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“Five minutes,” she says. “You better be there.”

“I’ve got to get some gear. I’ll see you over there.”

She takes off and I run back to the dog pack. They’re

still holed up behind the cop cars, the only ones left that far up on the line. I grab Gisco and pull him close so he can hear me over the gunfire.

“You want to learn the na’at?”

He looks confused, then nods.

“Then give it to me.”

He pulls it from his bag and I snatch it away before he can change his mind.

“Keep watching the office door. We might need covering fire.”

“Where have you been?” yells Billy.

“With Daja. We’re going to do something really stupid.”

“Will it help?” says Lerajie.

“Probably not.”

Before it turns into a whole quiz show, I take off and move to the side of the havoc. Hunker down by an old woodie station wagon with scenes of Hellbeast orgies carved into the sides. Everyone has their fetishes, even down here. I wait five minutes. Then ten. The gunfire slows a bit, but only because we’re losing and the Legionnaires know it. Why waste ammo on idiots in vehicles that would be better off catching Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein at a drive-in?

Finally Daja dives down next to me. There’s an assault rifle slung over her shoulder. She’s a lot bloodier than when she left.

“You all right?”

“Fine,” she says. “Most of it isn’t mine.”

“You’re going to get messier. We’re not using guns. Too loud. It’s knives, lamps, staplers—anything but guns.”

I slip the Colt in the waistband at my back and point to an old ice machine at the far edge of the motel.

“I’ve been watching. We can circle around that way. I haven’t seen any movement from that side of the motel.”

“If you’re wrong and we end up in Tartarus, I’m going to eat your fucking guts.”

“If we end up in Tartarus, go find a guy named Mason. He’ll bring the wine.”

We crouch there for another minute before all hell breaks loose again. The APC rumbles forward, flattening everything in the way. The havoc pushes burning cars straight at the AAVs. The moment the first one explodes, me and Daja take off for the side of the motel.

Just like I thought, the Legionnaires were too busy on the run to create an actual fortress. There’s a lot of equipment and ammo out back, but only two guards. When the guards are both looking through a window into the motel, I throw a rock at a crate a few yards past them. The moment they turn away, we move.

We’re fast, but they hear us coming across the concrete patio.

Daja’s guard swings his gun around, but she throws herself on top of him with her knife in his throat. He goes down gurgling and she stays on top, stabbing and hacking until he stops moving.

I get lucky for once. My guard is so distracted by Daja that he doesn’t see me until the last minute. I twist the na’at’s grip and extend it into a spear. The point goes straight through his chest and out the other side. Another twist on the grip and it turns into a sword blade. I pull it straight up and it slices him in half. It’s the first time I’ve seen Daja look shocked.

“That’s a Hellion weapon,” she says.

“Is it? I got it in a box of Cracker Jack.”

“What is Cracker Jack?”