arm to her side, then slid the pin into the grenade. Silas approached her, held out his hand, and she placed the grenade gently in it. “You’ve changed,” he said, searching her face.
“I know.” She’d been so naive that day when she had met Silas—sure that the world was a decent place, full of decent people. So happy just to be out in the sunshine. It might have been better if she’d never left the cell, not gone with Milo that night, then she would never have known this terrible sense of loss.
“Turn around.”
She turned and he patted her down, found her ereader in her back pocket and handed it to Dr. Yang.
“Hold out your arms,” he said.
She clamped her lips together to stop the wobble and he fastened silver cuffs onto her wrists.
“Is that necessary?” Dr. Yang asked.
“Yes,” he replied, not even looking at the other woman. “Come on, let’s get the hell away from here. I don’t trust those bastards.”
“I gave him enough tranquilizer to drug a horse,” Dr. Yang said. “He won’t be waking up any time soon.”
“I’ll still be happier back at headquarters. Move.” He waved a hand in the direction they had arrived from, and Destiny gave one last glance where Dylan and Milo had disappeared and started walking.
Dr. Yang fell in beside her. Destiny stared ahead.
“You’ve done the right thing, Destiny,” Dr. Yang said.
“Have I?” Actually, they’d done the only thing they could think of to get Milo free. If she could have found another way then she wouldn’t have come back. She’d seen what these people—including Dr. Yang—were like, the measures they would go to get what they wanted. They weren’t moral people. Suddenly she needed to know. “Why?” she asked, turning sideways so she could see the other woman’s face. “Why do you want me back? Who am I? Why am I so important?”
Dr. Yang’s face took on the closed expression Destiny knew so well. “You’ll know everything soon,” she said. “You must be patient just a little while longer.”
She gritted her teeth and stopped walking. “Why do I have to be patient? Why not now? Why can’t you tell me now?”
Dr. Yang’s mouth tightened, but then Silas poked her from behind. She turned around and snarled.
He grinned at her. “You’ve definitely changed. I like it.”
She didn’t care whether he liked it or not. He was the enemy. He’d tortured Milo. She hated him.
She swung back around and marched on. She could sense Dr. Yang beside her; the other woman wasn’t happy. That was hardly Destiny’s fault. If she didn’t know the doctor better she would have said she felt guilty and maybe she did. She should feel guilty.
No one spoke again as they walked. They came out of the forest and she looked around. She couldn’t believe how much the place had changed in the days she’d been gone. A new road cut a swath through the dock and beyond to the bulk of the Trakis Four and beside it, the blackened shape of the burned-out shuttle.
They walked along the road, past a new building. Under floodlights people still worked on the walls. She looked closer and saw that they were children. The first she had ever seen. Working under the supervision of more soldiers in green jumpsuits.
A brave new world.
She turned and looked at Silas with accusing eyes. “They’re children,” she said. “How could you?”
Something flickered in his eyes. Maybe he wasn’t entirely happy with this, either. But not enough to do anything about it. In some ways that made him even worse. “Move.”
This time she didn’t take Silas’s hand as she stepped into the boat. It would have been awkward anyway with the cuffs. She jumped lightly in and moved to the side, then stared straight ahead as they sped across the water. It was a beautiful night, starlight reflecting on dark water. How was Milo? Had he woken up yet? Was he just a little bit upset that she wasn’t there? Part of her hoped so. But another part wanted him to be happy.
Soldiers stood to attention at the front of the building. That was new. Maybe Kinross had some unhappy residents in his new colony. As they climbed the stairs, she glanced up. A figure stood in the window above her. She couldn’t make out the details; the room was dark behind him. Was this Luther Kinross?
Then they were entering the building. Her heart sank as they headed across the hallway to the doorway that led down