Chapter 21 #2
The second she’s out of sight, we head for the entrance. We were given temporary clearance when the Sentinels were asked to transport the moonstones, and I swipe the card to the building.
The glass doors slide open silently. Somewhere by the side of the building, there’s the dim glow of an office light.
‘Whoever she met must be there,’ Raven murmurs, coming up behind me.
The corridors are dark, so smothering that I feel as if I need extra effort to breathe, and it’s the only thing in my ears. I whip around when I don’t hear Raven behind me, but she’s there, silhouetted by the haze of the streetlight through the window.
What’s wrong? Raven mouths.
And then her phone begins to buzz.
‘Shit,’ she whispers, fumbling for it. I think she’s going to switch it off, but she picks it up. ‘What’s up, Av?’
Seriously? I mouth to her, but she rolls her eyes.
The call takes several minutes. I spend it leaning against the wall and watching, straining to hear the crackling voice on the other end.
Raven hangs up. ‘Okay, good news: I know what we’re stealing.
Bad news: it’s the stupid blueprints we fought over five months ago, plus anything you find lying around.
Something that explains all of this – contracts, schedules, whatever.
More good news: the Naga leader said that Maria passed them to the CEO of Ferrix, and he’s a walking liability.
Bad news: Maria is apparently asking for me at the heist, and I can’t let her know I’m here. I need to just drop by.’
I hear the question in her voice. ‘Yeah, go ahead. I’ll steal the blueprints.’
Raven raises a brow. ‘You’ll steal something?’
Under her scrutiny, my face turns hot. ‘I can do it – just go. I’m literally a Sentinel.’
Her face seems to struggle as she glances down the corridor and back out of the building. ‘I’ll be gone for ten minutes. I’ll meet you outside. If you’re not out in ten, I’m coming in.’
Then she’s gone, turned into shadow.
I face the darkness and keep going. How does Raven do this regularly? The dark seems to lengthen the angular shadows of the building, stretching corners deeper and more sinister.
My only benefit is my clearance card, and the fact that I remember the layout.
It takes me past each sliding door, until I’m at the main office.
I hear Kevin clattering around inside. I retrieve my phone from my belt, set an alarm for a minute from now and hide it round the corner, then I retrace my steps and tuck myself down the corridor in the other direction.
Somewhere in the distance, my phone rings.
I hear his office door click open, and Kevin eases out, his footsteps shuffling, his eyes wide.
‘Hello?’ he says.
As he inches around the corner towards the alarm, I sprint to the office.
Okay, blueprints. I prepare to rifle through the cabinets, but I’m lucky. They’re sitting right by the table, and I sling the holder around my shoulder. There’s also a bunch of papers on the table. A quick check shows they’re stacks of contracts, the ink still wet.
I duck out of the office to check. He’s still gone. If I’m quick, I can make it out of here unnoticed.
I grab all the papers on the desk and realize I have nowhere to put them. Oh, Raven. I have enough decorum to at least reconsider it before I do a Raven and stuff it all down my tight leggings.
But the blueprint holder catches against the edge of the office table as I leave, and I topple to the ground with a thud. Footsteps sound from the corridor – Kevin probably finally realizing what’s going on.
‘Shit!’ I scramble to my feet, but a figure fills the doorway, and Kevin grabs an umbrella and throws it at me.
It misses me entirely. I see what she means by a walking liability.
I rush past him, but he catches my leg as I leave, and I fall to the ground again. My elbows burn as I crawl forward, dragging both of us along.
Kevin eases up, then I feel cold metal on my back.
‘Don’t move, you filthy Fox,’ he growls. ‘Or I shoot.’
The sound of footsteps. I look up in time to see Raven running towards us, and I feel Kevin lift the gun from my back to aim it at her.
I kick it out of his hand and push myself up, running towards her.
‘Go!’ Raven jerks her head. ‘You’ll be quicker, and I can handle this!’
‘Be safe,’ I say as I pass. Then I hurtle through the doors and down the stairs, my heart slamming in my throat, the blueprint holder bouncing across my back.
In my cargo belt, my visor chimes. I tug my mask off and slip it on as I break into the fresh air. ‘ALFRED?’
‘A call for the Sentinels has been made,’ ALFRED says. ‘I am in the process of rousing Niko and Kiran, but you’re at the site of the call. Would you like to respond?’
Damn it, Kevin must’ve pushed some button. If I go home with the blueprints now, I’d be leaving Raven to the mercy of Niko and Kiran.
The car is only five minutes away. I have my visor and my blasters with me.
I make a decision and keep running.
RAVEN
Here’s the thing: I could’ve got rid of this guy ages ago. He is frail, old, slow and magic-less. If I breathe too hard on him, he might die.
But here’s the other thing. The first thing Kevin Tan said after I punched him in the face was, ‘I’m calling the Sentinels.’
And the next thing he said, after I punched him a second time, was, ‘You Foxes are going to die out soon.’
So now I slam him into the ground, both my hands on his collar, and demand, ‘What the fuck do you mean?’
He smirks. ‘Anxious because you don’t have enough moonstones left, do you?’
I grab the gun off the floor from when I’d disarmed him, and push the nozzle into the hollow of his throat. ‘What are you doing with the moonstones?’
‘None of your concern.’ He’s smug, even with a gun to his throat. He’s braver than he used to be. ‘I get the documents I want, and your clan and the Nagas get a cut of moonstone.’
‘The bombs at Sentosa.’ I bully the nozzle against his skin until he wheezes. ‘That was you?’
‘That was a test for your clan member. We didn’t expect the civilian casualty – anyone ever tell you how unstable the new moonstones are?
– but your clan member has been so kind.
She planted the bombs for us, which means it was still the Foxes who did it.
It’s still the Foxes that the government and Sentinels are going after, and we got a successful test of the bombs from it. So no, not me.’
Fucking Maria.
I lift him up and shove him back against the floor. ‘What do you have against the Foxes?’
‘Don’t take it personally.’ When Kevin scowls, his teeth are black with blood – must’ve bitten something when I hit him.
‘Ferrix can’t stay afloat as just a power plant company, and the government is paying us so much for the bombs.
We’d lose public support if people knew what we were doing though, so we had to rewrite history a little.
Everyone believes the Foxes would blow people up.
We’re just pushing the image along, and soon all of you scum can be put away.
I’m sick of you poisoning our society with your magic and using up all the moonstones we need. ’
All the arrests that the police and the Sentinels have made over the last months.
All the nights I’ve spent trying to bail my clan members out, frustrated by how fucking fervent the Sentinels and police have been about catching us.
All because what, a bunch of rich people were trying to make us a scapegoat?
The image comes together, and fury flashes through my chest.
I dig my knuckles into his neck and lean in.
Kevin splutters. When his lips part, a dying wheeze escapes. Good.
The sound of running catches the edge of my hearing.
I ease off Kevin, snapping my gun towards the dark corridor. My heart slams in my throat, wondering which it’ll be: Niko or Kiran?
‘They’re here.’ Kevin throws his head back and laughs, the sound raspy and broken and echoing through the empty building.
A figure appears at the end of the corridor, and a ball of white-hot energy singes my hair as it whizzes past.
My trigger finger goes on instinct.
A pair of wide eyes meet mine behind a familiar blue visor.
Time pauses itself to burn the image of Lune’s startled stare into my brain, and everything around us falls away.
It’s just Raven and Lune, gun to blaster, back to our predetermined roles. My bullet travels, and a ball of energy from her blaster blinds my vision.
Time kickstarts. I duck.
Bullets are faster than energy blasts. Lune doesn’t get to duck.
The recoil of the shot bruises my palm and pain rips through my shoulder.
When I open my eyes, Lune’s still staring at me. Her lips part, her eyes wider than before.
Oh, God.
Oh, God.
A dark blotch expands by her gut, shining wet. She presses a hand to the wound as she advances, raising her other hand against me, blasters glowing with charge.
I hear Kevin produce a strangled sound of surprise under me.
I rush to stand, and draw my daggers. ‘Stay out of this.’
‘Step away from him.’ Lune’s blaster hand is shaking. I surge forward, pushing her to the floor and cushioning her with my telekinesis. To keep up pretence, I pretend to choke her as I straddle her.
‘Why the hell are you here?’ I hiss, pushing my blade up against her neck. She stops me with hands against mine, pretending we’re both at an impasse. I lean in closer.
Lune glares up at me, her breath hot against the shell of my ear. ‘Because you are? Because it’s our jobs?’
‘You were supposed to go.’ I snap back, pretending to push down harder. ‘Fuck, are you okay?’
‘I’ll live. Now fight me, or we’ll look suspicious.’ She shoves me off and stands, her lips pale, a hand pressed to the wound.
Not this. God, not this. Anxiety and guilt rip into my heart and head as I pretend to wield my daggers.
I’m aware of Kevin watching somewhere in the distance, intrigued by the fight but too chicken to get any closer.
I need to get Tia to medical help. ‘I don’t want to hurt you more than I already have. Please.’