“He can’t stand,” Eve defended. She rushed to help him, but the pirate jerked his arm away from her and stood up under his own power. Edward limped into the cage, a fire burning in his eyes as Terah clamped the lock down on the hinge.
“I’m not a monster,” he swore.
I slowly urged Eve farther away from Thatch, away from Terah and Enoch, and closer to the stairs that led the hell out of this underbelly where Remmy waited anxiously at the top. Enoch left Terah and Edward below and joined us. “Report, Remmy,” he ordered.
“All is well, Captain. There’s a steady wind. We’re heading north-northwest.”
“Perfect,” Enoch replied tersely. “We’re going to Nassau.”
“Aye, aye,” the man acknowledged with a curt nod. His eyes darted to each of us, resting on Eve a beat longer before looking back at his captain. “I’ll keep the wheel until you’re ready.” The crewman hesitantly turned and climbed the stairs.
Enoch muttered a curse and pinched the bridge of his nose. He looked at Eve. “Go to my quarters.”
“Why?” she asked.
I put my hand on her shoulder. Enoch’s eyes tracked the motion, locking onto the place where my skin met her suit. “Come on. You don’t wanna watch this part,” I offered.
Her muscles turned to stone as she watched Enoch descend the steps, realizing he was going to get rid of her clone. The haunted look she often wore back home resurfaced as he carried the clone’s limp, desiccated body up the stairs. Enoch cursed at me. “Take her inside.”
But Eve wasn’t moving. She had planted her feet. She wouldn’t listen to him no matter what he said, no matter how much he wanted to protect her. Eve didn’t want his protection, and for whatever reason, she wanted to watch.
Eve and I followed Enoch as he carried the clone to the boat’s railing. One of her arms flopped down, bobbing lifelessly with each of Enoch’s steps. On the inside of her wrist was a tattoo that read 1716.
When he dropped the woman’s body into the waves, he watched her sink into the water, her arms and legs weightless as the weight of the ocean tugged her under. Eve let out a sob, pressing a hand over her mouth and looking at Enoch like he had every answer to the questions she had. He stared back, a look on his brow that said he wished he did.
“I’m sorry,” he simply said, pulling her into his arms. She melted into him and cried, her fingers fisting the back of his shirt.
Chapter Eleven
Maru
Leaning against the wall, I waited for Victor to emerge from a meeting he was holding with military heads. From the broadcasts, I’d learned it was mayhem outside the Compound. Vampires were attacking any human they could find, and they weren’t just feeding. They turned the humans they fed from while smiling for the cameras they somehow knew were hidden throughout the city. People were terrified. During daylight hours, those living outside the Compound congregated around it seeking refuge, demanding to be let in.
The attacks started the night the Assets jumped and had only escalated since. If Victor didn’t do something to better protect the people of the city or allow them entrance, their anger would eventually reach a boiling point. They would either force their way inside or burn the Compound down from the outside. They were dying, or becoming undead, by the hundreds. Maybe by the thousands, at this point, and the snowball, once it began to roll, wouldn’t slow on its own.
Shouting seeped through the tiny slit at the bottom of the door. Victor’s voice was easy enough to pick out. So was Ticher’s shrill tone, but the others were more difficult to identify. Some I thought I recognized, others were new. The rate of military deaths had drastically risen in the days since Eve and the others left, so people were getting promoted left and right to positions they had no idea how to fill properly.
The steel door swung open and out poured a small army, all clad in black fatigues. By the pinched looks on their faces, these men and women were not happy. General Ticher led the pack, an angry scowl emblazoned on his face. I blended into the shadows as the crowd filed past, unaware of my presence.
“Sir,” one woman said, jogging to reach the General’s side. “I beg you to see reason. What he just proposed is a suicide mission, at best.”
The General stopped right in front of me and pivoted around to face her. “You think I don’t know that? He is our leader. What would you have me do?”
She stood up straight and looked him in the eye. “Stop following.”
A muscle ticked in his jaw.
“Sir, you know the battle zone better than anyone. Much better than Dantone. You know what it’ll take to end them. He’s tried it his way and failed. Now is the time to try it your way,” she pleaded.
He glanced back toward the steel door, then back to her. “Spread the word. Everyone meets at 0400 in the Military block. Find someone to kill the video feeds.”
She saluted him and her once-hopeless eyes filled with excitement… and determination. The military leaders were also desperate, it seemed. Desperate enough to undermine Victor himself.
I slipped into the meeting room where Victor sat at the end of a long table. He caught sight of me and blew out an aggravated breath. “Maru, I assume you’re here to ask me the same questions you’ve been asking for days now, so let me just cut to the chase. No, Eve has not returned. Yes, you’ll be one of the first to know when she does. No, I don’t have any new information or intelligence. No, there is no way to contact her. We’ve tried, but her communicator is not functional.”
“Is it damaged, or is she dead?” I blurted. “Can you tell if she’s still alive?”
“I have no way of knowing for sure,” he answered coldly, deliberately.
“Would Kael know? Surely, he thought of a way to track them. They were just going back seven days, so why can’t we reach her?”
He offered a placating smile. “Seven days, yes, but perhaps she dropped it or lost it. Perhaps it’s broken, or else traveling through time disables the technology. We’ve considered every possibility, Maru, but until Eve struts back into the Compound, we won’t know anything solid.”
I persisted, “Will she be able to get in? I’ve seen the broadcasts, Victor. What if she’s in that sea of humans piling up outside and can’t get back to us?”
He stood up, his chair rolling backward across the floor. “You know what? You’re right. What if she is out there? No one is being allowed inside right now. You were a tracker in your military days. You should go look for her. It’s the perfect assignment for you. Your talents are being wasted while you sit inside waiting for Eve to show up. Just make sure to take your security clearance tag with you. That’s the only ticket back in. Not that I’d show anyone out there you had it.”
I nodded. “Of course. Thank you.” I turned to leave, keeping my face neutral and my tone impassive so he wouldn’t know how expertly I’d just played him.
“Maru?” Victor prompted, stopping me.
I turned to face him, wondering what he could possibly want. “Hmm?”
“I’m curious…” he began, tapping a finger against his jaw. “What did you give her? Just before she jumped, before she went to the roof, what did you give her?”