She was right. They were all in it together and would rise or fall together. And Santi was staying close to Wolfe, only a step or two away, as if well aware of the risks.
Jess slammed the metal door back against the wall and took the lead, heading down a ramp into the dark. As his eyes adjusted, he realized there were lights, just low ones that blazed brighter as he approached—sensing his presence somehow. There’ll be three more automata, he remembered. The Alexandrian sphinxes would be smaller than the lions, though no less dangerous. The Spartan . . .
He didn’t know what to do about the Spartan.
The tunnel twisted to the left, and he looked back before he took the turn. Khalila and Glain were behind him, then Dario and Wolfe with Santi. As Jess turned the curving corner, he saw steps going down. The smooth plaster of the walls gave way to old Roman stone. The lights continued to brighten around them, and Jess moved as fast as he could.
A High Garda soldier stepped out into his path, and Jess prepared to shoot, but Santi put a hand on his shoulder. “No,” he said. “Sergeant Reynolds?”
The soldier lowered his weapon—not completely, just enough to ease Jess’s mind a little. “Captain Santi? Sir, you’re not supposed to be here.”
“Let me pass.”
“I can’t do that, sir.”
Glain shot him. It was a quick, economical movement, and the stun round dropped the man to his knees. A second put him completely down. Santi checked the man’s pulse and nodded. He wasn’t happy, but Glain had done the right thing. Talking would get them killed.
The second soldier who came rushing in fired. Glain shot back, but he was wearing armor, and the stunning shot had no effect.
Jess had his weapon set to full strength and fired. He put two rounds into the armor, which was enough to knock the man down and unconscious, but—he hoped—not enough to kill.
A chorus of high-pitched shrieks split the air. There was another blind corner ahead, and beyond it would be the cells . . . and the sphinxes were between them and Thomas. Two of them. How do I stop two of them at once? It seemed impossible now that he was here, listening to the screams coming closer.
“Khalila,” he said. “When the sphinx comes, there’s a depression underneath the jaw, behind the pharaoh’s beard. You need to press it. They should hesitate, seeing you in a Scholar’s robe and a gold band. I’ll get the other one.”
She stared at him with wide, incredulous eyes for an instant, then nodded. No discussion, no questions. She stood beside him, ready, as the two sphinxes rounded the corner together, loping out of rhythm with each other but with the same deadly grace. The one making for Jess screamed again and bared needle teeth, but the one on Khalila’s side of the hallway seemed confused. She held her hand up to show her gold band. It slowed, cocking its inhuman head.
Jess feinted to his left, and when the sphinx on his side lunged, he jammed his gun crosswise into the fearsome jaws. One of the paws swiped for him, and he heard Glain shout a warning even as he twisted to avoid it. He didn’t dare risk a glance at Khalila. This sphinx wasn’t going to hesitate to kill him, and he didn’t dare take even a second of attention away. It moved like a snake, like something unnaturally fluid, and his sweaty fingers slipped as he tried for the switch beneath the jaw. He missed, ducked a swipe, and heard metal crunching as the sphinx bit down on the gun. He tried for the switch again and got knocked off balance by a metallic head butt hard enough to send him flying backward. A massive paw armed with razor claws raked a path through the floor where he’d been. He hit, rolled off the wall, and came back low and fast.
This time, he flung himself around with one arm over the lion’s head and swung onto the beast’s back. The heat coming from it at this angle felt intense even through the layers of his uniform, but he ignored that, ignored the blood dripping from fingers that had grazed sharp claws on the way up, and wrapped both arms around the thing’s neck as it reared to try to throw him off. When it crashed down to four paws again, the mangled gun fell from the sharp-toothed mouth, and the sphinx’s head whipped around at an impossible angle to bite.
He got to the switch, somehow, just before it sank those teeth into his neck.
As he slid down, leaving the sphinx frozen in that unnatural, twisted position, he realized that Khalila’s sphinx was equally still . . . in a crouch, at her feet, like a particularly dangerous pet.
“Maybe I should let you do this from now on,” he said with a grin that felt half-mad, and she let out a laugh at least as uncontrolled. “We’ve still got one soldier and a Spartan to deal with. Reinforcements will come.”
“Then we should hurry.”
That was a new voice coming from behind them, and as Jess turned, he saw Glain and Santi had beaten him to it with impressive speed. They leveled weapons at the newcomer making her way down the steps, and Santi lowered his weapon first.
Morgan.