On the other side of the building, she could hear the people inside the room now talking to the guards through the window.
“I’m not sure that’s a footprint,” one said.
“Did you check the perimeter?” said another.
She didn’t hear Tems’s voice chiming in, and that was what made the hairs stand up on the back of her neck. Had he left the room? Sydney hurriedly smoothed the sand under her boot prints, but she didn’t have time to erase her tracks the entire way. She made her way toward the back gate, hoping that Winter had already managed to get it unlocked. Toward the window, she heard the sound of feet as someone else joined the guards outside.
She reached the gate and put her hand on the handle.Please open, she thought. She pushed it gently.
It gave way. Her breath rushed out in a gasp of relief. Then she stepped out into the night, deep into the shadows.
And came face-to-face with Tems.
He furrowed his brows in concern at the sight of her. “Sydney!” he exclaimed, putting both hands on her shoulders. She shivered at his grip. “It’s not safe here—you shouldn’t have come.”
She looked into his eyes, searching past his expression of worry to find the truth. Then she realized that she should have always known. Tems had always been a good liar. Too good at putting on a charismatic smile and then pulling the rug out from under her. Too good at pretending to be vulnerable, pretending to be friendly, pretending to be sorry. Maybe too good an agent.
Once, she had seen him as a comrade, someone she could rely on to understand her world, someone she could speak to as an equal, someone who could be her ally—and maybe more—whenever the time was right.
Now she only saw a killer.
Still, she feigned ignorance and let herself look at him in relief. “You’re a goddamn pain in the ass,” she whispered. “I have to get you out of here.”
He hesitated, looking out into the darkness. She had purposely only said that she was here, but she knew he was still searching for Winter. Then he turned back to her. “Follow me,” he whispered.
There was nothing she could do but go along with him. They made their way to the back of the complex, to where a jeep lay in wait.
“They won’t notice for a few minutes yet—I managed to sneak out of the room while they were searching,” he whispered as they went. His hand gripped hers tightly. “Is the plane ready for us?”
“Ready and waiting,” Sydney confirmed, as if they were both still going along with their original plan.
He nodded, and she fought to keep her focus. But as they went, she let herself cast a glance out into the darkness, hoping that Winter could see her. Then she tapped the top of her left hand twice in a rapid motion.
Danger.
She turned back to Tems immediately, as if she’d done nothing out ofthe ordinary, as he reached the jeep. Sydney climbed into the passenger seat.
“They’re going to hear you start this thing,” she whispered to Tems. She turned toward the station, because she didn’t want to look directly at him—lest he see the truth in her eyes.
“They won’t catch up in time,” he said. “It’s their only vehicle here. Their motorbikes are all locked up in the back. We’re going to need to drive with the lights off, though.”
Sydney nodded, her heart still in her throat as she walked this tightrope of an act.Just get him on the plane,she reminded herself over and over. That was all she needed to do—make sure she trapped him in the air on the way back to the States. She could figure out a way to subdue him on board. But if she could just get him there—
Tems glanced at her as they clipped their seat belts in place. The jeep roared to life. “Did you hear what they were saying to me in there?” he asked.
Sydney shook her head. “Didn’t catch it,” she replied. “Did you get any clues?”
“I got one,” Tems replied. Then his eyes darted to the windshield, as if he’d seen someone moving outside the jeep.
Sydney looked, too. A mistake.
And that was when she felt it—the sharp prick at her neck, then the feeling of Tems’s cool hands gripping her throat.
When she looked back at him, all she saw was his expression, now stripped bare of any act, cold and disappointed and full of determination.
“Sorry, Syd,” he muttered.
Then the world blurred around her, and Sydney felt herself go limp before the darkness closed in.
