Page 126 (1/2)
Volga rushes to rapefruit in the center of a hauls s me into the car
“Torch the body Get the girl…” I say through gritted teeth
Volga stands over Dano’s body and holds down the trigger on her rifle Concentrated energyheap of crackling tissue and oozing bones She rushes back to Lyria The Red girl issues horribleGold rabs round as I stare out the windshield as the Gold, impossibly, pushes hiht side melts off the bones, anacene pu to stand “Paxxx…” he roars The rooh the roof
“Drive!” I shout at Volga “Drive!”
She jumps into the driver’s seat and slams on the pedal As we shoot away into the darkness of our escape route, we hear the door finally give and crash down into the garage Volga drives at breakneck speeds through the half-constructed hospital, faster than Dano did in our practice runs We weave between support bea in terror for pursuing airborne knights
I hold my chest and wheeze
Like an egg Dano’s head caved in like an egg
After a kilo to connecting buildings, we reach the staging ground in the abandoned canning warehouse and pull up in front of a makeshift clean roo it I half-expected a dozen Syndicate thorns to be waiting for us
with heavy weapons and Gorgo at their head But they want to stay as far away frohts illu nervously with the two needle-thin contractors Ismocks, one a Violet, the other a Yellow
“Where is Dano?” Cyra asks as she corams from cameras she placed fill the air around it On the holos the hospital is swararage have gone black
“Dead,” I say
“How?”
“Gold”
“Shit Shit Shit,” Cyra says under her breath as Volga drags the children out of the back of the vehicle straight into the clean room, where she loads each onto a table Inside, the Syndicate technicianstill they are naked No Not children They’re killers in training I knohat they’ll becos
Without even thinking, I pull out my dispenser and pop several zoladone in my mouth and crush them between ainstintothe war chemicals to my brain to kill the fear and the pain in my ribs I exhale a calm breath and look back at the car where Lyria lies inert