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She started to think of something else. Something outside her and Denton.

Denton closed on her.

Cupcakes. Red velvet. Dark chocolate with peanut butter frosting.

He punched. Her hand ran along his arm, forced the joint across her hip. Broke his arm. He screamed. Forced his elbow back into place.

‘What are you doing?’ he roared.

Sophia blinked. ‘I’m thinking about cupcakes.’

He struck again. She waved the blow over her shoulder, her arm going in low. She snapped her fist inward, driving her knuckles into his abdomen. The punch was unexpected for both her and Denton. The movement was relaxed, but her fist heavy as lead. The energy corkscrewed into his midsection.

Denton retreated a step, lips taut. She could see him try to bear the pain she’d sent rippling through his body. But she could feel it. He was enraged.

‘It won’t work,’ he said between sharp breaths. ‘It’s over.’

Chapter 58

Damien picked himself up off the ground. He was covered in books. He couldn’t see in front of the debris cloud. Half of it seemed to be in his lungs because he coughed violently. He searched around him. The operative was nowhere to be found. He got to his feet, aware of a laceration across his back that had started to sting.

The nearby explosion had washed the dining concourse with debris, sending Damien crashing into a bookstore. He checked his body and tested his limbs. Nothing life-threatening and he wasn’t losing blood. That would have to do for now. He moved from the bookstore into the dining concourse. He’d lost all sense of direction and, with the concourse littered in bricks, tiles and plaster, nothing looked familiar.

Then he heard movement from his right, farther down the concourse. He peered through the thick cloud but saw nothing. He could hear footsteps. A single figure moved away from him. Running. He wasn’t sure who it was but he knew he needed to find Aviary and Jay, and Nasira too. He moved through the cloud toward Jay’s platform.

* * *

‘I’m sorry,’ Aviary said.

She’d screwed up again. Almost gotten herself killed and everyone else around her. Now she knew why Nasira had told her to stay away. She just wasn’t trained for this.

‘I was going to disable the sensors,’ Aviary said. ‘I wanted to—’

Nasira lowered Aviary’s knife, took it from her. She grabbed Aviary by the collar of her jacket and held tightly. Aviary thought Nasira was about to hit her.

‘Did I kill Damien?’ Nasira said.

Aviary felt Nasira’s saliva hot on her face. ‘What? No,’ Aviary said. ‘I got him out.’

‘Thank fuck,’ Nasira said.

Aviary found herself in probably the most unlikely scenario possible — being hugged by Nasira. Aviary’s face pressed in Nasira’s shoulder. She stopped freaking out and shut her eyes, dizzy from the near-death experience. She didn’t know if she could move at all, let alone survive the rest of this. She let Nasira hold her.

‘Thank you,’ Nasira said.

Chapter 59

‘Last chance, Gypsy,’ Denton said. He grasped a chunk of marble. ‘If I don’t kill you, the reinforcements certainly will.’

Sophia didn’t think of getting back onto her feet. That would happen naturally, when the time was right. Instead, she lay there and thought of cupcakes.

‘That’s stupid! You don’t use espresso frosting on pumpkin cupcakes!’ Denton yelled.

He brought the chunk of marble down on Sophia’s skull. She slid fractionally to one side and fractionally inward. Her arm brushed his, knocked the chunk off trajectory. It missed her. She brought her hand down, palm striking his kneecap. His leg straightened out and he hyperextended.

Dry cupcakes. Burnt cupcakes. The icing was too watery on that one.

Denton shook his head, dizzied by her thoughts.

She brought her hand back up, driving another corkscrew punch into his stomach for good measure. The air burst from his lungs.

Gluten free cupcakes. Vegan mocha cupcakes with garlic frosting.

‘I hate garlic!’

She watched him lash out with another fist, but it was more of a wild shot than a precision strike. She moved around it, brushing it off with her shoulder. Circling him, she wrapped her other hand over his face and pulled him back. Then she bent her leg so his spine dropped onto her knee. He bounced off and landed on rubble.

His stomach rose and fell with ragged gasps. He held his thumb in one hand, then released it.

‘Last … chance,’ he said.

She picked up the chunk of marble.

Denton cupcake. With marble frosting.

‘Stop!’ the Commander yelled through the haze.

Sophia turned slightly, saw the Commander standing ten feet behind her. His Colt .45 aimed with both hands. She noticed his arms were steady but he was having trouble standing. His strength was being drawn from him.

Sophia moved to one side, keeping both Denton and the Commander on the edges of her vision.

‘Why?’ she said.

‘Where’s the meteorite?’ the Commander said.

‘Destroyed,’ Sophia said. ‘With the explosives.’

She didn’t know on which platform DC had cached the meteorite, she’d left that to him, but she hoped it was the one that had been destroyed.

‘So be it. We need him alive,’ the Commander said.

‘No, that’s not it,’ she said. ‘You actually think he’s worth saving.’

His voice was a rough whisper. ‘I do.’

‘You think he’s human?’ Sophia said.

‘He’s my son.’

‘He’s not human.’

‘I’m not a fool, Sophia. I know he’s not like most people,’ the Commander said. ‘But I can’t give up. I hope you understand.’

‘I don’t need to,’ she said. ‘I’m close enough to disarm you before you get a shot off. Let alone a shot that could stop me.’

She saw his fingers tighten around the pistol. His primary hand held the pistol firmly. Too firmly. She knew his shot would go a little left and high, but at ten feet it would still hit her face. She didn’t tell him that though.

‘Let me take him in,’ the Commander said.

‘He’s already injected two Phoenix viruses,’ Sophia said. ‘Even without the third he’s more dangerous now.’

‘He will be punished, I promise that. Walk away and I call off the search in this building. Pick any tunnel and you’ll have safe passage out.’

‘And if I don’t?’ Sophia said.

‘Then there’s a cell next to Denton’s,’ the Commander said. ‘I’m sure he’d enjoy the company.’

‘There is no cell,’ Sophia said, gripping the marble chunk tighter. ‘You’d have me on an operating table. For as long as it takes to get the Phoenix from me.’

‘Perhaps,’ he said. ‘If you don’t accept my deal.’

‘You could have us both,’ she said. ‘Why should I trust you?’

‘Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth,’ he said.

Even if he was lying, she thought, at least her team would have a chance to escape.

‘Can you contain him?’ she asked.

‘I can’t kill my son,’ he said. ‘But I promise you he will never be in a position to harm anyone again.’

Sophia tried to laugh but it emerged as a cough. ‘You should just kill him. I can do it for you.’

He shook his head. ‘As tempting as it might be to bring an end to all this, he possesses valuable information.’