Wordless, heart racing, he pushed her forward faster. She stumbled across the final threshold, out into the night and the Place of the Raiders.
Jarl threw a quick glance back. Already, behind them, the door to the inner room was opening.
Cursing, he lobbed the proton grenade back over his shoulder; then bolted after Sais.
The night exploded into crashing chaos. A wall of force smashed Jarl to the cobbles. Screams and shrieks slashed through dust and smoke and falling debris.
But he was outside, the wall between him and the blast. Scrambling to his feet, he dragged Sais up.
Together, they raced for the blackness of the native quarter....
CHAPTER VI
They ran through the murk of Ceres' night till their lungs caught fire, and their eyes rolled up, and their quaking legs could no longer hold them.
Then, at last, sobbing and panting, they fell in a heap in a rubble-strewn alley, heedless of time or place or peril.