The Bones of Valhalla (Purge of Babylon, Book 9) by Sam Sisavath Page A

know what she was doing here in the first place. There was nothing Annie could tell her that would help resolve what was happening above them at this very moment. She could hear it in the other woman’s voice—Annie believed everything she was saying, even if the outcome of her actions hadn’t been what she wanted.
    “You still shouldn’t have done it,” Lara said.
    “I had no choice.”
    “You could have come to me.”
    “And would you have listened?”
    “Yes.”
    “Maybe, but you still wouldn’t have acted any differently, would you?”
    Lara didn’t answer right away.
    “Of course not,” Annie said. “That’s why you didn’t give me any choice.”
    “We always have choices, Annie. You just chose the wrong one.”
    “I didn’t…” She shook her head. “I did what I had to do to get rid of that monster.”
    Will. His name is Will. Whatever he’s become, he’s still Will.
    …mostly.
    “All right,” Lara said, and turned to go.
    “Carrie…”
    Lara, with one hand on the door lever, turned back. “What about her?”
    “I’m sorry about what happened. They told me they wouldn’t hurt anyone. They were just going to go down there and kill it.”
    “What about Zoe and the infirmary?”
    “They didn’t tell me anything about that.”
    “Would it have made a difference if they had?”
    Annie opened her mouth to answer, but no sounds ever came out.
    “Right,” Lara said, and opened the door and stepped outside.
    Bonnie was waiting for her in the narrow passageway, and the other woman padlocked the door as soon as Lara stepped out. “Talk about a waste of a whole room.”
    “We’ll move her when everything’s calmed down,” Lara said.
    Bonnie pocketed the key as they headed up the hallway. Without constantly bumping into someone from Riley’s party, they could walk side by side without a problem, a luxury Lara didn’t think she would ever get back.
    “Where is everyone?” Lara asked.
    “Riley ordered his people into their cabins, and the rest are securing themselves in the lower deck. The doors are locked and I have Lorelei walking around down there to make sure they don’t stray.”
    “Lorelei?”
    “She wanted something to do after what happened to Carrie. Keep herself occupied. The kid’s suffering, but she’s a trooper.”
    “She’s by herself down there?”
    “She has a radio. The only other able body we have left is Blaine, and I didn’t think it was wise to take him away from the bridge.”
    Lara nodded her approval. “What’s Benny’s situation?”
    “The vet says he’s stable.”
    “The vet” was George, the veterinarian who had been a part of Riley’s crew on the Ocean Star . With Zoe stuck in the infirmary, he was the next best option.
    “A hell of a mess,” Bonnie said. “You really think Riley didn’t know about any of this?”
    “I don’t think he had any idea.”
    “He’s cute, but he’s all kinds of clueless, isn’t he?”
    “I don’t think clueless is the word. Maybe…”
    “What?”
    “Too trusting.”
    “Yeah, that can definitely get you shot these days.”
    The old her would have vehemently disagreed, but if the last year had taught her anything, it was that people you couldn’t trust with absolute one-hundred percent certainty were best approached with a gun at the ready.
    I bet Mom would have loved to hear me say that.
    They took the stairs, and on the way up Bonnie said, “What did he say?”
    Bonnie didn’t have to elaborate on who he was. Lara didn’t answer right away, mostly because she still didn’t know how to process all of it. There was so much information, so many ifs and whys and hows that it made her head hurt.
    It’s a suicide mission , she remembered thinking when he told her his plan, what Danny called Plan G.
    At the same time, she couldn’t help thinking, But what if it worked? Then it would change everything. It would change everything.
    But that was the problem. It could work, but it could just as easily