Smoked - Mari Mancusi Page 0,76

What they did next was all that mattered.

“Look, Caleb, Emmy and I are going after Zavier. I’ll report back in when I have some—”

“I’m coming with you,” he interrupted.

“No, Caleb. I don’t think—”

“You don’t understand,” he argued, and she could hear the strain in his voice, still raspy from smoke inhalation. “Scarlet’s with Zavier. She took off on his back. If my brother finds him… If he shoots Zavier down…” He trailed off, his face a mask of devastation.

He really cares about her, Trin thought suddenly. More than he even wants to admit to himself.

“I don’t know,” she hedged. “It’ll be quicker if I just—”

“Please! I can help you!” Caleb begged. “Zavier and I share a bond thanks to the blood Scarlet gave me. Maybe I can help talk him down—at least talk Scarlet into talking him down.” He gave Trinity a tortured look. “Please, Trin. If anything were to happen to her…”

“Fine,” she relented. What else could she say? Besides, she could admittedly use all the help she could get. “But we have to leave now. Before that dragon of yours proves your brother right.”

PART 4:

FLARE

Chapter Thirty-Three

Council Lab—Year 190 Post-Scorch

“Intruder. Intruder alert.”

Caleb swore under his breath as his foot accidentally brushed against a thin red beam of light as he made his way into the Council lab, succeeding in tripping the alarm. Damn it. He kicked the wall furiously. He’d almost had it—had almost been through. Now, angry lights flashed above, and a piercing siren scolded his ears. He was busted. Big time.

He rose to his feet. No need to be stealthy anymore. Time to dine and dash. Grab and go. Get what he came here for and get the hell out. Darius was counting on him, after all, and he wasn’t about to let the Dracken Master down.

He scanned the lab quickly, looking for some sign of his objective. Darius had told him it would be bright purple, a powder derived from crushing up amethysts. But everything he could see in the vicinity now was dull, muted, gray—a few beakers, still bubbling on their Bunsen burners; a few uncut gems, weighing on a scale; glass jars, stacked from floor to ceiling. Nothing with the telltale purple hue he was looking for. For a moment, he wondered if he was in the right place or if their intelligence had been wrong.

But then…

His eyes locked onto a small, opaque canister behind a wall of glass—the only canister in the place made of metal instead of glass. Why? He squinted at it for a moment, studying every inch of it. Until his eyes caught the faintest smudge of purple around its rim. As if someone had screwed the cover on too quickly and a tiny bit had spilled—so faint that the casual onlooker would have missed it. The scientist who put it away definitely had.

He smirked. Careless fools. Maybe this would work out after all.

Diving for the case, he wondered if he should bother with his lock-picking tools; he’d come here with a full thief’s arsenal, and it was almost a shame not to put them to good use. But the sirens kept wailing, and he knew, in his heart, there was no time—or need—to be elegant here. Instead, he pulled out his pistol and slammed the butt end against the case, causing the glass to shatter on impact. Carefully, he reached in, making sure not to cut himself as he retrieved his prize.

With trembling hands, he unscrewed the lid, praying his hunch had been right. He sucked in a breath as the cover fell away, his eyes brightening with excitement.

There it was. Unmistakable. The Council’s secret experimental weapon against dragons. Now in his hands.

“Sorry, folks,” he muttered under his breath. “But I think I’ll be taking this.”

After screwing the lid back on, careful not to let even a drop spill, he shoved the canister in his satchel and dove out the door. He’d known, even before taking on this mission, that if he were caught, it would be game over for sure. He’d be sent to the mines for good. And his life would all but be over.

But so what? In truth, his life already had been over—before the Dracken had pulled him from his pit of despair. Before they gave him a job and a dragon. Darius had chosen him—the one everyone else had forgotten about—to play a role in saving the world. And Caleb wasn’t about to let him down.

He glanced down at the map he’d scribbled on