I walked for about a half hour before coming across a Humvee that could not have looked more like the one that I’d woken up in a few days ago. It wasn’t, though. The dead giveaway being a distinct lack of scrapes and bullet holes. In fact, it looked like it was right off the lot.

The windows were darkly tinted. Impossible to see what was inside.

Sitting on top of the Humvee was an older-looking guy—could’ve been in his fifties—holding a long-barreled sniper rifle. The man I would later be informed was Diren. He was wearing a dark tank top and seemed to have a considerable amount of muscle in his shoulders, arms, and chest.

That face, though. Yeesh. I was reminded more than a little of Argus Filch from Harry Potter, plus a little extra in the nose department.

“Quick thinking back there,” Diren said, still perched on the roof of the car, the barrel of his rifle cradled in the crook of his elbow. “The plan was to call Samuel’s cell, but it seems like you had things under control. I assume you have the Dart?”

I hesitated. A dozen questions flashed through my mind. One of them, for whatever reason, stood out. “Samuel’s cell number? How did...you have something like that?”

Diren flashed a toothy grin. One those teeth—silver in color—glinted sharply, reflecting the sun. “Do you actually want to know?”

I frowned.

Diren laughed. He slid off the roof of the car and landed on his feet, boots crunching on the gravel. “Don’t worry, kid. We’re on the same side.”

“That’s good, I guess?”

“Hop in.”

He strode around one side of the Humvee and popped one of the back passenger doors.

“Is that an order?” I said.

Diren shrugged. “Just take a look inside.”

Mmm, yes. I have some candy for you in my van.

Still, while I did detect some bad juju from this man, it didn’t seem to be directed at me. At that moment.

Not for the first time that day, I went with my gut. I peered into the open passenger door.

Inside, Tanya was leaning forward in the opposite passenger seat.

She regarded me with the same look as she had back in the garage, when I was in the chair. Studying and assessing. Looking for the guy she used to know, somewhere in there.

She seemed to find me, and the result was a small, somehow sad-looking smirk.

Not really sure what I expected.

It took me a second to notice Sater was in the front passenger seat, looking at me through the rearview mirror. His nose was bandaged, and there were some dark-purple blotches here and there on his face. Other than that, he looked like he was more or less okay.

“Sater,” I said, feeling like some sort of verbal acknowledgment was obligated, unlike the looks that Tanya and I had just exchanged.

It’s strange how sometimes less is so much more. Tanya and I could have talked for a half hour, and probably would not have gotten to the core of what was communicated in those brief looks.

Emotions were complicated. Identifying, expressing, and navigating them, even more so.

When Tanya had kissed me—if that even counts when you’re in Rithium—she’d been in the throes of one fragment of those emotions. The part that still cared about me, despite everything that had happened.

But again, emotions are complicated.

Similarly to Tanya’s brief smile, Sater gave me a curt nod. No smile. No other acknowledgments. And while some of this could be attributed to whatever painkillers he might have been on, I had a feeling that he wasn’t ready to reconcile our friendship with what I had done. If he ever would be. He hated me.

And for good reason.

I glanced around the car. Any other operatives that had been out there in the woods must have traveled separately, because I didn’t see them. It was just the four of us.

“I’m assuming Mason didn’t want to come?” I said.

“Mason’s dead,” Sater said flatly, eyes ahead.

Before I could think of what to say to that, the car was already moving.

*****

“Please tell me you have the Dart with you.” Sater said.

We’d left the gravel backroads behind and were speeding down a highway, thick woods closely encroaching either side of the road.

“Do you think we would have left if he didn’t?” Diren said. “Would’ve sent him right back in there.”

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Wow. Good to know?

“Not just any Dart,” I said. “My Dart.” I pulled the black box out of my pocket. “Had it confirmed with their computer before I left.”

Sater twisted himself in his seat and reached around with an open hand. I gave him the Dart.

As soon as it touched Sater’s palm his fingers snapped over it and he wrenched it away, like a passive aggressive venus fly trap.

“Who’s the friend?” I said. Again, not knowing who he was, at the time.

“Not a friend,” Sater said.

“Associate?” Diren said, taking his eyes off the road long enough to look over at Sater, flashing a silver-toothed grin.

From the slant-eyed look Sater gave back, he seemed to take issue with this as well, but he didn’t argue the point. “Whatever. Associate. Temporarily.”

“So you’ve made some kind of deal?” I said.

“Let’s just say that outing the Darts has become a mutually beneficial activity,” Sater said.

“We’re on our way to a safehouse right now,” Diren said. “So we can do...whatever it is the nerds are going to do.”

“We’re going to pull the data,” Sater said. “Unencrypt it. And leak it.”

“Will it be enough?” I said.

It was hard to imagine a world where the government-funded Rithium facilities would get shut down, all across the country.

“It’s a start,” Sater said, voice softening. Now that this team had accomplished what they came to do, it was as if the tension was leaking out of him.

Sater met my eyes through the rear-view mirror. “Technically, I guess that’s thanks to you,” he said. “Thank you.”

“Hello?” Diren said. “Me and mine are the ones doing the groundwork, here.”

Sater scowled. “Once this heals up,” he said, indicating his bandaged face, “I’ll consider it. The degree of my thanks will be in inverse proportion to whatever facial scars are under these bandages.”

“How well your face heals will be thanks to the medical professionals on my payroll,” Diren said. “Besides, scars give you street cred. You should thank me, regardless.”

Sater muttered something less than intelligible. I doubted it was ‘Thank you’.

“Right now, we just need to get to the safehouse,” Tanya said. “From there, we can figure out what the next step is.”

It took me a second to realize she was talking to me. And not just about the Feds. She had real hope in her eyes.

I’d seen that look before. Back when I’d first been rescued. Back when I was a Banneret. Back when Tanya and I had been in love.

I could only take it for a couple seconds before I had to look away.

“Maybe,” I said, feeling a lump rise in my throat. “The next step comes before that.”

Tanya tilted her head, questioningly. “Before what?”

“The safehouse,” I said. “There’s a stop I need to make.”

“Nope,” Diren said, shaking his head. “It’s gonna be a straight trip. I don’t want to worry about Samuel tailing us, or who knows what else.”

“Samuel’s too busy formulating an escape plan,” I said. “At this point, he’s just looking to survive. His bosses think my escape is all part of the plan. And our success might even become a distraction he can capitalize on in some way. Besides, this stop...it’s in your best interest.”

“How’s that?” Diren said.

“I’m intent on it,” I said. “There’s something I need to do. And you’re all gonna wish I’d done it before being exposed to the inner workings of your operation. The less I know, and the sooner I’m out, the better.”

Sater glared at me through the mirror. “Would you just say what it is you’re...saying?!”

“Jackie,” I said. “She’ll be nearby. Which exact hospital, I don’t know, but with some digging—”

Tanya’s expression cut me off before her words did. I could tell she was about to go full banshee mode.

It reminded me of while we were dating, when I had said that the Rithium would probably kill me one day. That it would probably kill all of us.

She hadn’t liked that. Not at all.

It had taken me a while to realize at least some of the emotions behind that. By admitting that Rithium—something to which I was addicted and was important to me—would kill me one day, in a weird way I was making it more important than her.

Women want to be the ones to kill you. Not in a hitwoman sort of way. It’s not like they wait til a pre-appointed time, grab a kitchen knife, and rip back the shower curtain. (At least, most don’t.)

They play the long game. They hold you. They take care of you. Until one day, they realize you’re gone, and they have to let you go.

Okay, so that’s not quite the same thing. But I do feel like there’s some crossover there.

“Have...” she said, through gritted teeth, “You learned...nothing!?”

“There’ll be police there, Winter,” Sater said. “They’ll take you into custody!”

“That’s part of the idea,” I said.

I somehow heard the slap before I felt it. And it felt the same way it sounded. Like a wet fish high-fiving a concrete wall at the speed of light.

Part of me expected the entire vicinity to explode in a crescendo of window glass crystals, ruptured by the soundwaves emanating from the point of impact.

Which was, of course, a bit dramatic.

My face turned sideways from the hit, but the reaction was more out of surprise and mental shock than pain.

If Tanya had actually wanted to hurt me, she would have. But her reaction had been an emotional one.

Her lips were pressed tight together. Her eyes were moist and bloodshot-looking. Her chest heaved in slow, drawn-out movements, like she was making an effort to control her breathing.

I knew, in part, because I’d held her, and cuddled her, and slept next to her. I knew her normal patterns. Her rhythms of breathing. Even the rhythm of her heart.

What a weird thing to know. Such an intimate thing of which to be acutely aware.

“If you do this,” Sater said. “You’re a dead man.” He spoke calmly and rationally, ignoring Tanya’s outburst—or perhaps as a counterpoint to it. “You know that, right?”

“No, I don’t,” I said. “Just because there are crooked people in the FBI doesn’t mean the entire justice system is corrupt. Besides, when we leak this information-”

“They’ll be even more incentivised,” Sater said, “To kill you! You’ll be a key witness, in custody! You’ll be playing right into their hands-”

“Well, I don’t know what else to do!” I said. “Surely, somebody will need to testify. Why shouldn’t it be me?” Then, after I thought about it for a second, “Especially me.”

“I don’t know what that means,” Tanya said, so quiet it was almost a whisper.

“Yeah, you do,” I said. “Everybody in this car knows.”

“I don’t know,” Diren said, sounding kind of left out, as well as irritated.

“Don’t do this,” Tanya said. “I swear to God, if you-”

“Jesus Christ.” Diren said.

The car swerved suddenly. The front of the car dipped forward. Dirt and grass flew up onto the windshield. Then the car dipped back, until the front was more elevated than the back, the entire vehicle slightly offkilter. We were parked along the ditch on the side of the road.

Diren spun around in his seat, scowling. “Freaking kids. I’m going to decide what we’re going to do about this. I thought up a plan while you three were busy yapping.”

“What...kind of plan?” Sater said.

“The plan,” Diren said. “Diren’s plan. I’ve already made up my mind. My ride, my rules.”

“With all due respect-” I said.

“If you want out of my car, ” Diren said. “The door’s right there.”

I decided I wanted to stay in the car.