Finally, I stop at an intersection nearest to where I remember the location dot was. This street corner looks abandoned, but Hann’s guards could be hiding in some building, watching for anything suspicious.
I pause in the shadows of one of the buildings, pull myself up to the second-f loor ledge, and then take out a small metal sphere from my pocket. The AIS has a number of weapons that remind me of theRepublic’s. This one is like a homemade smoke bomb, what I used to make back in Lake—except it’s much stronger, and the smoke spreads over a wider area.
I glance up at the buildings around me, looking for any telltale signs—a glint of light, the flash of a mirror—anything indicating someone lying in wait.
For a while, I don’t see anything.
Then, the slightest movement in one of the windows. Someone’s up there.
I smile a little. Then I edge along the side of the second floor until I reach a balcony. I crouch in the shadows and lift the smoke bomb. Then I fling it as far from the intersection as I can.
It clinks once as it hits the ground. Then it explodes.
Smoke bursts in every direction, filling every crevice and alley in its wake.
I turn to look back at the window where I’d seen movement. Sure enough, there’s another flicker—and an instant later, shadows shudder through the darkness on the street below me. Hann’s minions, off to check what’s happened.
I push my mask higher. When the coast seems clear, I drop back down to the first floor without a sound and dart toward the last building, where the location marker had been.
The space looks like a factory sitting on the edge of the city. It’s enormous. Its exterior is almost completely solid, except for a row of glass windows wrapping around the very top of the building, reflecting the lights of the city.
Behind me, the guards’ shouts are already starting to echo in my direction. They’re heading back. I rush to the building and scan itfor any easy entryways. Everything looks locked down, though. My eyes turn skyward to the glass windows again. Then I step onto the hinges of a metal gutter and start pulling myself up the wall.
I’m making my way to the third floor by the time two of the guards return to their stations. They’re clearly agitated, their voices sharp and harsh. No doubt someone has already alerted Hann about the smoke bomb. But there’s no time to dwell on what they might do next. If Eden’s not contacting us, he’s already in trouble.
I freeze on the fourth floor, right below the glass windows, as one of the guards shines a flashlight in my general direction. The sweeping light barely misses me. Sweat drips down my brow. If I can just leap up to grab the window ledge, I can pull myself up out of his angle. As he steps closer below, I edge around the side of the wall until I’ve turned the corner. Then I jump and stretch out my arm, seeking the ledge.
I catch it. With all my strength, I pull myself up and shove the window slightly. It slides open by a sliver.
Inside the building, dim light filters through the glass to illuminate a seemingly endless maze of computers. Their blue sensors blink in unison.
This is the construction site that I’d glimpsed when I was first captured.
An instant later, I notice a circular platform in the center of it all. The disc of metal on the floor glows with a faint light, and virtual holograms—a web of white nodes—hover over it.
I take one last look over my shoulder, toward the guards approaching the outside of the building below. Then I swing inside the building,pull the window shut behind me, and lower myself carefully into the shadows that slant against the wall. There I cling, barely gripping the hand- and footholds I can find.
A noise from the center of the space makes me turn in its direction. Three figures silhouetted by the light have stepped onto the circular platform. When I recognize them, my chest tightens into a knot.
It’s Eden and Pressa, their bodies turned to face a man who is unmistakably Hann. Guards are already approaching them from the shadows of the halls.
They’ve been caught.
EDEN
Pressa jerks back with a gasp of shock. Blood sprays the floor as the bullet hits her hard in her left shoulder. She falls to her knees.
I’m stepping in front of her before I realize what I’m doing. “You know I was the one behind all this,” I snap at Hann. The iron smell of blood penetrates the air. Behind me, Pressa bites back a choked cry.
Hann doesn’t look moved at all. Instead, he aims his gun toward Pressa’s leg. “You can keep talking while I work,” he says. “I’ll let you know when it’s your turn.”
He readies to fire again. I lunge between them. “Wait!” I shout out, holding my hands up. “Please! Wait a second. I—”
But he’s no longer interested in talking. He shifts his gun slightly, aiming instead at her left arm.
My mind spins frantically. “Let her go, and I’ll do whatever you want. Use me as ransom, kill me, anything.”
He gives me a cool look. “I already plan on ransoming you out,” he replies with a shrug.
