“Help!” Adam yells to Marina. “Six is hurt!”
I try to hold on to consciousness, but it’s hard. The world is going black, even as everything we’ve fought for goes up in flames. Ella warned us there would be death. Feeling almost detached from my body, I wonder if this is it.
As I slip away, I hear Ella’s voice in my head.
I’m sorry, she says.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THIS SHIT.
Five wants to meet me at sunset at the Statue of Liberty. It sounds like the plan of some supervillain. He’s holding Nine hostage and plans to kill him if I don’t show up. I don’t know what he wants from me. At the United Nations, it seemed like he was trying to help us in his own psychotic way. At the very least, he stopped me from unintentionally hurting Ella. Of course, he can’t possibly know that I’m on the clock here, that every minute wasted on his screwed-up games is a minute not spent helping Sarah, Six and the others. If he did know, would he even care?
I sent Sarah and Mark to Mexico with the newly discovered Loric hacker-turned-pilot who I’m dying to meet. I sent them there because they’re literally the only support I could drum up for Six and the rest of the Garde who are in for a major fight.
At least they can escape now. They aren’t stranded. Six and Sarah are smart enough to cut their losses and get out of there. This is what I keep telling myself.
I do a quick mental calculation. Even if Agent Walker could somehow convince the military to loan me one of their fastest fighter jets, I still won’t be able to make it to Mexico ahead of Setrákus Ra. Not at this point.
That doesn’t mean I’m not going to try.
“Can you at least get me a boat?” I ask Walker. Having left the chaos of the docks behind, we’re back in the FBI agent’s tent.
“To take you to the Statue of Liberty?” Walker nods. “Yeah, I can arrange that.”
“Right now, though,” I reply. “I want it right now.”
“Five said sunset. That’s still almost an hour away,” Sam adds grimly. I know he’s been doing the same mental calculations that I have. He knows we won’t make it to the Sanctuary. Not unless we leave Nine to whatever fate Five has in store for him, and neither one of us is willing to go down that road.
“I’m not waiting. We aren’t on Five’s time. He’s probably sitting there right now, setting up a trap or something. Whatever the hell he does. We’re going early. If he’s not there, then we’ll be waiting for the bastard.”
“Good idea,” Sam says, nodding. “Let’s do it.”
“Make it happen,” I tell Walker, and step outside her tent.
From here, in Brooklyn Bridge Park, we can see Liberty Island. The green outline of the famous statue is visible against the smoky sky. It won’t take us long to get there. From this distance, I can’t discern any details. If Five is there or if he’s set up some kind of trap for us, I can’t tell. It doesn’t really matter. Whatever we find, we’re going to face head-on.
Sam follows me outside. “What’re we going to do?” he asks me. “I mean, with Five.”
“Whatever we have to,” I reply.
He falls silent and crosses his arms, also gazing out across the water at the statue.
“You know, I always wanted to see the Statue of Liberty,” is all he can think to say.
Inside the tent, I can hear Walker doing a lot of yelling into her walkie-talkie. Eventually, she succeeds in commandeering us one of the coast guard’s speedboats. It doesn’t have the artillery of one of the navy boats I spotted in the harbor, but it’ll get us to Liberty Island in a hurry. Walker also puts the call out to her trusted agents, assembling a crew of three guys who I recognize from the anti-MogPro task force that helped us go after the secretary of defense. I guess they’re the ones who survived the battle with Setrákus Ra at the United Nations. One of them is the guy I healed during that first skirmish in Midtown, the one who costars in the video Sarah posted all over the internet. He looks almost embarrassed when he shakes my hand.
“Agent Murray,” he introduces himself. “Never got a chance to say thank you. For the other day.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I tell him, then turn to Agent Walker. “We don’t need the backup. Just the boat.”
“Sorry, John. Can’t let you two go out there alone. You’re government assets now.”
I snort. “Oh, we are?”
“You are.”
I’m not going to waste time arguing about this. They can come if they want. I start towards the docks, Sam next to me, and Walker and her agents fanned out around us like bodyguards. As usual, I get a lot of stares from the soldiers milling around. Some of them look like they want to help, but I’m sure they’re under orders not to get involved with us. Agent Walker and what’s left of her splinter group of ex-MogPro agents are all the help the government’s willing to grant us at this point. At least they upgraded their weapons, the agents having traded in their usual standard-issue handguns for some heavy-duty assault rifles.
“Hey! John Smith from Mars! Wait up!”
I turn in time to see Daniela squeeze her gangly body through a group of soldiers and trot towards us. The agents surrounding us immediately raise their rifles and, seeing this, Daniela skids to a stop a few yards away and puts her hands up. She eyes the FBI agents with a cocky grin.
“It’s all right, calm down,” I tell Walker and her bunch, waving Daniela over. “She’s one of us.”
Walker raises an eyebrow. “You mean . . . ?”
“A human Garde,” I say, keeping my voice low. “One of the people Setrákus Ra wants turned over to him.”
Walker sizes up Daniela. “Great,” she says dryly.
Daniela just amps up the wattage on that smirk. “You guys heading off on an adventure or something? Can I come?”
I frown at how lightly she’s taking this and exchange a look with Sam.
“Did you find your mom?” Sam asks her, and Daniela’s smile falters a bit.
“She’s not here, and she never checked in with the Red Cross,” Daniela replies, shrugging like it’s no big deal. Even though she tries to keep her tone light, her voice is shaky and I can tell she expects the worst. “Probably got out of the city some other way. I’m sure she’s all right.”
“Yeah, definitely,” Sam replies, forcing a smile.
“We’re on our way to confront a rogue Garde,” I tell her bluntly. Walker gives me a look, but I see no reason to lie. All hands on deck.
“Whoa. You guys, like, go rogue?”
I think about Five and how he turned on us and I think about Setrákus Ra and the uncountable horrible acts he’s committed. He used to be a Garde too, maybe even something higher than that, if Crayton’s letter to Ella can be believed. Then, I look at Daniela and consider her and the other humans with new Legacies who we haven’t met yet. Will they all fight for good? Or will some of them turn out like Five and Setrákus Ra?
“We’re people, just like anyone else,” I tell her.
“Except with awesome powers,” Sam adds.
“Like anyone else,” I continue, “we can go bad without the proper guidance.”
Daniela turns on that sly smile again. It’s almost infuriating, but I’m starting to realize it’s just a defense mechanism. Whenever she feels uncomfortable, she tries really hard to return the favor. “Yeah. Got it. You going to be my guide, John Smith? My sensei?”
“We called them Cêpan, actually. Our trainers. But they’re gone. Now, we pretty much figure stuff out for ourselves.”
Agent Walker clears her throat. I think she wants me to get rid of Daniela, but I’m not turning away any help. No way.