“Impatient,” I whispered back.
She grinned and pulled me to my feet. I stayed limp, falling into the roll that would save us both. Ruby whimpered, and I motioned to her with the slightest flick of my fingers. She settled and limped to stand where she could butt her head up under my loose fingers.
“I got her, boys.” Easter lifted me into a fireman’s carry over her shoulder.
We had it all going smoothly. I already knew exactly what she’d do. She’d take me out of the subway and we’d take whatever car was waiting for us and lose the army blokes. We’d get the fuck out of here, both of us free.
But neither of us had counted on Eligor not understanding that she wasn’t hurting me.
Nor did I think he had it in him to try to stop her.
“No!”
Eligor hit us from behind, throwing Easter to her knees, and I fell from her shoulder, hit the ground, rolled and came up with Diego. Spinning to the army boys, I squeezed the trigger, spraying them with a barrage that sent half of them to the ground, and the other half running for cover.
“What the fuck?” Easter tucked in behind one of the seats as the doors to the subway car tried to close, getting stuck on the leg of one of the men I’d killed. She grabbed the downed body and pulled him so the doors shut. I ducked down and looked back at a still standing and very stunned Eligor.
“I thought . . . she was going to hurt you,” he whispered.
“Get down,” I snapped and he dropped to his butt as if he were Ruby, trained to commands that I could give in my sleep.
Easter snorted as she went through the dead man’s gear, pulling out two guns and his flak jacket which she slipped on. “What are we doing?”
I noted she was ignoring Eligor. For the moment.
He, on the other hand, was staring hard at her. “You can’t trust her. Susan is a terrible handler and she hurt your friend to make her be able to kill you,” he said.
I peeked up over the edge of the window as we pulled out of the station, ignoring him. The army boys were climbing into the cars behind us. “We’ve got company pulling in.”
“Why aren’t you listening to me?” Eligor whispered. “Please, I am trying to help you!”
I grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet, pulling him behind me as Easter stood and started for the door that would lead us to the car ahead.
“Here’s the deal,” I said. Easter shot the door handle, flipped it open and did the same for the next car. We stepped across the open space and I all but dragged Eligor across with me. His face was pale, and his skin slicked with sweat. I tightened my hand on his arm and pulled him close to my face. “I burned Susan out of her. Do you understand?”
His jaw dropped. “You . . .”
“I met my grandmother.” I grinned as I said those four words. I couldn’t help it, and it was not a happy, yay for a family reunion grin. More like a I know all your secrets, little man grin and I’m going to use them to destroy you.
Eligor managed to get his jaw closed and he swallowed hard. “But your abilities, I locked them away. I didn’t think Namaa was that strong!”
Easter shook her head, red braid flipping back and forth. “Not the time to discuss. They’re coming in on both sides.” She motioned with her gun to the car ahead of us now and the flickering lights that showed the figures creeping toward us, weapons raised.
I turned to see the first group behind us in the previous car too. “How big of a boom can you give me, Diego?” I pulled him around and let go of Eligor. The fallen stumbled to the middle of the car and sat in a seat, clinging to the seat handles.
“Well, what are you thinking?” Diego rumbled.
“You got anything that will blow the coupling between the cars?” I made my way to the front of our car. Better to let that one pull away from us.
“Grenade?” he offered.
“Switch it out,” I said. Easter blew the door open with her gun, and I stepped up to the edge and looked down at the track moving beneath us. I lifted Diego and barely squeezed the trigger. The grenade shot out and I threw myself backward. Easter was already on the floor as I landed beside her and the front of the subway car rocked upward, the explosion shaking the whole system.
Ears ringing, I lifted my head to see that the section ahead of us was pulling away. One set of idiots down, on to the next.
Ruby let out a snarl and I turned in time to see her launch at one of our pursuers. She clamped onto his forearm and dragged him to the ground, snarling and wrenching him around. His screams only seemed to send her into a further frenzy.
He reached for his side arm and I rolled to my knees, pulled Dinah and shot him in the head. His friends started to push their way through. Not understanding that they were coming right into a trap.
“Killing them all? Pretty please?” Dinah said.
In answer, I lifted her and shot the next two in the head in quick succession. They kept coming, though, through the funnel we’d created, dying on top of each other, stacked up like firewood.
Beside me, Easter watched and waited while Dinah and I did the dirty work. Not that I minded.
In under a minute, the men that the facility had sent after us were dead, and our subway car had coasted to a stop.
I tucked Dinah back into her holster, stood, and snapped my fingers for Ruby. She pressed herself against
