The Darkest Legacy (Darkest Min - Alexandra Bracken Page 0,44

contact with my friends and might turn to them in a time of need.

Still, the thought was like cold fingers closing over the back of my neck. That would mean, what? That they’d set everything up to get the wheels moving in this direction? That they were just taking advantage of the situation we were in now?

Shit. And here I am taking them right where they want to go.

There were two options in front of me. The first one was to get the cell phone with the evidence on the kidnappers back from Priyanka, and then, once we were in Virginia, make a run for it. It would avoid exposing the existence of the safe place, along with everyone in it, to harm.

As for the second…There was a way I could use Haven to trap Roman and Priyanka without ever bringing them to the house’s secure location.

When I’d pieced together my plan in the motel, the second option had seemed like a fallback—the thought of even bringing them near Haven made my skin crawl—but now I wasn’t so sure. If Roman and Priyanka were interested in finding Ruby and Liam, my friends wouldn’t just want to know about it, they’d need to.

Playing the situation out like that was tricky, but I could control and limit those risks as long as I was careful.

I could do this. I could. They’d backed me into a corner, but they didn’t realize I’d already walked them into another one.

A mile up the road, the electronic billboard flashed on. Static swept over it as it received its transmission. When the image finally snapped into place, it wasn’t an ad or traffic alert.

It was my face. Fourteen feet high and glowing. The headshot slid across the screen, allowing red flashing text to appear alongside it.

IF YOU SEE THIS PSI, DIAL 9-1-1

HIGHLY DANGEROUS

DO NOT ENGAGE

My foot slipped onto the brake, jerking us forward in our seats. A car speeding up behind me honked, swerving to pass.

“Um,” Priyanka said mildly. “I can’t say that’s your best photo. You look like you want to punch someone.”

They’d used my Psi ID photo. The one they’d specifically told me not to smile for. The result was a mean mug shot that Vida had found so funny she’d printed and framed it.

Not so funny now.

One mile down the road, the next billboard flickered on. IF YOU SEE THIS PSI…

With the flashing distraction of the billboards, the new power sources registered in my mind slowly, quickly growing like a swarm of bees. The vibration of their electricity was muted compared to the nearby car engines, but harmonized with them in a way that set my hair on end.

“Suzume—” Roman began.

“I see it,” I choked out.

The cars a few miles up were slowing, bottlenecking as the highway narrowed down to one lane. Just beyond them, red and blue lights flashed. Several uniformed police officers and Defenders walked from car to car, opening trunks. Overhead, making slow passes with their cameras and scanners, were drones. All state-of-the-art technology commissioned by the United Nations, as one of their parting gifts.

I sucked in a hard breath, holding it as I cut off the car in the next lane and blindly took the nearest exit.

“Definitely not going to raise any red flags with that move,” Priyanka said, hanging on to one of the car’s grab handles.

I accelerated onto the surface street, making a hard right on red without looking. Someone honked, but the sound faded under the sensation of something electronic tailing us in the sky.

Shit, I thought, picking up speed with another turn, narrowly missing a cyclist about to enter the crosswalk. I cringed, but the drone was still in the rearview mirror.

“Priyanka, can you just—?” Roman began.

“Already on it,” she said. I’d thought she’d tossed the burner she’d broken apart, but she’d only stuffed the pieces into her jacket. She quickly reassembled it, leaving out the SIM card, then reached into her pocket, to retrieve the other phone. The one with the photos.

“What are you doing with that?” I asked sharply.

“Relax,” she said. “I’m taking a small part from this one to modify the other one. The phone’s storage and your pictures won’t be impacted.”

I wanted to lunge back between the seats and pry the phone out of her hand, but she’d already flicked out one piece and inserted it into the other.

“I swear to God, if you mess up that phone…” I began, gripping the wheel.

“I’m not messing anything up except that drone,” Priyanka said,