‘On crime,’ she clarifies.
‘I do my best thinking like this,’ I murmur against her skin.
I can’t have found this girl just to lose her.
That can’t be how this ends.
29.
CLEO
1 HOUR, 38 MINUTES REMAINING
WHEN WE WALK OUTinto the main greenhouse a couple of minutes later, I know my cheeks must be pink. I keep my head down and don’t make eye contact with Nico or Grace. I’m glad they didn’t send Sabrina with us – she’d read me better.
I take up my place at the control panel again, crouching down and choosing my next circuit to yank out. As I settle into position, I feel Hunter’s cuff shift where I’ve stuffed it down my cleavage.
What? My lower half is still in my pressure suit, and that doesn’t come with pockets. A girl’s gotta keep her treasures somewhere.
It’s hard not to wince as I pull another circuit out. I’m trying to preserve the heat as long as I can – some of the plants won’t make it, but if the water doesn’t freeze, I might save the fish.
Unless they do blow this whole place up. Then the fish are on their own. The oxygen levels must be pretty high by now.
In fact, I’m kind of counting on that, for what I’m about to do next.
‘I think our odds are pretty good,’ Hunter murmured as he gave me one last kiss.
‘And I have questions about what kind of math they taught you at your fancy school,’ I muttered, but I let him kiss me anyway.
‘Please,’ he said afterward, in a lordly tone. ‘I had private tutors.’
‘Rich boy.’
He laughed. ‘You know, you’re the only person in my life who seems to like melessbecause I could buy and sell Jerhattan.’
‘That a problem?’
He smiled, and kissed me one more time. ‘No. I like your priorities.’
Now he’s wandering over toward the tomatoes again, closer to Susanna Hirano’s desk, all covered in daisies and monitors he knows how to log in to.
I start softly singing Victoriana Lu’s finest work to myself as I yank another wire.
Gonna blast into space, baby!
Gonna hit third base, baby!
Gotta love this face, baby!
Rocket to the moon, yeah!
Nico starts to turn to track Hunter, somehow not completely entranced by my performance, and that means I’m out of time. With a quick prayer regarding the oxygen levels in my personal part of the greenhouse, I touch two wires together.
They send up a shower of sparks, and I throw myself backward with maximum drama, as if I’ve just been shocked.
Agony shoots up my spine and down my arms as I land too hard and I let myself roll around on the ground with real groans, stars dancing between me and the greenery bursting from racks on the roof. That was way more realistic than it needed to be.
‘Fire!’ Grace shouts, and I roll onto my side to see two pairs of feet charging over. She and Nico stamp out a fire that’s sprung to life where a few of the sparks landed on some mulch laid out over a garden bed.
