Grabbing my hand, Lucky blinks us out of view, too close to the entrance for them to see.I try to melt into the wall while Sterling gives them an update on the situation.I don’t listen; I can’t hear anything over the sound of my heart panicking.
Lucky waits until the coast is clear to grab Sterling by the back of his shirt and yank him into the shadows.“I’m not fucking working with them,” he hisses.
Sterling is annoyingly calm.“You don’t have to, but I’m making sure these people are safe.”
“Did you even think about us?If even one of them sees what we can do, we’re in trouble.I’m not going to let them make us a science experiment or a fucking weapon.”
The thought is terrifying.I press closer to the wall, until the chill permeates my clothes, cools my overheated skin.I can hear them mobilizing outside, boots and guns and vests and body cams that may or may not work when questioned.
There are so many of them.We wouldn’t stand a chance.
Sterling must have considered this.
Must have decided it was a risk worth taking.
His blue eyes fill my view, complicated and intense.There’s so much going on behind them—things I have always wanted to know, things I could know now, if I only looked.
It’s like holding the golden ticket.
Like breaking into someone’s house.
It’s too much.
“I won’t let anything happen to you,” he says, and I believe him.
This is Sterling Ross.The man who can’t be moved.If he says we’ll be safe, then I trust him.
His thumbs rub reassuringly over my arms, and I sink into the warmth.My heart calms.
He turns to Lucky, leaving his hands on me.“Look, I promised to get the hostages to safety, but that doesn’t mean we have to let anyone in.”And, goddamn it, even I can hear the smile in his voice.Of course he had a plan all along.“How many people do you think you can move at a time?”
“Four or five maybe, as long as I’ve got ahold on them.Where are you thinking?”
“There’s a bar a block over—The Little Llama.It doesn’t open for a few hours, so you’ll be able to come and go without being seen, and the hostages will have water and access to a bathroom while they wait.”
Lucky nods.“Yeah, I know it.Then what?I get identified by a couple dozen people who say I magicked them out of the building?”
“Not if you’re wearing a mask,” Sterling says, walking over and pulling the balaclava off the thief closest to us.He’s younger than I expected, with a shaved head and bruising under his eye.
Lucky puts the mask on and takes our hands.Even covered up, his smile is impossible to miss.“Buckle up.”
The corridor reappears.
Sterling takes a step, stumbles, grabs on to the wall to steady himself.“Fuck, that’s weird.”
Lucky slaps his shoulder.“You’ll get used to it.”
Moving the hostages is quick.They’re eager to get out, and I don’t blame them.We work well as a team; I open the locks, Sterling explains the plan, Lucky moves them.
The minutes drag on, even though Lucky works as fast as he can, and I spend the entire time worried the robbers will come check on their friends.
They don’t.
When we’ve finally cleared the room, I hear Sterling arguing, and my pulse spikes.I race down and find him in a standoff with an older man.He’s in scuffed jeans and heavy boots, and he looks angry that we’re saving him.
“How do I know you aren’t trying to trick me?”
Even his thoughts are shouting.“And where the hell is Tony?”
