“That’ll be too long,” I said shortly.
“Anne’s there too?”
“Yes.”
“You’re both okay?”
“Maybe not for much longer.”
“Shit. I’ll see what I can do. Vari out.” The line went dead.
I swore inwardly. In a crisis, the Council is just too slow. The only person I could call who might be able to do something fast enough was Talisid, and that would take time I didn’t have.
“There.” The Dark mage at the other terminal straightened up. “We’re clear.” He looked at Rachel. “You can handle things from here.”
“Where do you think you’re going?” Rachel said.
“West wing.”
“You’re not going anywhere until we’re done.”
“Tough shit,” the Dark mage said shortly. “We had a talk with you-know-who and he gave us our jobs. We’ve done ours. You have a problem, ask him.” He headed towards the exit, his companion following.
Rachel scowled but let them go. Feeling my eyes, she turned to me. “What are you looking at?”
I turned back to the monitors. Shit. Now the control room was empty except for me and Rachel and Onyx, both of whom would easily make the top five list of mages I did not want to be locked in a room with. The only exits to the room were the door we’d come in by, and a similar one on the far side. Both were reinforced, and auto-locking. If I could get onto the other side of them, then with the reflector shields, even Rachel or Onyx would have trouble breaking through in time . . . but both were a good thirty feet away, and I did not like my chances of making it before they reacted.
On the monitors, Vihaela’s team finished cutting through the heavy doors. The centre of the door swayed, then collapsed, falling silently to the floor with an impact that would have shaken the walls if I’d been close enough to feel it. “Good job,” Vihaela said over the comm. “See you on the other side.”
“Wait,” I said. “There are two corridors between you and the main vault. I don’t know what’s—”
“I’m sure we’ll be fine.” The comm cut off and I saw Vihaela gesture to Anne. They walked in, another Dark mage at the front with Vihaela right behind.
I swore silently. I didn’t care if Vihaela ran into trouble, but Anne was another matter. Just as bad, Vihaela was now out of contact. If Onyx figured that out . . .
From behind me I heard Onyx straighten, and I closed my eyes silently. Why can’t anything ever go right?
“Deleo,” Onyx said.
“What?”
“Take a walk.”
Rachel glared at Onyx. Onyx hadn’t treated Rachel kindly on their first meeting, and that had been before he’d tried to kill her. It had been years ago, but from the way Rachel was looking at him, I was pretty sure she hadn’t forgotten. “Why?”
“So Verus and I can talk.”
“Why should—?” Rachel began to say, then stopped as she got it.
I saw the futures flicker, and I could almost watch the thoughts going through Rachel’s head. Her first reaction was to tell Onyx where to stick it, just out of sheer bloody-mindedness. Then a new thought: wait, I could just say yes. Why not let Onyx do it for me? The counterargument: Richard ordered me not to hurt him. If I do, I’ll be in trouble. The other voice: but it won’t be you, will it? You just need to say you weren’t around . . .
Slowly, Rachel turned towards me, her eyes watching from behind her mask, flat and unreadable. I saw the futures flicker, and I knew she was making the choice. I held very still, afraid to say a word. I knew how much Rachel hated me; nothing I could say would make things better and the sound of my voice would definitely make things worse. Come on, I prayed silently. Just give me a little luck . . .
The futures shifted and settled, the other branches winking out. “You know,” Rachel said, “I could go for some fresh air.”
“No!” I took a step towards Rachel. “We’re supposed to be on the same side!”
“You’ve never been on my side.”
“I’ve been helping Vihaela—”
“You’ve been helping Vihaela because she threatened to kill your girlfriend.” Rachel’s voice was contemptuous. “You helped Morden because he threatened to kill you. You never do anything unless there’s something in it for you. I have no idea why Morden was desperate enough to pick you.” Rachel glanced at Onyx. “Or maybe I do.”
I couldn’t see Onyx’s expression change, but I saw violence spike in the futures and I knew that that comment had not improved his mood. “Either way,” Rachel said, “I figure I’m doing him a favour.”
“I can help you,” I began.
“No, you can’t.”
“I can tell you—”
“No, you won’t.”
“Will you just listen?” I snapped.
“Why?” Rachel said. “Everything you say is bullshit.”
I took a breath. There had to be something that would get through to her. “We were apprentices together once. We were even friends, or something close to it. If that means anything to you, if it ever meant anything to you, then help me now.” I paused. “Please.”
Rachel stared at me for a long second, as though she were weighing something up inside her. “Did you really think that would work?” she said at last.
“I—”
“Shut up.” Rachel looked at me in disgust. “I am so sick of your shit. You’ve been trying to get to me for months, haven’t you? What did you think was going to happen? You’d give me a speech and then I’d go, ‘Oh, yes, Alex! I want to be a good girl! I’ll do anything you say!’” Rachel shook her head. “Get this clear. I will never help you. You might be able to trick the others, but it doesn’t work on me. And right now? The way I see it, either Onyx kills you, or you kill him.” Rachel shrugged. “I’m fine either way.” She turned and left the room.
Leaving me alone with Onyx.
“Well, well,” Onyx said, and his lips curved in a smile.
I stood silently, taking in Onyx’s stance. The Dark mage was standing relaxed on the other side of the control room, his hands hanging loosely by his sides. He wore a belt with a couple of items holstered, but as far as I could see he wasn’t carrying any weapons. He didn’t need them. Onyx’s force magic can punch a hole through a concrete wall, and his shields are strong enough to take hits from military heavy weapons. Nothing I was carrying would even scratch him.
There were two exits from the control room: the one Rachel had used, and the back way, leading deeper into the facility. Onyx was blocking my path to the front door, but in doing so he’d left me a clear path to the back one. I checked—yes, it’d open. All I had to do was hit the button by the door and yank on the handle.
Except that in the time it’d take me to do that, Onyx could kill me three times over. I needed a distraction.
“Must really suck when even she hates you,” Onyx said.
I rolled my eyes. Onyx was trying to put me off balance, scare me before moving in for the kill. It might have worked if he hadn’t been so bad at it. “Give me a break.”
“I bet—”
“Blah, blah, look how pathetic I am.”
“You know—”
“Blah, blah, look how smart you are, blah,” I said. “You think so slowly that by the time you’ve opened your mouth I’ve had time to hear the whole sentence. Twice.”
Onyx’s mouth twisted in a snarl. No one likes getting interrupted, and Dark mages tend to have even less tolerance for it than most. “See how fast you think when I split your head open.”
“Right, brutal violence,” I said. “Your go-to solution for every problem. It ever occur to you that this is why Morden’s been passing you over? He needs someone whose résumé doesn’t start and end with ‘sociopathic killing machine.’”