Read Emma: Part Three for Free Online Page A

was short-lived as he lost the sensation of Butler’s pulse. He squashed the instinct to start CPR. With the damage to the cyborg’s gut, he was a lost cause. Even so, Max didn’t let go of his hand. He held tight.
    The others sharing the tunnel with him seemed to understand that Butler was gone. No one spoke a word. Even Grim settled right down and stayed silent. The minutes ticked by, and Max continued to try to engage his transmitter to make contact with the outside world. The concrete walls surrounding them were so thick it was impossible to pick up anything but static.
    One hour turned into two. Max was about to head out to scout their surroundings when Grim suddenly leapt to his feet and growled. He scampered to the door, sniffed and snarled. Max was on his feet a second later, a pistol at the ready, and moving toward the door. He heard Leila and Chloe arming themselves and helping Butch stand.
    The door popped free from its seal, and a blistering wave of heat rushed into the tunnel. The stench it carried was enough to make Max put his arm up against his nose and mouth to filter the air. He raised his weapon, ready to fire, but quickly lowered it and switched on the safety when Rafe’s familiar face appeared. Lighting silhouetted him in a shadow of rain.
    “Shit, it’s good to see you!” Rafe threw the door wide open and stormed into the tunnel, sloshing water and mud with each step. “We couldn’t pick up any of your signals.”
    “Where the hell is my girl?” With his arm crudely bandaged in a makeshift sling, Laird Keaton shoved his way into the tunnel. Soot covered his face, and there was blood and grime all over his clothing. All of the Zed team filing in behind Laird and Rafe looked just as filthy. By the looks of it, they had been engaged in a hell of a fight before and after the bombs dropped.
    “Daddy!” Leila flew at her father but slowed down and carefully embraced him when she saw his wounded arm. “I’m okay.”
    He pushed her back and looked her over from head to toe and right back up again. “The blood…?”
    “It’s not mine.” She glanced back at the spot where Butler had been left. “He got hit real bad. We tried….but…”
    Max glanced at Rafe. It was no secret that Rafe and Butler had been involved in an intimate relationship for the better part of a decade or that they had lost Alissa, the female cyborg both men had loved and shared, almost two years earlier. For Rafe to lose Butler now? Max wasn’t sure how he would react.
    The Zed squad leader slowly crossed the tunnel and knelt down next to Butler’s lifeless body. He reached out with gloved fingertips to touch Butler’s face but pulled back at the last second. After an agonizing moment, he cleared his throat. “Jace?”
    “Yeah, boss?” The massively built and highly skilled tracker stepped out of the shadows. Max eyed the Zed soldier who shared his DNA. They both had the same sperm donor as a biological father. In close quarters like this, the resemblance between them was clear.
    “We’re going to need a body bag,” Rafe stated. Calm. Disconnected. Aloof.
    Max decided to give him space and time. He trusted Rafe to do his duty first and breakdown later, in private and back at the Outpost.
    Quietly and reverently, Max, Rafe and Jace lifted Butler’s body into the bag and loaded it onto the stretcher. Butler was carefully secured to a bench in the back of a Keaton cargo truck. They hoisted Butch onto a different bench and helped him prop up his shattered knee and wounded thigh before giving Laird a boost. Leila wasn’t far behind. Grim hopped into the back of the truck and plopped down in front of her.
    Jace tapped Chloe on the shoulder. “Your sister wanted me to tell you that she’s mad as hell with you for running outside the wire—and that she loves you and expects to see you by sunrise.”
    “Yeah,” Chloe said with a lopsided smile. “That sounds like Zoe.”
    “You’re next.” Max gestured to the