I wasn’t the cocky jackass I’d been accusing Zahur of being all along.I shot the guard on the ground just to watch his brains splatter. “Spread out. See if he’s right.”I turned and raced down a hallway I was mostly sure I hadn’t seen before. The fighting, the gunfire melted to the back of my brain. If he wasn’t here, where the fuck was he? We’d told Mostafa about the house we rented for staging, but the piece of shit didn’t know about the hotel. I’d been very clear not to tell him that. Right?Bullets thudded into the wall next to me. I swerved into the nearest room. The pain in my shoulder seemed to be growing, blurring my vision

KillianI slammed into the driver’s seat of one of the rented cars and took off down the street. Carp had proven himself a good guy a handful of times, but Tommaso looked like he was on death’s door. I didn’t know if a good guy would be enough. So I raced through Cairo at night like a bullet, dodging and weaving through the endless traffic. The hotel Paige was staying in was ten minutes away as the crow flew, and I tried to turn the bulky van into that crow.Someone leaned on their horn, and I flipped them off as I jutted through another tiny break in traffic. Diesel poured in through the air conditioner vents, thick enough to cut with a knife. Months ago, I’d been rushing across my city to save Sera, and Tommaso had been there. Now, he needed me. And I always repaid my debts.I screeched around a corner. Especially when I’d been the one to stack the cards against us. I shouldn’t have said a goddamn word about Paige coming with us. Tommaso would still be bleeding out on some Egyptian