“No,” I said. “Knock him out. Precipice drives. Dogs will run interference, but they can’t do it alone. The road between here and where we’re going is busier, and other cars on the road limit what the dogs can do to stop the van if it goes off course. I’ll be overhead, helping.”

“I can drive,” Foil said. “I know he’s your teammate, but—”

“But we need you shotgun, in a position to shoot if we need shooting,” I said.

She considered, then nodded.

Chastity looked at Rachel for confirmation. Rachel nodded, and Chastity flicked out her whip without turning to look at the driver. He brought up an arm, protecting himself, and the whip encircled his wrist. She hauled back on it, pulling him toward her—and he went with it, charging her.

A dog butted forward, moving to intercept. The driver couldn’t pull back or get away before the dog rammed him with its head. The impact was heavy enough that Chastity had to let go of her whip instead of being pulled along with.

“I don’t have enough shots for my crossbow,” Foil told me, even though the situation with the driver wasn’t yet resolved.

“We have other weapons,” I said.

“I guess,” she said.

“How much time have you spent at the range?” I asked, flying over to the dog with the knocked out mercs draped over its back. It shied away, stopping as Rachel made a disapproving sound.

I pulled a pistol from the mercenary’s holster, handing it to Foil. Off to the side, Chastity bent down over the mercenary.

“Not enough.”

“Enhanced timing and accuracy, at least.”

She nodded.

I gave a hand in getting the knocked out soldiers into the back of the van. Lord of Loss was already in the back, under the bench behind the passenger seat. As we’d done with him, we positioned the mercenaries, zip tied their hands and feet, then had Foil use her darts to fix their clothes to the surroundings.

It was crowded work, so as soon as my portion of things was done, I checked on Lord of Loss, making sure his hands weren’t cold and that circulation was there. Which was probably nicer than anything the asshole would do for us. Sticking people’s faces into Nursery’s power. Fucker.

I shivered involuntarily.

“I should cancel out my power on them sometime,” Chastity said.

“They’re knocked out until you wake them up, right?”

“But if that tackle had hit me, they’d be awake and I’d be out, and I wouldn’t be useful to you for a while,” she said. “We have to assume it’s going to happen.”

I nodded. “Maybe wait until we’re closer to where we’re going. It means Lord of Loss talks less. He’s kind of ridiculously annoying.”

She nodded.

“We could tape his mouth shut,” Aroa said.