My mouth tastes too dry, too bitter. “I will.”
“You won’t,” she says. “Wraiths never do. You can’t go home again.”
Her words are chilling. They’re matter-of-fact, utterly disinterested. She truly believes it.
My fingers curl into fists, nails digging deep. “Is that why you began your little terrorism career?”
“You don’t know why I do what I do,” says Vale calmly.
I snort. “Oh, I can guess. You’re a misunderstood little antiheroine who lost someone, and now you’re fighting for the future of humanity, and the only way to do that is to form a culty little following, give your cause a really hard-to-spell name, and then murder people until they come around?”
Vale’s expression remains untouched by my words. “If that’s what you would like to think, go on ahead.”
I frown at her. “Don’t you want to help people?”
“Not particularly,” says Vale.
Something about this doesn’t make sense. I know what sincere belief sounds like. Bud had it when he spoke of his aims. I’ve heard it in Prefect’s voice when he speaks of catching criminals. I’ve heard it in my own voice when I snarl at someone I deem particularly contemptible.
But I don’t hear it now.
Okay, let’s recap.
Fact the first: Hannah Vale and the others clearly think I’m part of the security detail for Project Persephone. They know I’m a wraith. Which means they expected ISD to be here. Not to mention that ISD knew about Hannah Vale and her merry little band of fanatics.
ISD doesn’t normally track domestic terrorists—that’s the FBI’s job. So why would ISD have files on her?
Fact the second: Vale has killed people. I watched hergun down Security Guard Matthew like he was nothing. But Corey had a tranquilizer gun. All this time, there was no need for bullets. They could have used nonlethal force. But instead, she shot Matthew. Anasova tried to kill me. And there were those maintenance workers who drowned in her last attack. No matter what her manifesto says, Hannah Vale doesn’t care about life.
So what does she care about?
Fact the third: Vale and her crew have been hacking infrastructure.
City water. Power grids. Sewage.
And that’s when it finally clicks for me.
“Holy shit,” I say, mouth agape. “You’re not a terrorist.”
Vale goes glacier still.
I continue, “You hacked utilities so that you could pretend you’re giving water and power and everything back to the people. But it was never about helping people. You were just figuring out how to hack those systems.
“You tell your crew you’re in it for the good of the people,” I say, “but it’s not about that. All these jobs—it’s been about the hacks themselves. You’re learning how to do it. You’re figuring out ways to control infrastructure.”
Her eyes narrow. It’s a small expression, but it’s all the confirmation I need.
“You’re in this for the money,” I say. “That’s why you sent Carla and Corey out before you talked to me. They think you’re part of the cause, don’t they? They’re real believers, fighting for what they think is right. Bud definitely thinks you’re some kind of climate change Robin Hood. But ISD knows. Your hacks probably involveoverriding identities, phishing schemes, stealing personal codes. Exactly the kind of stuff that ISD goes after. You’re not a freedom fighter or a terrorist or whatever you pretend to be. You’re just another hacker selling information to the highest bidder. And your crew doesn’t even know it.”
Her hand moves toward her belt, resting on a holstered gun. An unspoken threat, yet loud all the same. “You talk as though you weren’t briefed on me,” she says quietly. “Like you just figured it out. Weren’t you sent with Persephone?”
I just gave away my own ignorance with my little revelation. Oops.
“My handler likes sending me into situations without giving me all the facts,” I say. “He says it makes me a better investigator.”
Which is true. But she doesn’t need to know that Prefect never intended me to be here.
“So what are you even doing here?” I ask, nodding at the room around us. “You hacked water and sewer and power. You’ve probably got everything you need. You should be smuggling yourself out of the country and to some place that doesn’t extradite to the US. Then you could auction off your hacks and end up rich.”
