“Don’t worry about that,” Garret broke in, and Wes turned to eye him wearily. “I know St. George,” he added. “I know their tactics, and what they’ll be doing. We’re not going in blind. I’ll get them out.”

“I’m coming, too,” Faith said.

Surprised, I looked at her. She stood a little ways behind us, pale and terrified but resolved. “Ava saved me,” she insisted. “I wouldn’t have gotten out of Talon if it wasn’t for her. I want to help, however I can.”

Garret shook his head. “You’re not trained for this,” he stated. “I can’t effectively search for the others if I’m worried about protecting you, Faith. It’s better if you stay here.”

“Please,” Faith whispered, and turned to me. “Don’t leave me here,” she pleaded. “I can’t stay behind, doing nothing, not knowing if you’ll come back. I swear I won’t get in your way or slow you down. And I’ll do whatever you tell me to do.” Her eyes went glassy, even as she took a deep breath, composing herself. “Ava is like a sister to me,” she said, making my stomach knot. “I won’t abandon her. I might not be trained for this, but two dragons stand a better chance against St. George than one. Please, I have to come.”

I looked helplessly at Garret, who nodded. “All right,” he agreed, sounding reluctant. “Just stay close, and try to hide if things get dangerous.” He turned to Wes, his voice cool. “They’ll need weapons,” he said. “Both of them. If St. George is down there, we can’t take any chances.”

Wes nodded, rising from the chair. “I suppose there’s really no other way to do this,” he said, pulling a duffel bag from the corner and setting it on the bed. Unzipping it, he stepped back as Garret rummaged inside and pulled out a handgun. Turning, he offered it to me. I took it without hesitation this time, checking the chamber for rounds before shoving it into the waistband of my jeans and pulling my shirt over it, as I’d seen Garret do. No being squeamish now. I was a soldier, and this was a war. If we were going to save Riley and Ava, I had to accept that.

Faith paled when Garret held a pistol out to her, but she took it without hesitation. Wes watched the soldier with hooded eyes, his expression torn between dislike and cautious hope. “Get Riley out,” he told him, as Garret checked his own gun for rounds, then snapped the cartridge back into place. “Nothing else matters. You’re not just saving him, you’re saving everyone in his underground. I can’t do what Riley does. If he dies, all the dragons and humans he rescued from Talon are as good as dead.”

“We’ll bring him back,” I told Wes, feeling a fiery determination spread through me. There was no way I was going to let him die. He was my other half; without him, I felt incomplete. I wasn’t sure if this was my dragon talking or me, but I couldn’t imagine a world without Riley. I looked to Garret, meeting those solemn gray eyes, and took a deep breath. “Ready?”

He nodded once. Together, we walked through the casino, out the doors and into the hot Vegas streets.

Back into the war zone.

Garret

This place was a tactical nightmare.

The rail yard was separated from the rest of the city by a rusty chain-link fence and a strip of industrial desert that marked the end of civilization. Tracks stretched across the open, dusty ground, and aisles of freight containers created a labyrinth of cover and tight quarters. If I were to stage an ambush, this would be the perfect spot.

“Stay alert,” I told Ember as we crouched behind a metal container on the edge of the yard. The place looked deserted, but that meant nothing. St. George knew how to stay hidden. “Watch the aisles, they’ll be the most dangerous. If you see anyone, don’t try to take them out. The Order never does single patrols. If there’s one, there’ll be more nearby. Just get out of sight.”

She nodded, eyes determined. “I’ll follow your lead,” she whispered, raising the gun. “Tell me when to go.”

Behind her, Faith trembled and pressed close, her gaze darting around the yard like a trapped deer. I felt a stab of apprehension; Ember could take care of herself. Or at least, she had faced St. George before, and she wasn’t afraid to fight. Faith, despite her insistence on coming along, was not prepared for this. If we ran into the Order and had to fight our way free, I hoped I could protect us all.

I motioned us forward, and together we darted across the open yard, staying low and keeping to the shadows, until we reached the first train sitting idle on the tracks. Hugging the walls, I edged toward the front, peeking between cars for any hints of movement on the other side. Ember stayed close; I could feel her heat at my back, her steady breathing whenever we paused. For a moment, I had a distracting sense of how surreal this situation was. Again. Here I was, a former soldier of St. George, on the other side of the war with two dragons at my back, trying to rescue one of their own from the Order. It was a fleeting thought; I couldn’t let myself be distracted now. I had to stay focused on the mission and our surroundings, the tactics that would keep us alive. But it crept in all the same, dark and taunting. Would this ever feel normal? And who was I? I didn’t even recognize myself anymore.

“Where are they?” Ember whispered as we crept into an open boxcar after making certain it was empty. “This place feels completely deserted. Where could they be hiding?”

“I don’t know,” I murmured, peering out the other side of the car. The space between the narrow aisles was dark and still. Too still. No bullet holes, no footprints, no signs of a fight or struggle. I hadn’t seen any telltale spatters on the ground, either, which made me both relieved and nervous. The Order was trained to strike hard and fast and to vanish without a trace when the job was done, but they would at least leave some signs of passing. There was nothing here. Ember was right; this place felt completely deserted.