She tsked at him then whispered, “And here I thought only I was capable of putting that look on your face.”
His happiness melted into panic.
“Kidding, sweetie. Load up.” While he pulled out heavy artillery, she focused on the smaller calibers. When she reached for grenades, she noticed the way Dancer tensed.
They locked gazes.
Hauk held his breath as a thousand bad memories went through him. The pod exploding and pinning him to the hot metal. Being trapped in the fire while circuitry exploded around him. The mountain blowing up in his face.
But that was the past. Sumi couldn’t carry the heavier guns and ammo. He knew that. The grenades were her best defense.
“Load up, mu mia.”
She tucked them into her clothes as he made sure everything was charged and that he had more cartridges for the smaller blasters.
He led her out of the room before he rigged the door to detonate should anyone else try to access it to rearm.
With luck, they might make it upstairs without being seen. So far they’d done a remarkable job of silently eliminating their enemies.
They took out five more as they swept the hallway. But just as they reached the stairs, a door opened behind them.
Hauk winced as he realized the man was too far away. He slung out his knife and caught him between the eyes.
But not before the man opened fire and set off the alarm.
Hauk laid down cover fire for Sumi as they were swarmed by assassins. “Get behind me.”
She did, but only after she shot one blast that caught a man in the head and sent him to the ground. She fisted her hand in Hauk’s munitions belt and drew him with her.
They turned the corner and all hell rained down on them.
He moved to shield Sumi. She pulled his two modified Andarion blasters from his holster and shot at their attackers from around his waist.
On autopilot now, he did what he did best.
Fought and killed.
Hauk paused to reload. “How many bastards are here? Are they cloned?”
“If they were, I’d like to think they’d have chosen better-smelling donors for the program.” Sumi swapped weapons before lobbing her grenades. She pulled him with her as he covered them while they fell back toward the stairs.
He lost count of how many blasts hit him. They hurt, but so long as they landed on his coat, he was shielded. It was the one that went into his thigh that caused him to stumble.
As he started to fall, he found Sumi by his side, offering him her shoulder. She pulled him into a room, out of the line of fire.
Biting his lip, he cursed at the pain. “You should go before you get hurt.”
She shook her head. “Not without you…” She locked gazes with him. “Strong alone. Stronger together. Fear no death.”
He smiled as she voiced The Sentella motto. “Not very League of you.”
“Screw The League.”
He pulled his scarf off and used it to put pressure on his thigh. “Let’s finish this.”
Sumi hesitated at the look in his eyes. As she stared at him, they turned that deep vibrant red that glowed. So sex wasn’t the only thing that aroused him to such a level. Fighting did it, too.
Fascinating.
“Hauk!” a man shouted in the hallway outside.
He fell back from the door and braced himself against the wall. Sumi went low in the center of the room, behind a crate.
“What?” Dancer answered.
“Surrender or we’re going to kill them all! Piece by piece, until their screams echo in your ears!”
Dancer laughed at the threat. “You do that and I will eat you, piece by fucking piece. The three of them are the only thing keeping you alive right now. Release them and we’ll let you live. It’s your choice on how you leave this place. On your feet or feet first. You have thirty seconds to decide.”
Sumi made her way over to him. “Dancer?” she whispered.
When he turned toward her, she pointed at the ceiling, where there was a hole to the next floor.
Nodding, he handed her the climbing gear.
She shot the hook then shimmied up the knotted rope. But no sooner did she reach the top than they opened fire on the room. Shrapnel and debris went flying. Her heart stopped as she saw Dancer running for the rope.
Dancer came up and grimaced as he scraped his injured leg against the rusted beam.
She dropped two grenades down then rolled away as they detonated. The ceiling under her squealed in protest.
Shit. It was breaking and about to send them back into that room.
One minute, she was sure she’d die, and the next, Dancer caught her and rolled with her. She came to rest on top of him, between floors. It was tight and cramped. But there was no time to even thank him as they heard the men running after them.
Dancer kicked the tile out above him. Carefully, he lifted her off him before he went through first to clear the room. He returned to pull her through the small opening.
Once they were on the second floor, he headed for a set of stairs on their left. He stayed back to cover the hole they’d made in the floor so that she could go first.
When they got to the top of the stairs, Sumi paused. The room there was empty. “Um… Dancer?”
He let loose a string of profanity as he saw what had her concerned.
“I take it this is the office?”
Dancer nodded and whimpered. The door behind them crashed open. He seized the first one through and slammed him against the wall so hard, it dazed the man.
Sumi sucked her breath in sharply. “Ooo, buddy. Real bad timing for you.”
Dancer grabbed the assassin in his mammoth fist and held him against the wall. “Where are they being held?”
Sumi started to make a sarcastic comment to Dancer that they probably should have asked that question before they came this far. But since she was as much to blame for that oversight as Dancer, she let it go.
Besides, he seemed to enjoy beating on the assassin.
“Downstairs… bay.”
Dancer made an inhuman sound before he broke the man’s neck. “Downstairs. Who does that?”
“Someone who hasn’t read the Andarion manual on where to store hostages?”
He gave her a dry stare. “You’re not funny.” He leaned back and groaned. “Ugh… more stairs.”
“You could take a shortcut and crash through the floors, but it’d probably hurt more.”
“Don’t remind me.” Sighing, he tightened the bandage on his thigh. Then he opened the door and led her down the hallway.
They could hear the men on the floor below, searching for them.
He took a minute to evaluate his weapons. A strange smile quirked at his lips.
“What?”
“Just remembering an old mission. Years ago when Nyk and I were in The League together and we were at a battle on an outpost backwater place. We were under some seriously heavy fire and running low on ammo. When Kyr heard that, he swept his gaze over us and said, ‘Yeah, well, I’m not running out of men. Forward!’ ” He sighed. “We lost eighty percent of our unit that day.”
“Sounds like Kyr.”
They turned down the next hall and shots flew at them.
Cursing, Sumi fell back and grabbed her arm to see a lovely seared mark on her biceps. It throbbed and ached, giving her a new appreciation for Dancer’s ability to walk with his thigh wound. Gah! It hurt!
Dancer killed the assassins who’d attacked them, then turned to see her arm bleeding. Cold, terrifying rage descended over his features.
His glowing eyes turned a darker shade of red.
Scared it was directed at her, she swallowed hard. “I’m fine. It’s just a flesh wound.”