“I want to help her.”
“Then let me leave. Like you guessed, we’re on a timer here. If I don’t do my part, Hera will be the one to suffer. Hell, she might even die.” The last word stuck in my throat, but I forced myself to admit it.“She’s in the North Tower, and if you don’t let me go, she won’t ever make it back.”
This wasn’t a game. If we failed, none of us would see tomorrow.
Doubt showed on Kit’s face, but he didn’t seem willing to give in just yet. “Then let me help.”
But I couldn’t trust him, and I didn’t have time to argue with him anymore.
“Please, don’t hate me in the morning,” I muttered before yanking off one of my gloves and setting my hand on his cheek.
The feeling of his power flowing into me was easily the worst thing I’d ever experienced. Perhaps I’d gotten used to doing this with Hera, with Knox, where it didn’t hurt. No, that wasn’t it. This was on a level I’d never felt before. The power I stole from Kithurt.It didn’t burn, but rather froze, like the deepest part of the ocean had suddenly rushed through my veins.
Still, I didn’t let go. He collapsed to his knees as I pulled as much of his power as I could. The last thing I wanted was to risk him recovering too fast and coming after me.I only got one shot at incapacitating a man like Kit. If I failed, he wouldn’t give me a second.
“Sorry,” I said. “But this is too important. You’ll understand if it all goes well. And don’t you dare get yourself killed—I hate to see Hera cry.”
Kit collapsed to the ground, panting hard as if drawing breath had become difficult. I let him fall, trying to ignore the pain from the way his power scratched at the inside of my body. It was like it wanted to escape, to get back to Kit. How did he keep this much power inside of him?How did it not destroy him?
This forced me to respect and fear him all over again.
Still, I didn’t have the time to think about it. I took off, leaving his room and running down the hallway. Outside the elevator, Knox and Brax waited. A nod from me had them heading off in opposite directions for their own tasks.
For me, I had to get to the server room and start the virus. If we didn’t get this done in the right order, all was lost.
And I’d come too far, gained too much to let it all go now.
* * * *
Brax
I stood outside the line of sight of the cameras as I watched the door to the generator room. The light on the lock remained red, which forced me to wait.
I’d memorized the plan, knew the steps that should happen. Still, having to wait to see if it all worked tortured me.
I couldn’t do anything until Wade started the virus, until he unlocked all the doors and threw the false alarm. If I took out the power before that, the doorswould remain locked. As soon as he did that, Hera needed to take down the communications, as well.
We had it all perfectly planned, but a single fuck-up could throw it into chaos.
Trust was something I had little of, but here I was, forced to trust Wade and Hera to take care of their parts.
What would I do if that light never turned green? What if they failed, and I never saw Hera again? What if this little bit of happiness I’d somehow found ended so soon? Could I just walk away? Go back to my old life?
I shook my head.
It wasn’t possible. Hera had made me want more, made me believe I could have more. This was all her fault.
I let out an angry sigh. Berserkers were the first into a fight. Waiting wasn’t something we did well, yet here I stood. I doubted I’d do it for anyone else.
But Hera had shown me a taste of a future, that I could actually protect Knox, that there was more to my life than just surviving Larkwood.
I glanced toward the North Tower, wondering how she was. Hera had sent the message to Kit, which meant she lived at least, and that she’d arrived in communications. I held on to that, tried to let it calm me.
The red signal on the door flickered to green, and the lights around the camera went dark. That meant Wade had managed his job.
Now I’m up.
I went forward, opening the door to get my first look at the generators. They sat in rows, along with batteries that held the charge from the solar panels. Larkwoodhad prepared for blackouts, for anything other than a pissed-off berserker.