The two guards exchanged looks, and I knew I had guessed correctly—I wasn’t the first after-hours visitor Marc Holden had called upon in his short time in office.

  “Sorry miss, we weren’t informed—”

  “Oh, of course not, it was probably a last minute request that hasn’t reached you guys yet. I live nearby, got here as quick as I could.” I gave them an innocent flutter of my eyelashes. “Always willing to do my civic duty when called upon.”

  The guard on the right let out a little cough and nudged his partner. “I’m sure the message just got stuck with Herman or something. That guy’s always late on getting information to us.”

  I nodded along.

  “Yeah, you’re probably right,” the other quickly agreed. “Right this way ma—miss.”

  I followed the first guard into the elevator, leaving the second behind to watch his post. The doors had hardly closed before I had my arms wrapped around the guard’s thick neck. I placed a gloved hand over his mouth and clung tight, pulling up against his wind pipe. He jerked and struggled against me for only a moment before his body went limp. I slid him out of sight of the doors. Then I placed something small in the corner of the elevator just before it halted and opened to the main office level.

  I adjusted my jacket as I stepped out of the elevator, silently setting the timer on my watch. I had three minutes to get Marc into his office.

  This floor was nearly empty except for the small lounge area tucked behind the frosted glass of the reception desk. I could hear voices as I neared.

  The three men seated on the stiff looking leather chairs of the lounge jumped when I rounded the corner.

  “Who the hell are you? And how did you get down here?” An older, white-haired man asked.

  My eyes trailed to Marc, who took only a second to recognize me. “Lillian?” he asked.

  “That’s one of my names,” I said, stepping a few feet closer. “But you can call me whatever you want, Governor.”

  He flinched a little at my tone, and the second man beside him took a step towards me, but I threw my hand up, stopping him. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” I drawled. The man glanced between Marc and me. “We have some business to discuss… in private,” I said to Marc.

  His eyes took in every inch of me. The tight black pants I wore, the knee high boots concealing two long knives, and the sleek leather jacket I left undone, revealing the mesh top I wore underneath. His gaze devoured me.

  “Is this meeting for just business or a little pleasure as well?” Marc murmured.

  “That depends on if you’re a good boy or not,” I teased and Marc’s smile grew.

  “Leave us,” he dismissed the two men still gaping at me. One opened his mouth to say something. “Now,” Marc ordered and they scattered away. I was sure they’d alert someone of the pretty vixen with her teeth in their Governor right away, if the unconscious guard in the elevator hadn’t already set off the alarms, which was why we couldn’t stay there.

  “Anywhere a bit more private we could go?” I asked, my hand tracing a little line from my exposed collarbone down to my naval.

  Marc’s eyes followed the movement. “Of course.” He stood, gesturing to the hallway behind me, past the elevators, and to his office at the end of the hall.

  I turned slowly and began walking down the hall, feeling Marc’s eyes on my body the whole way, following the sway of my hips as I took my time.

  We reached the office door, and I stepped aside so he could open it, making sure to keep the distance between us minimal. He opened the door, sliding inside while keeping his gaze glued on me. I followed, closing the door behind me and turning the lock, which brought a greedy smile to his face.

  “You’ve been a very bad boy, haven’t you, Mr. Governor?” said the sweet, lethal voice of Em. Marc whipped around, finding Em seated behind his desk tucked against the far wall, with her feet propped up and a vicious smile on her face. “Have a seat.” Em pointed to the chair across from her. When Marc stood unmoved and gaping at the two of us, I gently pushed him down into the chair and leaned against the desk in front of him.

  “Told you I could do it,” I said to Em, voice cocky.

  “Hardly a clean entrance,” she said, sneering.

  “I didn’t promise it was going to be clean, just that it would get done.” I winked.

  “What the hell is this?” Marc growled, finally finding his voice. Our attention turned back to him. “My men will be here any second, and they will tear you apart.”

  “I’m sure they will.” I smirked. I was counting on every one of them to be coming.

  I glanced at the watch on my wrist. Three… Two… One.

  The blast shook the entire building as the explosive I left in the elevator detonated, and any semblance of an organized attack or rescue mission morphed into chaos.

  Marc ducked, his hands covering his head.

  “Don’t worry, Marc, we don’t want you dead. Not yet, anyway,” Em said, her gaze like a snake watching a mouse squirm under its grip.

  “Wh-what do you want then?” he stuttered.

  “Open your vault,” I said.

  His gaze flashed to mine. “Money? You want my money?”

  I snorted. “We could care less about your money, Marc, you have more important things that we need.”

  When he didn’t move, I pulled Azrael out for a little motivation, pressing the gun against his side. “Now… please.” I bared my teeth into a cruel grin.

  He pushed himself from his seat, standing on wobbly legs. Outside the door, there were screams and yells as the guards tried to carve a path towards us. The elevator that exploded was perfectly situated between the lounge and the office, blocking all access to Marc. It wouldn’t take them long to push through the rubble, but we didn’t need much time.

  “Anything in here will be useless to you guys. I have nothing to hide,” Marc said over his shoulder.

  I clicked my tongue. “It’s not good to lie, Governor.”

  He turned back to face me. “What do you want to know? Ask and I’ll tell you!” he pleaded.

  I pressed the gun against his side and nodded to the vault again. “Open it.”

  He sighed and placed his hand against a panel embedded into the wall. A hidden door, seamlessly disguised as a wall, slid open to reveal a small vault filled with a few trinkets, a glass bottle that looked to be filled with blood, a computer which no doubt housed his personal funds, and a tablet tucked against the back wall.

  Em swept in and grabbed the tablet.

  “That thing? That’s what you want?” Marc released a curt laugh. “Go ahead, take it! Hell, you should have just asked. I’d have given it to you willingly. Nobody can get into it anyways… it’s tied to a retinal scanner that even my men can’t get past and seeing as the owner was blown to pieces, that thing’s useless.”

  Em tucked it into her jacket and gave Marc a little pat on the shoulder, as she swept past. “Guess you don’t know everything after all.”

  I pushed Marc back into the seat and pulled out a thin set of cuffs from my pocket. I secured them around both his wrists and then tightly against the chair so he couldn’t move.

  “Don’t worry, your men will be here soon enough.” I grinned. “Let’s just hope they get here before the flames do…” Marc’s eyes bounced to the black smoke filtering under the door.

  Em moved towards the back of the room where a small vent had been pulled off. She slid feet first into the wall cavity, leading us to the basement and the water canals we’d take out.

  “It doesn’t matter what you find on that tablet, your days are numbered here… everyone’s are,” Marc called from behind me.

  “Yes, I know,” I said over my shoulder.

  “I don’t think you do,” he called back. I turned to face him, and the look of both terror and warning stopped me. “Even I didn’t know… when I signed up for all this. She wants complete control of not just our city, but the entire country because she’s looking for a way to save them. And she’ll stop at nothing to find it.”

  I wanted to ask more, to find out more, but there was a bang at the door, and I knew I had to go.

  Marc gave me a grim smile as he said, “Death is a better ending than what she has planned.”

  CASPIAN

  We hadn’t stopped running for even a second before the kids chasing us caught up. Blane had sent word through whatever channels he had that there was a price on our heads, and it seemed the ransom was high. There was no safe zone for us anymore. Any camps I knew of were littered with men waiting for us to have to check in. Even if these kids didn’t normally work together, we were a common enemy that united them—for now. But what they didn’t realize was who I was, or that I’d been expecting them to be there.

  I felt little remorse when I massacred the five men waiting for us in Camp Twenty-Seven a day ago. Vic was almost out of time, and we weren’t close enough to the base I checked in with Dr. Merinda to risk it. So when faced with choosing between their lives and Vic’s, I chose hers.

  Vic stumbled at my side, but I dragged her to her feet and kept running.

  “I-I can’t,” she stuttered.

  “You have to,” I said between clenched teeth. We had to keep moving; we had to get to that base, so I could get her out of here. There were too many threats, too many ways for us to die. Don’t fail, Caspian.

  She pulled at my hand secure around her wrist, but I didn’t let go. “Just leave me,” she cried for the third time. “They don’t care about you—they want me. I’m willing to pay the consequences for what I’ve done… I deserve—”

  I skidded to a stop and spun around on her, gripping her chin firmly, but gently, in my hand. “Don’t you for one second even think that! You deserve to live, Vic. You deserve to get out of here, and I’m going to make sure that happens.”

  Her eyes watered, and I brushed away a tear sliding down her cheek. I sighed. “I don’t care what you did before. In fact… I’m proud that you were able to survive out here.” I tucked her under my shoulder, and she wrapped her small arms around my body and clung to me tightly. “You don’t have to ever do that, or be that, again. I promise you.”

  She nodded against my chest before I gently pulled her back.

  “We’ve got to keep going though, just a little farther.”

  She wiped away the tears streaking her cheek and nodded again.

  Vic was so small, so fragile. It broke something inside of me to know what she had been put through, and the choices she had been forced to make. A weaker person wouldn’t have fought as hard as she had. A weaker person would have crumbled. But she didn’t, and it haunted her; she sacrificed a part of herself to live.

  We ran for another two hours before I slowed down and steered us towards the small shrub hiding the hatch and the base underneath it. It was unlocked, as it was every seven days since I had entered this forest.

  I opened it and let Vic climb down first.

  “What is this place?” Vic asked, as she glanced around the steel walls and empty space. Only the small ring at the back glowing red stood out against the silver canvas.

  “This is where I meet them… the doctors. I’m going to get you out of here,” I said.

  Vic wrapped her arms around herself and moved to the edge of the base. I placed my arm in the red circle. It glowed green before the Linked image of Dr. Merinda popped up.

  Vic gasped and I stepped closer to her, positioning her behind my back.

  “We thought you weren’t coming, Caspian. I almost sent out my dogs to track you down,” Dr. Merinda said with a fake smile on her face.

  “I’m here now,” I said.

  “And you brought a friend?” Merinda peered around my shoulder, and Vic hid farther behind me. “It seems you’ve found out for yourself that I wasn’t lying.”

  “It would seem so.” I narrowed my eyes.

  “Well, we showed our good faith and led you to your little friend here, now how about a name?” Merinda said.

  “I have one condition first.” I crossed my arms.

  “You think you are in a position to make demands?” Dr. Allard’s clean-shaven face stepped beside Dr. Merinda, an amused smile on his lips.

  “I have information you need and want, so yes, I think I’m in the exact right position.”

  “We already made you a deal,” Merinda replied. “You give us a name, and we’ll let you out of there.”

  “That’s the thing… I’m not leaving here without her.” I nodded to Vic behind me, who was trembling against my back. “And until I know you’ll let us both out, I won’t be giving you a name.”

  Merinda’s warm smile turned cold as ice. Her glare was like razors through me, but I stood strong. “We have extended as much kindness to you as we can, and you come back with threats and demands of your own.” Behind her Dr. Allard’s smirk turned vicious, and he shook his head at me. “I’m afraid that will not do.”

  “Then I guess you’ll never find out how I got here.”

  Merinda smirked. “Oh, I think we will, quite soon.”

  Vic’s body tensed behind me. Her arms twitched, and she let out a horrified scream of pain and agony. I turned to catch her just before her legs gave out. She was gripping her wrist, tears flowing down her face, and every muscle in her body tensed.

  I’d seen this before. I knew what this was.

  “No!” I screamed.

  The venom within the tracker was slowly pushing its serum into her veins, dissolving her from the inside out.

  “Stop it, please stop it,” I cried, pulling her against my chest, as she screamed and writhed against the pain seeping into her.

  “I can’t stop it, but you can,” Dr. Merinda said sweetly.

  My breath was ragged, and I fought against everything I’d been trained not to do. We were taught on day one as Watchers that above all things, we do not spill any secrets or reveal any names should we get captured. It was something ingrained in my mind—our lives were worth sacrificing for the bigger picture.

  But I couldn’t sacrifice hers.

  “Simon,” I screamed.

  “What was that?”

  “Simon,” I said again, my voice breaking. “He got us here; he’s with the Carbon Resistance.” The words were like bile spilling from my mouth, and I hated every second of it. Not because I cared if Simon was caught, who was he to me? But because Simon could surely be traced back to Jayla, and by revealing his name, I put her at risk, too.

  Vic went suddenly still, and for a second I thought she was dead before her chest started to rise and fall again, and she gasped for breath.

  “Thank you, Caspian, that was ever so kind of you to reveal,” Merinda said.

  I kept Vic close to me, her body weak and drained, and she couldn’t stand on her own. I didn’t know how much of the venom seeped into her, how much damage it had caused.

  “We had a deal,” I said through clenched teeth. “If you won’t let us both out, then just take her. She can take my place.”

  Dr. Merinda let out a long sigh and tilted her head to the side as she looked solemnly down at us. “I’m afraid it doesn’t work that way. I spared her life, that’s good enough. If you want any more than that, I’m sure you have many more names and secrets to reveal.”

  My jaw tightened. “You lied to me? This entire time?”

  “No,” Dr. Allard said from beside Merinda. “We told you from day one that if you revealed who got you into this place, we would let you go. So if your information proves to be true, we will keep our promise and let you out. But only you… not her.”

  I glanced back to Vic whose eyes were still filled with tears. She nodded. “Go,” she said, but I shook my head.

  “I’m not leaving you, kid,” I whispered.

  “We’ll see you in a week and let you know if the information you’ve given us checks out,” Dr. Merinda said. “Until then… keep safe.” Then she was gone.

  My heart sank and my head dropped.

  “You have to go, you have to take their deal.” Vic’s voice was hoarse, and her hands trembled against my chest.

  Again, I shook my head. “There is no deal, there never was,” I whispered. “They’re not going to let me out of this place.”

  I was a fool to think there would ever be a way out of this hellhole—that these people would ever let me leave. But they had revealed their true nature to me today. They wouldn’t let me out because I knew too much. And Vic was too important for whatever they were planning, all the Marked kids were. So we would stay here, living out our lives one day at a time, and I would never get a chance to keep my promise to Jayla, because I would never see her again. My chest felt like it would explode. I ran my hands through my hair, tugging at the ends as I tried my best to not scream. My eyes stung and I squeezed them shut, feeling wetness slide down my cheeks.

  I will never leave you, I had said, and at the time, I hadn’t meant for it to be a lie.

  SIENNA

  I woke for the first time in weeks feeling rested. Theo groaned as I moved to get up and pulled me back against his chest. I took a long, deep breath; the hint of lemon still lingered on him, and it brought me back to a time when I thought things couldn’t get any worse than inside the DEZ. I was so wrong.

  “Hurry up you two,” Gunner yelled from outside, slapping a hand against the canvas tent.

  Theo groaned again, and I slid out of his arms, moving to pull on my tight pants and the tall boots. Theo placed small kisses down my spine before he stood, stretched, and began dressing as well.

  The smile on his face reminded me that as long as we were together, we could make it through anything. And once we found Vic, everything would be better. That’s all we’d ever needed—each other.

  Outside the tent, Gunner and Tynan stood at a table with a map on it, illuminated by the nearby fire. I peered over Gunner’s shoulder. On the map was the Void and in the center the city of Venzier. A few tunnel entrances were marked, some in red with a large X on them. To the north of Venzier was the crash site of the space station from the war long ago. It also had a red X on it.