Numbers Ignite (25 page)

“At least give me a proper good-bye,” Edyn said, and shoved her mouth onto mine.

Her lips were soft and warm, and I tried to relax. Her hands wrapped around my back as her head tilted sideways, pulling me closer as our mouths moved together.

I wrapped my arms around her waist, determined to enjoy this. Frustration pulsed through my body, and Edyn seemed to like the intensity with which I held her. I told myself it was because I was in the moment and not angry at Treena.

It wasn’t until Edyn’s hand brushed the bruises on my side that I pulled away with a grunt.

Her hand flew to her mouth, but she couldn’t keep the smile away. “Oh! I forgot. I’m so sorry.”

“I’m not.”

Edyn wore a mischievous look. She slid her hand down my arm and wrapped her fingers around mine, then gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. “We’d better find you a shirt. Then I’ll talk to the assembly, see if they’ll order Mills to let you stay in the jail again. That cage idea was ridiculous anyway—”

“Nothing’s changed,” I told her, my voice a little breathless. Guilt settled heavily in my gut. I pushed the sensation away. I’d done nothing wrong. “I want nothing more than to make things better for our people here. But I can’t do that from prison.”

Edyn’s eyes were big and round. “What do you have in mind?”

I opened my mouth to speak, then noticed movement behind her. A large group was making their way down the trail, all dressed in dark gray uniforms.

I cursed and pulled Edyn behind a nearby tent.

“I see your language hasn’t improved much,” Edyn muttered.

“Tell me about Rutner,” I whispered, ignoring her comment. “Where does he fall into all this?”

She stiffened. “My dad won’t help us.”

My father had trusted Rutner with more than his life. The Rutner I remembered would do anything for our family. He was solid, like the center of the earth. If he wasn’t willing to help, that was a bad sign.

“If you could just talk to him, tell him the situation,” I said.

“No.” She clenched her jaw and looked at the ground. “My dad was very affected by his time in NORA. He’s made it very clear that he doesn’t want to be involved.”

“Affected? But he was fine when I saw him last.” He’d been there for negotiations between EPIC and my clan. Besides his dark looks and flat tone when he spoke directly to me, I hadn’t noticed anything amiss.

“Please, Vance.” Her tone was flat. “He won’t help us, and that’s that.”

I shook my head and peered around the tent fabric. It was definitely guards, all Ju-Long’s men, and they were headed this way. If they’d been sent to look for me, I needed a better hiding place. They were sure to keep an eye on the trail as well. Blasted Edyn. She’d chosen to have this conversation at the worst possible time.

Edyn put her hand on my cheek and turned my head toward her. “There’s got to be another way. If only we could get everyone to work together.”

“They did, once,” I said. “During the fire. Everyone jumped in and helped…” I trailed off. The fire. It had sparked in the bushes a full hundred yards away from the nearest house. A person could easily have hidden in all that vegetation. Besides, the placement of it—exactly where the south winds would hit and push the flames upward—it was too much to be a coincidence.

“Someone started that fire on purpose,” I said.

Edyn froze, then looked away. “Who would intentionally set a fire in a place like this?”

Someone who wanted to hurt the higher families and help me at the same time. It was placed right across the lake from me, in a place I’d be sure to see it. “Someone who knew I’d wake everyone up and rally them to fight the fire.”

She stared at the ground. “A few people here would know you well enough for that.”

I took a step back. “But it wasn’t any of them, was it?”

“It’s over with, and nobody got hurt.”

A barely controlled rage built inside me. “How dare you, Edyn. How dare you take peoples’ lives into your hands like that.”

“You know
nothing
about this!” Her voice shook, but there were no tears in her eyes. Something new, something cold, glimmered in her beautiful blue eyes. “You’ve always been so arrogant. How do you even know it was for you?”

I stared at her. “What was it, then, some kind of twisted justice?”

“You really are clueless.” She shook her head. “Look, Blackfell has no term limits on leadership. They serve until one of two things happen: they die, or someone challenges them for the governor position. My father knew he wanted to challenge immediately after his arrival, but he didn’t think the locals would accept him. He thought that planting evidence of Mills’s hand in a wildfire would help his case. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t take your new living arrangements into consideration. They doused the fire too soon. Nobody’s found the evidence, and now everyone thinks you’re some kind of hero. You have a way of complicating things, Vance Hawking.”

Everything she’d done was in her father’s name. And now she was stalling, preventing me from leaving. I was such an idiot.

I shoved her away. “Yeah, well, it turns out that I don’t like being used. Keep your political games and stay far away from me, because if I ever see you again, I’m telling everyone what you did.”

“Then we’ll go down together,” she snapped. “When you start thinking with your brain again and not your ego, send for me. In the meantime, I’ll be doing what’s best for you.” She stepped around the tent. “Guards! Vance is over here.”

With a stream of colorful words, I ducked into the tent, scrambling for a weapon. There was nothing but clothing and blankets and a few spoons.

“Come on. Not even a knife?” I grumbled as the footsteps outside grew louder. Edyn stood in front of the tent, yelling and pointing. I lifted the back of the tent and sprinted out, headed for the next one over. The thin fabric wouldn’t provide much cover from a bullet, but it was better than nothing. The ache in my shoulder sharpened as salty sweat burned into the wound. It had been way too long since I’d run, and the days spent huddled behind bars had taken their toll.

I stumbled over a rock and nearly landed on a child playing in the dirt. His mother yanked him back, wide-eyed, away from the crazed, shirtless man with a wrapped shoulder running across their camp. I jumped to my feet and turned—just in time to see a guard raise a pistol to my face.

The mother screamed. The guard blinked, and his finger hovered above the trigger for a fraction of a second.

I changed direction and barreled into someone, toppling us both to the ground. Arms grabbed at me as I leaped up and scrambled away, but more bodies and more hands tore at my bandages and slashed at my hair.

“Secure him!” Ju-Long’s voice snapped.

My body was sluggish, like fighting through mud. My sore shoulder was on fire now, shooting pain down the left side at every movement. I pushed through it, trying to force the wall of bodies to make way so I could slip by, but for every soldier I downed, two more were there to take his place.

Someone wrenched my arm behind my back for a wrist hold. As I twisted and pulled away, I caught a glimpse of Ju-Long’s irritated expression. He stood rigidly, arms at his sides, waiting impatiently for the wayward captive to be subdued.

I was too slow. A set of arms grabbed me from behind just as cool metal clamped around my wrist. I got a punch in before they got the other arm in, but the cuffs just enraged me further. I bowled over several men on my way to Ju-Long, ready to trample him as well.

A small smile crossed his lips. Just before I reached him, someone caught my leg, sending to me the ground. Since my wrists were fastened behind me, I couldn’t catch myself. I landed right on my sore shoulder. With a groan, I rolled over onto my back.

“Only a fool keeps fighting when he knows he is beaten,” Ju-Long said. He motioned for his men to lift me up. Someone grabbed my injured shoulder—roughly—and I gasped in agony.

“Wait!” a voice cried. Selia ran down the slope, a panicked look on her face as she pulled a younger man along by the elbow. She pulled up, breathing hard. The man shook her off and wiped his sleeve.

“You can’t take him yet,” she gasped. “I just found the surgeon. He needs to remove the bullet from his shoulder.”

Ju-Long glanced at my bandage. “My report doesn’t mention a gunshot wound. I was told he rolled his cage into the lake in an escape attempt.”

I snorted. “Is that what your assassin told you?”

Selia turned back to Ju-Long. “How could you leave him alone and defenseless, especially down by the lake at night? I’ll have words with the elders and Mills about this.”

Ju-Long’s surprise turned into a slow smile. “Do what you must.” He nodded to his soldiers. “Back to the jail with him.” They shoved me forward.

“Didn’t you hear me?” Selia exclaimed. “The boy needs a surgeon, or that wound will get infected. I traded my own bedding for the operation.”

“A waste of time and effort, I’m afraid,” Ju-Long said. “This boy won’t live much longer.”

She looked as if she wanted to push the issue, but I jumped in. “Thanks for your help, Selia, but I’ll be fine.”

We turned onto the trail that lined the lake, headed for the jail. Most of Ju-Long’s guards were Asian, and they held me tightly as we walked, not speaking. The man to my right held his nose, and I saw a trickle of blood.

“I’ve been gathering witnesses, Hawking,” Selia shouted behind us. “Just hold on. Soon the entire settlement will know the truth.”

I looked behind us at the turn.

Edyn was gone.

It took nearly an hour to reach the city. I crept toward it, bent over, hiding behind mounds and crawling on my hands and knees in places. Coltrane followed my lead.

Finally, we reached the outskirts. Several structures in varying stages of decay dotted the desert, surrounded by broken up concrete that had once been roads. But I didn’t see the strange black aircraft anywhere.

“Maybe it’s inside the city,” Coltrane suggested.

I shivered, remembering the last time I’d set foot in an abandoned town. “I’m not going inside any buildings. Maybe it flew over the town and kept going.”

“Let’s go in there,” Coltrane said, pointing to what looked like a fueling station. “We should have decent cover, and it looks down on this part of the city. You never know.”

I looked at the dark and looming structure. “Fine, but warn me if you see any skeletons.”

Coltrane laughed quietly.

“I wasn’t kidding.”

“Sorry.”

We walked carefully past the concrete pieces and went inside. It had been looted decades before, rows of empty shelves overturned and wrappers littering the floor.

I situated myself at a counter and looked out, wincing as Coltrane groaned. He’d put his elbow in something sticky on the counter. I shushed him and peered out the empty windowpane.

A black aircraft sat across the way, taking up nearly every centimeter of what had once been a six-lane street. A hovercraft with four rotors at its sides. Dark figures carrying boxes descended a side ramp and went into a building, sending shadows dancing across the road. From the way the figures stooped as they walked, it was evident the crates were heavy.