“Couldn’t be better.” Yes, I exaggerate.
“Fine,” Hit answers with a smile. “But the smell is nasty. Let’s get on.”
Vel taps on his handheld. “In a direct vertical line, or as the tunnels run?”
Then the McCulloughs win. And I lose everything.
“I can try.” Vel punches keys, shifting this way and that.
“Try under here.” I step back, making room beneath the hole in the ceiling.
I sigh. “So what the hell do we do now?”
Hit’s teeth shine in the dark. “We kill the muthafuckers, one and all.”
“The passage will not permit them to swarm us,” Vel says.
“Can that thing detect movement?” I nod at his handheld.
“Ordinarily. The rock interferes somewhat with the readings, however.”
I’ll be damned if it happens again.
“No. We’re not leaving anyone behind.” Not this time. “We’ll find a way to fight them.”
“We
have
a way,” Jael says, pushing past me. “Jax, stay back, and keep the other two safe.”
“Then
you
guard Jax and Dina,” comes his response. “You ready, Vel?”
I can’t be the only one thinking this. “Will their screams draw others?”
The bounty hunter’s answer drifts back to me over the hiss of smoldering flesh. “It is possible.”
“Then they can just line up to die,” Jael says. “I’m so tired of this planet.”
And I have to deal with what is, not what was. Story of my life.
“Watch your step.” Jael guides us around the corpses.
“The stone is full of phosphorus,” Vel says in a hushed tone.
“Does that mean something?” Hit asks him.
Vel lifts his shoulders. “Probably. But I lack the time for extended study.”
“No shit. You remind me of Doc sometimes.” Dina sounds more herself, less the sacrificial lamb.
“I will take that as a compliment.”
“It wasn’t meant as one,” she mutters.
Ahead of Dina, Hit smothers a chuckle. “Should we leave you two alone?”