“As for my parents… My dad died in a car accident just over four years ago and my mum was killed six months after that. She…” I trailed off, debating telling him the truth. “She was shot by police during… She was a clerk at city hall when you went after Counselman Killigen.”
I kept my eyes on my task as a heavy silence filled the room. He broke it after a minute, his voice was so soft I almost didn’t hear him.
“I got your mom killed.”
I shook my head.
“No. That idiot officer got my mum killed. I’ve never blamed you. Not once. Killigen deserved worse than what he got, and I’m glad you went after him—honestly, most of the city was. Plus, watching the officer turn into a human icicle and explode was pretty cool.” I gave him a lighthearted smile but he wouldn’t meet my eye.
“I remember that day. I… I tried to save her. I could have if…” He trailed off, shaking his head. “That fucking guy should have known better. A whole clip? I was so angry, and I felt so guilty that I hadn’t made it in time. One or two I could have saved her, but seventeen? That was really your mom?”
I nodded as I began cleaning up the medical supplies off my coffee table. He exhaled aggressively before digging his palms into his eyes.
“She’s haunted me for years. I’ve killed 337 people since this started, every single one was guilty of something, except her.”
I paused what I was doing.
“You didn’t kill her. He did. I looked up his record after, it was spotless. No complaints, no pattern of an itchy trigger finger or excessive force. I still can’t wrap my head around why he would lose it like that. But it’s not your fault.”
“But if I hadn’t attacked that day?—”
“Then Killigen would still be harassing and abusing women. His kid might be dead, his wife, too. Austin, look at me.”
He dropped his hands from his face and met my gaze.
“It’s not your fault.”
“Eva told me that. Over and over she tried, but it didn’t sink in then.”
“Is it sinking in now?”
He chuckled. “Yes.”
“Good. Now tell me what the hell happened tonight.”
23
THE VOLUNTEER
Twenty minuteslater Austin was almost fully healed, and I had been filled in—the list, his partners, the truth behindthe incident, and the labs running the experiments. I was having a really hard time believing Eva would sell him out. Especially when my phone lit up with her number.
“I have to answer, she’ll be suspicious.”
He nodded, so I picked up.
“Oh my god, Eva! Thank god! Have you heard from him?”
Austin’s eyebrow rose. What can I say, I was a drama student.
“That’s why I was calling. I was hoping he came to you.” She sounded panicked and sincere, but I suppose I did too. “You haven’t heard from him at all?”
“No. I’m freaking out. What the hell happened? Were you there?”
He waved his hand to get my attention.Speaker,he mouthed. I nodded, doing as he asked.
“I was. Fuck V, I was supposed to have his back. I cased it. Five circles and nothing looked off. A ton of guards, but Plowers was always like that; super paranoid, you know? It didn’t feel off. Then Av went in and—” she choked down a sob. “I noticed someone coming at me so I packed up, headed for somewhere with more cover. But they saw me and I had to run. I heard him calling for me, asking for help, but they shot at me and I fell and my earpiece got lost. V, it’s my fault. All my fault. I pushed him to go and then I just left him there.”
She was full on sobbing. I peeked over at Austin, he looked conflicted but gave me no indication he wanted to tell her so I pressed on.
