Page 234 of Rescuing Ally: Part 1

Max.

My stomach drops as I see him collapse, his massive body twitching. A dart sticks grotesquely from his thick neck. He doesn’t move.

“Tranqs!” Jenna shouts, slamming a fresh mag into the pistol. “They want us alive!”

That doesn’t make it better.

It makes it worse.

A flicker of movement—a sleeve, marked with a familiar symbol. ??.

Sentinel.

Malfor has found us.

My brain stalls for half a second. Just long enough for a figure to lunge over the barricade. I swing the first thing I grab—a brass lamp—full-force. It crashes into the man’s ribs with a sickening crunch. He grunts and drops.

Rage burns away fear. Hank and Gabe drilled this into me.

React. Survive.

Rebel’s a blur beside me, her blade singing. One attacker stumbles back, clutching a torn forearm. Another comes from behind?—

“Behind you!”

Rebel pivots like she’s dancing, slamming her elbow into his throat. He drops, choking on his own breath.

But they keep coming. One down, two more swarm in.

A metallic clatter?—

A canister rolls to a stop at my feet.

Hissing.

White gas floods the room.

“Don’t breathe!” Jenna’s voice slices through the haze.

I try—I really try—but something slams into my gut and knocks the air clean out of me. I gasp, and the gas rips into my lungs like fire. My vision swims. My limbs go numb.

Rebel takes a dart. Yanks it out, snarling. Still moving. Still fighting.

Until she takes another.

Her knees buckle. She sinks, blade falling from limp fingers.

Malia’s groggy. Mia slumps. The world spins.

Jenna’s the last to fall. She fires until the slide locks back, swinging the empty gun like a club. She’s fury and instinct and will—until she stumbles forward, crashes into the wall, and slides down, gasping.

I try to crawl. To do something. But my arms are lead. The ground tilts.

And then?—

A shadow steps through the blown-out door. Calm. Unhurried.

Harrison.

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