Chapter 34 · Take Back the Sky

The girl pointed up. Not at the sky. At the transport sitting on Iron Gate's east runway, engines already spinning.

I ran.

Hammer wasn't down in the depot planting bombs because he didn't need to. He had a plane loaded with enough ordnance to level half the outpost from the air, and he was about to take off.

Cole caught up to me halfway across the yard. "Boss, what—"

"Get everyone into the bunkers. Now."

"What about you?"

I didn't answer. I was already moving too fast to waste breath.

The transport was a military relic, probably older than me. Twin props, fat belly, rear loading ramp still half open. Hammer's people were scrambling up it, hauling crates. No time to count how many.

I hit the ramp at a dead sprint and vaulted over the first crate. A guy in red turned, mouth opening. I put my knife under his jaw before he could yell. He dropped. I kept moving.

The cargo bay stank of fuel and sweat. Crates stacked six high, strapped down with fraying nylon. I could see the stencil marks. Mortar shells. Incendiaries.