We can’t hand these women over to the asshole who kidnapped Luna.”
Gray eyed Rafe. “What do you think, man? Is your little cream puff going to murder us all if she finds out we’ve been playing her and her boss?”
“Maybe,” Rafe rumbled. “If she murders the kidnapper first, I don’t know if I give a shit.”
Knox tossed the tablet to Conall. “The rendezvous coordinates are on there. We have thirty-six hours. Get me everything you can about the location. We need a full tactical rundown before we take this to Nina.” He hesitated, but only for a moment. “And look for anything you can find about the Franklin Center for Genetic Research. It’s where Nina came from. It might be who’s after her.”
Conall nodded. “Connectivity will be sporadic while we drive, but I should be able to hit a few networks and pull down the latest satellite terrain.”
“We need to be aware,” Gray said. “No fooling ourselves. If we do this—if we tell Nina and her team the truth—it might be the end of us.” He pointed to Rafe. “And Luna. Obviously, that’s a worst-case scenario, but it’s there.”
Rafe scrubbed one hand over his head. “We’re playing the odds, Gray. That’s all we’ve been doing this whole damn time. If I had to carve out my soul to save Luna, I’d still do it. But I don’t think I have to. Dani might poison us all before this is over … but I’d still put all my chips on her doing anything she can to get Luna out alive. They’re better than us.”
“Maybe,” Gray admitted. “It’s borrowed trouble, and those ladies seem to like that.”
“That they do.” Knox exhaled. “So we’re doing this?”
“We’re doing this,” Rafe said.
Conall didn’t look up from the tablet, but he flashed a thumbs-up. Knox looked to Gray, who just shrugged. “Why the hell not? May as well get started on that conscience thing.”
* * *
TECHCORPS PROPRIETARY DATA, L3 SECURITY CLEARANCE
Reward for the apprehension of DC–031 has been raised to 2 million credits. HIGHEST PRIORITY.
Dead or alive.
Internal Memo, November 2081
* * *
TWENTY-ONE
Dani parked the truck, cut the engine, and stared out through the windshield. “Your boyfriend takes us to all the nicest places, Nina.”
“We are definitely going to get murdered here.” Maya leaned up between the front seats. “Probably by angry ghosts.”
Nina had to admit that the abandoned hospital’s darkened façade was forbidding. It had once been white, though most of the paint had worn off the face of the cement structure. It had the blocky, distinctive architectural style typical of buildings erected during the Energy Wars; it was essentially an above-ground bunker, designed to pull double duty as a civilian shelter in case of enemy attack or severe weather.
Of course, that meant these types of buildings were sturdy, with specially designed walls and roofs, as well as windows that resisted blowing out or breaking. So they made excellent camping spots.
Provided you could get over the creep factor.
“Cheer up.” She patted Maya’s shoulder. “This time tomorrow, we should be in Chattanooga. We’ll stay in some swank hotel on Broad Street, right near the river. The kind of place with room service.”
“Uh-huh. I want a spa, too.”
Knox’s men had already dropped their gear in the lobby. It was a large, open space, with a few molded plastic chairs and even a stone bench arranged in a loose circle in the center of the room. Behind them sat a large, shallow tank with three massive columns of granite rising from it. An old, defunct fountain.
Instead of water sluicing over the granite, there were carvings—mainly sequences of letters and numbers that could only be initials and dates, along with a smattering of longer messages. A few were so smooth and neat they had to have been machine- or laser-engraved, but most had been laboriously etched into the hard surface by hand.
How many hours had travelers spent, scratching away at the rock, just to say I existed, I was here?
A hand on her shoulder made her jump. “Sorry,” Knox said immediately, his voice a warm murmur. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“It wasn’t you,” she assured him. “I was … in another world.”
“The place is a little eerie.” He nodded to the fountain with its dozens of missives. “Seems like a popular pit stop, though. People can forgive a lot of creepy in exchange for solid walls and a roof.”
“I know the feeling.” Nina unclipped her flashlight from her belt. “We’ll have to split up to check the place out.