Chapter 20 · Rack 'Em Up

“Move, Valerie. Now.” Jesse shoved her sideways as the first card hit the alley wall.

The blast punched through brick where her head had been. Red sparks sprayed across her cheek. She dropped into a crouch, one hand still locked around Jesse's, and the tether between them snapped tight like a cable pulled through bone.

“Was that your plan?” she yelled.

“My plan was not getting shot.”

“Great plan. Very inspiring.”

“Save the sarcasm for when we're not being murdered.”

A second card screamed past them. It struck a drainpipe and unfolded into a metal jaw. The thing clamped down on the pipe, tore it loose, and sent it crashing across the narrow alley.

Jesse looked past the falling steel.

The alley ended twenty feet ahead at a sealed loading gate. Behind them, the swarm poured in through the street, boots scraping over broken glass, card light flashing between bodies. More hunters climbed fire escapes above. Some carried rifles. Others had decks already spinning around their wrists.

None of them looked scared.

They had been promised Jesse's deck, Valerie's body, and the linked life total between them.