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The rest of them were pure combat extraction.

Wynter had a lot to say about Nick being in the combat group, versus hanging back with her, Morley and Kit.

In the end, she seemed to accept that it made no sense to keep him out of the forward group, but she never stopped voicing just how much she didn’t like it.

The truth was, Nick would be wasted anywhere else. The vampires of the group, Nick included, had by far the most military experience.

Still, Nick understood Wynter’s point of view.

He’d be sharing the same loud opinions if it was Wynter leading the charge. Hell, he was having virtually the same reaction to having Malek and Tai out in the field with him. And he didn’t particularly like Charlie out there, either, give she was still injured from the harpoon.

The reasons for including Tai were obvious.

When it came to sheer firepower, no one could match the kid.

Her brother, Malek, had a dual purpose. He was there to warn them about whatever might be coming, and because he was surprisingly good with a gun.

Shockingly good, really, according to Tai, who informed Nick of her brother’s abilities with absolute confidence.

“You can’t shoot as well as him,” she’d assured Nick. “You can’t. Even as a vampire. He’s better than anyone Ms. St. Maarten has ever put him up against. He’s a… what’s the word? Prodigy? Savant? He’s gifted.” She gave her brother a look of adoring pride. “More than a natural. He’s more like a freak. But not in the bad sense. He’s agoodfreak. But dangerous.”

Malek had let out a snort at that point, and rolled his eyes.

“Stop describing me,” he told her, and cuffed her shoulder. “You’re just being unkind now.”

“I’m not!” she protested.

“You are. Or else you’re just really bad at words.”

Nick had frowned, looking between them, but he didn’t say anything.

Malek hadn’t argued with her overall premise.

And, kid or no, Tai wasn’t prone to exaggeration.

If she said Mal was spookily good with a gun, then he was.

Malek hadn’t argued the point at any other time while they were getting ready, either. He’d merely strapped on armor with the rest of them, his fingers practiced.

Nick watched with a kind of perverse fascination as the tall, lanky seer proceeded to pick out guns from the large store of weapons the White Death offered them. He tested sights, tested the various weights in his hand, asked a few questions of some of the vampires about recoil, accuracy, and action on various guns he was less-familiar with.

He asked about organics, too, and relative bullet speed.

Then he proceeded to place guns in holsters on a variety of different parts of his body. The attention he put to each individual weapon, checking each one meticulously and positioning itjust soon his body after sorting through different-sized holsters and handles convinced Nick.

The kid certainly didn’t handle weapons like any seer, vampire, or human he’d ever known, apart from maybe Dalejem.

Well, and Black.

Still, Nick couldn’t shake his unease.

He hated putting either of the kids on the front line, but like Wynter with him, he couldn’t really deny it made sense.

Tai could probably take down most of the facility on her own.

If Malek was really that good, they could definitely use him.

They’d all been checked for additional trackers, even in their skulls and other bones, to make sure St. Maarten wouldn’t be able to pinpoint their individual locations. Every person on their team had their ID trackers removed, apart from the White Death vampires, who had their own trackers taken out when they joined the vampire underground.