was urgently called away…” the nurse said, faltering. “A guard was injured and he’s the only doctor…”
The nurse was clearly hating her life just then. And that gave me an idea. Was it a good idea? Time would tell. Was it a smart idea? God, no. But if my ideas had to be smart for me to do them, I’d never get anything done.
Suddenly I sat up, hearing the nurse’s shocked indrawn breath. Grabbing the IV that I’d been pinching shut, I pulled it out of the back of my hand.
“Wait, no!” the nurse cried.
“Better call the doctor back. You’re going to need him!” I snarled, then grabbed the small rolling table where the scalpels and forceps were laid out.
“Guards!” McCallum bellowed, right before I smashed the table into the vidscreen. I had the pleasure of seeing his look of surprise right before it went to static.
“You want a wing!” I muttered as I picked up the biggest scalpel from the floor. “Find yourself a goddamn brain first!”
“No, please,” the nurse begged, and I just shook my head at her pathetic plea. I had no intention of hurting her, but she didn’t need to know that. There was one set of doors out to the inescapable courtyard and another set before that heading into this building. I rammed through the inside doors, knocking down four guards who were on their way in.
“Out, out…” I said, looking wildly for an exit sign or a window with sky—anything. There! A door to the outside, with only two guards. I ran up as they gaped at me and gave them a double flying kick, one to each head, before they had even aimed their rifles. Then I landed on one knee, with one palm down, like I’d seen a superhero do in one of Gazzy’s comic books.
I burst through that door, then stopped dead, my heart seizing inside my chest. I was back out in the goddamn freaking prison courtyard with a fenced-in cover. My daring escape had gotten me nowhere.
CHAPTER 51
Hawk
“They’re deeper in,” Clete whispered. Sweat had broken out on his forehead, and I could smell the fear radiating off him. Behind him in this air duct, Nudge and Gazzy must have been thinking I was crazy. Or stupid.
I could barely see around Clete’s bulk, but I caught Nudge’s eye and made motions to say I was going farther in. Her eyebrow raised, and I quickly turned and started crawling as fast as I could down the duct. Each room in this place had at least one air vent, and I looked through every single one as I went past. I heard Clete crawling after me—what choice did he have?
Finally I stopped for a second. “There are no people anywhere,” I said softly. “Where are the doctors or the guards?”
Clete said, “They must be at the prison. Helping or something.”
“Then where are the rest of the gang?” It was the middle of the freaking night and I was almost weeping with exhaustion and frustration. Then I remembered that I was Hawk, goddamnit! I straightened my back and swallowed my tears. Setting my chin, I made a decision. “Let’s go to the end of this duct. If we don’t see them by then, we’ll turn around.”
“Without them?”
I didn’t meet his eyes. “Yes.”
CHAPTER 52
Max
I’d let myself believe that I’d find a way out of the prison, maybe through a break in the metal bars or something. I’d pictured myself running, taking off, finally free after—who knew how many years?
You’ve gotten stupid, Max, I told myself. You let yourself have hope. Hope… sometimes it was just as dangerous as dope.
Already guards were running at me, tasers ready, guns raised.
With nothing to lose I jumped high in the air, whipped my wings out, and pushed down hard. Beneath me, the rabble seemed suddenly quieter. The metal cage over the prison wasn’t too far up, maybe forty feet, and I reached it in about a second. I landed, grabbing the grid of thick metal bars, bracing my feet against them.
I was trapped, stuck, going nowhere. And still, even knowing all that, it felt damn good to fly. I stretched my wings out, enjoying the freedom.
McCallum appeared on the vidscreens in the courtyard. “Shoot her!” he screamed. “Don’t hit her wings!”
Bullets began whizzing past me and I pulled my wings in. With a grim smile, I wrapped the end sections around me, a cool, feathery shield they didn’t dare damage. McCallum himself gave me the best safety net