Page 147 of Stay Scared

“I am.”

“Good.”

Too much is behind the word.

I look at him. “You hated it.”

“I hated strangers watching you explain yourself.”

“I wasn’t explaining myself.”

“I could tell.”

He looks toward Rook’s feed. “That’s why I hated it less than I thought I would.”

I almost answer.

Owen cuts in. “He’s reallocating power away from the uplink.”

The signal meter drops.

“He may be moving those resources to the theater controls.”

Ash is already folding the map. “Then we move now.”

I pull the manual camera from its mount.

Owen looks at it. “You want that?”

“I really don’t.”

I disconnect the cable and set the camera face down. “The police heard me. The rest is ours.”

Cade reaches for the skull mask on the console. His fingers close around the strap. I watch him. He looks back. Neither of us says whether he should put it on.

Cade lifts it, then hooks the strap over his wrist instead. Ash has no mask left. Owen takes the portable receiver and kills the unused monitor beside him.

Rook appears again on the central screen. “You cannot outrun what they have already seen.”

I close my hand around the founder key. “Watch me stop caring.”

Ash opens the projection corridor. Cade goes through first this time, then immediately turns to check where I am.

I step past him before he can reach for me. His hand curls at his side. He follows.

Owen comes behind us carrying the relay. Ash waits until the rest of us are through before leaving the booth.

The public feed keeps running without us. Let Rook perform for them.

Mark is below, and we go get him.

Chapter 19

Ash’s original section sits beneath the abandoned theater. The entrance looks like part of the foundation until he presses his palm against a stretch of black brick. A narrow panel releases without electricity, exposing a recessed keyway. I pull the founder key from beneath my shirt. Ash watches the steel slide over my collarbone.

“Shallow notch faces up.”

“You already taught me.”