‘Easy now,’ says the Pirate in a low voice, training his gun on me. ‘Let’s talk. And you, stay still.’
For a moment I think the words are meant for me, and then I realize Hunter’s eased two steps back toward the door, hoping to vanish into thin air while we all point guns at each other. He stops where he is, expression stony.
‘You really are kids,’ the Pirate says slowly. ‘I didn’t believe it.’
The wordsI’m seventeen, actuallyalmost make it out, but nothing makes you sound younger than protesting your age. So I fall back on what worked last time: sass. ‘Embarrassing, right? You with all the guns, and you’re still running around after us?’
‘I told you, Nico,’ Sabrina chimes in. ‘Amateurs can be more dangerous than professionals.’
Did she let his name slip by accident, or is she trying to give me something as a show of good faith?
Nico shakes his head, allowing himself a hint of a smile. ‘Not our finest hour,’ he agrees. ‘But it’s over now. We can all do math. Two guns on one. Three people on two. I admire what you’ve managed, truly I do, but this is when it stops. You still have a chance to choose how that happens.’
Sabrina lowers her voice, the edge gone now, as she pitches her words for me alone. ‘Come on, Cleo. Be smart. I don’t actually want to dispose of your corpse.’
Above us the lights flicker again, and when they settle, the room’s a touch dimmer. It’s as if the power reduced a fraction, but none of the things Hunter and I did around the station should have caused that. I’m guessing from the quick frown that just crossed Nico’s face that they’re not taking credit either.
So what could be …?Oh.
And just like that, I see the path forward. It’s like someone’s switched on floodlights and the way ahead is clear. I know exactly how to walk it.
‘I’m not surrendering to you,’ I say, shifting my grip on my gun. Then, just as Nico starts to sigh, I continue. ‘But I’ll join you. And I can keep the station powered up for a few hours more.’
Nico takes a step closer. ‘You can undo this?’ he asks, and whether he means it to or not, a hint of urgency makes it past his shields.
‘We didn’t create your power-drainage problem,’ I say. ‘This is the solar failing. It’s why the cafeteria was dimmed before, why the lights wouldn’t turn on in the movie theater. The station is shutting everything down in order of priority. The dust storm’s coating the panels.’
I see the moment he doesn’t believe me – his brows lift, a quick huff of breath escaping. ‘It’s only been a few hours,’ he replies. ‘The batteries will hold longer than that.’
‘Sure, under the right circumstances.’ I can’t believe I didn’t see this earlier. ‘Let me guess: you timed all this for the dust storm, so you could avoid satellites getting a look at you. Smart, except the same dust that protected you is blocking all the sun. The solar arrays here just aren’t as good as at Graves – the UN’s broke. Everything here is donated or bargain basement. If there were engineers here, they’d be switching over to backup batteries, reducing usage to get through the dust storm. But they all ran away on the evac shuttles, and nobody’s here to follow the protocols.’
There’s a long pause as Nico sorts through that, looking for the holes in my argument. Then he tips his head back to study the lights. ‘Well, fuck,’ he mutters.
‘I can fix it,’ I say with more confidence than I feel. ‘For a ride out of here. I’ve spent three months climbing around in the guts of this station and I’m good with hardware. I can reduce your usage enough to get you through a little longer.’
Nico glances at Hunter. ‘And him?’
I snort, and ignore the feeling of Hunter’s gaze boring into the side of my head. Whatever doubts he has about his sister, there’s not a chance in hell that Graves staff are going to hurt him. Not when his mama’s waiting for him at their compound. ‘I don’t think he’s in any danger,’ I say. ‘Bring him back to your boss, see what she thinks. Turns out they’re acquainted.’
That’s enough to pique Nico’s curiosity, and his eyes narrow as he considers the pair of us. But the Graves twins don’t have public images. Nico doesn’t know who Hunter is.
They walk us to the engineering department without restraints, but definitely at gunpoint. Hunter’s by my side, but gazing straight ahead, his handsome jaw clenched so hard it looks like he’s going to crack a tooth.
‘What would you have done if I’d told you who I was when we met?’ I say softly, glancing sideways and up at him. ‘Would you have teamed up with a hitcher?’
A flicker of his expression admits the truth we both know.Never.‘There have been other moments since then,’ he says quietly, gaze still straight in front of us. ‘You could have—’
‘Let’s keep conversation to a minimum,’ Nico calls from behind us, and we fall silent.
He’s going to be fine, I remind myself. In a few minutes he’ll be back with his family, and by tonight he’ll probably be soaking in a fancy bubble bath or something, thinking dark thoughts about evil hitchers.
The main engineering offices are situated near the eastern garages, where my new friends arrived at the station. Downstairs and deeper underground is the workshop where we wrapped the Boxer in expanding foam, and on this upper level is a large room full of workstations.
Across the hall is the chief’s office, where we hid under a desk and I nearly let Hunter Graves kiss me.
‘You sit there, handsome,’ Sabrina tells him, gesturing to a workstation. I see the way his gaze runs over the setup as he foldshimself into a chair – he’s wondering if he can log in. He left his cuff in the greenhouse, though – he’s just an onlooker now.
The Ballerina walks ahead of us and takes her place at a station that looks like a patient in the ICU, covered with stick-on patches and wires – I’m guessing this is how they hacked into it. Nico rests a hand on my shoulder and steers me over to join her.
