I nod. “Three years.”
He looks at me sharply. “So… since you were…?”
“Fifteen.”
“That’s so young.”
I think of Piper and her age-inappropriate true crime books. The truth is, shitty things make you grow up fast.
“I thought minors weren’t allowed to become wraiths,” says Eames.
“So you waited,” I say.
He looks away. “Yeah, until my eighteenth birthday. Then I took Piper and got out of there. Now we’re with ISD until she’s in prison.”
“Is that what your deal hangs on?” I ask quietly. “Vale being convicted?”
Eames nods tightly. “When she’s arrested, we’ll have to be kept under ISD supervision until she’s found guilty. We’ll be witnesses. Then, when it’s all over…” His eyes are unfocused, as though gazing into a future only he can see. “Piper—she won’t grow up like I did. She’ll be free of all that.”
Some tethers are harder to break than others. And the bonds between family are the hardest of all. Eames did. I can only imagine how difficult it must have been. To flee from the people who had raised him.
He did it, though. For his sister.
I’d do the same.
“Yeah,” I say, “you’ll both be free in, like, five years. Trials take time. And she might not end up being convicted.”
ISD will want Eames in easy reach. They’ll want to use him to take down Vale’s associates. Anyone she ever dealt with. And they’ll dangle the prospect of his freedom, just to make sure he cooperates. He would be a good wraith. He doesn’t panic in the face of danger, he’s smart, he knows how criminals work, and he has Piper. She’s an ideal bit of leverage they could hold over him. ISD would probably love to keep him on the books full-time.
And if Hannah Vale is never sentenced… they could just keep him.
I look away.
“You think they won’t hold up their end of the bargain?” asks Eames. Some of my thoughts must have shown on my face. This is why I wear a visor most of the time.
I twitch my shoulders. “There are decent people in ISD,” I say. “My handler is one of them. But I also think that it’s a shady government agency that only answers to a handful of people and tends to keep its own secrets.”
“You work for them,” he points out.
The corners of my mouth twitch. “Exactly.”
He returns my smile. “I would think that’s a good thing.”
The easy camaraderie should reassure me, but I’ve never been good with compliments. “I’m not like you, Eames. I’m not in witness protection. I’m here because it was a better choice than a prison sentence.”
The soft amusement drains away, leaving behind onlyquestions. I can see the most important one forming between us, unspoken:What did you do?
Instead of answering, I pull the radio from my pocket.
“You ready?” I ask.
Eames nods. He cracks the closet door open an inch.
“Let’s hope we hit Carla’s knee hard enough to slow her down,” I say, booting up the radio. With a flick of my ringware, I open up a recent recording on my visor, activate the speaker function, hold it beside the radio, and hitPLAY.
The sound that comes out of the visor is tinny and a little distorted, and I hope anyone listening will attribute it to a bad radio connection.
“Mom?” says Piper’s voice. “Mom, can you hear me?”
