‘I don’t know how, but they just kicked in right behind you, only a few feet,’ Jay said. ‘Come forward!’
Nasira strode toward the black tiles. ‘Why didn’t you fucking tell me!’ she yelled.
‘I didn’t fucking know, did I?’ Jay said. ‘Fuck, Nasira!’
‘I nearly blew us up!’ she yelled.
Jay shook his head. ‘No,’ he said, suddenly quiet. ‘You would’ve blown Damien up — along with a good chunk of the platforms around him. And his trigger would blow ours up.’
Nasira crouched down before the black tiles, tried to breathe, tried to think. ‘Denton has your phone?’
Jay nodded. ‘Yeah. I’ll have to ask for it back later.’
‘Can he see the operatives on the map?’ Nasira asked.
He shook his head. ‘Nah, not on our phones.’
‘Good,’ Nasira said. ‘There has to be another way out of this.’
‘You should’ve gone for Sophia,’ Jay said.
‘How did you—?’
‘Denton was here,’ he said. ‘Couldn’t contain his excitement when the meteorite surfaced, got a strong signal and just stopped moving.’
‘Ain’t he suspicious?’ Nasira said.
‘Of course,’ Jay said. ‘But that won’t stop him. Sophia needed your help.’
‘Don’t you think I fucking know that?’ Nasira yelled.
‘She has a programmed operative and DC!’ Jay yelled back. ‘Not exactly the A-team, you know.’
She stared at the black tiles, trying to picture the invisible line. ‘I made the wrong call,’ she said. ‘I shouldn’t be here.’
‘Finally, you agree with me on something,’ Jay said.
‘Shut up, Jay,’ she said.
Jay nodded. ‘Guess I deserved that,’ he said. ‘What now?’
‘Now?’ Nasira said. ‘We’re both fucking stuck here, aren’t we?’
She checked her phone. No connection.
‘And I have no signal,’ she said.
‘I’m sorry,’ Jay said.
‘For what?’ She turned to him. ‘For getting caught? Yeah, that was pretty shit.’
‘Fuck you too,’ he said.
Nasira shrugged. ‘I wanted to save you. Before the operatives snatched you.’
‘You don’t need to tell me that,’ he said.
‘Why?’ she said. ‘Because it makes you uncomfortable that someone wants to help you?’
‘No,’ Jay said. ‘Because I know you wanted to save me.’
She returned to the black tiles and sat before him, cross-legged. ‘If we don’t make it through this,’ she said, ‘no regrets.’
He smiled. First time she’d seen him smile all night.
‘No regrets,’ he said.
She felt her eyes clouding and blinked it away. ‘I just needed … someone watching my back,’ she said. ‘Just that one extra person and we could’ve made it.’ She shook her head. ‘Even Aviary, for fuck’s sake.’
‘I have one regret,’ Jay said.
Her heart skipped a beat. ‘What?’ she said. ‘I mean, yeah, I guess you would.’
‘I want to see my family again,’ Jay said.
She was almost certain she’d heard him wrong. ‘Are you sure about that?’
‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘I’ve been thinking. Since you said you went to see Lucia’s family. I have an uncle, two cousins. In Rio. I just—’ He blinked. ‘Just want to let them know I’m here. And I’m not a fuck-up.’
‘You told anyone you want to do this?’ Nasira said. ‘Damien?’
‘Nah,’ Jay said. ‘He doesn’t want to hear that.’
‘If we get out of this,’ she said. She caught her words, held them for a moment. ‘If we get out, I’ve always wanted to see Brazil.’
Jay started to laugh softly. ‘How about you?’
‘What about me?’
‘I was adopted, Jay,’ she said. ‘Denton took me from an adoption center.’
‘Oh. You have no family?’ he said.
She nodded. ‘I have one now.’
Jay cleared his throat. ‘Any other regrets?’
‘Not saving you,’ she said. She felt her cheeks flush. ‘Shit, this is really not cool.’
‘If only they could see us now,’ Jay said. ‘Deep conversation in the middle of a ticking bomb.’
‘See us now,’ she repeated.
If someone could see us now, she thought. She launched to her feet. Searched for the nearest security camera. She found one behind her, pointed down to the platform. She jumped up and down, waving her arms.
‘What are you doing?’ Jay said. ‘Asking for a bathroom break?’
If Aviary had successfully taken control of the security cameras, that meant she could see them right now. She finished jumping and waving and started miming explosives with a big boom, pointed to the train and imitated cutting with a knife.
‘I know you’re out there,’ Nasira whispered. ‘Come find me.’
Chapter 48
‘Move!’ DC yelled.
Sophia ran across East 49th, weaved between a pot plant and a boom gate, and sprinted through the narrow alleyway toward DC. Hurricane Isaias roared above them, tearing into her with torrents of wind and rain. She was in the center of Hell and her vision was still clouded from the residual CS gas in the Astoria. On the upside, the hard rain helped wash it away.
She’d moved quickly, covered her face, and snatched the meteorite out of the ruck while Denton and the Commander were busy fighting. The meteorite was now crammed into her ruck with her own things. She wasn’t sure how the trace materials on the meteorite allowed Denton to track it, but she made a mental note to scrub her ruck and herself as soon as this was over.
She checked over her shoulder: Czarina was a few paces behind her, barely keeping her footing as hurricane-force winds shunted through the alleyway. She almost hit the boom gate but kept running. They ran between an older ten-story brick building and an obsidian black skyscraper. At the end of the alleyway, DC had a Marauder ready to go. Sophia could see the rear doors open. There was no one else inside.
This route was the only way out to avoid the Commander’s snipers and any masked Blue Berets posted nearby. Sophia made it halfway down the alleyway when she realized half the masked Blue Berets were probably dead by now. She had no idea who was who in the Basildon Hall, and lingering a second longer would have meant succumbing to the effects of the CS gas and incapacitating herself — or worse, exposing herself to Denton and his operatives.
You either kept moving or you wound up dead.
She was near the Marauder now, her vision sharpening and her nasal passages clearing. She spluttered the last of the mucus build up — a wonderful display for DC, who sat at the wheel with his carbine in both hands. She veered around the back of the Marauder. She grasped her Glock and checked the street. It was narrow, cluttered with parked cabs and flanked by tall, monstrous spires of glass and steel.
Czarina caught up and climbed into the back, up the three metal steps. Sophia did the same. Together they closed the rear doors. The vehicle groaned under the pressure of the hurricane’s wind.
‘Go!’ Sophia yelled.
DC had already hit the gas and the Marauder took off, grazing a parked truck. Sophia took a seat near the driver’s cabin.
‘Where?’ DC yelled back.
‘Grand Central!’ she said.
DC looked at her, not quite certain he’d heard her right. ‘Of all the—’ He stopped mid-sentence as though he’d decided to just take her word on it.
‘If Denton wants to play this game, I’ll play this game. If he thinks he can blow up Damien and Jay then I’ll put the meteorite right in there with them.’
Sitting opposite her, Czarina shrugged. ‘But how will he know it’s there?’
‘He’s tracking the meteorite and he’s tracking me,’ Sophia said. ‘He’ll see its exact location.’