The burning zombies made a horrible keening noise. She tossed another grenade into the third box.
One left. She marched toward it.
“Stop her,” Agent Ryant yelled.
Security team members converged on her. She was pleased to see they looked wary, clutching their Tase prods.
“You can try,” she said. “Or you can back away and save yourself an injury.”
One brave soul came at her. She yanked the Tase prod from his hands and jammed it into his stomach. He hit the deck, his body shuddering from the electrical jolt.
The others stepped back.
With one hard, fast lob, she tossed the last grenade into the final box.
“What are you doing? Get her!” Agent Ryant was shoving against Niklas, who was holding him in place.
She flipped the Tase prod in her hands and eyed the three security agents in front of her—one woman and two men. Well,menwas being generous. The two males weren’t long out of their teens. In two seconds, she had the boys writhing on the floor, clutching their midsections.
The woman looked more experienced. She dropped her Tase prod, going for her laser pistol. Nera knocked her off-balance with the prod, then tackled her, taking her to the ground. The woman fought quite well, but Nera shoved her fingers hard into the woman’s neck, finding the exact spot where certain pressure receptors were located. The woman made a small noise, then fell into unconsciousness.
Nera rose and stalked back toward Niklas. He and Agent Ryant were circling each other.
“I knew you’d sunk low into the Institute’s dirty work, but I would never have suspected this,” Niklas bit out.
A muscle in Ryant’s jaw ticked. “Damn you, Phoenix.” He eyed the burning zombies. “You’re going to ruin everything.”
Then Nera noted Niklas was developing a black eye. “Did you hit him?”
Her icy tone got through to Ryant. The man’s eyes widened. “He hit me first.”
She moved fast, and her hard chop to the back of his neck drove him to his knees on the floor. He wavered there for a second, and she punched him in the face, heard him groan. Then she hit him again, knocking him out cold.
Niklas was staring soberly at his former friend. The pain on his face made her chest ache.
“We need to get Avril back to the ship,” Nera said. “I may not like her much, but she would never go for this.” Nera waved at the zombies.
“Agreed.” Niklas sighed. “Guess we won’t get that hot shower yet.”
They took the cargo lift back to the ground and stepped off it into something that resembled the depths of hell.
Smoke poured out of the caves, and Rumin were running in every direction. Men and women were screaming, some clutching frightened children, or helping the elderly.
“Dammit, what is going on?” Niklas pulled his laser pistol. “Let’s find Avril.”
Nera pulled out her sword and together, they rushed through the smoke.
She spotted some security team uniforms. “There.” Then she realized something was very, very wrong. She frowned. “Wait!” She saw one agent electrocute a female warrior with a Tase stunner. The warrior sprawled on the ground, twitching. “They’re fighting the Rumin warriors.”
Nik growled. “Where the hell is Avril? What the hell is going on?”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Nera and Niklas pushed through the fighting throng. Nera took down two security team members, knocking them unconscious before they could attack more Rumin. “You think they’re trying to take the gold?”
“Avril wouldn’t do that,” Niklas said. “She wouldn’t do this.”
Finally, Avril appeared through the smoke. “If you can’t subdue them,” she yelled at the agents surrounding her. “Kill them.”
