the Dumpster and the wall, listening for the RV. On the far end of the building, I heard it rumble into the ancient parking lot. For a moment, I froze, because it sounded like the RV was coming my way. Then it broke for the far end of the lot. Toward Lucas.
Staying close to the wall, I sprinted in the same direction. When I reached the gap between the first building and the second, I peered down the road. Empty. I darted across the opening, then raced along the back wall, my shoes crunching old gravel and debris. Trash fluttered along the bank of mud to my left; to my right, the warehouse looked like it was about to crumble down. A mishmash of offensive smells assaulted me—urine and rotting food.
Before I reached the end of the building, my sensors kicked in.
Human threats detected: 5.
Weapons detected: Tasers, 4 in a 50-ft. radius.
Five people in the RV?
“Lucas,” I breathed.
Quinn’s battered face appeared in my head. I saw her neck, dripping red blood. I banished the images at once. I might not trust Daniel, but he was no Holland. At least, that’s what Sarah’s memories kept trying to tell me.
Knowing how many people he’d brought changed my plan, though. I had to get to Lucas, quick. This was looking like some kind of ambush, and if one of us was going to get caught, I wanted it to be me. I could at least try and fight them off on my own.
I hadn’t even reached the end of the building when I heard something I shouldn’t have. The sound of the RV rumbling back in my direction. How had they known where to look?
The answer dawned on me quickly. The GPS chip that Quinn had supposedly removed. They were still tracking it somehow.
With no hope for escape or evasion, I grabbed two decently large rocks from the mud and took a position near another group of Dumpsters. I’d have to do my best with these makeshift weapons.
The RV swung wide around the corner, blocking the path with its passenger side, and parked. The door opened, then closed. I widened my stance, gripped my rocks, and waited. I also tried scanning for Lucas, but my systems weren’t operating normally. When I called upon my sensors, there was this long pause, like I was being put on hold. I hoped that Lucas had found a way to make himself scarce.
A can clattered across the parking lot, just as Daniel rounded the front of the RV. A strange wave of calm descended upon me, propelled my legs forward with a fluid sort of grace. Whatever it took to keep Lucas safe.
Behind the tinted window on the RV, to the left of the side door, another shadow moved. I only caught a glimpse, a blur of a face. Thankfully, a burst of energy cut its way through the delay in my sensor readings, allowing me to get the basics.
Human threat detected.
The door handle turned. I was right out in the open now, but I stood my ground.
Initiate attack mode?
The query lingered behind my eyes, red and blinking.
The door opened.
Attack?
I readied myself to accept, when the first assailant appeared. A beefy young man with pale skin and a walnut of a nose. I knew him even without full control of my android abilities.
Samuel Braggs. One of Quinn’s promising cyber-protégés.
Trailing him was a tall girl with blond hair and an angular face. Abby, one of the Vita Obscura members I’d bonded with in Chicago. Back before Quinn had turned me into a brainwashed assassin.
And following her was a boy with floppy hair and pale blue eyes. A boy I had never stopped thinking about since the moment we met.
ELEVEN
There he was. In the flesh. The boy I’d left behind.
The boy whose life I’d ruined.
Hunter.
My legs went wobbly with an electric zing of relief, and then wobblier still with a slow-sludge pour of remorse. Too many feelings, mixing into a dizzying swirl of confusion. Rooting me to the ground below.
But his face, god, his face. The sight alone was worth a thousand prayers.
No matter what, he was safe.
We stood there while the seconds ticked by, locked in some kind of stalemate. No one moving forward. No one moving back. They waited in a tight cluster, as if to draw strength in numbers. My gaze kept returning to one face in particular. Searching for a speck of warmth in the blue eyes.
At first, Hunter looked startled. They all did. It