Levi glanced at me for confirmation, and I nodded. He looked back up at Argus. “Hvad har du brug for at jeg skal gøre?” What do you need me to do?
“I need you to take Tre and Ivy to safety. You know the quick way out.”
Levi gave a stiff nod. Porter turned to me and squeezed my hand. “Good luck. I’ll see you soon.”
He made for the door, but I tugged on his hand. “Where are you going?”
“I can’t stay. When Gesh wakes up, that’s the end of Argus.”
I covered my mouth with my hand. “He kills him?”
“Of course. You can’t expect much else after he knocked Gesh out and helped you escape. Besides, how else would I have known I could descend into his body? He’d have to be dead to have a soulmark, and he’d have to have a soulmark in order for me to use it.”
I let Porter’s hand slip from mine and watched him disappear through the doorway, leading Argus’ body casually, knowingly, to his death.
Levi walked over to me and rested a hand at the small of my back. “Vi er nødt til at handle hurtigt.” We have to move fast.
It was like a dream playing out in slow motion. I watched Levi’s deft hands skim over Blue’s frail body, unhooking him from the monitors, pulling the IV from his vein, applying a bandage on the back of his hand. I stood over Blue, holding his hand, my throat constricting with guilt.
It had been so easy to believe Blue betrayed me. So very easy. It was still hard to believe it wasn’t true. No matter how good he was, no matter how big his heart, it didn’t make sense for him to care about me as much as he did. To agonize over remembering me and dream of kissing me. Boys didn’t dream about me. They dreamed about other girls. Beautiful girls.
Not me.
When Levi was done, he slipped out of the room to retrieve a wheelchair, leaving me alone with Blue. I lifted his hand to my lips again. I pressed my mouth to his palm.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
Levi came back in, pulling the wheelchair in behind him. He stopped short, startled to see my lips pressed to Blue’s hand. Levi’s eyes were wide, like a boyfriend who’d just caught me cheating. I slowly lowered Blue’s hand back to the bed. I’d forgotten that it must still be hard for Levi to separate me, Alex Wayfare, from Ivy, especially while I was wearing her body. I didn’t have to show my affection toward Blue in front of Levi. It was too cruel.
Levi cleared his throat. “Help me get him in the chair?”
We sat Blue up, one of us on either side, and draped his arms over our shoulders. Then we lifted his legs and hoisted him into the chair. Blue still didn’t wake up. His head lolled forward.
“Let’s go,” Levi said.
The moment we were through the door, Levi broke into a sprint, pushing Blue in front of him. We wove through the halls, gained quick access through several sets of double doors, and rounded corners, getting lost in the maze of cold, sterile corridors. It felt like we ran a mile before we finally came to a pair of heavy glass doors, framed in thick steel. Red letters on the glass spelled out Emergency Exit in Danish. Beyond it, the hallway sloped steeply upward out of sight.
Levi came to a stop and hunched over, panting. “This is it. This is Gesh’s private exit. He always has a car waiting outside, in case the labs are breeched and the government finds out what he’s doing down here.”
“Can you use your key card to open the door?” I asked.
“Yes, but the moment I swipe it, an alarm’s going to go off. Gesh, the security guards, everyone will know we’re trying to escape. You’ve got to catch your breath, stretch, do whatever you need to do to help me push this wheelchair up that slope as fast as you can. Got it?”
“Wait,” I said grabbing his wrist. “I’ve got an idea.”
“No ideas. Just catch your breath. We have to move.”
“But I can seal the door shut behind us. I can make it so Gesh can’t get through without busting it down.”
“You can?” Levi said. “How?”
“For all Gesh’s high tech medical gear, he’s not too smart when it comes to security. Nobody is. I’ve been paying attention to these doors and how they lock. It’s just a simple electronic strike system. You can bypass the key card stuff. All you have to do is cut power to the strike to shut it all down. Knowing Gesh, these doors are fail secure. That means if I cut the power, the door seals shut. Nothing can release the strike. No one will be able to get through these doors without coming down here and reconnecting the power. It’ll buy us loads of time.”
Levi stared at me like I just recited a sonnet in Mandarin.
I waved a hand in front of my face. “Never mind. Just give me your key card and tell me where I can find some wire cutters.”
“Wire cutters? Are you insane? We don’t have time for wire cutters.”
I glared at him. “If you have the keys to this getaway car Gesh keeps hidden outside, then by all means, let’s make a run for it. If not, then I’m going to have to hot-wire it. And honestly, I’ve only done that once so I consider myself a little rusty.”
Levi’s eyes went wide. “You know how to hot-wire a car?”
“Levi. Focus.”
“OK, OK,” he shoved the key card in my hands. “There’s a medical closet by the surgical lab. I’m pretty sure there are some tools in there.”
An invisible boot sank into my stomach. “The closet right across from Gesh’s office?”
Levi nodded. “Still think it’s a good idea?”
I fisted my hands and set my jaw. “I’ve got this. I’ll be right back. Don’t move.”
I flew down the hall, rewinding my way through the empty maze of tunnels, swiping Levi’s key card and slipping through the sets of double doors. Levi didn’t trust my idea, but it was a heck of a lot better than his “just run as fast as you can from a swarm of security guards” plan. I had to seal the deal. Cut Gesh off at the knees. Not at the freaking elbow.
When the surgical lab came back in view, I slowed down, skimming my back along the wall and peering around corners. When I came to the hall with Gesh’s office and the medical closet, I ran on the balls of my feet, not making a sound, and slipped inside.
My heart was in my throat. Where was Gesh? Still in his office? Murdering Argus? Had Porter already ascended back to Base Life?
My eyes darted around for any sign of a toolbox. I shoved boxes of needles and rubber gloves out of the way on the shelves, peering behind them. I tipped the lids off plastic storage tubs and rummaged through packs of plastic-wrapped bandages. Nothing.
I finally came to a bulky plastic grocery bag sitting on the floor near the door. When I ripped it open, I swore under my breath.
They kept their tools in a grocery bag? For real?
I knelt on the floor and rifled through them. They were the bare bones basics: a hammer, a screwdriver, a little box of nails, a plastic container of thumbtacks. Geez, who did these tools belong to? Porter’s grandmother? Levi obviously had no idea where the maintenance workers kept the real tools.
At the very bottom of the bag, my fingers closed around a pair of scissors. “Bingo.” They would have to do. I just had to hope and pray they’d be sharp enough to cut through the power cord for the electric strike.
Before I left, I grabbed the screwdriver and hammer to use when I hot-wired Gesh’s car. Then I spun the scissors around my finger like it was Shooter’s pistol. I wasn’t going back out into the hall without some sort of weapon in my hands. Not that a pair of scissors would do much good if Gesh really did have a gun, but it made me feel safer. Perception is everything.
I stepped out into the hall, looked both ways, and took a single step. The moment my foot met the floor, I heard the unmistakable clack! of a gunshot suppressed by a silencer. It came from behind Gesh’s office door. Then I heard what sounded like a massive body slump to the floor.