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I shrugged his hand off violently. “That’s what they said!”

The tears welling up in my eyes streaked down my cheeks. It made me angry, that I was crying. I’d told myself I was through crying. That I was done with tears.

“Dakota, I don’t just want you. I’m in love with all of you. We’re a team, the five of us. All or nothing. That’s what I signed on for.”

He looked down at me with pity in his eyes, and the look stung. I didn’t want pity. Pity sucked.

“I’m not telling you to stay,” I reasoned. “I want you to go. I want you to find them, to bring them back.” I caught his gaze and held it. “Just not like this.”

He inhaled deeply, looking frustrated. His big chest heaved a tremendous sigh.

“Then what Sammara?” he demanded. “What should I do? What the hell do you want me to do?”

“I want you to be smart about it!” I declared loudly. “I want you to go into this prepared! Instead of rushing off to whatever they rushed to, I want you to—”

All of a sudden I stopped... and a chill realization stole over me. For a long moment, silence reigned. The sounds of the city faded to nothing, feeling very distant and far off.

“What?”

“I just thought of something.”

Dakota’s eyes narrowed. He cocked his head to one side.

“Markus Ladrone,” I said simply.

His eyes narrowed even further. “Huh?”

“Markus Ladrone,” I repeated. “Di Spatia’s kept tabs on him, even after he was deposed. Jason’s always said he knows where he is.”

“Yeah. So?”

“Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. That sort of thing,” I said. “Right?”

He still didn’t get it. “And?”

“Dakota, you can’t do this alone. You can’t even do it with Di Spatia.” I stepped into him. “But with Markus… and his contacts…”

“Markus?” My big fiancé let out a short laugh. “He hates us! Why the hell would he help us?”

I grabbed Dakota’s hand and squeezed it tightly.

“Because we have something he wants…”

Thirty

KYLE

It always amazed me how quickly everything could go south. How in just two or three seconds your entire world could go from totally normal to completely, utterly fucked.

I also forgot how bullets can rip, rather than just punch through. And that was the part that sucked the most.

“GRENADE!”

I hugged the floor of the shanasheel, pressing my face against the filth and grime while waiting for the inevitable. Thankfully the explosion occurred outside. It blew the carved wooden latticework inward though, showering me with jagged splinters and a shit-ton of dust-smoke.

“GO GO GO!”