Page 16 of Wrong Squad, Right Mess

I snapped a locator and glanced over at Shear, who closed his eyes, focusing to connect with the mentalist and get updated orders.

We’d been told to head to the office building, but they couldn’t expect us to just leave ten kids here. Hopefully they had scouts close enough to step in, to come and escort the group back to the portal.

Shear frowned then shook his head. “No one’s available.”

“They can just head that way,” Corsa said. “We need to get going.”

“They won’t make it on their own,” Ingram argued, keeping his voice low. “Streets are way too filled. They’ll get picked off before they get close.”

I twisted my arm to stare down at my watch. Just under an hour before the portal collapsed, given the previous calculations, before the dungeon closed and no escape was possible. I cursed, trying to plan.

Could we get this group closer to the portal? Close enough to hand off to another squad? No, from Shear’s reaction, command didn’t seem to give a damn about this group. Who cared about some kids from some daycare for poor folks when there were board members in need of rescue?

It would take thirty minutes to get the group to the portal, even at full speed. The office building was a good thirty minutes from the portal as well.

There was no possible way to do both.

“We have to pick,” I said, keeping my voice down so only we heard it. I didn’t need the teacher to tune in—I might just get a bullet for that. “There isn’t time to get this group back and get to the office building.”

“We need to go to the building,” Corsa said. “The Guild gave us orders and we’re supposed to follow them.”

“Can they change them? Send someone else to the office?” I peered at Shear.

“I’ve been arguing with them since we got here—they say no, to leave this group and focus on our assigned target.”

“No room for negotiation?”

“None.”

“Fuck,” I muttered and rubbed my hands over my face.

Dungeons required choices. That was the name of the game. We had to make split-second decisions, one after another, yet none had seemed quite as heavy as this one.

It wasn’t deciding who to save based on a battlefield, wasn’t realizing I couldn’t save everyone. Instead, it was choosing to let some die for a chance to save others, it was weighing lives against orders.

Except as I met the gaze of my squad, the answer was obvious enough. I couldn’t live with myself if I walked away from this group, if I left the most vulnerable here to die all to maybe save some rich assholes, all to play the game.

Shear, Kenyon, and Ingram each offered a quick nod in return, seeming to come to the same conclusion.

“You’re kidding me, right?” Corsa asked, frowning. He probably picked up the thoughts himself, since he was never on the same page naturally with us. “We have orders. You can’t just ignore orders.”

“They’re kids,” Kenyon said, slowing his voice down as though Corsa simply didn’t get that one important fact. “We can’t just leave them.”

“Do you have any idea what the board members will give us for saving them? It’s basically a blank check for whatever we want. Not to mention that the Guild will do God only knows what if we disobey an order like this.” He kept his voice down, but I suspected that wasn’t out of shame, rather just not wanting to deal with a hysterical woman.

Every word he said reminded me of why I didn’t like him on our squad—even short term. He was in it for himself, nothing else.

“The Guild will understand,” I said, unsure if I believed it. “They’ll understand that we couldn’t leave a classroom full of kids here like this to die.”

A pressure in my head made me dizzy, but it stopped as soon as it started.

“Don’t,” Shear snapped out, voice more vicious than I’d heard it before.

It also told me what had just happened. Had this little asshole really just tried to take over my brain to get his way? I shot Corsa a look intending to make it perfectly clear that he was lucky I didn’t have time to deal with him now.

“You ever try that shit again and you won’t live long enough to give it a third try. Now, come on, let’s figure out how to get the kids to the portal as fast as possible.”

“No,” Corsa said, shaking his head. “If you want to sit here and play hero, you do it by yourself, but I’m not about to throw away my future for some fucking children. I’m not going to make a mistake I can’t fucking take back. I tried to save you all, but if you’re going to be idiots, do it on your own!” He took a step backward, his gaze hard and angry.