Gemma’s pulse increased.This is it. “No, it’s me. I’m the operative,” she blurted.
“No, it’s me.” Moriah eyed Gemma, pleading.
Gemma turned to the Kaizen, trying to maintain balance between convincing and fibbing. “She’s lying. It’s me.”
“No, it’s me!” Moriah said.
The Kaizen raised her gun calmly. “Okay, that’s enough. I’m shooting you both.”
Gemma gave Moriah a terse nod, and they sprung out of their seats, the Kaizen’s eyes widening as she realized the girls had played her.
But Gemma’s trousers snagged on her chair while Moriah flew across the table with a roar.
No, no, no. Moriah couldn’t do this alone.
Gemma watched in horror as Moriah slammed into the Kaizen, knocking them both to the ground. Gemma wrestled with her trousers’ leg, catching her palm on a piece of metal as she freed the fabric. She leapt up and sprinted around the table—
Boom!
A large, gaping hole appeared in Moriah’s back as her insides sailed into the air.
Gemma froze, unable to breathe. Blood trailed from Moriah’s body down the Kaizen’s sides, pooling into a glossy red puddle on the ground beneath them.
The Kaizen’s lieutenants rushed in with their guns trained on Gemma. “On your knees! Hands behind your head!”
The Kaizen shoved Moriah’s dead body off her and rose to her feet, sneering at Gemma with such frantic fury that Gemma’s bladder almost gave out.
Tears fell from Gemma’s eyes as she obeyed, dropping to the ground and interlocking her fingers behind her skull.
This is my fault—thisis all my fault.
“What thefuckwas that?” the Kaizen roared. “I will tear out your insides, you stupid little prick.”
Gemma shook her head. She should tell her the truth, that she was the operative, that she’d gotten Moriah killed. That it was her idea to attack. That they should kill her right now because she was a horrible, vile, wicked person who deserved to die.
But she couldn’t. Nadine would be so angry with her if she did. Nadine would tell her that she had done what she needed to survive. Nadine would’ve done the same if she’d been in Gemma’s shoes.
“It was her,” Gemma lied, every word tasting like bile. “Moriah...She was with the Dissent. When you stepped out of the room, she came up with a plan to attack you and steal your gun and run.” Her jaw trembled. “I was so scared that I agreed...I didn’t—I didn’t know what else...”
The Kaizen clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes. “Get her out of here,” she told her lieutenants. “I don’t want to see her fucking face anymore.”
One of the lieutenants in red grabbed Gemma by the arm and dragged her from the room.
Gemma’s legs moved of their own accord, the world spinning around her until her soul felt separated from her body.
Somehow, she ended up in her locker room.
On autopilot, Gemma undressed and got in the shower. She stood under the stream, staring at the wall as the image of Moriah’s decimated body burned into her mind.
A sharp sting in her hand turned into a dull ache. Gemma watched as bloodstained water trickled down her fingertips and onto the floor. She’d gotten the large gash in her palm when she’d ripped her trousers’ leg from the chair.
Moriah lunging for the Kaizen, alone, flashed through Gemma’s mind.
Her knees buckled.
That innocent girl died brutally because of her vindictive plan.
Gemma threw up in the drain and sobbed until her throat was raw, her arms wrapped tightly around her stomach.
