She was seated at the edge of the very last row, right next to where a Nightwalker stood guard. It took every inch of Bruce’s discipline to not rush over to her right now. Beyond her was the aisle leading out to the exit door. She looked scared, but alert. Most of all,unharmed.If they had to move quickly, he knew she would be able to do it.
His attention returned to Madeleine. She seemed more shaken than usual, lost in thought.
Madeleine finally led them to where a network of laptops had been set up on the floor near the top of the carpeted aisle. She motioned for Bruce to sit in front of them, and then joined him. The Nightwalkers who had escorted them moved forward, setting up guard in front of them.
The laptops displayed long chains of numbers and letters against a black screen. Bruce picked out a couple of strings of code—mentions of the Ada drones. This was the makeshift command center Madeleine had set up to take over the robots. Bruce looked at the other computers. On the farthest screen from him was a window showing one of his accounts. The second screen showed another. Both were accounts that had recently been installed with Lucius’s new security.
This is my chance.
“Let’s make this quick, Bruce,” Madeleine said stiffly as she began typing. “Give me access to your remaining accounts, and we can be done.”
“And then what?” Bruce countered. “Your brother puts a bullet in my head? Makes me an example?”
Madeleine remained silent, her delicate face a mixture of pain and determination. “Just do it, Bruce,” she whispered.
If your accounts are opened with the wrong code,Lucius had told him,it’ll send our security network an alert and remotely disable the offending computer in an instant.
These laptops were also what Madeleine was using to control the Ada drones, and based on the way Cameron had talked about the drones, they were the only things keeping the Nightwalkers in charge of this situation. If he could disable the laptops, it might disable Madeleine’s control over the drones.
“Let the hostages go,” Bruce said to her, holding her gaze with his own. “The people in here aren’t all corrupt officials. They’re decent people. Some of them are my friends. If you let them go, I’ll open my accounts.”
Madeleine stared back at him. Then, finally, she nodded. “You have my word. Hand over your accounts, and I will sendsomeof the hostages out of here.”
Some was better than none; Bruce would have to think of something fast to free the rest. In the meantime, he said, “Make sure Lucius Fox and Dianne Garcia are among them.” He hesitated. “And Richard Price, the mayor’s son.”
“Done.”
Taking a deep breath, Bruce steadied himself, and looked back at the screens displaying his accounts. This was the money that his parents had left him, that they had worked their whole lives for and put carefully away for their son.
Bruce was about to make sure the Nightwalkers regretted ever targeting it.
He leaned over and typed the code out for Madeleine on each one.
It looked as though he’d logged in.
Madeleine didn’t seem pleased or satisfied. Instead, she seemed disappointed. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“Me too.”
Even as they stared at each other, he knew the security system was kicking into gear, and that soon the commandeered drones would hopefully reset back to their original purpose. He had little time to get the hostages out of here.
“Time to keep your end of the bargain,” he said to her in a bitter tone.
Madeleine looked away from him and rose. “Cameron,” she called to her brother. “We’re releasing some of the hostages.”
Cameron gave her an incredulous look. “Why the hell would I want to do that?”
“Iwant to. We’ve made a deal with Bruce Wayne over here. He’s given us access to the rest of his funds. We’re in.” She looked down at the laptops for an instant. “So we’re releasing some of the hostages. It’ll make the police linger back a bit longer, if there are civilians coming out.”
Cameron shot Bruce an ugly look. For an instant, Bruce thought he might not acquiesce to his sister’s demands—but then he let out a loud sigh and waved his gun at several of the Nightwalkers, including Richard. Madeleine called out for Dianne, Lucius, and a dozen other hostages to step forward. Lucius went with a grim face, and Dianne moved warily, her eyes flickering in Bruce’s direction. As they did, two guards shoved them forward, forcing them to stumble, and ushered them out through the balcony doors. Richard tried to imitate the other Nightwalkers’ actions, but his expression was uncertain and vulnerable.
Bruce watched them go.Faster,he thought, looking back at Madeleine’s screens.
Cameron wandered back toward them. He still had his gun slung across his shoulder, and he paused to look Bruce up and down. At a glance from Madeleine, Bruce stood up, too.
“Apparently this one’s now calling the shots for you,” Cameronsaid.
“Well, we’re done with him now,” Madeleine said, dusting off her hands and stretching her back.
