She started walking, around him. Czarina moved quickly to keep up, stepping in a careful arc with her barrel pointed at DC. He didn’t move.
‘I can do this without you and your creepy masked soldiers,’ Sophia said. ‘Thanks all the same.’
‘Look at your map,’ DC said. ‘Look where the operatives are.’
She took it out, but there was no reception. ‘I can’t, not here.’
‘OK, fine. But you must know what’s waiting for you at the next station,’ he said. ‘And it ain’t gonna be pretty.’
‘Nothing ever is,’ Sophia said.
‘Think, Sophia. You’re on foot. Denton has your location. Operatives will be all over you once you get there.’
‘I’ll just have to deal with it,’ Sophia said.
Czarina moved behind her, stepping backward carefully so she could keep her carbine on DC.
‘You won’t survive!’ DC yelled.
Sophia stopped, turned. ‘What makes you so sure?’
She was picking up something different from him now. It was abrasive, uneven. He was angry. And worried.
‘What have you done?’ Sophia said.
‘I have Blue Berets already covering the station,’ DC said. ‘A deterrent. It’s the only way we can make it out in one piece.’
She raised her Glock to his face again. ‘You’ve trapped me. It’s not the only way we can make it out, it’s the only way you can make it out.’
‘Those soldiers are there to protect you!’ DC shouted. ‘I’m trying to help!’
‘What part of I don’t want your help do you not understand?’ she yelled back.
His voice dropped. He spoke calmly and it annoyed her.
‘It’s not about helping you,’ he said. ‘It’s about the meteorite you’re carrying. We both know that. And if you don’t want my help, that’s fine. You don’t have to come. I can take the meteorite.’
‘And lure Denton?’ she yelled. ‘And risk him getting hold of it? Do you realize you’re playing a very dangerous game here?’
He stepped forward, a sliver of light catching his eyes. ‘If you walk out there without me, that’s when it gets dangerous.’
‘You’re not my bodyguard anymore,’ Sophia said.
‘Then start looking after yourself,’ DC said.
‘Don’t,’ she said. ‘Do they have orders to shoot me?’ she said.
‘No,’ DC said. ‘But if we don’t reach some sort of agreement here — if I fail — they have orders to take you in.’
‘Against my will,’ she said. ‘How many are there?’
‘Does it matter?’ he said.
‘He has a point,’ Czarina said.
Sophia glared at her. ‘He has quite a few points. That’s the problem.’
‘I mean, I’m still on your side,’ Czarina said. ‘I owe you my life.’
‘Do you know what really pisses me off?’ Sophia said, to DC. ‘I can feel it all from over here,’ she said to him. ‘I can tell you actually believe what you’re saying. You actually want to help.’ She lowered her pistol. ‘And I don’t know whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing.’
‘Right now there is no good thing,’ DC said. ‘You don’t have to come in with me. You don’t even have to come to the station with me. I take the meteorite and it’s all on me and those Blue Berets. And the commander.’
‘And you expect me to trust them with this meteorite?’ she said. ‘When Denton is an inch away from becoming a walking, talking Seraphim transmitter?’
DC took a step closer. ‘We just need—’
‘To stop Denton,’ Sophia said, holstering her pistol. ‘Yeah, I get it. But if you and your commander are going to do that, then I need to make sure you do it properly.’
‘So we have a deal?’ DC said.
‘Yes,’ Sophia said. ‘But I’m keeping your sword.’
Chapter 41
Aviary’s phone started buzzing in her pocket. Her half-drunk cup of water splashed to the carpet. She retrieved it.
‘It’s Jay,’ Aviary said.
Nasira shook her head. ‘No, it isn’t.’ She took the phone from Aviary, answered the call and switched to speaker.
‘Yeah?’ Nasira said.
‘Might I ask who I’m speaking with?’ Denton said.
She swallowed. ‘Nasira. Word on the street you got some friends of ours.’
‘Yes. We’ve had a good little chat. It’s been fun,’ Denton said. ‘I have a deal for you. One might say a one-time only offer. You know, one of those.’
‘Whatever,’ Nasira said. ‘Get to the point.’
‘Is Sophia around by any chance?’ Denton said. ‘She’s much more fun with the negotiation side of things. You’re a bit … rushed.’
‘She can’t come to the phone right now,’ Nasira said. ‘Guess you already know that ’cause you read minds — wait, you can’t do that over the phone. My mistake.’ She allowed herself a tiny grin.
‘I assure you, it’s not necessary,’ Denton said. ‘What’s necessary is the meteorite she’s carrying be returned to its rightful owner.’
‘The museum?’ Nasira said. ‘Yeah, you blew that up. Guess there is no owner now.’
‘I see Sophia has made some new friends — a good operative of mine and a large bunch of Blue Berets. Unfortunately, she will need to make a choice. Very soon. Hand over the meteorite or I blow your friends to dust.’
Nasira felt her frustration fade, leaving her cold. ‘Which friends?’
‘Jay and Damien,’ he said. ‘Or, as I like to call them now, Jaymien. Has a nice ring to it. And so do a couple of subway platforms lined with explosives. Motion triggered, so they can’t quite get up and walk away, if you catch my drift,’ Denton said. ‘Any attempt to rescue them, one of your friends goes boom. For every thirty minutes you fail to deliver the meteorite, one of your friends goes boom.’
‘Make it every sixty minutes and you got a deal,’ Nasira said.
‘Thirty,’ he said.
He ended the call.
Aviary was staring at her.
‘That ain’t good,’ Nasira said.
‘Your negotiation skills?’ Aviary said.
‘No,’ Nasira said. ‘I need to get them out of there before he flips the switch.’
The phone buzzed again. This time it was Sophia’s number.
Nasira answered. ‘It’s me.’
‘I just got into range. Are you and Aviary OK?’ Sophia said, seemingly calm.
‘Fine,’ Nasira said. ‘We had to bail from the control center.’
‘I know,’ Sophia said. ‘Denton’s cut the power to all the tracks.’
‘Didn’t take him long,’ Nasira said. ‘What’s the deal with you? You have the rock?’
‘I do,’ Sophia said. ‘I need you to listen carefully. You won’t agree with everything I’m about to tell you, and that’s OK. I’m telling you so you know what to do next.’
Nasira didn’t like where this was going. ‘Yeah, well I have something to tell you as well.’
‘Listen to me first,’ Sophia said. ‘I’m turning myself in. With the meteorite.’
‘To who?’ Nasira said. ‘Denton? Listen up—’
‘No, the commander of the Blue Berets,’ Sophia said. ‘DC is working with him. They’re escorting me in now. They don’t want to keep the meteorites. They want them destroyed.’
‘And you believe that?’ Nasira said.
‘It doesn’t matter what I believe,’ Sophia said.
‘It matters if you trust them,’ Nasira said, not bothering to lower her voice.
Aviary looked on with alarm and an empty cup.
‘I don’t,’ Sophia said. ‘That’s why I’m telling you.’
‘You sacrificing yourself?’ Nasira said. ‘That ain’t a good idea. I just got a call from Denton.’