Crash (23 page)

Luka makes a sound somewhere between a grunt and a laugh. “Yeah, but you don't want me running. You want me right here, watching your butt.”

“You don't need to watch it, just protect it.” Jackson turns to Kendra. “Piggyback time.”

Kendra just stares at him.

He offers a cocky grin. “You're about to enjoy a first-class ride.” He crouches a little to accommodate her much shorter frame. “Get on.”

UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE

HarperCollins Publishers

..................................................................

THE SUN MOVES ACROSS THE SKY. STARS SPECKLE THE HEAVENS. I welcome the night. The Drau are slower in the dark and the glow of their bodies will be all the more apparent if they aim for a sneak attack. Every so often Lien and I fall back and scout for Drau following us. I don't see them, but I feel them, drawing ever closer.

“How long can he carry her?” Lien asks, worried.

“Till he can't carry her anymore, and then Luka and Tyrone will space him.” I hold up my hand for silence and scan the leaves, looking for any sign of movement, any flash of light that might give the Drau away. Nothing. “We were in these underground caves once for days, and Jackson was like a machine. Didn't need to rest or sleep or anything.”

“We're all stronger in the game,” Lien says. “Faster. More resilient.”

“Until we aren't.”

She meets my gaze and nods. We're not so resilient that we can't get hurt. Sprain an ankle. Get shot by Drau weapons. Die.

“I can't lose her,” she whispers. “I can't. She's—” She blinks in quick succession and looks away.

“You won't. We're all going to be okay,” I whisper back, and silently will it to be true. And how weird is it that the girl with the cloud over her head is suddenly playing the role of Suzie Sunshine? I guess my optimist panties are holding up well. I need them to be superstrong because it isn't just the game I'm worrying about. It's Dad and Carly and what's going to happen to them.

I close my eyes for a second and pinch the bridge of my nose, forcing myself to clear my thoughts. Worrying about them isn't going to accomplish anything other than distracting me from the task at hand.

“You okay?” Lien asks.

I drop my hand and nod. “Yeah. Peachy. You?”

She laughs softly. “Peachy keen. My mom always says that. I thought she was the only one.”

I shake my head. “My mom used to say it, too. That, and groovy.”

“Groovy. Nice.” She looks away. “Sun's coming up.”

“Welcome to another day in paradise.”

We do another check of the perimeter, then quicken
our pace to catch up to the others.

“Can I ask you something?” Lien says. “You never said anything to me about me and Kendra. Like . . . about us being together . . . Our last team leader was kind of freaked out . . .”

My brows knit. “Is that a question?”

“Observation.”

“You never said anything to me about me and Jackson.”

“Good point,” she says. “Not my business. Plus, I'm kind of happy for you.”

“Kind of?”

She laughs. “Hey, it's Jackson we're talking about.”

“Well, I'm kind of happy for you, too. It's about finding a connection, someone who helps make you the best version of you.”

“Yeah.” She pauses. “If what we see is the best version of Jackson, the one you've helped him become, I'm glad I didn't see the version before you came along.” I bump her shoulder and she holds up her hands in surrender. “Kidding. Seriously, just kidding. He's okay. Asshole with a heart of gold.”

“Look who's talking.”

She laughs and ruffles my hair like I'm her kid sister or something. “You're okay, Miki.”

We catch up with the others and keep pace as we press on.

“So . . . where are we going?” Luka asks. “I mean, I get that we need to walk in the opposite direction of the Drau.
For now. But at some point, we need a goal, don't we? A mission?”

“At some point,” Jackson says, hitching Kendra higher on his back.

“Your con still not telling you anything?”

“Nada. Zip.” Jackson turns his head and even with his eyes hidden behind his shades, I know he's giving Luka a hard stare. “Unless you have an inside track and therefore a suggestion.”

Luka shakes his head. “Got nothing.”

And I believe him because when I think back on all the missions and even all the times we've been together in the real world, I can almost line up the times I think the Committee was in Luka's head and the times it wasn't. There are subtle differences in his behavior that give it away.

Right now he looks worried and edgy and that makes me think he isn't Luka-the-spy, he's Luka-the-guy-trying-to-stay-alive. Just like the rest of us.

“How long do you think we've been here?” I ask Luka.

He shrugs. “Hours. Days.”

“You tired? Hungry?” I'm asking him because I'm not either of those things, and that's nagging at me.

“No. Why would I be? We never are on a mission.”

Jackson holds up a hand to call a halt and crouches down so Kendra can clamber off. “And that's the point, isn't it?” he asks.

“What point?” Luka looks back and forth between us.

“The cons are working to alter our physiology just like
they always do,” I say. “We don't need to eat or rest or pee. But they aren't working to feed us a direction.”

“So what gives?” Tyrone asks. “That's the question, isn't it?”

“Isn't it?” Jackson agrees.

Given the state of our cons and the lack of directive, I wonder if the Committee dropped us all here to die. Not a pretty thought, so I try not to dwell on it or let it swell out of control.

“Anyone have a preference on where we go from here?” Jackson asks.

“You're asking? Miracle of miracles,” Lien says, one brow arched, hip cocked to the side. She's all attitude. Gotta love her for her consistency, if nothing else.

Her question echoes what I'm thinking, what I suspect we're all thinking, but I keep it to myself. Because on every other mission, Jackson hasn't had to ask. He's had the Committee feeding him inside info. But now the connection's down and Jackson's too smart to act the dictator when someone else might actually have something valuable to add.

Thanks for the vote of confidence,
he says in my head.

I shoot him a startled glance and catch the whisper of a smile. Guess I was projecting my thoughts to him. I have to remember that I can do that if I don't try. And can't do it when I do. Figures.

He ignores Lien's sarcasm. “We could head into the trees, there”—he points at a break in the thick undergrowth—“or
stick to the edge of the cliff and see where it takes us.”

I take stock of our options. Forest and undergrowth to one side. To the other, the earth drops away in a steep cliff that ends in a roaring river at the bottom of the gorge. Behind us are the Drau. Ahead of us, low scrub that's easier to navigate than the forest.

“Cliff's risky,” Tyrone says. “We could get stuck in the open with no way out but down.”

“I think we should go back,” Lien says. “We don't know why we respawned in that spot or what the mission is. Maybe we've gone in the completely wrong direction. Maybe if we go back to where we started, we'll get some information through your con.”

As if in answer to her suggestion, the tops of the trees behind us light up and burst into flame. Just a little reminder of how close the Drau are.

“Sooo . . . nix that suggestion,” Lien says.

“You think they're setting the fire on purpose?” I watch the smoke rise. “So we can't backtrack?”

“Kind of herding us in the direction they want?” Kendra asks.

“Okay, that's just horrifying,” Lien says.

I walk over to the edge of the cliff and look down. It's a long way to the bottom of the gorge.

Lien comes up behind me. “A roaring river in front of us. Fire behind. No map. No idea what the mission is. Just bad choices in any direction.”

“Love your optimism,” I say, and she laughs.

“It's a gift.”

“We know they're behind us for sure. But if you were right about what you said earlier and there is another group in there?” Tyrone jerks his head toward the trees. “They could burn us out.”

“If the choice is between drowning and burning, I vote for the cliff,” Kendra says with an apologetic look at Lien.

“Cliff,” Luka agrees.

Jackson looks at me.

“What's your gut telling you?” I ask.

“Cliff,” he says.

“Your gut's saved me enough times that I trust it. My vote's for cliff.”

“Guess we have our answer,” Jackson says.

He scoots down so Kendra can hop up, but Luka walks over, holding Jackson's knife out hilt first. “My turn.”

“Fair enough.” Jackson takes the knife and shoves it in its holster.

Kendra climbs on Luka's back and he walks toward the others, leaving Jackson and me behind.

“What?” Jackson asks when he catches me staring.

“I was just thinking that we have weapons. The Committee gave us those, at least. So it doesn't seem likely they just sent us here to die, does it? I mean, there could be a bunch of reasons your con isn't working properly.”

“There could.”

I chew my lower lip, wondering if the Committee's listening somehow. Then I decide to take the risk and
whisper, “What if it has something to do with Lizzie and her team? What if they're jamming the signal?”

“For what reason?”

And that's a question I can't answer.

We press on, the terrain growing rockier, the forest to our right dense and dark. To our left, the ground drops away to the deep gorge. At the bottom, white water slams against rock, undulating and coiling like a living thing. Mountains rise on either side of us, blocking the sun. But the Drau and the fire follow us, the scents of smoke and burning wood stinging my nose.

“Wait,” I say and scramble up some boulders, using them as a staircase to get to a ledge above us. Below me, Luka sets Kendra down, giving her a chance to hobble around a bit.

From this height, I have a better view of the forest. “Looks like there's smoke rising from three different spots, and they aren't on a linear path.” Which suggests more than one group of Drau hunting us.

If Lizzie were to pick a time to intervene, now would be it. Because the Drau on her team might be all about cooperation between the species, but I'm betting the ones behind us don't share those feelings.

“We need to keep moving,” Jackson says as I climb down.

“Why? Moving to where?” Lien's mutinous expression is one I recognize.

“Away from the fire,” I say.

“Which is probably exactly what the Drau want. Kendra's right. They're herding us, and we're going along with it like dumb cattle.”

“Miki just told you there's a shitload of Drau back there,” Tyrone says. “So by process of elimination, we go forward.”

“This has been a clusterfrack from the get-go,” Luka mutters, and as he does, Drau shot rains down on us from a vantage point I can't track. From above us, somewhere on the forested ridge to our left. Which means that it's coming from a new Drau team, not one of those behind us. Which means that Lien might well be right.

“Move,” Jackson barks, reaching for Kendra.

Tyrone gets there first, not even waiting for Kendra to climb up on his back. He just scoops her up in his arms and takes off at a jog. She loops one arm around his neck and twists her fist in his shirt for balance, her weapon cylinder in her free hand.

Lien and Jackson and I stay to the rear, watching for Drau until the ridge curves, cutting off the view of whatever's behind us.

“If we can't see them, they can't see us,” Lien says. “Maybe I should hang back.” She shades her eyes and looks up, then points. “Take a vantage point up there. Pick them off as they come along the ridge.”

“We stay together,” Jackson says.

“I—”

“We stay together,” he repeats in his argue-at-your-peril voice. “I'm not going to be the one to tell Kendra we left you behind.”

Lien closes her mouth and we take off after the others. We keep the pace at a steady jog and round the bend to see that the path narrows, ending in a rickety hanging rope bridge that sways in the wind. Below us, the river widens, rocks jutting from the swirling, frothing waters.

“No,” Kendra says as Tyrone sets her on her feet. She crosses her arms over her abdomen and stares at the bridge. “No. Not happening. No.”

“Can't say I'm in disagreement.” Tyrone eyes the bridge askance. “That thing has to be over a hundred and fifty feet long.”

“And a hundred feet up,” Kendra says with a shudder.