Without taking his hand, I turned around and headed for the door, but he called out to me as I reached it.
“Seline,” he said.
I craned my head around. “Yes?”
“I don’t believe you’re being totally honest with me.”
“And why’s that?”
“If it’s true, what you’re saying. If those savages are about to break upon my walls and murder everyone in here, and you aren’t willing to so much as give me the name of the inmates you wish to have released, then you’re signing their death warrants along with everyone else’s. Would that be a fair estimation?”
Fuck.
“I was hoping you’d see the light and understand that what I’m asking isn’t unreasonable. If you know who I am, then you also know my values. Honor, justice, freedom.”
“Yes, yes,” he waved a hand, “It’s all very righteous. But just because I know who you are doesn’t mean you wouldn’t choose to take advantage of me by asking me to agree to the release of someone I don’t want to release. We keep a lot of murderers in here, and I don’t want them back on the streets no matter who promises to keep them on a leash.”
“Then we’re done here.”
“In that case, so is she.”
She…
I felt my chest tighten, and my jaw clench. I opened the door to his office and headed out to find Aaryn being watched over by the guard who had escorted us inside. Without a word, he gestured for us to follow him out of the prison, but that wasn’t what my body wanted to do.
I wanted to knock him out, and go looking for Six. She was in here, somewhere. I knew she was. I could feel her. But I had no idea where exactly she was, and I wouldn’t have time to go searching block by block, cell by cell. Not because the Warden or his goons would put up any kind of a decent fight.
These people were all tools.
But because somewhere in this prison was the lair of the monster they called the Horseman. As much intelligence as we had on the Coalition, what we knew about their most valuable player was limited. For all our spy craft, the Horseman had so far been able to evade us, and that was the worst kind of blind fight to get into.
The guard didn’t give Aaryn and I any grief as we were escorted out of the prison. Soon enough, we were back on the other side of the street and out of view of their, spies, or so I hoped.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out a little metal badge fashioned into the shape of a flame. “Izzy, did you get all that?” I asked into the badge.
“Loud and clear,” Izzy said, “You owe me twenty bucks.”
“No, you owe me twenty bucks because they didn’t try to take us both in.”
“Alright, we’ll call it even. I still think you should’ve broken his nose.”
“I should’ve. We’re on our way back to the safehouse.”
“Execute plan B?”
I looked over at Aaryn and nodded. “Yeah… let’s go to plan B.”
CHAPTER NINE
Isabella—Izzy
“I knew they wouldn’t take the deal,” I said, looking over at RJ.
We were both sitting in a gloomy little room lit only by the many computer screens arranged across a desk spanning the entire length of one wall. Some of the screens were blinking rapidly, filling with streams of letters and numbers. Others showed CCTV footage of the outside of Harrowgate prison. One camera had eyes on Aaryn and Seline.
A moment ago, the Aevians had pulled a teleportation orb and used it to portal themselves out of Devil Falls. They’d be here any minute.
RJ had his head in his hands. He took a sharp breath and slammed the couch he was sitting on. “Motherfuckers,” he growled.
I set my feet down from the desk and planted them on the ground. “Hey, cool it, okay? I need you calm.”
He turned his eyes up at me, and all I could see on his face was war. He was ready to march into that prison and bash some heads in, but even that was too tall an order for him—especially without the right intel or backup.
“I’m cool,” he said through his teeth.
I scoffed. “Like hell you are. I know they have your sister, and we’re gonna get her out. We knew this would be a long shot, remember? But we had to try it.”
“I hate waiting, Iz.”
“I know. Best thing we can do for Alexa right now is wait it out. Be smart. I know you’d be saying the same thing if you were totally okay.”
RJ took a deep breath and exhaled deeply. “I’m okay,” he said, “I’m cool.”
“Good.” I turned my head and glanced at the screens at my back. With a quick tap of a few keys, I pulled up camera one, which showed Aaryn and Seline making their way out of the alley near the safehouse. I turned to RJ again. “We’re gonna get her back, RJ. We already cracked that place once. How hard can it be to do it a second time?”
“This time we don’t have a full crew.”
“Sure, it would be nice to have Danvers and Karim around, but we don’t have the luxury of calling them back in time.”
RJ cocked an eyebrow. “And Axel?”
I rolled my eyes. “What about him?”
“I noticed you didn’t mention him.”
“And?”
He nodded. “Things still frosty between you two, then?”
“Of all the things I’m happy to reconnect about with you RJ, Axel Barlow isn’t one of them.”
“Fair enough.” He sat upright. “So, plan B. Think it’ll work?”
“You and I could pull it off even without the Aevians, but with their help and the contact we have on the inside, it should be a cakewalk.” I reached for his hand. “Trust me. We’re gonna get her back, RJ.”
“I trust you more than I trust most other people. You know that, Iz.”
The outside intercom buzzed. Aaryn and Seline had arrived, so I scooted over to the computer panel on the far right and tapped on the button to open the door. A moment later, the door opened, and the Aevians stepped into the room. I could feel the power from the stones she wore under her shirt from the moment I saw her—I could hear them, too; it was as if they were humming a light faint into the back of my mind.
I leaned back into my chair, my arms behind my head. “It was worth a shot,” I said.
Seline nodded. “Yeah. It was.” She looked over at RJ, “I’m sorry we couldn’t get your sister back the easy way.”
RJ stood. “I never got anything important the easy way.” He and Aaryn exchanged glances, and then both of them sat on the couch across from me.
Seline took up one of the chairs near the computer consoles and sat down. “So,” she said, “The Warden is a prick.”
“Oh, big time,” I said, “But I told you that.”
“You did. I guess I had to see it for myself.”
I shook my head. “Haven’t changed a bit, Seline. Still trying to see the good in people.”
Seline cocked an eyebrow. “Maybe not. But if there was a chance we could avoid bloodshed, I wanted to take it.”
I clasped my hands together. “And now that’s done, we can get to the fun part, yes?”