Page 454 of Eight of Swords, Part Two

Some have been shot through the faceplates; others lie with limbs twisted at angles that suggest something much stronger than a human being reached them first. Black silicone cuffs glow on lifeless wrists.

Riley listens.

A mix of messy heartbeats is inside.

‘Stay close to me,’ Vasily says, flexing his whip and then grabbing a gun from a dead man.

Inside the Tower, the ground floor is exposed.

A few PMCs remain alive, but they’re on their knees with their weapons kicked away, hands locked behind their heads. Armed figures move around them in unfamiliar uniforms, dark green and grey marked by an insignia Riley doesn’t recognise.

Not Iron Star.

Not Last Light.

Not the Front.

Vasily shifts closer. The bond tightens with his surprise but also relief and no small amount of love.

‘Ni khuya sebe!’

A woman is standing with Lachlan, her hand on his arm.

Lachlan is head to toe red with blood.

His eyes are blank, unfeeling.

‘Who is that?’ Riley asks. He vaguely recognises her from Julian’s memories, but she’s much grown now and he can’t quite place her.

‘Savannah!’ Vasily says and she turns, offering a tearful smile.

The two meet in the middle of the ruined foyer of Iron Star, right at the bottom of the stairs. Several of the new strangers look towards Riley. He feels their attention catch. Fingers tighten around weapons.

A few heartbeats quicken.

But none of them approaches.

A Reset lies sprawled with half his throat missing, blood everywhere, mixing with the water that flooded up from beneath.

Riley steps over the body.

New uniforms fill the lobby, helping Riley’s people. They treat the injured, secure areas above. One group hauls Reset bodies into a line.

He stares at the woman hugging Vasily.

Her clothes are black beneath unfamiliar tactical armour. Her posture is straight despite the destruction around her. With her brown hair in a braid, she issues an order to the people nearest the stairs, then turns as if she can feel Riley staring. Riley has never seen her with his own eyes.

But he knows her all the same.

His heart dies once more when he realises he’s scanning for Kade, looking for him above anyone else, because Kade is his brother, the only one he trusts and loves and he needs to know he’s OK, but of course… he’s not. He won’t see Kade, he won’t get to scold him for being too daring, for setting a bad example. He won’t get to check his injuries to make sure they’re healing fast. He won’t get to hug him.

He’s gone.

He died Riley’s death.

It’s unbearable.

But there’s work to do.