Page 135 of Twist of Fate

Tyson took position near the ruined door, pale but focused, using a fallen metal access panel as a shield. He didn’t fight like a warrior, but he watched the room like someone who understood how quickly one missed detail could become fatal.

Twice, he warned Keir before reinforcements could flank them through the corridor. When a wounded attacker reached for the abandoned ram, Tyson kicked it beyond his grasp.

Keir held the threshold beside him, calmly preventing the adjoining corridors from swallowing them with more enemies.

Connal and Luke moved deeper into the server room.

The strike team kept trying to reach the console. Their attention cut past the warriors and the bodies on the floor toward the back row where the screen still glowed.

They didn’t know Luke had already destroyed the archive.

The same warnings remained on the console.

Connal followed Luke’s gaze. “Is it destroyed?”

“The part down here is.” Luke pulled him aside as spellfire tore through the rack behind them. Heat washed across his face, carrying the sharp stink of melted plastic. “There’s another component on the roof. The receiver switched to independent power.”

Connal’s jaw tightened. “It can still find us?”

“Yes.”

An attacker came around the rack before Luke could say more. Connal drove his shoulder into him, forcing him into the next aisle.

“Then we go to the roof.”

Luke looked toward the reinforcements pressing through the ruined doorway. “We have to get out of this room first.”

Connal’s expression hardened. “Stay close.”

“I thought we established that I can fight.”

“We established that you do not follow orders.”

“Fair.”

Connal turned toward the doorway.

Another wave of attackers had reached the server room. Keir held the ruined threshold while Tyson guarded his back with the metal panel. Beyond them, Asterius and Zer fought in the corridor, preventing the reinforcements from entering all at once.

Connal assessed the fight. “Follow me.”

“That sounds suspiciously like an order.”

“It is.”

An attacker swung at Connal’s head before Luke could argue. Luke dropped beneath the strike, caught the man by the belt, and pulled him off balance. Connal stepped into the opening and drove the hilt of his sword into the man’s temple.

The attacker crumpled.

Connal caught Luke by the shoulder and moved him forward.

Not away from the fight.

Through it.

Luke stayed close as Connal opened a path between the racks. An enemy came around the end of the next row with a short blade. Connal engaged him high, forcing the weapon away from Luke.

Luke drove his shoulder into the man’s hips.