“I know,” Priyanka said. “But they won’t catch me to begin with.”
“Good. I can’t take another dead kid on my watch.”
Priyanka saluted her sarcastically.
“I also don’t need that attitude,” Vida said sharply. “Are you capable of taking orders?”
“You have no idea what I’m capable of,” Priyanka told her, her voice hard.
Vida’s steely expression relaxed as her lips curled into one of her patented, unnerving smiles of approval.
We made our way through the town, carrying our water and the weapons. We didn’t encounter the first helicopter until we were nearly to the cemetery’s perimeter. Priyanka and I were the first to feel it, before the others even heard it. She grabbed Max and I grabbed Roman, dragging them under the cover of the nearby trees.
Up ahead, the others followed, diving for the heavy shade. Liam crouched a short distance away from me, resting his head against a tree trunk. He was red in the face, sweat streaking over his cheeks. A twinge of concern moved through me at his labored breathing. Then he clenched his jaw, and a fierce look of determination set in. He pushed himself up onto his feet the instant the noise of the chopper’s propellers faded beneath the distant car alarms and the wailing of emergency services sirens.
“Cut across the cemetery two by two,” Vida instructed as we climbed over the fence. “Except you, Stewart—you’re coming with me and Charlie.”
Each pair waited until the one ahead was through the maze of headstones and paths before running after them. By the time the helicopter came back to make another pass, the city had already ushered us into the cover of its smoky arms. We disappeared into its chaos.
At the edge of the city, buildings and shops were still glowing with flames, coaxed on by the wind. Looters smashed the windows of convenience stores and clothing shops. A white guy stumbled out through the smashed glass of a storefront, clutching a computer in his arms and running toward a group of friends wearing bandanas over the lower halves of their faces. A police car flew by us as we hurried along the sidewalk.
By the time we’d reached the river and found an unmonitored path over it, we’d wasted an hour just dodging the patrols and hiding behind dumpsters. I seethed with frustration; every minute we lost mattered. A life could be taken in seconds. Ruby might already be…
I saw Liam’s face, steeled with grit, as he pulled himself up from behind the garbage containers and led the group forward. Roman and I brought up the rear, his gaze sharply assessing each individual threat as we passed it. While Priyanka had lengthened her strides to keep up with Vida and the others, Max had slowly drifted back to us, his face troubled.
“Are you all right?” I asked him. “You can turn back if this is getting to be too much.”
I didn’t mean it in a cold way; I was surprised that Max had decided to come with us at all. When Liam had called to update them, Sam and Lucas had invited him to stay with them until he felt ready to face the world. But Max insisted on coming, saying that he might need to do another reading after we got to the city.
“I’m managing,” he said. “I didn’t expect to find a path through violence again, though.”
“You don’t have to do any fighting,” I told him. “I’m just glad you’re here with us.”
He nodded, turning his gaze back out to the street. I was beginning to see the pattern of the wreckage. Burning buildings gave way to still-smoldering ones as the fire department worked its way from the heart of the city out to its fringes. By the time we reached the blackened remains of a fleet of row houses, there were no actual flames in sight, just air that was thick with ash and clogging smoke. I lifted the collar of my shirt over my mouth and nose, trying to get a clean breath of air.
The only problem was, we were finding more and more people as we moved toward Center City. We stepped off the streets to let a roving crowd pass by. They were all different ages, all different ethnicities, but all of their eyes were rimmed with the same painful-looking red. As if they’d tried to scratch them out.
“Tear gas,” Roman said, nodding toward them.
A middle-aged man supported another, younger man as they hobbled forward. The younger one had a gushing head wound that left his expression unfocused. They maneuvered through the burned-out shells of cars and fields of broken glass. As they passed by us, the older man looked at me, then looked again.
I cleared my throat, turning my face away.
“Don’t go to Independence Mall,” he said, his voice hoarse. “That’s where they’re rounding everyone up and checking IDs. You won’t get to leave.”
I risked a glance back. Even if the man didn’t recognize me, he had to recognize how young we were. What that likely meant, even without buttons.
“The cemetery is the best way out,” Roman told him, his hand closing gently on my elbow to guide us both forward. “Keep an eye out for helicopters, though.”
“Thanks,” the wounded man said, slurring. “Be careful. They don’t have rubber bullets.”
“Oh God,” Max whispered as soon as they were out of earshot.
“Still okay?” I asked him. He swallowed, nodding.
We had to run to catch up with the others. Along the way, Roman fell back, bending to retrieve something that had been washed into the gutter by a sputtering fire hydrant. A Phillies baseball cap. Wordlessly, he offered it to me.
“Thanks,” I whispered, pulling it down as low as I could over my face. The last thing we needed was to be recognized before we could even see the Leda building.
“Isn’t Leda’s building near Independence Mall?” I asked when we’d finally caught up to the others in the shadow of a boarded-up pizzeria.
“I think it’s a good ten blocks away,” Vida said. “Why?”
“It’s closer than that,” Liam said, the words strained. “About four.”
“You’re sure?” I asked.
“This is where my brother was in deep cover for the League,” Liam said, his voice flat. “I waited to see if I could spot him from that park. I’m sure.”
He was right. It was on the corner of Locust and Tenth Street, a nondescript white building with no logo or signage. The lab was an open secret for anyone who worked in the government and, likely, anyone who lived and worked in Philadelphia. The public had only been told that they’d closed this lab down and donated it to a nearby university, and that Leda’s UN-commissioned research was being done under the watchful eye of the government in a building in Washington. If anyone didn’t know what the low rectangular building was before the riots broke out, they had to know now by the heavy military presence that surrounded it. I couldn’t even see the front doors past the armored vans they’d parked there.
We stayed a block back, slipping into the narrow alley space between what remained of a sushi restaurant and a dry cleaner. The combined smell mingling with the smoke made my eyes water.
“Don’t make those pitiful-ass faces,” Vida told us. “We were never going to be able to get in through the front doors.”
“Won’t all the entrances be monitored?” I asked. When we’d left Kansas we’d known to expect security in the building, but not assault rifles.
“Come on, we’re not fucking idiots,” Vida said. “Someone throw out a suggestion.”
“I have an amazingly bad one,” Priyanka said slowly.
“Now we’re talking,” Liam said. “Go for it.”
“We’re near a ton of rowdy protestors who are trapped in the park by people they’re bound to outnumber, right?” Priyanka glanced to me. “It’s a play on the Pit strategy. We get them to swarm Leda, floating the idea to them there’s…I don’t know, supplies? Remind them that Leda is the reason we’re all here? If they surround the building, that’ll draw the focus of the soldiers and security to the front while we find some shady back entrance to sneak into.”
“That’ll also probably get a number of people killed,” Chubs said. “Even if we can use the chaos to slip inside, they mig
ht be prompted to evacuate the building because of it.”
“U! N! No! More! U! N! No! More!” Until now the voices of the people who were packed onto the grounds of Independence Mall, the ones I’d seen with signs near Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, had been a dull roar. But the chants were growing louder the longer we stood there, moving closer.
“We could steal peacekeeper or police uniforms,” Roman suggested.
“That’s the right line of thinking, but not exactly realistic,” Liam said. “Even if we could come up with a brilliant reason for all of us to need to be in that building, we’re never going to be able to find seven uniforms, let alone an eighth to get Ruby out. Our best bet is to hope things get a little bit rowdy outside to pull the security force’s attention while we sneak in through a side entrance.”
“I don’t know about any side entrances, but there’s the overflow parking garage.”
We all pivoted toward Max.
“Your father used to work for Leda,” I said, suddenly remembering what he’d told me in the Pit. “In this lab.”
He nodded.
“So, that’s the kind of information that would have been useful five fucking minutes ago,” Vida said. “Anything else you want to add?”
“The main garage for staff is right under the lab, on the back side of the building. This one is a few blocks north, but there’s an underground walkway that connects it,” Max explained.
“You’re sure about that?” Chubs asked. “One thousand percent sure?”
“The researchers used it when they didn’t want anyone to know they were late or for corporate meetings when more employees were on hand,” Max explained. “My dad used it with me when he brought me in for testing so I wouldn’t have to face the stares in the lobby. There’s still a security presence, cameras and at least one person in the booth, but getting in shouldn’t be a problem. I’ve never known a lock to keep Priyanka out.”
“Aw, Maximo,” she said. “Now I am sorry I changed the password on your phone all those times to torment you.”
His eyes narrowed. “I knew it!”
Liam clapped his hands together. “Focus. Where does this garage tunnel lead in the building? Up to the lobby?”
“It connects to the same elevator bank the main garage uses, just a level lower. It goes straight up and down the back of the building. You need a key card to tap in and out, but, again, Priyanka.”
She flipped her long curly hair back over her shoulder.
“All right,” Chubs said. “Seven floors, including the lobby. If we split up, a few of us can start searching from the top floor and the rest from the second story. We can meet in the middle.”
“You are for sure coming with me,” Vida told him. “No arguments. You haven’t held a weapon in four years.”
“I was not going to argue with that.”
“I’ll go with you, too,” Liam said. “The kids can take the lower floors. We’ll meet on the fourth floor, by the elevators. Is there any way to take out the security cameras?”
“When we get there, I can try,” Priyanka said. “See if I can’t get the whole system to loop.”
Everyone was nodding. Everyone but Max, who looked a bit sick.
I don’t want to hurt anyone else….
We’d already made him break that promise to himself when he fought Cubby. I wasn’t about to do it again.
Roman had taken notice, too. In his usual quiet way he said, “We’re going to need transport out of the city. Can you take point on that? Find a quick escape route through the blockade?”
Max nodded eagerly. “Just leave one of the burners with me. I’ll keep you updated.”
Chubs gave him the one he’d been using, and Liam handed us Sam’s old phone.
“Text only,” Vida said. “And only on the encrypted app.”
“U! N! No! More!” The chants were getting closer. “Let us vote for Joseph Moore!”
Vida went first, keeping her back to the wall as she moved to the edge of the alleyway. She motioned us forward, pulling Max closer to her by the collar of his shirt. “Are they moving in the direction of the garage?”
He nodded. “It’s north of the building. If they stay on this street, it’s a straight shot up Tenth Street.”
That seemed like a good bet, given the police barriers that blocked access to either side of Locust Street where vehicles had been left abandoned and trashed.
“Our favorite lady’s back,” Priyanka whispered to us. “I’ve missed you, Lady Luck.”
As the first wave of marchers passed us, heading the opposite direction as they carried their signs like flags and their flags like cloaks, Vida led us out into the fray. The protestors spilled over the sidewalks, packing themselves together to march forward, forward, forward, forcing us to push and weave through them to get past. A few soldiers gathered on the streets that connected to ours, both watching and keeping the crowd on their set path.
Liam ended up right beside me, stumbling as someone accidentally elbowed him in the chest. I reached out, looping my arm through his to steady him. Vida’s dark hair was just visible through the waving signs. I kept track of her the best I could, trying to spot the others.
A familiar hot rush of pressure slid along the back of my mind, sending a shiver down my back. It was gone before I could process the feeling.
Liam shuddered, pressing a hand to his chest. “I feel like someone just walked over my grave.”
I stood on my toes, searching the surrounding buildings. Nearby faces blurred as my anxiety grew. Up ahead, Priyanka turned, finding my gaze as she conducted her own search for the only possible source.
Lana.
WE PEELED OFF FROM THE protestors one by one, following Max as he led us down a sliver of a street, one that didn’t even have a sign to identify it. If we hadn’t been following Max, I probably would have walked by the entrance altogether. The garage door itself blended almost seamlessly into the graffiti on the brick wall it had been carved into. He pointed to the small black square that was posted over the top left corner of the entrance.
“That’s the remote access,” he said, glancing at Priyanka, but she only had eyes for the security camera posted above the other corner.
“Is she…working?” Liam whispered to me.
“I can hear you just fine,” Priyanka said. “And yes, I am. Give me just one more minute….This is a pretty firewall they’ve got. Lots of…layers…”
Roman shook his head. “We can’t go through this door. There has to be some kind of vent….”
He followed the edge of the building, somehow squeezing himself into the narrow space between the garage’s wall and the office building adjacent to it. Finally, Roman reached an opening along the back of the building that looked about as big as a closet. My heart jumped as he disappeared, and then jumped again as he leaned back so I could see his face. “I’ve found it. Tell the others.”
Liam raised his brows at me. “Very dreamy.”
“Can you not?” I said, pushing him toward the opening. To make the fit work, he had to shed his belt and plaid shirt, leaving him in a gray undershirt. Chubs looked doubtful about his ability to slide between the buildings, but tried anyway. Priyanka went next, sucking in a hard breath and tearing the back of her shirt in the process.
Before I followed, Vida turned to Max. “We’re going to need some kind of service vehicle, I think. Something with an excuse to be on the road that won’t necessarily be stopped and searched. If you can’t find that, see if you can figure out a road that isn’t being monitored.”
He nodded, his brow creasing. “I’ll do my best.”
“You have about twenty minutes to do better than your best,” Vida told him.
The others had already pried off the metal vent, and Roman had crawled inside. We found him standing over an unconscious security officer in the booth by the massive door.
Roman led us down the length of the small, empty garage, until we reached a pathway shaved out of
the concrete. It sloped down gradually before evening out. We were so far beneath the street that we couldn’t even hear the sirens from the police or the chanting of the crowds. Overhead, the fluorescent lights flickered in time with my driving pulse.
Just breathe, I reminded myself. Find Ruby. Get out.
It was that simple. Don’t set off alarms. Don’t alert security. Find Ruby. Get out.
I rolled my shoulders back, feeling a static charge snap against my teeth.
The pathway fed into a small elevator bank, just as Max had promised.
“We’re only going up three floors. We can take the stairs,” Roman suggested to Vida. “It might draw less attention than multiple stops.”
Vida gave a nod of approval. “Good idea.”
Priyanka stepped forward, pressing her hand to the keypad. The elevator dinged with each floor it passed on the way down. We all cringed at the sound.
“Fourth floor in front of this same elevator bank,” Vida said. “Twenty minutes. No matter what, that’s the meet. We’ll reassess if we have to.”
I nodded as they stepped inside. “Good luck.”
The doors shut, carrying them away. A sickening feeling of dread wormed through my stomach. Roman brought up a hand and rested it on the nape of my neck. At the touch, I turned toward him.
“Come together,” he said softly, “leave together.”
I nodded, setting my shoulders back. I pulled the burner out of my pocket again, and began recording. Priyanka had already bypassed the lock on the stairwell’s door and was holding it open. With a deep breath, I followed them in.
The building’s power was a low hum in my ears. The concrete of the stairwell had been painted and sealed, the edges of the steps covered in rubber to prevent slipping. A strip of glow-in-the-dark tape ran along the side of them, almost brighter than the small fixtures on the walls. Only every other one was lit, like they were on reserve power, not full.
“Maybe they did evacuate the building,” I whispered.