Butwhatwill we find?
Five, six weeks in the hole? Shit, the guy is probably fully bugged-out.
My heart rate calms as we get further toward solitary, but I’m still twitchy.
François's magic doesn’t account for things like cameras, and unseen trouble.
We’re approaching the solitary confinement corridor when I hear a rhythmic swish.
I grab François by the shoulder. “Stop!”
He stiffens, looking at my hand as if I’ve wiped shit on him. “Do not touch me, Wolf. I have the situation entirely under control.”
“Shut your stupid mouth,” I hiss, aggressively pulling him and Rory back into a recessed doorway. “Hear that? It’s a floor polisher, which means Spigot is working the block. The guy is deaf as a fucking post. Try whispering your little magic spells to a man who can’t hear you, and he’ll hit a wall alarm before you can even blink your hypno eyes.”
Before François can open his mouth to argue, Spigot rounds the corner, pushing his heavy industrial buffer. We slam ourselves deep into the alcove shadows. I grunt softly, hoisting Imran’s skeletal frame higher on my shoulders.
The custodian hums tunelessly, moving away from us.
“This way,” I hiss, leading our group in the opposite direction the second the buffer blocks the sound of our feet.
We round a sharp corner.
Straight into another guard.
“Bevan?” She looks up at me, her chest heaving with surprise. “What the fuck is going on?” She has a thick, unmistakable Ashgrave accent.
François’s fingers instantly twitch, his knuckles flaring with that sickly green aura, but I throw my arm out to block him. “Wait. Who the hell are you?”
“That’s Officer Peek,” Aurora whispers, stepping up beside me.
Peek gives a tight, nervous nod, her eyes darting down the dark corridor. “Bea sends her regards.”
What?
“How do you know that name?” I demand.
“She wanted someone from the Unbound in here. Just to observe though. I’m not supposed to interfere.” Her eyes move to Rory, saddening with a flash of guilt. “I’m sorry about what happened to you.”
This is a hell of a lot to take in. Can we actually trust a guard, Unbound or not? I step closer into her personal space. “Give me your connection code.”
Anyone tied up with the Unbound Resistance has a fourteen-digit number memorized.She recites her digits. It all seems legit.
Fuck it.
“We have a way out, Peek,” I tell her. “Can you help us?”
“What the fuck? You’re insane. You know you can’t cross the Null-wards,” Peek shakes her head, looking legit concerned.
“Let us worry about the wards,” Rory replies. “For now, we need to get London out of solitary.”
Peek breathes out a long, slow sigh, closes her eyes for a second, then opens them. “Sounds fucking stupid to me, but it’s on your heads. You can take my pass to get into solitary, and your best bet after that is the old infirmary annex. The automated sensors over there are malfunctioning. You can walk right through the side exit door into the courtyard without a single alarm triggering. But you’ll have to knock me out first so the Warden doesn’t string me up.”
“My absolute pleasure,” François growls, stepping forward with a glint in his eye.
“Wait, I’ll do it,” I hiss, stopping his advance with a heavy elbow to his ribs. I look at Peek. “How hard do you want it?”
Peek stares directly into my face. “Middle of the road, Bevan. Enough to show a convincing bruise for the Warden, but I’d highly prefer to keep my teeth inside my head, if it’s all the same to you.”
