CHAPTER 29

SLAVER’S BLADE

Malila’s mind raced. Bear skied along behind her, easily keeping pace as she postholed laboriously toward the underpass with its burden of dead men. Bear was good at this: he was not so close that she could lunge at him nor so far away that she could make a run for it. Dripping wet despite the cold, Malila was about to duck into the snow-free cover of the bridge, when Bear motioned her to climb to the highway above.

“Up you go, Jane. We can go through the leavings after I am done with you. Right now, I need good light … and a good lookout.”

The snow here was deeper. Malila flailed on all fours, crawling to reach the highway while Bear paralleled her climb on the skis, stepping up ligh...

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