“Jackson gave us a tour,” she offered. “You wouldn’t believe the Treasure Room—”
“We need to talk,” Three interrupted, more forcefully than she’d expected, almost impatient.
“OK.”
Three didn’t take his eyes off hers, just watched and waited. Like he had a lot to say, and didn’t know where to start. Or like he knew a secret.
“You guys want to work this out alone?” Jackson said. “I can take Wren—”
“Might be a good idea,” Three replied.
“No,” Cass answered. “You can go if you want Jackson, but Wren stays.”
Three and Cass stared at each other. Wren had stopped playing. Jackson just sat with both palms on the table, unsure whether to stay or leave. Three let a tense breath go by, then another. She wasn’t going to back down. The last time he’d separated them had nearly been catastrophic.
“Fine,” he said at last.
Three paused, gathered himself. She’d never seen him like this before.
“We’re in real trouble,” he said. No one seemed surprised. But no one had anything to add, either.
“When I agreed to bring you out here, it’s because I figured whatever heat you’d gotten into, you and the kid could wait it out here at the Vault. Best guess was that you got into owing some chemist more than you could pay. But it’s not like that, is it?”
Cass shook her head slowly, but didn’t offer any more. Didn’t even take her eyes from his. He pushed.
“This… whatever it is. It’s not gonna go away on its own. And they’re not gonna stop looking for you. Ever. That about right?”
She nodded.
“So. Is there anywhere left in the world for you to go that they won’t find you?”
For the first time, Cass let her eyes leave his, dropped them to the table. She felt her shoulders slump reflexively. Three had asked her the one question she’d been asking herself for however long it’d been since she started running.
“I don’t know who they are, but they wouldn’t come looking for anyone out this far, yeah?” Jackson asked. “I mean, why would they?”
“That’s a fine question. Cass. Why would they?”
She didn’t look up from the table. Didn’t answer.
“It’s my fault,” Wren said, in his quiet voice.
“Wren.”
“It’s OK, Mama. I don’t mind.”
Wren looked at Three, then away, like he was ashamed.
“It’s me. I did something bad.”
Cass kissed the top of Wren’s head, hugged him.
“No, baby, you didn’t do anything wrong…”
Three remained motionless. Didn’t even seem surprised. Cass took over the explanation.
“You know Wren is,” she paused, searched for the word, “special. We were on a job. My crew, I mean. Kostya, Fedor, Dagon, we were all on it. And it was a tough one, tougher than most.
“Tough because we didn’t have much time to get it done, and there was this guy, this… individual, who wouldn’t cooperate. He was the key to everything. And I tried to get him to help us, I really did. But he wouldn’t listen. He kept saying we didn’t know who he was, what he could do, kept telling us what he was going to do to us… so one of ours went to work on him. Hard.”
She closed her eyes, hated dredging up the terrible past. Who she’d been. What she’d done. And what she’d made her child part of.
“Wren shouldn’t have been there. I didn’t want him to be there. But he was, and Asher…”
She caught herself, stopped. Glanced up at Three. She’d said more than she’d meant to.
“He was hurting him,” Wren continued. “Real bad. I didn’t mean to.”
“I don’t know what he did,” said Cass, almost whispering. “None of us do. But Wren made Asher stop. Stopped him. Long enough for the target to ship. We couldn’t finish the job. After that, Asher wouldn’t leave Wren alone. He wanted to know what Wren had done, how he’d done it. And Wren, you know, he just doesn’t know sometimes… but he just kept at him, and I couldn’t protect him forever… so we left.”
“I didn’t mean to,” Wren said. “It was an accident.”
Cass hugged him again.
“I know about RushRuin,” Three said. Cass silently cursed herself for slipping up, revealing Asher’s name. If Three knew about RushRuin, he’d know what they were capable of. And there was no way he’d stick around to help them now. “And I know they’re not in the business of running Sec/Nets.”
“I never said they were.”
“Said it or not, you let me believe it. Just as bad.”
She didn’t argue the point.
“Who’s RushRuin?” Jackson asked. Cass had almost forgotten he was there.
“Brainhackers,” Three answered, eyes still on Cass. “Some of the best.”
“The best,” Cass said. “I don’t know another crew that does the kind of damage they do.”
“And you’re one of them?” Jackson said, obvious awe in his voice.
“Was. I don’t do that anymore.”
For a moment they all just sat in silence. Jackson stunned by the truth, Cass relieved to have admitted it, and Three trying to figure out what it all meant.
“Bottom line,” Three said at last, “I shouldn’t have brought you out here. Not without knowing the facts.”
Cass felt stung, though not surprised.
“So you’d rather us be dead? My son and me?”
“I shouldn’t have gotten involved, Cass,” he said with a shrug. Never one for diplomacy. “But because I am, I’m telling you I shouldn’t have brought you out here, to the Vault. If I had known what you were running from, there might have been better options.”
“If you had known what we were running from, you wouldn’t have helped us.”
“I’m not gonna lie to you, girl. When you walked into that bar, you were just some skew with some kid you couldn’t take care of. Same story, seen it a thousand times. And you’re right, if I had known, no way I would’ve put my life on the line for you. But—”
If she hadn’t been so tired, she would’ve stopped herself. At least that’s what she let herself believe. As it was, Cass slapped Three across the face, hard. He took it, didn’t even try to stop her. He worked his jaw, tested the inside of his mouth with his tongue.
“But,” he continued, seemingly unfazed, “none of that makes any difference now. Right now, we’re together, and we gotta figure out how to keep it that way.”
Cass wasn’t sure what he was saying. Or didn’t want to let herself believe that maybe, hope against hope, he was saying he wasn’t going to leave them, even now, even knowing what they were really up against.
“You really gotta stop hittin’ me.”
Cass chuckled in spite of herself. It all seemed suddenly ridiculous, that she should be sitting here, in this place, with these people. She was weary, weary beyond imagining, but she was with her son, and right now it was enough. She was instantly sorry she’d hit Three, but couldn’t bring herself to say it.
“When you left, where’d you think you’d go?” Three asked.
For whatever reason, she didn’t care anymore. If Three knew about RushRuin, he might as well know everything. She owed him that much.
“Morningside.”
For a split-second, Cass almost thought she saw something like surprise on Three’s face. Jackson was more obvious.
“Morningside?” he said, looking like he might fall backwards out of his chair. “That’s on the other side of the Strand!”
“Yeah, I know where it is, Jackson.”
“But… that’s… there’s no way you’d ever make it.”
Cass glanced at Three, tried to gauge his reaction. As usual, nothing. He sat in stony silence, though his eyes were lively, active. Wheels turning.