“How is that even possible?”I demand.
Her voice is dull as she says,“After the network recruited me out of upper school, I was supposed to infiltrate the Command and train as a pilot. Travis was one of my instructors. I already told you what happened—one stupid booze-induced night. When I found out I was pregnant, the Uprising got me out of the city and relocated me to the Dagger.”
“Are you insane? You kept Fisher a secret from Travis for a good reason and now you’re running straight to him? You’retrustinghim?”
“I know you won’t understand this,”Evlynne says quietly.“You can’t,not until you have a child you’d do everything in your power to protect. The Authority will kill him if they know what he can do.”
“What can he do?”I feel a pang of dread as I realize she’s probably been keeping a lot more from me than I thought.
She doesn’t answer.
“What can Fisher do, Evlynne?”I push. At her prolonged silence, I swallow my frustration.“Whatever it is, nobody on the Authority would ever vote to kill achild.Gray would never allow it. But Travis? We already know whathe’scapable of.”
“He promised he would protect him.”
“You really think Travis Redden, theGeneral,isn’t going to use Fisher—maybe even kill him—just like the Authority would? Because you’re delusional if you believe that.”
“You weren’t there, Wren. Isawhis face when I showed him a digital holo of his son. I have to trust that he’ll keep his word.”
I suck in a breath, stunned that someone as levelheaded and capable as Evlynne could be so naïve.“What about the cause?”I say in a last-ditch effort to make her see reason.“All you’ve done since I met you is go on about Mods regaining our rightful place in society. You call Primes piss-veins. And now you’re going to work with them?Nothingis more important, isn’t that what you said?”
“I was wrong,”she says simply.“Somethingismore important. My son.”
“Where is Fisher now? Please don’t tell me you’re going back to the Dagger to get him.”Fear clamps around my throat.“Are you leading them to the mountain?”
“No. He’s already with me. He was on the plane with us tonight when we left the Dagger.”
Her gear bag.
That’s why she’d been handling it so gingerly. Fisher must have been in there the entire time.
“I would never compromise the Dagger,”Evlynne insists.“I made that clear to him. I told him this was the only deal I was willing to strike.”
“And I’m just supposed to believe you after what you did to the Bramble civilians?”
“I did it for my son and I would do it again. But I’d never destroy everything we’ve worked so hard for. The Dagger will be safe, I promise.”
My breath comes out in short bursts. I can’t fathom what I’m hearing.
“Please don’t do this,”I beg.“You still have time to make it right.”
“It’s too late, Darlington. My son comes first. Take care of yourself. Take care of Gray.”
Then she’s gone.
I’m…dumbfounded. I look around the empty runway, that promise of escape slipping away, just like everything else that slipped away tonight.
Fiona. Declan. Evlynne.
It’s a complete clusterfuck.
I rub my temples before checking in with Adrienne.“Evlynne is gone,”I report.“We need to request another transport.”
She starts to ask questions, but I shut it down because my brain can’t handle any more activity. I take a breath and return to Poppy, the girl who just killed a man without lifting a finger.
It’s too much. Too fucking much.
I need to get us out of here.
