The Gauntlet (The Cage 3)

God, she was beautiful.

“Fine,” Leon grunted. “But this is the last job, got it? What’s in the pack, anyway?”

Bonebreak let out a pleased sound from behind his mask. “Some tools, that’s all. I’ll see you on Drogane. Try not to get yourself killed first.” He snickered.

Cora started yelling for Bonebreak to hurry, that it was time to go to his ship, and the Mosca disappeared behind the canvas curtains. A second later, he reappeared behind Ellis’s chair on the opposite side of the tent, hustling toward the entrance. Leon blinked. That was impossible. Had he seen right? How’d Bonebreak get all the way across the tent so fast?

Leon looked at them all one last time.

Nok and Rolf.

Cora.

Anya, who he’d barely known.

And then he turned toward Mali and smiled.

“Took you long enough!” she called as he ran up and elbowed a Kindred guard in the neck who had her in a headlock.

“Miss me?” he said.

Mali rolled her eyes. “Come on.” She grabbed his hand, and his heart started rumbling around in a way he wasn’t quite used to. She lifted the bottom flap of the tent and they crawled out into the morning air. It was already hot enough to make sweat bead on his brow, but all the fighting was confined to the tent, and outside it was thankfully calm.

“It’ll be in there,” Mali said, pointing to the transport hub.

They charged across the sand. Hot steam came from vents ringing the hub, but they were able to weave among them and get safely to the open flight door. Inside, the Kindred shuttle waited. Unmanned. A few paces before reaching the shuttle, Leon motioned for her to help him rig up a rope ladder system out of tent poles and ropes, to climb on top of the shuttle so their footprints wouldn’t show. As soon as they made it, Leon threw the rope ladder away. They climbed into the rear hatch, which led to fuel cell storage. It was pitch-black inside.

“Ow,” he said, promptly running into a fuel cell.

“Take my hand. I can sense the objects.” Mali slipped her small, scarred fingers into his and led him to the padded walls of the transport. “The shuttle uses inflatable bladders in the wall to keep the cells from being damaged. If we deflate one, we can crawl inside and hide in it. Do you have a knife?”

He produced one with a flourish, though it was too dark to see well. “It was one of Ellis’s. Swiped it off the floor.” He felt around on the wall until he found a seam toward the bottom, where a cut wouldn’t be obvious. He punctured it. Chemically fresh air fizzled out. He cut a two-foot-long gash and he and Mali wriggled into the cavity.

“Ouch,” she muttered as his elbow poked her.

“Sorry—gah.” They bumped heads. “Tight quarters, eh?”

Mali shifted. He could feel the curves of her body against his, and he thought of her fighting off the Kindred, so beautiful and lean and deadly. He realized that he might not mind these tight quarters after all.

“Mali?” he whispered.

“We should be quiet,” she said. “Silence is—”

And he silenced her by pressing his lips to hers. Her body went rigid with surprise, but then her lips met his again, and he realized that valiantly risking his life for this rescue mission might have perks he hadn’t considered before.

He kind of liked this hero thing.

10

Cora

“BONEBREAK!” CORA YELLED. WHERE had he snuck off to now? Fian’s Kindred soldiers had driven most of the deputies to the rear of the tent, where they were pressing against the canvas side, making the entire structure sway precariously.

Fian turned at her call. Shit, she thought. He lifted his pulse rifle and aimed it in her direction. Her heart shot to her throat and she ducked, shielding her head with her hands. But . . . nothing. After a few seconds she looked up. Fian was jiggling the rifle’s pulse unit.

It had jammed.

He threw the rifle to the ground and started toward her instead. Cora jerked upright. She should run . . . she should flee . . . but there was nowhere to go. The tent canvas was too heavy to lift on her own.

Fian was three steps away, then two. Cora snatched one of the silver serving trays, brandishing it like a shield. He raised a fist. She stepped backward and collided with something hard. The platform. She was boxed in.

His face was a chilling void of emotion. His fist raised and—

Stopped.

Just stopped.

Not a single muscle moved.

Cora clutched the silver tray with white knuckles. She took a quick breath. Then another. He still didn’t move. Frozen as a wax statue. Slowly, she lowered the tray.

Anya stood behind him with her trembling fingers outstretched.

“Anya,” Cora called. “Thanks.”

“I can’t hold him off long!” Anya called. “Kindred minds aren’t as easy to control as human ones are. I can only control one or two at a time.”

Cora ducked out from under Fian’s frozen fist. The tent was a chaotic storm: Mind-controlled deputies fought Kindred. Kindred fought humans. Tent guards fought mine guards. The structure swayed again as Kindred soldiers pressed a group of tent guards harder against the canvas sides.

“Do the best you can,” Cora said. “I’ll find Nok and Rolf. Once we’re all together, release Fian’s and everyone else’s minds all at once. It’ll cause a panic. We’ll hope they’re all too distracted to realize we’ve even gone.”

Anya nodded, grimacing with the effort of keeping Fian frozen. “Go on. Find the others. I’ll cover you as long as I can.”

Cora gave her a nod and then skirted the edge of the tent, keeping low. For once she was glad she was small, unnoticeable in the chaos. The heat of battle made her sweat.

From the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of Leon and Mali slipping out from under the bottom flap. Good. At least they’d managed to get away. She searched through the knot of bodies for Nok, but she didn’t see her anywhere, and then—there.

A flash of pink.

Nok and Rolf were crouched in the narrow space behind Ellis’s platform.

Cora ducked behind a fluttering curtain, stepped over a deputy bleeding from a gash on his head, and threw herself behind the platform, breathing hard.

“Nok! Rolf! We’ve got to go.”

But Nok and Rolf weren’t alone. A handful of Ellis’s deputies were with them, including an older woman with a rattling cough. For a second Cora tensed her muscles, ready to fight. But then Nok lifted a hand to stop her.

“Cora,” Nok said, “this is Keena, and Loren, and Avery. Tent guards. They’re on our side.”

Deputies? On their side?

“Okay,” Cora said in a rush, “but we have to go. Now.”

Overhead, the tent was swaying even more violently. Pop. One of the smaller support beams cracked in half and a corner of the tent’s roof sagged. “We need to get out while everyone’s distracted,” Cora continued. “Anya’s holding off the Kindred. I need to get Willa and then we can all head for the ship—”

Nok shook her head. “I can’t.”

Cora blinked, confused. “What? This is our one chance to get off this moon.”

“I know,” Nok said. Her hand slid to cradle her belly. “But if we leave the moon, we have no idea what’s out there. Even if you get to Drogane, who knows what kind of reproductive medical care the Mosca have—we don’t even know if they have children like we do.”

“What are you saying?” Cora asked in disbelief.

Nok glanced at Rolf.

“Armstrong isn’t stable, I know that,” Nok said. “But this baby is going to come soon. Keena was an obstetrician’s nurse back home. Loren and Avery both have given birth back on Earth. As dangerous as it is here, I think it’s the best chance we have for a healthy birth. There are midwives.” She motioned to the deputies. “There are people who will help us. And I’ve gotten to know them in the wives’ tents. I trust them. That’s more than I can say for Drogane.”

&n

bsp; Cora still stared at them both as if she hadn’t heard right.

“It’s true,” Rolf added quietly. “You said the same thing yourself, Cora—that this place might not be so bad for a baby, if the sheriff was gone. And anyway, the Gauntlet’s your mission. If we go with you, we’ll only slow you down. You need to be as focused as you can, not worrying about us and the pregnancy.”

Cora shook her head. “It’s practically war here. The mine guards and the tent guards hate each other!”

“Ellis is dead,” Nok said. “There’ll be a new sheriff. A new system. It’s a chance for things to change here. Things could be better. At least, I hope so.” She took a deep breath. “I think it’s the best option we’ve got.”

Cora stared at her like she’d gone mad. All of them. Words pushed around in her mind, but she couldn’t seem to make any sense of them.

Someone screamed as another support post broke. Half the tent buckled before collapsing on top of half the battle. Muffled, choked cries rang out. Dust stirred up and Cora threw a hand over her mouth.

“Go,” Nok urged Cora, coughing.

“But Earth,” Cora started. “There’s still a chance . . .” She spun to Rolf, uncertain. “Don’t you see how crazy this is?”

He looked at his fingers thoughtfully. “We haven’t always gotten along, you and I. I’m sorry for not seeing that you were trying to help us. For so long Lucky tried to tell us that we each have our own cause. Well, I see that now. You have yours. Go, and beat the Gauntlet, and do what you were meant to do. Show the Kindred how strong humans are. We’ll be here, cheering you on.”

Without warning, he threw his arms around her. Nok joined in, and Cora squeezed tight, knowing it was pointless to argue.