Hawk - James Patterson Page 0,44

to their promise to free my gang. Then Clete and I would detox my people—however long that would take. Rainbow might have a pretty name, but a person could turn ugly once you took it from them. I hoped Clete had been hanging tough all this time, trusted me to come back.

Iggy, the blind guy, stayed in formation, to my left, behind the blond guy. Gazzy.

As if he could feel me looking at him, Gazzy spoke. “You ready for some action?”

I didn’t know what that meant. “Well, I guess we’ll sneak in, the way I usually do? Like go through the laundry and down the long hall—”

“Hm,” said Gazzy. “I was thinking a little plastic explosive on the roof, go in through there?”

“Explo—you mean like a bomb?” I said. “Where are we gonna get that?”

Gazzy grinned at me.

“He likes blowing things up,” Iggy said.

“But—the prison is built pretty solid,” I said.

“Listen,” said Nudge (I liked her best so far, even though she was kind of soppy). “If you ever hear one of us say Duck! or Drop! or anything like that, do it. Immediately and without question. Okay?”

I wasn’t used to taking orders; usually I was the one giving them. But Nudge wasn’t smiling, and I sure as hell didn’t think she was joking. “Uh… okay?” I said.

“She is dead serious,” said Iggy.

“Okay?” I said. Like, who were these people? Just gonna go break their friend out of prison? With a bomb? “Do you guys do this often?” I asked, not trying to be a smart-ass. Just then a bug flew into my mouth. Gross. It happens pretty frequently—bugs of all kinds smashing into my face like it’s a windshield.

“We’ve broken a lot of people out of a lot of jails,” Gazzy admitted. “It’s an occupational hazard.”

“What occupation?” I asked.

Gazzy grinned at me. “Being the Flock.”

Nudge moved so she was right over Gazzy, their wings moving in sync on each downstroke and upswing. It was amazing. They’d flown together so many times that this was easy for them. My mouth dropped open when the blind one moved beneath Gazzy. Now all three of them were flying in synchronization. How did they know one another? Were there any more of us? I had a million questions.

“Okay,” said Nudge. “Fang is on what floor of the prison?”

“The first,” I said.

“So the roof is out,” Nudge said.

“The side, then,” said Gazzy. “Not as good—it’s harder for people to follow us through the roof.”

“If you went through the roof right in the middle,” I said, “we could drop down to the first floor, get Fang, and then—”

“All fly out through the roof,” said Gazzy. “Excellent. Good thinking, Phoe—Hawk.”

I didn’t say anything. I was used to being the roughest, toughest person around, the one other people came to for help. Now these three strangers were, like, so much more experienced. They weren’t blinking at the idea of blowing up a roof to break a prisoner out of jail. They had done it before. A lot. Maybe they were criminals. I snuck a side glance at them, flying in sync. I didn’t care if they were criminals. They were flying like me, leading a life of crime like me. And I needed their help.

CHAPTER 40

One good thing about the coal smoke and general smog—it made landing on rooftops super easy, even when armed guards were supposed to be watching said rooftops. Like all the buildings in the complex, Incarceration had a flat concrete roof, dirty and covered with tar-paper patches.

After I’d landed, all hot from flying, I noticed the Flock staring at my wings.

“What,” I said.

“They’re Fang’s wings,” Nudge said very softly.

“And Max’s. Underneath.” Gazzy’s voice was sober.

A thousand painful emotions hit my heart at the same time. They were saying that Fang really was my dad. So I had a dad, a real dad! Which would be great if he weren’t a jailed murderer. Also, he had abandoned me when I was really little, so eff him! Him and my mom both! I never wanted to talk to them again!

I knew my emotions were flying across my face as quickly as we’d flown across the sky. Nudge was watching me and I’m sure she could see me move from elated to angry in point two seconds. I folded up my wings and stuck my chin in the air. “They’re my wings. Now where’s this explosive?”

We had to duck periodically as the Incarceration floodlights swept over the roof, but it was no problem. I watched as