Page 16 of Covert Vengeance

Soundlessly she drew her knife from the sheath strapped to her thigh and crept up behind him. Striking fast, she clamped a hand around his mouth as she drove the blade directly into his right kidney and twisted it. He jerked taut and flailed a hand back for the knife, but he was already sagging, the pain so intense he couldn’t even cry out.

She yanked the blade free and grabbed him around the waist, one hand still over his mouth as she stepped back to ease his heavy weight to the floor. The scent of blood filled the air as she holstered the knife and drew her pistol, reaching behind her for the doorknob. She didn’t know how long she had until someone found the guard’s body, but it could be any moment.

Inside it was cold and dark, a faint glow coming from the bottom of the stairs. Closing the door soundlessly behind her she crept down the steps, weapon in hand. A single light bulb was on in the ceiling at the base of the stairs. Amber pulled out her penlight.

There were no guards. But there were cells.

Two appeared to be occupied, one near the stairs and the other at the back of the room. A body lay crumpled in the nearest one, with short, dark blond hair that looked like it had been hacked off with a knife.

Hannah.

Amber rushed over to her. Hannah was lying curled up on her side, facing away. Her face was a mess, her eyes swollen shut, dried blood covering her skin. Her hands and feet were bound.

“Hannah,” she whispered.

No reaction. She was either unconscious or…

A padlock on the cell door barred her entry. Amber wasn’t as good at picking locks as her sister, and she didn’t have time to waste doing it. She pulled a small can from her pocket and sprayed liquid nitrogen on the lock. After a few seconds she stepped back and drove the sole of her boot into the frozen metal. The lock shattered.

She ripped the door open and rushed inside, kneeling down beside Hannah. But as soon as she did, she knew she was too late. Hannah Miller was dead. And from the looks of it, her death had been slow and painful.

For a long moment Amber couldn’t move. She stared down at the dead Valkyrie’s face, her heart constricting.

This was her fault. She’d done this. And Hannah had suffered terribly before drawing her final breath. Amber wouldn’t even be able to take her body out, because that would slow her down too much. Hannah wouldn’t even receive the dignity of a burial.

Nausea roiled in her belly. She sucked in a breath and swallowed, fought to clear her head.Breathe. You need to breathe and stay focused—

“Is she…dead?” a raspy whisper asked from the back of the room.

Amber jerked upright, swinging around to aim her pistol toward the source of the voice. In the shadows she just barely made out the shape of the silhouette in the cell at the back of the room. A dark-haired woman, also lying curled on her side on the floor.

Amber stepped toward her, lowering her weapon. “Who are you?”

“One of us.” Her voice was weak.

Another Valkyrie? Heart thudding, Amber aimed the beam of her penlight at the cell. Her insides iced over when she saw the woman lying tangled in what was left of a bloodstained, shredded gown. She had Asian features, straight black hair and dark, badly bruised eyes.

The fine hairs on Amber’s nape stood on end as recognition hit her like a punch to the gut. “Kiyomi?” she said in disbelief. They hadn’t seen each other since their training as teenagers.

The woman squinted at her through one barely-open eye, her features twisted in obvious pain. The bastards had cuffed her wrists and ankles and chained her to the floor like an animal and left her here to suffer. “Who… Who are you?”

Shit, what was Kiyomi doing here? “Amber.” She sprayed the lock, busted it with her foot and threw the door open. She’d been lucky the other guards hadn’t come for her yet. Every second from here on out was a luxury.

Recognition flared in those dark, bruised eyes. “Amber…”

“Come on, we don’t have much time,” Amber said as she sprayed the liquid nitro on the steel loop holding the chains in place.

It took her three kicks to break it. As soon as it snapped she bent to help Kiyomi up. “Can you walk? We’ve gotta hurry.”

Kiyomi’s quiet intake of air and the sudden rigidity of her body told Amber she was in agony. “No. It’s too late. Leave me here. I’ll handle the other guards while you get out,” she gasped.

“Bullshit. We’re getting out of here right now, together.” Once they were safe Kiyomi could tell her what she was doing there and what had happened to Hannah.

Muttering a quiet apology she grabbed Kiyomi around the waist and half-dragged her out of the cell, ignoring Kiyomi’s strangled cry. They both froze at the sound of voices coming from above.

“How many are there?” Amber whispered.

“Five.”

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