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I try to bargain with the Universe.

I won’t be selfish. If you keep us safe and get us inside that vault, I promise I’ll use it for good. I’ll help people who need it. I’ll fight the ones who hurt them.

I peek at the gas gauge every minute or so, even though we have plenty of fuel left. The passenger side front tire dips in and out of a pothole that was hidden under snow and I cringe.

There are so many ways this could go wrong. If I enter the correct password, the Deadmen could overtake us and gain control of everything inside the mountain complex.

I’ll have a lot of blood on my hands if that happens. Not that I’ll know it, because Evander and I will both be dead before the Deadmen get into the vault.

We could have waited until we could bring Briar and Marcus with us. But it’s too late now. From the sound of the engines, I think the Deadmen have grown in number. It sounds like at least two dozen bikers are behind us.

I spot the dead end ahead, where the paved road ends. And just like Evander said, there’s a gravel road to the left. The truck bounces through another deep pothole as I slow down and make the turn.

Almost there. Please, Universe. Help me do this.

The gravel road is smoother than the paved one, surrounded by trees and vegetation on both sides, and it’s an easy drive. After a bend in the road, I can see the huge black door.

The mountain is so massive I can’t see anything but rock. I stop the truck and throw it into park, running toward the keypad without even closing the truck’s door.

“You got this, babe!” Evander calls.

He puts a hand on the edge of the truck bed and jumps out of it, his rifle still in hand and his bag over his shoulder.

The engines are roaring closer. Breathing hard, I flip open the keypad cover, revealing the entire alphabet, several symbols, and the numbers zero through nine.

I flex my fingers to stop them from shaking, about to start entering letters when I hear the truck’s tires moving.

When I turn, Evander’s behind the wheel of the truck.

“No! What are you doing?”

“Trust me! Open it!”

I want to tell him I love him, but he’s already looking in another direction, turning the truck back the way we came.

He’s on a suicide mission. I close my eyes because I can’t afford tears that will blur my vision right now.

Slowly and methodically, I speak each letter of Eurytus’s name as I press the corresponding buttons. Each one is framed by a backlit white box as I press it, so I know every letter is getting entered.

Either this works, or we go out with a hell of a bang. I don’t even have my bag so I can’t try to take Justin down with me.

After I press the S, there’s a beep and a small circular light turns green. The massive door rumbles to life, rising from the ground.

A cry of relief and joy bursts out of me. I scream Evander’s name, running after the truck.

When I see it, I realize what he was doing. He’s not on a suicide mission. He parked the truck sideways across a narrow spot in the road, encroaching vegetation leaving no space motorcycles can get around.

They’re close, though. White dust flies, thrown up by their approach on the gravel road. Evander has the truck’s hood open and he’s tinkering with something.

“It’s open!” I pull on his waist. “We have to go.”

“One second.”

“No! We have to go!”

He pulls a black part from the engine. “Now they can’t start it and move it. Go!”

That was risky as hell, but smart. I run toward the door, feeling him right behind me.