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“That’d bury us,” Adam pointed out flatly.

“Why do you think she hasn’t blown it yet?” Zeinab snapped.

Adam’s ears were still ringing from Umm Waseem’s first round of explosions as he turned to take in their situation.

Julian and Dawson cowered behind a boulder not far from the entrance to the tomb. The Al-Saboors, on the other hand, seemed to have realized they weren’t actually being shot at. Hobbles and Scarface had staggered back to their feet—and were now looking over at their clearly unbound and conspiring prisoners with alarm.

George Bates had berated Adam for his failure to make plans or think through the consequences of his actions. He had done everything he could to burn those words—reckless and ill-considered—into Adam’s heart.

But if there was one bright side to being reckless, it was that it never took Adam long to make a decision when it mattered.

“Go,” he ordered. “All of you—get the hell out of here.”

“All ofus?” Ellie pushed back sharply. “What about you?”

Adam met her gaze. “I’m going to buy you some time.”

Her eyes widened with horrified understanding—and then narrowed with angry determination.

Adam knew what that look meant.

He took hold of her, one hand grabbing her back while the other slid into her hair, forcing her to face him. “No, Ellie,” he said firmly. “Not this time. This time, you let me be the hero.”

There was too much more he wanted to say—neededto say. He didn’t have time for any of it.

All he could do was show her.

Knowing the consequences—and not giving a damn about them—Adam kissed her. He did it hard and fast, catching her to him and aching with how much she meant… how much heneededher.

Then he pushed her back into Constance, who caught her instinctively.

“Take her and get clear of the ridge,” Adam barked.

Ellie opened her mouth to protest, even as Constance stared at him with wide-eyed understanding.

Adam didn’t wait for her to speak. He wasn’t going to listen anyway. Instead, he launched himself at the Al-Saboors.

Scarface hesitated, still thrown by the shock of the explosion and clearly unsure how to react to Adam’s drive at them in the absence of any clear orders from the men supposed to be in charge. Hobbles took an instinctive—and pained—step back, still flinching from his last encounter with Adam at Deir al-Bahari.

That was all the opportunity Adam needed.

Hobbles went down like a cut tree, dropping his rifle to grab the leg Adam had already injured as he howled. Adam whirled to Scarface, driving a fist into his gut. The mercenary fumbled his rifle as the wind came out of him, falling to his knees.

Adam made a grab for the gun, then toppled as someone barreled into him from the side. He rolled to find a thick black beard tickling his nose.

Adam sneezed, and Beardy whipped a dagger from his sleeve. Adam caught his arm as he drove the knife down, grunting with the effort of holding it at bay.

He snapped his head forward, driving it into Beardy’s face.

The Al-Saboor lurched back, clutching his bleeding nose. Adam took the opportunity to shove him off.

Beardy landed on Scarface, who was just staggering to his feet.

Adam scrambled upright. Out of the corner of his eye, he glimpsed Umm Waseem’s stout black-cloaked figure dashing across the ridge with the speed of a house cat. She blew past Ears and Lefty, who both ignored her, busy gaping at Adam instead.

Not that those two bruised Al-Saboors showed any sign of jumping in to help the cousins that he was currently pummeling. They were obviously feeling a little hesitant to join the fray while still nursing the damage from the last couple rounds.

A battle cry sounded from across the ledge. Ralph raced toward Adam, holding a familiar blade up over his head.