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Starkad was first through the portal Aeval opened onto the top floor of the warehouse. It was like walking through a door into a new room. A potentially heavily guarded room. He cleared corners and blind spots—not that there was much of either in here—in what looked like it had once been an office.
He aimed himself and his Desert Eagle .40 at the only door in the room, and waved Kirby in. She set herself next to the door with her back to the wall. The windowless room was the farthest from the stairs, and would become their fallback locale if needed. The position served as a solid starting point for a search, and the single doorway would be a funnel for TOM soldiers if this group came under attack and needed to hold this position.
Aeval came through last, closing her magical gate behind her. She looked harmless, but she could summon storms from the skies and had access to magics not even the gods could wield.
Starkad met Kirby’s gaze, and she gave a terse nod. Ready. Time to move to the next room. The hallway was empty. It was nerve-wracking, to be up here without cover, but that also meant nothing for their opponents to hide behind. The only indicator this place had been used recently was the lack of dust—also good. Starkad’s group wouldn’t leave footprints, making it easier to hide where they’d been and where they were going.
The second room was as empty as the first—a box with four walls, no furniture, and a tiny closet. The next few rooms were the same.
Starkad had never been in this particular building, but the concept was straightforward. It was a gutted warehouse, with offices upstairs and open space downstairs. When the place was in use, the offices were as much a part of the urban-warfare training as everything else. Today, every single one had to be cleared, to make sure nothing—no one—was missed.
With each empty room, the tension in the air dialed a little higher. Where were Aeval’s people? She should be able to sense them, but she hadn’t given them a direction. Their presence may be masked from her.
The silence set his nerves on edge, and his wolf whined to get out. This was a battlefield. Whispers of gunpowder and blood hung in the air. Most people would run, but his berserker wanted to fight. The lack of an enemy was the biggest issue. Each scuff of shoes on the floor, each breath, was another sound for him to focus on. Did the sounds come from his people or TOM’s?
He sensed Kirby, as he had since the fight with Hel. She was at his side and had his back. Few thoughts were more comforting.
Another empty room. More silence on the radio. An extra notch of tension.
Starkad hadn’t wanted to bring Brit. He’d prefer she stay as far away from them as possible. Min vouched for her, but Starkad had lost all faith in Min’s judgment when it came to people and the lies they told.
One thing Starkad believed without question—Brit would always serve her own interests. When she’d reached out, years ago, offering inside information about TOM, Starkad spent several months vetting her intel. Not that he ever told her that. He let her think he trusted her from the start.
He’d intended to continue eliminating TOM assassins on his own, and he only brought Kirby in when she begged for a way to make up for her past. When he saw another path to help her heal.
Min felt Brit was dropping her guard. That she’d stopped wearing the mask TOM indoctrinated her with. Starkad had been watching her deteriorate into this for years. He believed she was desperate to get out. That she’d sworn loyalty to Hel in order to kill the goddess and secure an exit. And he believed that Brit thought she loved Kirby.
However, he didn’t know what Brit’s final goal was, and that worried him.
Three more rooms down, and not many left to go. Something was wrong. They had two options—keep pushing forward, or retreat and try again later. Falling back wasn’t a real choice. Not until they knew this place was empty.
Teeth gnashed inside his head, needing something to latch onto.
The sparring session between Brit and Kirby yesterday was more telling than any words. If Brit had been holding back, she’d become the most incredible fighter and actress in the universe. She’d never been able to beat back her urge to best Kirby at something. She’d given that fight her all. Any claims she made about not having any new power or magic seemed legitimate.
Starkad, Kirby, and Aeval were almost at the end of the floor. The stairs and one final room loomed before them. Did Brit sell them out? The possibility was slim. She’d been accompanied since she arrived at Aeval’s. Surrounded by heavy wards and even heavier observation. And it was unlikely she had access to the information Aeval did before it was distributed.
So where were the fae? Their guards?
As they pushed into the last empty room, Kirby stepped up next to him with a worried glance. Behind us. Danger howled in his skull.
Gunshots rang out from downstairs. Starkad pressed Aeval against a wall in the room, and he and Kirby took up similar positions. If anyone came in here, the new arrivals would be targets. But TOM knew better than to walk through a bottleneck like that. It also meant if anyone tried to leave the room, they’d be just as easy to hit.
“My people are here,” Aeval whispered. “They weren’t before.”
They could get out of here quickly, then. “We need a portal out of here, and another into the room where they.”
Aeval shook her head. “I’m trying. Something is keeping me from summoning an exit.”
“We can fight our way down to them, but if you can’t open a portal, what are we supposed to do when we get there?” Kirby kept her gaze on the door, and there was no emotion in her voice.
She didn’t need to let her worry show for Starkad to recognize it. He felt the same. “We’ll deal with it when we get there.” Now was a bad time to stop and plan. If they killed the opposition, they could walk out the front door.
If.
*
THIS WASN’T RIGHT. In fact, there was nothing about the situation that Brit liked. The bottom floor was empty. If prisoners—merchandise—we being kept here, her team should have encountered guards stationed at the entrances, the staircases, and in strategic sniper positions.
She took lead, to clear the few rooms and hidden spaces down here. She hadn’t taken this position since she worked with Kirby, and she’d never been comfortable as a spotter. She wanted to watch the world through her scope, where she could see the trouble coming from a distance, and take it out with a single twitch of her trigger finger. But she was an expendable body in this group. That wasn’t a secret.
Something lingered in the air. The same sensation that crawled over her when they’d approached the potential’s home. It crawled over her skin and coated her tongue with memories of the TOM campus she was raised on. She’d never been able to feel this tangible, gritty sensation before a few days ago.
Min didn’t belong here. Sure, bullets weren’t a big deal for him, and someone had to keep her in check, but his being a non-combatant made her feel responsible for him. It was another piece dividing her attention.
Gwydion should have been okay. He’d been a soldier. But he was radiating something that bordered on panic, and the sensation clawed at Brit’s veins.
What the fuck kind of team had she been saddled with? If Starkad wanted to destroy her, there were easier ways.
Brit’s body coiled like a compressed spring, and alarms sounded in her skull. “Get down,” she hissed as she whirled.
A muzzle flashed in the distance, accompanied by gunfire. How did she see that? She dove for what little cover she could find, behind a half-wall near a staircase. Gwydion and Min had hidden. Good.
She fired at the spot the shot came from, and ducked. Two more bullets bit the concrete in front of her, spraying shrapnel.
“What’s going on?” Starkad barked in her earpiece.
“Busy. Take a guess.” The neurons in her brain were working overtime, trying to point her attention in one direction or another. If she focused, she lost the lead. She had to let the feeling wash over her and guide her attention.
She fired another shot, purely on instinct, then turned to Min and Gwydion. “One of you two can do something?”
“Not any faster than you can.” Gwydion scanned the room, gun drawn. At least he hadn’t given into the fear bubbling inside him. “Anything I do that impacts the area will us as well. And the building is metal and concrete. I need wood.”
Another time and place, Brit would have taken the opportunity to make a joke. Now, she kept her attention on their surroundings. “We’re all immortal here. Min, that thing you do to me...” That felt like it was searing the flesh from her bones and made her scream in agony.
“We’re not all immortal in the same way, and not all of Aeval’s people are.”
Brit could argue this later. She should have brought it up before they stepped into the building, but this mission was supposed to be like any other. Where did things go wrong? She could ask that all day and cast blame in a lot of places, but it didn’t get them out of here.
“They’re down there.” Aeval’s voice hummed in Brit’s ear. “My people. They’re near the exterior. Whatever was hiding them has stopped, but I can’t get us down there.”
Of course. No reason to mask their presence, with the open gunfire. Gwydion could only enter and exit Aeval’s realm from the same spot on Earth, which meant he couldn’t create a gate out of here before the mission objectives were complete. Everything about this situation was fucked.
And Brit felt more alive and like she belonged than she had since she died. “I need eyes,” she barked at Gwydion. “Which direction?”
“North quadrant, Room Charlie.” Kirby’s voice was in her ear.
Just like old times. But with more animosity and less threat of sexual assault back home.
“Min, fall back first. Gwydion give me targets. I’ll cover you and follow last.” Brit was using too many words. Taking too long. If Kirby were down here, this much talking wouldn’t be required.
Min sprinted across the warehouse. Movement caught Brit’s eye, and she fired before the soldier hiding in the shadows could get a shot off. Another bullet bit into the ground, in front of Min’s feet, and Brit caught the source, fired, and hit her mark.
Gunfire sounded behind her. Some was Gwydion’s, and some farther away. What good was having a god fighting by her side, if he couldn’t use his magic?
But TOM knew this place would limit his powers. The warehouse was laid out and stripped down, to keep him from being effective.
She caught sight of the people targeting him, and picked off the first one. “Go,” she barked.
Gwydion took off, running.
“We’re working out way down to you, but we’re pinned.” Kirby’s out-of-breath words crackled in Brit’s ear. “No ETA.”
Because of course.
TOM might not have planned on two teams, but they’d done an effective job of keeping the groups separated. At least Kirby and Starkad had each other. Brit’s jealousy had nothing to do with their romance, and everything to do with a practiced team, watching each other’s backs.
Brit eliminated another shooter and followed Gwydion to the room Kirby had indicated.
He was sending the last fae through his portal. She thought those weren’t working?
They could get out of here. Brit opened her mouth to call all clear.
“There’s one more,” Aeval said.
Fuck. “Where?”
Silence. Brit gritted her teeth. The gunfire on the main floor had stopped, but it still echoed from up above.
“Two doors down. Room Echo,” Kirby finally responded.
Brit stepped up to the doorway. It was safe in here. “Wait until I give the all clear,” she said. She risked a step outside the room. When no shots greeted her, she bolted to the spot Kirby indicated.
She burst through the door, weapon drawn, and pulled up short when she saw a soldier with a gun pressed to his prisoner’s head.
The soldier looked at Brit, eyes wide. “You’re back,” he whispered. “So it’s true. The faithful will return.”
“Yeah. Great.” Brit aimed, fired, and the soldier directly between the eyes.
“For Death,” a man behind her said.
At the sound of another gunshot, Brit’s world went black.