Ocho didn’t give the lieutenant a chance. He took a quick step up to the man and drove his blade into Sayle’s gut. Did it again, to make sure.

The lieutenant gasped. “Why?” But Ocho didn’t have time for him. He slapped the man’s blade away and shouted for a medic, and then he turned as weapons chattered on full auto.

Bloody holes spattered up and down Ghost, small perforations in the front, big gaping wounds in the back. Chips of stone whizzed past Ocho as bullets missed and ricocheted, and then a mob of Eagle Guards fell upon Ghost.

Roaring and screaming. The ratcheting of automatic weapons. Blood mist in the air, a whirlwind of viscera and bones and bodies. Men seemed to disappear before Ocho’s eyes, replaced by sprays of blood on the walls and columns.

In their rush to aid the Colonel, some of the Eagles had strayed into the half-man’s reach. They simply came apart in the monster’s grasp and then the monster had their weapons, and the rest of the Eagles were dying as well, gunned down with terrifying marksmanship.

Ocho dove for the ground and crawled behind a column, wishing he could find shelter. The half-man roared and fired, emptying clips. Men were screaming. A body tumbled down beside Ocho. He grabbed for the man’s weapon as more Eagles boiled into the command center. They were ducking and dodging behind columns, snapping shots, but the half-man seemed to anticipate them. Every time a soldier showed himself, he took a bullet in the face.

Ocho belly-crawled behind a desk, hoping to make it to the door. He just had to get out…

He glimpsed the girl, still tied. Trying to lie flat as bullets whizzed around her. She was sobbing and trying to reach Ghost where he lay in a spreading pool of his own blood.

The half-man’s weapon clicked empty.

Ocho wasn’t sure if the other soldiers realized it, but the half-man was a sitting duck now. With a curse, Ocho took his rifle and leaned out, and then, with a prayer to the Fates, he slid his rifle across the floor, right to the monster.

The half-man caught it. Locked eyes with Ocho.

What am I doing?

But it was already done. When Ocho put the knife in the Colonel it was done. There was no going back now. Ocho crawled across to where the Colonel lay in a heap. He rolled the man over and started going through his pockets. The man flailed at Ocho, but Ocho shoved his hands away.

“Fight the good fight, soldier,” Stern whispered.

“You got the key?” Ocho asked. “You got the key, Colonel?”

The Colonel looked at him. “You’ll keep the fight going? You won’t let the traitors ruin everything?” he gasped.