Page 133 of Twist of Fate

He selected the remote disconnect. For one heartbeat, the screen went dark.

Then red text appeared.

REMOTE DISCONNECT FAILED.

MANUAL CORE REMOVAL REQUIRED.

Luke read the message twice, hoping the words might become less irritating the second time.

They didn’t.

If he wanted to finish destroying the tracking system, he would have to reach the roof and remove the receiver’s core by hand.

The server-room door screamed beneath another impact.

Luke turned as the lock housing split and the steel door lurched inward several inches before catching against the damaged frame.

Barely.

A voice carried through the opening. “Get him alive if you can.”

Luke retrieved the metal brace he had dropped beside the console. It wasn’t much of a weapon, but it had a sharp edge and enough weight to do damage if he struck the right place.

Something shrieked overhead. The door tilted inward as its upper hinge tore loose, dragging the warped lock free of the frame.

Two attackers spilled through the opening.

The first stumbled beneath the force he had been using against the door. The second raised his weapon before his boots had fully found the grated floor.

Luke moved toward them. He drove the end of the metal brace beneath the first man’s chin. The attacker choked, his weapon firing into the ceiling. The blast punched through a cable tray and sent sparks raining across the aisle.

Luke shoved him into the second man.

Both staggered.

Then Connal charged through the broken doorway behind them.

He came in with blood streaking one cheek, his hair loose around his face and his sword already moving.

He looked furious.

Luke had never seen anything so perfect in his life.

Connal severed the second attacker’s weapon with one strike and drove the hilt of his sword into the man’s throat with the next.

The first man twisted toward Luke.

Luke saw the movement.

So did Connal.

Luke dropped. Connal’s blade passed over him and opened the attacker from shoulder to hip. The body collapsed onto the grated floor beside Luke.

For half a breath, the room held only the roar of the backup fans and Connal standing over him with a bloodied sword.

Their eyes met.

Connal’s gaze swept over Luke’s face, throat, ribs, and bleeding hand, taking inventory with ruthless speed.