An assassin.It shouldn’t shock me, not after what I just witnessed her do, but suddenly I think back to the Pirate’s Den in the Dark World, where I’d seen potential assassins watching thelottery rankings, their figures as patient and quiet as death. Maybe Jax was one of them.
I swallow hard. “You work for Zero, then? Are you part of his crew that was trying to sabotage Warcross?”
She considers this question thoughtfully before answering. “You could say that. We’re both Blackcoats.”
Blackcoats.
I frown, thinking through all the shadow groups I’ve come across in the Dark World. There are the bigger names, of course—the Wrecking Crew hackers; Anonymous—that the public knows, and smaller gangs who aspire to be notorious.
But the Blackcoats aren’t a name I’m familiar with at all. I have no concept of how big or small they are, what they do, or what their purpose is. In my world, that’s even more dangerous. They’re not here to pull publicity stunts. They’re here to do serious damage.
“I’ve never heard of them,” I reply.
She shrugs again. “Didn’t expect you to. If you had, I’d be more suspicious.”
“And what if I don’t want to?”
“Don’t want to what?”
“What if I don’t want to know more? What if I don’t want to go with you?”
This time, a small smile creeps onto Jax’s lips that changes her entire expression into something sinister. It suddenly occurs to me that I’m trapped in the same room as a professional killer.
“Then leave,” she says, cocking her head once toward the door.
She’s taunting me now, testing the resolve of my words. Out of sheer stubbornness, I lunge toward the door and seize the handle, ready to throw it open and rush out the way I came. I half expectto feel the searing pain of a bullet in my back, ripping through me to drop me on the spot.
“If you’re fine with dying tonight,” she adds casually behind me.
As much as I hate myself for it, her words stop me cold.
“Zero’s going to be disappointed to lose you,” she goes on, “but he’s also never forced anyone to work with us against their will. Step out that door, and you’ll be both free and dead. Your choice.”
There are hunters on the other side of this door, waiting for me to come fleeing out into the dim basement level... and there’s an assassin in here, one who claims to want to help me escape.
My hand tightens against the door handle. Jax is right. I’ll last two seconds out there by myself, facing off against who knows how many unknown hunters all eager to claim my jackpot. Or, I can take my chances in here, with a so-called Blackcoat who nevertheless saved me and—so far—seems interested in keeping me alive.
I clench my jaw and force my hand to release the handle. Then I turn to glare at her. “This isn’t a choice,” I say. “And you know it.”
She shrugs and goes back to her work. “Just doing my job. Zero’s expecting you, and he’d prefer you in one piece.” A subtle click finally sounds from the door, and she waves one hand at me. “Give me that thing.”
I toss her the metal fragment she’d handed me a moment ago, then look on as she jams it back in the crack where her knife had triggered the click. It glows a soft green. The door makes a faint popping sound—then slides open to reveal a dusty underground walkway that looks like it hasn’t been used in a long time. Some unfinished and long-abandoned subway tunnel. There are stairsat the end of it, leading up to a faint ray of light. The car Zero had mentioned must be waiting there for us.
I stay where I am. “Where are you taking me?”
Jax pulls out her gun again and rests its handle against her shoulder. I stare warily at it. “Do you trust me?”
“Not really.”
“Well, that answers my next question.” Then Jax points her gun straight at me and shoots.
3
I experience whathappens next in fragments.
The searing pain near my neck from Jax’s shot. The world around me blurring, the distant thud I hear as I collapse against the wall. A jolt of panic that cuts through the sudden numbing of my limbs.
I’ve been drugged.
