Sparks took a deep breath. He had done it. But what now?
“Don’t do this,” Caleb said. If he was scared, his voice didn’t show it. “Once you go rogue, you’ll never be safe.”
“You don’t understand: I’ve never been safe. And I’ve never wanted to be.” Sparks’ breath came in shallow gasps. The shock of what he had done quickly caught up with him. It felt surreal. “Go find your bag, get every needle you have, and give them to me.”
“Sparks—”
“Now.”
Caleb raised his arms, turned around, and walked back to where they had left his satchel. Sparks followed five paces behind. His mind raced. What the hell am I doing? This is insane! I can’t really shoot Caleb, can I?
“This is wrong, Sparks,” Caleb said as if he could read Sparks’ mind. “You won’t survive two months by yourself.” He didn’t sound angry. Instead, Sparks’ almost believed Caleb was upset. Almost.
He’s trying to trick me into giving up.
“I don’t have any choice,” Sparks said. “I can’t stay with Roman anymore. I’m sick of being a traitor.”
Caleb tossed his satchel to Sparks. “You’re not a traitor,” he said. “And you don’t owe the other Adrenalites a damn thing.”
“I don’t owe you anything either.”
“Maybe not, but we had a deal, didn’t we? I watch your back, and you were meant to watch mine.”
“The deals over.” Sparks began to back away. “You broke it when you chose to obey Roman and lie to me.”
At least Caleb had the decency to look guilty. “The deal is not over,” he said. “I won’t go against Roman — he’s a better man than you think, and he’s the one who paid for you, not me. But I’m on your side, Sparks. We made a deal, and I don’t break my deals. That’s a mercenary’s code.”
Sparks’ resolve almost broke, but the thought of going back to Roman now — and to continue working for that lying bastard — was enough to stop him from lowering the gun. He turned to leave, but hesitated, feeling like he needed to say something more. To apologize, at least. But he couldn’t think of anything that felt right.
Finally, he said: “Don’t follow me.” Then he walked away, climbing over the mounds of rubble. Caleb obeyed, even though a part of Sparks wished he didn’t.
After he left the station, Sparks paused in the middle of an intersection, considering what to do next. He had his own activation needles, and he was free. He could do whatever the hell he wanted.
Sparks took a deep breath and smiled.
He had done it.
He was free.
17
Roman crept closer, barely daring to breathe. His footsteps felt impossibly loud. His knuckles wound tight around the grip of his revolver. Three shots left. It didn’t feel nearly enough. As he approached, the flickering light grew brighter, coming from around a corner.
Heart pounding against his ribs, Roman pressed himself flat against the wall and shuffled along to the corner. He strained his ears, listening. It was silent as an abandoned block in the outskirts.
He peered around.
Another corridor. Barred cells lined each side, and at the lip of each open cell door, a candle lay on the ground. There were over a dozen, casting shaking shadows across the walls. No sign of people.
Roman let out the breath he was holding. Walking down the corridor, something crunched beneath his boots. Fragments of glass. He looked up to see that the light bulbs lining the roof had all been smashed.
They were too late; Candle had already been here.
“Well, screw me sideways.” Tan hesitantly followed Roman. “This is creepy as hell. Too theatrical for my taste.”
Roman paused at each cell, looking inside. Empty. The last two hadn’t been unlocked, nor did they have candles outside — these ones must have been empty from the start.
Roman counted the candles.
“Fourteen,” he said. “I didn’t think Gavin had so many fighters.”
“Well, he ain’t got them no more.”
Roman stomped his boot down on a candle, then kicked another one down the corridor.
“Boss.” Tan laid a hand on Roman’s shoulder. “This is no longer a fight we can win, if it ever was one. We need to get out of here and find Ruby, then hide until… well, just hide. Preferably with a lot of alcohol. Okay?”
Ruby. Where was she now?
“Like hell we do.” Roman took off at a limping jog, heading back the way they came.
Tan followed. “Why do I have the feeling you’ve got another stupid plan stuck in that thick skull of yours?”
“I don’t. But we need one, and we—”
“No. We’ve done enough. We have to leave it to Juliette and—”
Roman spun around, grabbing Tan by his collar. “You don’t get it, do you? This isn’t something you can drink away. What do you expect Candle will do now? Because my bet is that he’s going to attack the wind farms and free every bastard there. And once those rogues get loose in Legacy, we’re all dead.”
“But what can we do?”
“I don’t know. Something. Anything! Right now, we need to find Ruby. Once we know she’s safe, we’ll come up with a plan.”
As they ran back Roman listened for sounds of fighting but heard nothing except his own footsteps. He clenched his teeth, anxious. What were they going to find in the halclass="underline" Gavin’s men, or Candle’s?
Reaching the stairs, they slowed to a walk. Ahead, Roman heard whimpers, moans of pain, and the dull pounding of rain.
The walls on his sides fell away — in the complete darkness, that was the only way he could tell that they had entered the main hall. The air reeked of blood and piss. He inched forward, nearly tripping on something. He gave it a soft kick. It was a corpse.
To his left, someone was crying.
Panic crawled up Romans throat, threatening to suffocate him. “Ruby!” he yelled.
A few dull moans were the only response.
Blood pounding in his ears, Roman stepped over the corpse at his feet. Two steps later he came across another body. He reached down and touched it: a large man, rolled onto his side. When Roman ran a hand down the man’s arm, the limb ended halfway.
The first three bodies were men. Roman quickly moved past them. By the time he reached the forth, his hands were sticky with blood. His blind grasp found the leg first. Thin, slender — a woman’s leg. Her trousers were damp. He couldn’t tell if it was blood or urine. Frantically, he moved his hands to her hair. It ended at her neck; too short to be Ruby’s.
He scrambled to another corpse, this one a man. Next, a woman, but too large to be Ruby. Then it was four men in a row. Each one he found brought a wave of relief when he realized it wasn’t her, then the dread would return as he moved to the next. His throat felt tight, like someone was choking him.
“She would have escaped, I’m sure of it,” Tan said. “But we have to go, and quickly.”
“Shut up and help me!”
Tan grabbed Roman by his coat, but Roman pushed him away. “She can’t be dead,” he said, breathless. “She can’t be. She just CAN’T BE!”
He tripped over the next body, knees stinging as they hit the floor. There was a sharp grunt of pain — this woman was alive.
Roman reached out, his hand finding hers. Long, cold fingers clung tight to him.
“Ruby?” he breathed.
She gave a weak gargling sound.
His other hand found her face, cupping against her cheek. It wasn’t her.
“I’m sorry,” Roman said slowly, “Whoever you are. I can’t save you.”
He pulled away, but the woman’s hand wouldn’t let go, her grip was impossibly strong. Using his other hand, Roman peeled her fingers off him. It felt heartless and cruel. But he couldn’t wait here, comforting her while she waited to die. He had to find Ruby.