“Merlin, how close to done are you?” Ethan called.
“I need another minute!”
“We don’t have another minute,” Roland said grimly. “All of you, get out. Someone can come back for me later.”
Nobody budged.
“Pete, can you—” Ethan started to say, then broke off. Pete was no longer by the door, or anywhere in sight. “Goddammit.”
“You can talk him down later,” Destiny said, softly and for his ears only. “It probably is our best chance.”
“Yeah, but—” From the frustration on Ethan’s face, she was getting an idea of what it had probably been like to work with these guys. Brave and competent as they were, teamwork didn’t seem to be their number one skill.
A familiar roar, followed by familiar cut-off screams and the sound of stampeding feet, sounded through the room.
“Pete,” said Merlin unnecessarily.
There was a moment of silence, which was broken by the click of Roland’s handcuffs opening.
“Okay, Merlin,” said Destiny. “Chicken time!”
With his total lack of offense showing in his quick grin, the man vanished and a raptor stood in his place. It wasn’t chicken-sized, but more like a medium dog. It grew to the size of a large dog, shrank back to medium, and then seemed to give up. It darted out the doorway.
“So,” Roland said, a glint of ironic humor in his eye. “Guess the folk here were doing more than staring at goats.”
The raptor returned. It shrank to the size of a chicken, gave an irritated hiss, then turned back into a man.
“Enemies are dead or gone,” Merlin reported crisply. “And so’s Pete.”
Ethan sighed. “Let’s go after him.”
“That way.” Ransom pointed. Then he turned to Roland. “Can you walk?”
Roland stood up, then swayed. Ransom stepped up close, silently offering his shoulder. Roland accepted his support, and they all went through the door.
Ransom, now walking easily, led the way. He stopped only briefly, to confiscate a tranquilizer rifle from a dead Apex agent and remark, “Not much range on these things. But the armory would have sniper rifles. If we keep heading in this direction, we’ll get to it.”
Ethan murmured into Destiny’s ear, “You ever get the feeling like you’ve completely lost control of a situation?”
“All my life,” Destiny replied softly. “It’s okay, jarhead. We’ve got allies, even if they weren’t the ones we meant to get and they’re a little… new to this sort of thing.”
They turned a corner, and almost tripped over a dead saber-tooth tiger. Pete was kneeling beside it, bleeding from slashes in his face and arms. He didn’t look up at them until Ethan knelt down in front of him and called his name.
“I went to ambush those guys, and then…” Pete’s voice trailed off as he glanced around. “Is that a saber-tooth tiger?”
“A saber-tooth tiger shifter,” said Ransom. “You killed him.”
Pete looked from him to the others, bewildered. “Is this a different part of the base? How’d I get here?”
It was only because Destiny knew Ethan so well that she knew how frustrated he was. But his voice and face remained calm as he said, “As a cave bear, apparently. Listen, Pete, you cannot turn into it again. And don’t just go off without telling anyone. We need to work together if we want to get out of here in one piece.”
Pete didn’t argue, but the set of his face and shoulders was distinctly stubborn.
“Ethan’s right,” Roland said. “We do need to work as a team. All the same, I owe you. You gave us our chance to escape. Thank you.” He offered Pete his hand.
Pete took it, then jerked his hand away as if Roland’s touch was red hot. “Sorry. Hurt my hand.”
There was no time for bandages, and Pete wasn’t bleeding badly. Still, Destiny took a quiet look at his injuries for future reference when they did have time, and was puzzled to see that he had no blood or bruises or swelling anywhere near where Roland had touched. And apart from when he’d pulled his hand away, he didn’t seem to be in any pain.