Chapter 59
ARMEN
The service tunnel on level three is narrow, dimly lit, the kind of place people avoid unless they’re looking for trouble. Water drips somewhere in the distance, a slow, steady rhythm that echoes off concrete walls. One large section is missing railings. A misstep would mean disaster.
We move in silence, Sting leading, me at Vi’s side, Rogue bringing up the rear. Our boots are quiet on the cracked tile.
Then I hear voices. Low. Hostile.
Sting stops at the corridor mouth, raises one hand. We halt.
I peer around the corner.
The girl is there, exactly where Sting said she’d be. And she’s not alone. Three others stand with her, two men and another woman. All of them armed. Makeshift weapons, pipes, knives, a length of chain.
The girl is talking, voice low and urgent. “—doesn’t matter if they’re watching her. She has to leave sometime. And when she does—”
She stops mid-sentence. Looks up. Sees us. Her expression shifts to surprise, then calculation, then something darker.
“Well,” she says, voice echoing off the walls. “Look who just joined the party.”
I step into view, Sting and Rogue flanking me. Vi stays just behind, close enough I can feel her heat at my back.
The girl’s gaze locks on Vi. “Brought your boys, did you?”
Vi doesn’t answer.
The girl smiles. “Smart. Because this time, I’m not alone either.”
One of the men, broad-shouldered with a huge, beefy face, steps forward. Pipe in hand. “This the one?” he asks.
“Yeah,” she says. “That’s her.”
The man looks Vi up and down, then snorts. “Doesn’t look like much.”
“She’s bound to three,” the woman with them adds. Older, hard-faced. “That makes her worth something.”
The girl’s smile widens. “Or makes her a target.”
I take a step forward. “You have five seconds to leave.”
The girl laughs. “Or what? You’ll fight all of us? Four against three?”
“Four against four,” Sting corrects, nodding toward Vi.
The woman’s gaze flicks to Vi, then back to me. “She can barely walk. You really think she’s going to help?”
“I think,” I say slowly, “that you’re about to find out what happens when you threaten what’s ours.”
The scarred man shifts his grip on the pipe. “Big talk.”
Rogue’s voice cuts in, quiet, amused. “Want to test it?”
For a moment, no one moves. Then the girl nods.
The man lunges.