Naomi turned back to the map. “All right, Barrick and Gause go in through the back roads, take the path across no man’s land, while Proper’s team comes up in the convoy with Tough’s people and the coyotes.”
“Right,” Clarion said. He pointed to the gravel road going up to the Dark Mansion. “The last fly-over indicated a barricade right here. An overturned tour bus. Two guards, fully armed, with spike strips laid out across the ditches.”
“So you go off-road,” Naomi said. “You’ve got the vehicle power for it.”
I shook my head at the same time as Lonely said, “It’s woods and brush all along that road on both sides. Dirt bikes are the only vehicles that could make it through, but there are only two or three of those working in town.”
“That’s why they picked that as their choke point—so we’d have to bail out or be sitting targets,” Clare said. “Two of my packs will head the convoy to draw fire and pull up the spike strips. That’s going to block the ditches with disabled vehicles, which means as soon as the lead trucks stop rolling, Tough, you and the rest of the humans need to hit the ground running.”
Naomi jerked her chin at me. “What are the odds your people will be able to follow you in the right direction in the dark with angels shooting at them?”
I made a zero with my hand and held it up. Then I mouthed Yours?
She smirked. “A little better than that.”
Clarion jumped in before we could whip our katanas out and measure. “The tail packs will be right behind the humans, bringing up the convoy’s rear. Their only objective is to break for the Dark Mansion while the barricade guards are distracted by the header packs. If you humans can manage to follow them, they’ll be headed in the right direction.”
“The murder will be overhead, too,” Lonely said. “If any humans wander off the path or try to turn and run, we can set them straight.”
“Then we hit the Dark Mansion,” Clarion said, glaring down at the map.
Lonely laughed that creepy-ass graveyard crow laugh. “And then the real battle begins.”
*
It was almost four in the morning by the time we’d gotten everybody set straight on the plan. Naomi’s teams were going to ride in the vehicles they had driven into Halo. Clarion’s packs spread out between their beat-up Jeeps, Broncos, and one dusty old Hummer. That just left the humans to sort out.
Dodge had left the keys in his truck, so I commandeered that. We also had Jim’s tow truck, Drake’s little S-10, and Addison’s tricked out El Camino.
“It’s a pretty cute little truck-car,” she said when she offered it. Then she shrugged, rattling her scrunchy bleach-blond curls. “But if the world ends, it’s not like I’m going to need it anyway. So, we might as well use it while we can. Plus it’s got big block out the wazoo. I hit ninety between the horseshoe curves north of town once.”
We had all of the humans from around town who’d shown up during the night wanting to fight, plus all of the humans who had survived the first attack on the Dark Mansion. Twenty-nine humans in all.
The survivors of the first attack were dirty and tired-looking and they smelled like anxious sweat, blood, smoke, burnt plastic, and ozone. Drake, Jim, Tawny Hicks—who hadn’t died like I’d thought, just got knocked unconscious—and four kids about Scout’s age I recognized from around town, but didn’t know. They knew what we were up against—they’d already faced it once—and they were about to go back for more anyway.
Tell them they’re riding with me and Harper, so Jim and Drake need to hand over their keys to somebody, I said to Lonely.
Lonely bobbed his head once, a half-peck so sharp it almost made me flinch, then pointed the survivors out one by one. “You all’re riding with Tough. And stay with him when you get to the Dark Mansion. He’s your team leader.”
The weirdest thing happened after he said that. Everybody else from Halo looked at the seven I’d picked out like that they’d just made varsity starter or something. A couple people reached over and slapped Tawny and Jim on the shoulder. One kid from Scout’s class grinned at me like he wanted to tell me thanks.
I didn’t get it. They knew me. They’d seen me carry Scout in earlier. They had to know that being on my team wasn’t much better than signing up for a suicide pact. But they were…Glad? Happy? Thankful?
I didn’t know how to react to whatever that was, so I just picked up the replacement shotgun Clarion had given me, then gave my team the Come on nod.
They followed me out and got in the truck.
Colt
He lifted me up to my feet and held my arm until I could stand without falling over.
“Well done, my good and faithful servant,” He said.
Beside Him, Tiffani was on her knees with her hands clasped over her mouth. Her face was white and her eyes wide. Tears rolled down her cheeks. When He stepped away from me, Tiff launched herself at me and knocked me over.
“You had a hard row to hoe, Colt,” He said. “But you did it. You went to work and you never turned back. You never gave up, and you never took the easy way out, not even when you could have quit without blame or sin. You’re a soldier after my own heart.”
Words wouldn’t come. I was crying, too, at the hugeness of what I’d been rescued from. I held Tiffani and tried to force my mouth to open, but I was too overwhelmed to talk.
He nodded that He understood.
Tiffani spun around and threw her arms around Him. He squeezed her as tight as
