Chapter 66

Chapter Sixty-Six

Connor stood at the edge of the Lucky Sevens’s long shadow, booted feet spread wide, one sword raised heavenward, the other held parallel to the red-gray stone of the butte top. A soft breeze blew up from below, its heat carrying the stench of the lizards scraping up the rock wall to get to him.

In that moment, time was frozen.

This was the test of his commitment to Toshiko and the team. Fall, and he was unworthy. Stand, and the team lived.

And Toshiko would be there for him in the end.

He tightened his grip on the weapons’ hilts as the first lizard claws gained the butte top.

Then he charged forward.

There were three blue-green hands visible in the sunlight, separated by about six meters.

He stomped on the first hand, and bone cracked beneath his boot heel.