BooksBarbecue
Back Rapture
Chapters (55)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Dedication
  4. 1.
  5. 2.
  6. 3.
  7. 4.
  8. 5.
  9. 6.
  10. 7.
  11. 8.
  12. 9.
  13. 10.
  14. 11.
  15. 12.
  16. 13.
  17. 14.
  18. 15.
  19. 16.
  20. 17.
  21. 18.
  22. 19.
  23. 20.
  24. 21.
  25. 22.
  26. 23.
  27. 24.
  28. 25.
  29. 26.
  30. 27.
  31. 28.
  32. 29.
  33. 30.
  34. 31.
  35. 32.
  36. 33.
  37. 34.
  38. 35.
  39. 36.
  40. 37.
  41. 38.
  42. 39.
  43. 40.
  44. 41.
  45. 42.
  46. 43.
  47. 44.
  48. 45.
  49. 46.
  50. 47.
  51. 48.
  52. 49.
  53. 50.
  54. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  55. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

“No,” he said, and stood, brushed off his dusty trousers. He had cleaned them of Khatijah’s blood. “I don’t fear peace, Nyx. There’s always a place for men like me during peace. What destroyed me was this war, and the expectation that I protect my family at all costs. I was tested, Nyx, and I failed.”

“Any man would have failed in your place, Rhys,” she said, low. It didn’t come out as nice as she wanted it to, but it was the truth.

“Is that meant to be comforting?”

“You know, Rhys, I let a whole squad of men die. Men I failed to save. I spent my whole life hearing all about how I was supposed to protect men. My brothers. My squad mates. My team. Then my brothers died, I let my squad get blown up, and I lost some of my best male partners. I lost Taite, and Tej before him. Then you fucked off too. When it all came down to it, I failed again and again. But I didn’t give up like you did. I didn’t walk away from my people. Not when there was something else worth protecting.”

“Didn’t you? You didn’t just run away to the coast?”

“It was that or prison. You fancy prison?”

“You run away from your failures too, Nyx.”

“So we have something in common now?”

“I wouldn’t go that far.” He sighed and started back the way he had come. “Peace be upon you,” he said.

“Yeah, fuck off,” Nyx said. She nursed her cigarette.

“Nyx?”

“What?”

“If you want to get Raine, we should probably have some kind of plan.”

“Should we?”

“One condition.”

“What now?”

“If you take Raine out of here, you need to take me too.”

She didn’t want to tell him that—Raine or no Raine—she would have taken him anyway.

39.

Breaking into Bomani was a lot easier now that they had some idea of what they were doing and a guy on the inside. Rhys pointed them to the least-patrolled portion of the wall, and provided a fine distraction by telling the guards on duty that Hanife had need of them elsewhere. The “corridor” that Nyx had tunneled her way into from the prison cell was actually something like a giant ventilation chamber. Once they slipped back inside, it was easy to move around in and connected most of the major areas inside of Bomani.

Safiyah said she could get them back to the vent they hauled Nyx out of, which meant all Nyx needed to do was extract Raine, haul him into the vent, and then get the whole happy fighting party the hell out of there.