Chapter 25 CLEO
CLEO
SAbrINA’S LIPS CURVE INTO a slow smile and she cocks her head at me. ‘Cleo, am I in the middle of a lover’s tiff right now?’ she asks, far too pleased with herself. ‘And I thought we had something special, babe.’
‘Stop it,’ I snap. I have to think quickly – I have to pick a side. The guy who won’t stop defending Graves, or the woman who’s working for them? Am I willing to work for them?
Maybe, if it’ll save my life. I’ve done a lot of things to stay alive. I ran all the way to another planet to stay alive.
My brain’s mapping the options at lightning speed, as my grip on the gun tightens.
Sabrina: Willing to work with me, has an idea for getting me out of this, but can’t guarantee she’ll be able to sell me as a new recruit. If it works, though, I know what that future looks like. I’ve lived it before.
Hunter: Looking at me like he’d rather die than side with me, but he’s a Graves – powerful enough to protect anyone, if he wants to. If he wants to.
Then a new voice sounds. ‘Is it finally time for introductions? I’ve been looking forward to this.’
The Pirate comes striding into the room, gun raised. He’s even bigger than he looked from the balcony, a broad-shouldered bruiser. He’s not handsome, but there’s something about him that makes you look at him.
Another of the mercs – the one Hunter called the Ballerina – is just a step behind him, wearing a mean expression.
I snap my own gun up to point it at Sabrina’s head, and her hands fly into the air again as she takes a step back.
‘Easy now,’ says the Pirate in a low voice, training his gun on me. ‘Let’s talk. And you, stay still.’
For a moment I think the words are meant for me, and then I realize Hunter’s eased two steps back toward the door, hoping to vanish into thin air while we all point guns at each other. He stops where he is, expression stony.
‘You really are kids,’ the Pirate says slowly. ‘I didn’t believe it.’
The words I’m seventeen, actually almost make it out, but nothing makes you sound younger than protesting your age. So I fall back on what worked last time: sass. ‘Embarrassing, right? You with all the guns, and you’re still running around after us?’
‘I told you, Nico,’ Sabrina chimes in. ‘Amateurs can be more dangerous than professionals.’
Did she let his name slip by accident, or is she trying to give me something as a show of good faith?
Nico shakes his head, allowing himself a hint of a smile. ‘Not our finest hour,’ he agrees. ‘But it’s over now. We can all do math. Two guns on one. Three people on two. I admire what you’ve managed, truly I do, but this is when it stops. You still have a chance to choose how that happens.’
Sabrina lowers her voice, the edge gone now, as she pitches her words for me alone. ‘Come on, Cleo. Be smart. I don’t actually want to dispose of your corpse.’
Above us the lights flicker again, and when they settle, the room’s a touch dimmer.
It’s as if the power reduced a fraction, but none of the things Hunter and I did around the station should have caused that.
I’m guessing from the quick frown that just crossed Nico’s face that they’re not taking credit either.
So what could be …? Oh.
And just like that, I see the path forward. It’s like someone’s switched on floodlights and the way ahead is clear. I know exactly how to walk it.
‘I’m not surrendering to you,’ I say, shifting my grip on my gun. Then, just as Nico starts to sigh, I continue. ‘But I’ll join you. And I can keep the station powered up for a few hours more.’
Nico takes a step closer. ‘You can undo this?’ he asks, and whether he means it to or not, a hint of urgency makes it past his shields.
‘We didn’t create your power-drainage problem,’ I say. ‘This is the solar failing. It’s why the cafeteria was dimmed before, why the lights wouldn’t turn on in the movie theater. The station is shutting everything down in order of priority. The dust storm’s coating the panels.’
I see the moment he doesn’t believe me – his brows lift, a quick huff of breath escaping. ‘It’s only been a few hours,’ he replies. ‘The batteries will hold longer than that.’
‘Sure, under the right circumstances.’ I can’t believe I didn’t see this earlier.
‘Let me guess: you timed all this for the dust storm, so you could avoid satellites getting a look at you. Smart, except the same dust that protected you is blocking all the sun. The solar arrays here just aren’t as good as at Graves – the UN’s broke.
Everything here is donated or bargain basement.
If there were engineers here, they’d be switching over to backup batteries, reducing usage to get through the dust storm.
But they all ran away on the evac shuttles, and nobody’s here to follow the protocols. ’
There’s a long pause as Nico sorts through that, looking for the holes in my argument. Then he tips his head back to study the lights. ‘Well, fuck,’ he mutters.
‘I can fix it,’ I say with more confidence than I feel. ‘For a ride out of here. I’ve spent three months climbing around in the guts of this station and I’m good with hardware. I can reduce your usage enough to get you through a little longer.’
Nico glances at Hunter. ‘And him?’
I snort, and ignore the feeling of Hunter’s gaze boring into the side of my head.
Whatever doubts he has about his sister, there’s not a chance in hell that Graves staff are going to hurt him.
Not when his mama’s waiting for him at their compound.
‘I don’t think he’s in any danger,’ I say.
‘Bring him back to your boss, see what she thinks. Turns out they’re acquainted. ’
That’s enough to pique Nico’s curiosity, and his eyes narrow as he considers the pair of us. But the Graves twins don’t have public images. Nico doesn’t know who Hunter is.
They walk us to the engineering department without restraints, but definitely at gunpoint. Hunter’s by my side, but gazing straight ahead, his handsome jaw clenched so hard it looks like he’s going to crack a tooth.
‘What would you have done if I’d told you who I was when we met?’ I say softly, glancing sideways and up at him. ‘Would you have teamed up with a hitcher?’
A flicker of his expression admits the truth we both know. Never. ‘There have been other moments since then,’ he says quietly, gaze still straight in front of us. ‘You could have—’
‘Let’s keep conversation to a minimum,’ Nico calls from behind us, and we fall silent.
He’s going to be fine, I remind myself. In a few minutes he’ll be back with his family, and by tonight he’ll probably be soaking in a fancy bubble bath or something, thinking dark thoughts about evil hitchers.
The main engineering offices are situated near the eastern garages, where my new friends arrived at the station. Downstairs and deeper underground is the workshop where we wrapped the Boxer in expanding foam, and on this upper level is a large room full of workstations.
Across the hall is the chief’s office, where we hid under a desk and I nearly let Hunter Graves kiss me.
‘You sit there, handsome,’ Sabrina tells him, gesturing to a workstation. I see the way his gaze runs over the setup as he folds himself into a chair – he’s wondering if he can log in. He left his cuff in the greenhouse, though – he’s just an onlooker now.
The Ballerina walks ahead of us and takes her place at a station that looks like a patient in the ICU, covered with stick-on patches and wires – I’m guessing this is how they hacked into it. Nico rests a hand on my shoulder and steers me over to join her.
‘Grace is going to take you through the station’s systems,’ he says. ‘You’re going to figure out what can be turned off to save power, what can be reduced, and what you can redirect.’
‘And the first thing you’re going to do,’ Grace the Ballerina adds, with a glare as cold as the Martian air outside, ‘is show me where to shut down power to the damn classroom, so we can get my girlfriend off a desk.’
‘Yeah, of course,’ I mutter. ‘You would have had trouble finding it – this place was built in stages, expanded every time they got more funding, so some of the connections aren’t where you think. I can show you if you get a diagram up. We’ll have to do it manually, though.’
‘We have to go on-site?’ She narrows her gaze, trying to figure out whether I’m just looking for a chance to get away. ‘The boss has an all-access pass to the systems with that cuff she wears.’
‘And some of it’s not attached to the systems,’ I reply.
‘It just got put together when they got the budget. It’s not hard.
You can get to the wires no problem, and they’re easy to pull out.
They were thinking about maintenance, not sabotage, when they built it. Just have to watch for the live ones.’
‘Girl, you’ll be watching for the live ones,’ Grace mutters.
Nico huffs a soft laugh behind me, and I can still feel Hunter’s gaze boring into a spot between my shoulder blades, though whether he’s madder that I’m undoing our hard work, or that I’m a filthy hitcher, I don’t know.
I have to remind myself that I don’t care what the corporates do to each other. I care about what I need, and about keeping my own ass intact. This is the only way to do that, and I can’t believe I nearly forgot that. I knew better than to rely on anyone but myself.
If this is what it takes, I’ll hold my nose and do business with them. And if Sabrina does somehow get me out of here, I’ll do what I can with that chance.
I look down at the tattoos curling their way up my forearms – at the purple flowers and green vines, a reminder that there’s always a way, even if it’s through a crack in the concrete. I’ll find my way now. I’ll make it.
Then I hear Nico speak again, somewhere behind me. ‘Now, my boy. Indulge me as I give you a pat-down, and then we’ll go talk to the boss.’
Hunter is about to meet his sister. I wish I could—
‘Here,’ says Grace, pulling up a schematic. ‘Show me exactly where to find the power shutoff.’
So, wishing I felt better about the choice I’ve made, and desperately trying to ignore the queasy feeling in my stomach, I do.