Page 93 of The Last True Hero

"Where's Ellie?" Mia whispered.

"Here." A shadow ducked out of the night. "Let's do this."

Ellie went first, unarmed and wearing the slave collar. Inside the gates, a man's voice coughed appreciation. "Hey now, darlin', what are you doing out here all on your lonesome?"

"There's someone out there, across the street," Ellie cried, milking terrified young maid for all she was worth. "They were stealing something from Vex's jeep out front."

"What?" The guard strode through the gate, his shotgun in his hand. Instantly, Jake stepped up behind him and clapped a hand over his mouth and chest. He dragged the reiver back into the shadows of the arch, where he cut his throat.

"It's clear," Ellie hissed.

One heartbeat. Two. Mia's gaze roved the street. Nothing moved. She took a sideways step back through the gates, aiming the shotgun into the corners before nodding. "We're good, Jake."

Jake hauled Zarina in through the gates. He'd gagged her again, and Zarina glared bloody murder at them. "Where's the other guard?"

Vex's handful of reivers weren't like the others. Reivers were lazy, vicious, and cared only for themselves as a rule, but Vex's men looked more like vicious guard dogs, than street curs.

"There should be two on the gate," Jake muttered. He passed Zarina off to Ellie, who grabbed her by her bound wrists. "Watch her."

Stepping forward, he trained his pistol around the courtyard. In the distance feet hammered in approval and hooting hollers filled the night. Someone was either dying in the arena, or bleeding.

Mia swallowed. Not McClain. She had to keep telling herself that. Right now she needed every ounce of focus she could muster, or she'd end up with a bullet between her eyes.

A shadow pushed out of the bushes, struggling to zip up his fly. "Yaris? Is that you?"

Jake flipped a knife through the air, and the reiver died with a gurgle.

"Nice throw," Ellie muttered, fetching the blade from the reiver’s throat and wiping it clean on his clothes.

"Thanks." Jake took it back. "Courtyard's clear."

Upstairs. Mia's pulse began to tick a little faster. They were so close now. Her hands began to shake as adrenaline pumped through her.

Another guard appeared out of nowhere upstairs. Mia pumped the shotgun, and blew a massive hole in his chest.

Jake shot her a look. "There goes our element of surprise."

Her hands shook. "Sorry."Instinct.

Jake swore under his breath, then started running as boots pounded on the concrete floors. "Get Sage and Thea out! I've got this."

Two more reivers spilled out of the stronghold. Jake shot one, and the other slammed into him, taking him to the ground.

"Jake!" Mia pumped the spent cartridges out of the shotgun, then paused.

"Come on!" Ellie cried, dragging Zarina down the corridor. "Jake knows what he's doing. You two stay here with Jake!" she told Bethany and Sara.

Cursing, Mia charged after her. McClain had sat them all down that afternoon, and drawn a detailed map of the stronghold out of sand. She knew where her sister was being kept.

There was one more guard in the dark interior. He looked up as they burst into the hallway, and Ellie shot him before he could blink. "Jesus," she whispered, as the body hit the floor. "I just killed him."

"Better him than us." She knew exactly how the other girl felt. She'd been there a couple of nights ago. Mia hauled her and Zarina along. "This way!"

They found the entrance to the women's cells. It was locked, a small electronic device winking at them from the door. A glass device rested on the pad, with green light leering through it.

"What the hell is it?" Ellie asked, poking the box. "Is there a code or something?"

"If Sage were here, she could probably work it out." Sage knew electrics, and ran a thriving electronic salvage business. Mia slid her hands over the steel door. No handle. Nothing to grip. She shoved the door.