They locked gazes.

Hauk held his breath as a thousand bad memories went through him. The pod exploding and pinning him to the hot metal. Being trapped in the fire while circuitry exploded around him. The mountain blowing up in his face.

But that was the past. Sumi couldn’t carry the heavier guns and ammo. He knew that. The grenades were her best defense.

“Load up, mu mia.”

She tucked them into her clothes as he made sure everything was charged and that he had more cartridges for the smaller blasters.

He led her out of the room before he rigged the door to detonate should anyone else try to access it to rearm.

With luck, they might make it upstairs without being seen. So far they’d done a remarkable job of silently eliminating their enemies.

They took out five more as they swept the hallway. But just as they reached the stairs, a door opened behind them.

Hauk winced as he realized the man was too far away. He slung out his knife and caught him between the eyes.

But not before the man opened fire and set off the alarm.

Hauk laid down cover fire for Sumi as they were swarmed by assassins. “Get behind me.”

She did, but only after she shot one blast that caught a man in the head and sent him to the ground. She fisted her hand in Hauk’s munitions belt and drew him with her.

They turned the corner and all hell rained down on them.

He moved to shield Sumi. She pulled his two modified Andarion blasters from his holster and shot at their attackers from around his waist.

On autopilot now, he did what he did best.

Fought and killed.

Hauk paused to reload. “How many bastards are here? Are they cloned?”

“If they were, I’d like to think they’d have chosen better-smelling donors for the program.” Sumi swapped weapons before lobbing her grenades. She pulled him with her as he covered them while they fell back toward the stairs.

He lost count of how many blasts hit him. They hurt, but so long as they landed on his coat, he was shielded. It was the one that went into his thigh that caused him to stumble.

As he started to fall, he found Sumi by his side, offering him her shoulder. She pulled him into a room, out of the line of fire.

Biting his lip, he cursed at the pain. “You should go before you get hurt.”

She shook her head. “Not without you…” She locked gazes with him. “Strong alone. Stronger together. Fear no death.”

He smiled as she voiced The Sentella motto. “Not very League of you.”

“Screw The League.”

He pulled his scarf off and used it to put pressure on his thigh. “Let’s finish this.”