“No idea. Everybody’s different. I’ve never personally undone somebody else’s old work before.”
“And you didn’t think that was relevant to mention before you screwed around in her brain?” Ian scooped Marley up. She was light, but he still swayed a little as his bad leg adjusted to the additional weight. He’d need to get her to a safe location, somewhere he knew the terrain, had the home-field advantage.
“Ian, what the hell are you doing with this woman? It’s one thing for me to flaunt the laws. I’ve been doing it on the fringes for years. But you… This is treason.”
“I didn’t expect it to go like this,” he admitted.
“You’re not used to your plans being foiled,” she said. And she knew him well enough to understand the truth of that.
“I’m not going to abandon her to them. I can’t.” Ian could see the Why? in her dark eyes, and he was grateful she didn’t voice the question.
“So what are you going to do?” she asked.
“I haven’t got a fucking clue.” It cost him to admit it.
Scarlett hesitated, clearly weighing whether or not to say something.
“Spill it,” Ian ordered, impatient.
“Have you considered taking her to the Underground?”
Instinctively, Ian tightened his grip on Marley as phantom explosions burst in his memory. “Absolutely not.”
“I know you’re not exactly on the best of terms—”
“That’s putting it mildly.”
“—but this is what they do.”
Ian had a pretty clear vision of what the Underground did. And his job had been to hunt them for it. No way would he hand Marley off to a bunch of disorganized malcontents who thought terrorist attacks were the best means of achieving their political agenda.
Scarlett held up her hands in defeat. “Fine. I can see your answer in your face. But Ian, this is serious shit you’re pulling, and you’re gonna run out of friends real quick.”
“That’s a chance I’ll have to take.”
Chapter 6
“You have to hide, baby.” Mama’s voice trembled and her hands shook as she fumbled with the screws holding the air vent in place.
Marley didn’t know what was going on, didn’t like how Mama sounded. Scared. Mama wasn’t supposed to be scared. She was supposed to keep the bad things away.
“We should go under the covers,” said Marley. It’s where she always hid. Where no one could see her. If they hid under the covers, they could snuggle.
Mama got out the last of the screws and yanked the grate off. She reached out a hand, tugged Marley close. Too tight. Marley squirmed. Mama kissed her and nudged her toward the dark hole in the wall. “You have to hide extra special well. You hear me?”
Marley thought the pantry was better. Or under the bed. Somewhere that wasn’t this tight, dark space. She resisted, began to sniffle and whine. “I want Daddy.”
“Marley!” snapped Mama, and her tone shut Marley up. “None of that. Not now. Daddy isn’t here right now. You have to hide and be very, very quiet. Understand? You’re my big girl, aren’t you?”
Marley didn’t understand, not at all. But she was a big girl. If Mama wanted her to play this silly game, she’d do it. She crawled into the air vent. Mama handed in Spud, the raggedy teddy bear, then leaned in to press her cheek to Marley’s. Her cheek was wet. “I love you, baby.”
“Mama?”
“Not a sound, sweetheart. You have to stay quieter than a mouse to win. No matter what you hear. You must stay quiet.”
It had to be a Really Important Game. So Marley nodded. She wanted to whimper as Mama put the air vent back in place and screwed it in, but she’d promised. So she hugged her knees and waited.
Mama kept glancing over her shoulder toward the front door. If she angled right to see around the edge of the hall, Marley could just see it through the vent’s slats, but nothing was there. It was just a shut door. Was Mama waiting for somebody else to come play?