Crimson Talon's thousand-strong revenge force had closed the pincer completely front and rear both sealed.In an instant, the once-confident alliance of factions deflated like a punctured tire.Compared to Syndicate men who'd genuinely bled through real war, these dozen-plus scattered outfits most of them people who probably hadn't so much as killed a chicken before the world ended didn't stand a chance. Paper tigers, the lot of them.Worse, their earlier posturing had actually managed to get all one thousand Syndicate soldiers genuinely irritated.What followed wasn't a battle. It was a slaughter, clean and total.Watching the sheer brutality unfold from a safe distance, Vanessa Callahan and the rest of her crew went pale, one by one.They were art students, technically and credit where due, they'd adapted fast to killing zombies, beasts, and the occasional man with bad intentions in the short time since the apocalypse hit.But nothing had prepared them for this.Limbs flew. Arms sep

The brief standoff resolved, Damon snapped his fingers and turned to lead his men up the mountain to start collecting the spoils.He'd barely taken a few steps.A clear, cool voice cut through the noise behind him."Damon Sterling. Please wait.""...Hm?"He turned toward the sound and found a group of young women sprinting toward him, closing the distance fast.Blood-spattered clothes, dust-streaked faces none of it managed to hide the raw, youthful energy radiating off every one of them."A crew of college girls?"One glance told Damon everything he needed to know about their background.Art students. Has to be.Vanessa reached him first, breath still catching from the sprint, and fixed him with a look somewhere between hopeful and desperate."Damon Sterling. Could I have three minutes of your time? There's something I need to ask you."He studied her for a long, silent moment, then nodded."You know my name, which means you already know who I am. I'll give you the three minutes.""T

"Right."Vanessa gave Damon a short nod, expression turning glacial as she crossed to the eight dying men and drove a blade through each of their hearts in turn."That's for everything you did."Once the last of them stopped moving, she fell into step behind Damon and Sean without another word.Watching how fast and clean Damon had handled the guards outside told her everything she needed about how the rest of this was going to go.Now all she wanted was for every single one of those men to actually be home.Inside the villa, chaos erupted the second word spread that the outer guards had gone silent."Boss, wake up! Wake up! Somebody's calling for backup!""Calling? What?"A heavyset man shoved the crying woman off his lap, yanked on whatever clothes were nearest, and burst out the door.He found a knot of his men waiting outside, tense and armed.Boss Duggan's expression darkened instantly."How many, and where are they now?"Two questions, fired off back to back."Just three of them