“I know a bit about the creatures that attacked us last night,” I said. “I’ll share the intel with you. Having a strategy against them is valuable.”

  He made a face while he considered the offer. “Nah. We survived last night. We’ll survive tonight. Try again.”

  “Come on, it’s good information,” I pressed.

  “Did you expect me to make this easy for you? I can see how bad you want to know about the Earthian. I can see how much you’ll pay.”

  “Except there’s only so much I have to offer.”

  “Yup. Maybe we can’t strike a bargain. I can live with that. Can you?”

  “You seem like you have something in mind. Why beat around the bush?”

  “It’s more fun. And I got nothing better to do right now.”

  “Well, I do. Let’s hear it.”

  Coil pointed at Shaq. “I want him.”

  “Forget it,” Shaq buzzed.

  “He’s not a pet,” I snapped. “And he’s not for sale.”

  “That’s what I want.” His eyes shifted to Shaq. “You’re better off coming with me. This boy’s too naive to survive much longer.”

  “Go to hell,” Shaq replied.

  “Here’s the thing, son,” Coil said, returning his attention to me. “I’ve seen him. I know what happened to him. I give you my word as a Colonel.” My heart jumped in response to the statement. “So, all you gotta do to find out for yourself is to turn over the jagger.” He looked at Shaq again. “And all you gotta do is ride with me until the end. Once we get off this rock, you’ll be free to do whatever you want. I give you my word as an officer on that, too.”

  I glanced at Shaq, personally tempted by the offer. I knew he could handle himself. He was more dangerous than any of the killers in front of me, with the possible exception of Coil himself. Of course, that’s why Coil wanted him. When it came time to thin his own herd, he could rely on Shaq to do the bulk of the culling.

  “I’ll go,” Shaq said, looking back at me.

  “I’m not asking you to do that,” I replied.

  “I’ll go,” he repeated. “Find Matt.”

  I shook my head. His willingness to do this for me only made me want him to do it less. “Bud, no. We’ll find—”

  “It’s a deal,” he buzzed at Coil, not giving me a chance to press the argument.

  Coil laughed again. “You know how to play the game, don’t you?” he replied. “You could take lessons from your friend here, son. He called it a deal, but I’m dealing with you. Whaddaya say?”

  I clenched my teeth against the bitter taste in my mouth.

  “It’s okay,” Shaq buzzed softly, pressing his head against my neck.

  “I just got you back,” I replied.

  “You will again.”

  I exhaled sharply and nodded, looking at Coil. “It’s a deal. But like I said, Shaq’s not a pet. How do you know you can trust him?”

  “He’s on your shoulder, but you know frig-all about his kind. A jagger’s word is its bond. And I don’t mean that figuratively. He’d be a disgrace to his whole species if he went back on a promise. And there ain’t a thing that could be worth that outcome. Ain’t that right, Shaq?”

  “Mmmhmm,” Shaq agreed.

  Coil walked toward me now, no longer concerned I would use Shaq against him. As he neared, he put his hand to his mouth and spit in it before holding it out to shake. “To formalize the arrangement.”

  I hesitated before spitting in my hand and taking his. I still hated almost every moment of it, except he was going to tell me where to find Matt. Hopefully alive.

  “I spotted him last night,” Coil said. “Pretty good fighter, especially since he’s an Earthian. Took out two killers while trying to escape the demons. Last I saw, they got him.”

  My heart sank, sudden fury exploding in my gut. “He’s dead?” I hissed, surprising myself that I was more angry than sad.

  “I didn’t say that,” Coil replied. “I said they got him. Last I seen, a bunch of them had restrained him and picked him up. They were carrying him off.”

  “Bullshit,” I snapped. “They don’t take prisoners. They kill every human they see.”

  “I gave you my word, son. That’s what I seen, straight up. Truth told, it was the damndest thing I ever witnessed.”

  “Where’d they take him?” I asked.

  “Don’t know. Lost sight of them as they retreated through the rest of the bastards.” He turned to face his crew. “Anyone else seen the Earthian getting carried off by the natives?”

  A woman stepped forward. “I did, sir,” she said. “They looked like they were headed for the industrial district.”

  Coil looked back at me. “There you have it. If you don’t mind my asking, what’s your interest in him, anyway?”

  “He’s my best friend,” I replied, mind reeling. Why would the demons take Matt prisoner when they had killed everyone else? I couldn’t think of a scenario where it made any sense.

  “Hmm. Didn’t think he had any friends. Well, you’re a good friend to try so hard to find him. I respect that. Anything else you want to chat about before we part ways?”

  “Actually, yes,” I replied. “I hear you have a plan to get Sanguine to send their team to the surface so you can steal their gunship.”

  “Who told you that?”

  “It doesn’t matter. Is it true?”

  “It might be.” He lowered his voice. “But between you and me, if you think I’m bringing any but the strongest and most trustworthy of these murderous assholes with me, you’ve got another thing coming.” He eyed Shaq again. “You’re in, little monster.”

  “So you do have a plan,” I said.

  He shrugged again, refusing to admit it. Still, something about his reaction suggested he wasn’t totally full of shit. “Shouldn’t make much difference to you. You ain’t gonna live long enough to see the answer for yourself. Shaq, kill him.”

  CHAPTER 27

  From what Coil had just said about jaggers, I had the sense Shaq would put his promise to serve the colonel above our friendship. I activated the construct before Coil finished speaking, and Shaq’s hesitation gave me just enough time to push him from my shoulder. He tumbled through the air, landing closer to the rest of Coil’s group where I held him down.

  “Huh,” Coil grumbled, his only expression one of surprise as his fists came at me like lightning bolts, driving a pair of heavy blows into my gut, knocking the air out of my lungs and sending me reeling. He stayed right on me, but I managed to activate enhance and strengthen my body against his blows. His next few blows barely registered, and I thrust my hand out into his chest, the force driving him back, his feet skidding on the street's broken asphalt. “Not bad,” he remarked with a smirk. “Kill him!”

  His shout drove the rest of his gang into action, weapons swinging toward me all at once. I released Shaq and activated reflect as I turned and made a run for it. I preferred absorb, but that action couldn’t stop Coil from tackling me. As it was, rounds bounced off the reflection, screams rising behind me as some of the killers were hit with their own returning fire.

  Sprinting away, Coil didn’t give chase himself, watching me run with an amused look on his face. Given an order by the colonel, Shaq charged forward, though he didn’t look very happy about it. Before passing Coil, the man put up his hand, signaling Shaq to stop. Shaq climbed to his shoulder instead, remaining there, still looking miserable.

  What had I done?

  I reached the corner of the building, practically colliding with one of Ixitat’s webs as I lost my footing skidding through the opening she had made for me. Rolling on the ground, I came to a stop. My mad dash alerted the others to the incoming forces. They prepped their weapons, careful to stay out of sight, mainly from that of the sniper on the other side of the building.

  “Watch out for Shaq,” I warned them. “He’s on Coil’s side for now.”

  “What?” Druck replied. “How the hell did that happen?”

  “Long story. But don’t hurt him.”

  “If he’s going to bite me, I’m going to hurt him,” Emerald replied.

  “Ditto,” Druck said. “Sorry, Boss, but not I’m not dying over his defection.”

  I jumped back to my feet as the first four of Coil’s killers rushed recklessly around the corner, only to find themselves unexpectedly hung up in Ixy’s webs. Thrashing helplessly in the sticky silk, they suddenly went still, looking positively terrified as Emerald raced up to stab them each in the heart. As the webs clogged up with bodies, the barrier funneled the attackers through a smaller chokepoint. The offensive immediately faltered, the killers pulling up and trying to retreat. Druck, Kat, Veneel, and I hit them with rifle and blaster fire, cutting down three of them before they could run for cover.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Coil screamed at them. “Get those sumbitches!”

  “They’re entrenched, sir,” one of his people said.

  “Entrenched? There’s nowhere to entrench back there.”

  “See it for yourself. I’m not—”

  A single gunshot rang out, silencing the killer.

  “Anyone else want to retreat?” Coil threatened. “I’m gonna kill you…” He paused, realizing he had never asked for my name, and I had never given it. “I’m gonna kill you!”

  “What do we do?” Kat asked. “We can’t go forward or back right now.”

  “Let them come,” Emerald said. “That’s the best thing we can do.”

  In this case, she was right. If Coil was tactically inclined, he wasn’t showing it now by forcing his people to attack. They swung back around the corner en masse, in a rush meant to break through the defenses and overwhelm us.

  They made it almost too easy.

  “Hold your fire until I give you the word,” I said.

  “Copy that,” Kat agreed.

  I activated reflect between the two sides of webbing with the bodies clinging to it, and when the lead group of killers hit it, they bounced off like the gorathi had, tumbling into their comrades in a heap. As soon as the bulk were distracted and confused, I canceled the sigil.

  “Now!” I snapped. The others opened fire, picking off the killers like fish in a barrel. They went down one after another, over half of Coil’s force done for within a handful of seconds, leaving the field once more clear.

  But not for long.

  A fresh wave of killers moved in, much more cautiously this time. They tried to shoot through the gap, but I put up a new shield to prevent their assault from reaching us. Stymied, they retreated again, vanishing around the side of the building. A hush settled over the area.

  “Are they gone?” Veneel asked.

  “No,” I replied. “They’re planning a different approach. Kat, Veneel, keep the rear covered.”

  “Copy that,” Kat replied. Ixitat had set up webs behind us as well, which so far remained undisturbed. He positioned behind them on one knee, rifle aimed through the gap.

  “We should just get out of here,” Emerald suggested. “If we backtrack that way, we can limit the amount of time we spend in the sniper's line of sight.” She pointed to another building caddy-cornered from our position. “We just have to make it across the intersection of doom.”

  “As soon as we move into the open, we’ll start taking fire again,” I replied. “If I have to keep us all covered for that long, it’ll drain me a lot. And the rest of Coil’s forces will still be chasing us, which means I’ll have to hold an expanded reflect for even longer.”

  She looked thoughtful. “Your sigiltech kind of sucks, doesn’t it?”

  I sighed and shook my head. “It’s not magic, and it’s not perfect. An enhancement, not a superpower. And let's not forget, I didn't start out today at full power.”

  “Maybe I don’t want to be your girlfriend after all. I’ll think about it.”

  “You do that.”

  Ixitat laughed behind me, stuck observing the fight because she couldn’t carry or fire a rifle. We didn’t wait long for the next assault. The same group of killers returned from the corner and started shooting, forcing me to raise another shield.

  “Contact!” Kat shouted this time, as a second group closed from the rear. We didn’t have the benefit of bodies against the webs to protect us there, and I had to add absorb on that side to protect it. It cost me more of my chaos energy, but on the plus side, I collected the shooter’s rounds, ready to disperse them.

  “Bensss!” Ixitat suddenly shrieked, drawing my attention to her as she leaped to the side of the building and began climbing. Looking up, I spotted Coil on the roof, leaning over the edge with his rifle. Shaq was already airborne, on his way toward me. Son of a bitch had added a third angle of attack. Why the hell hadn’t I thought of the roof? With absorb and reflect already active, I couldn’t cover above without dropping at least one of the actions. Still taking fire from both directions, that wasn’t an option.

  “Ixy, no!” I shouted as she started slashing out toward Shaq with her forelimb. She pulled back at the last second, letting him sweep past. “Kat!” I screamed next, trying to warn him.

  Too late. Coil’s rounds smashed into Kat from above, ripping through his armor. He collapsed beneath the onslaught, weapon flying from his hands. Seeing Ixitat bearing down on him and his cover blown, Coil retreated from the edge of the rooftop.

  I wanted to push Shaq away, but with his current momentum I hesitated, afraid I would hurt him if I did. He tucked himself into a straight dive right at me, spreading all four legs at the last instant to let his skin catch the air and slow him down. He grabbed onto the neck of my combat armor and moved to my neck.

  “Shaq,” I pleaded softly.

  Instead of a bite, I felt his head rub against my neck as he purred. He let out a long sentence in his language that I couldn’t understand, but the context made the meaning clear. It didn’t matter if he was going against his species’ beliefs. He refused to hurt me, just like I had refused to hurt him.

  “Thanks, bud,” I said, even as I eyed the killers on either side of us. “Get down!”

  We all hit the dirt as I released reflect and activated disperse, sending collected energy blasts and bullets flying in both directions with a sweep of my hands. Head swinging back and forth, I watched the remaining killers fall beneath the surprise onslaught, leaving nearly every member of Coil’s original contingent lying dead around us. Looking up, I saw Ixitat had reached the edge of the rooftop and stopped there, careful not to expose herself to the sniper or the colonel. With this portion of his gang decimated and Shaq betraying his promise, I doubted the man would be reckless enough to return.

  The damage was done. I hurried over to Kat, stopping before going down on one knee beside him to check his pulse. There was no need. He was clearly already dead.

  “Damn it,” I cursed, slamming my fist on my knee, more angry with myself than anything else, the pain of my grief running deep. I should have covered the rooftop. Such a stupid, rookie mistake.

  “You did the best you could,” Druck said, coming up beside me. “Twenty of them for one of us. That’s a pretty good trade off, if you ask me.”

  "Nobody's asking you," I ground out, glaring at him with enough ferocity to force him back a step.

  “Look, once you’ve been soldiering as long as I have, you’ll agree.”

  “I’ll never agree,” I seethed.

  “Well, Coil’s probably halfway back to his hidey-hole with his tail between his legs by now,” Emerald said. “And Kill Spree just got twenty contestants lighter. Sorry, Ben. Shockingly enough, I agree with baldie. This is a total win.”

  “It’s not a damn game!” I shouted back at her. “It’s never been a damn game. The Spiral is in danger. Earth is in danger. Don’t you get that? Any of you?”

  “I get it,” Shaq buzzed.

  “I know you do, bud,” I said, calming a little. “I mean the rest of you.”

  “To be honest, I don’t really care,” Emerald said. “What has the Spiral done for me lately, except frame me for mass murder and send me to the shittiest planet in the universe. The Spiral can go boink itself for all I care.”

  “Boink?” Druck said.

  “Yeah, boink. You know—”

  “We know,” Veneel said. “I’m with you, Master Ben.”

  “You know, if your name were Bader, he’d call you—”

  “Enough, Emerald,” I snapped, cutting her off.

  “I get it, Boss,” Druck said. “But look at what we’ve already been through here. Getting this far with almost all of us still alive is worth feeling grateful for. I think Kat would agree."

  “Agreesss,” Ixitat said, returning from the rooftop.

  “Coil?” I asked her.

  “Gonesss,” she confirmed.

  “Maybe you’re right,” I said. “This is all just more than I ever bargained for, and sometimes it gets to be too much. I feel like I let Kat down.”

  “He was a warrior,” Veneel said. “I believe he knew the risks and would be glad you saved the rest of us.”

  “I never thought I’d side with a Niflin,” Druck said.

  I exhaled the last of my frustration, accepting their perspectives on the whole ordeal. They had a lot more experience with this kind of thing than I did. “Coil told me he saw the gorathi take Matt prisoner.”

  “The gorathi don’t take prisoners,” Veneel said before I could continue.

  “That’s what I said. But he swore it was true.”

  “Impossible,” he insisted.

  “Maybe, maybe not. One of his lackeys claimed they saw Matt being dragged into one of the buildings in the industrial zone, which is also where Quasar was last seen.”

  “I wonder if she saw Matt and tried to go after him,” Druck said.

  “It’s possible,” I agreed. “Either way, we need to continue our search there.”

  “What about Coil?” Veneel asked.

  “I assume he’ll be licking his wounds. He doesn’t strike me as the type to rush back into a fight for revenge.”