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J.D. pulled away, his cheeks tinged pink. “Don’t worry about me. How areyou?I’ve been feeling awful about you getting caught up in all this. The whole time you were gone, I had this terrible guilt.”
Kira patted his shoulder and grinned. “I’m fine, J.D. Don’t beat yourself up. I’m okay.”
J.D. sighed and nodded. “Good. I was terrified you’d end up like…” He trailed off and glanced back at Leif pacing around the cage. “Well, you know. I didn’t know what Simon would do to you once he had you.”
As they continued talking, my eyes remained on Leif. I’d never seen anyone look more feral. We all knew there was no way coming back from that. My heart cracked, and my anger at Simon swelled into a raging fire. Even if Leif’s current state had been forced on him, I had little hope that there was anything we could do to save him.
For his part, J.D. didn’t have the same defeatist attitude I did. “We’ll get Leif back,” he said. “I know we will.” He looked back and forth between Kira and me, a surprisingly determined look on his face. “If this Simon guy made him this way, then something in that lab will fix him,” he added.
“Crew did say some of the healers thought there might be a chance to save recently turned ferals,” Kira said. “If the transition wasn’t natural, it could be easier to reverse. Have you talked to everyone? The healers?”
J.D. shrugged, his eyes downcast. “No. I’ve… well, I’ve mostly been here with Leif. I didn’t want him to be alone.”
“Why don’t we go and talk to some people?” Kira suggested “The magic users may have a way of helping him. Zoe should be our first stop. She’s got some tricks up her sleeve. Come on.”
“Sure,” J.D. mumbled, throwing a glance over his shoulder at Leif before following Kira. “I can’t thank you guys enough for bringing him back.”
“It’s fine, J.D.,” I said. “We would have done it for any of us.”
“Still. You’ll never know what it means to me,” he said.
Down the hall ahead of us, I spotted Crew talking to a few Haven citizens. The people he spoke to looked at him with such intense excitement, I could practically feel the crackle in the air. From the look on these people’s faces, they’d walk through fire for him. No matter what he asked them to do, they’d say yes.
Kira flagged down a guy walking down the corridor. “Have you seen Zoe? Do you know where we can find her?”
He pointed down another hallway. “I think I saw her that way. She’s with some witches, trying to help that guy you all brought in. The one who’s unconscious.”
“Thanks. Come on,” Kira said, taking J.D.’s hand.
“You guys go ahead,” I said. “I need to have a word with Crew.”
Kira nodded, and they hurried down the tunnel. As the three Haveners moved away, conversing softly among themselves, I made my way to Crew.
“Wyatt.” He nodded at me.
“Crew.” I tilted my head toward the group that was heading down the hall. “How’s it going? Any takers yet?”
Crew sighed and gave me a rueful grin. “That’s only the second group I’ve talked to. Just about everyone is chomping at the bit to throw down with Simon. A lot of them have lost friends to that psycho. Can’t say it makes me feel good, knowing so many of my people are ready to jump into danger.”
“Well, that’s what I came over to talk about. I wanted to offer my services. If you have some people who might need some sort of training.”
Crew raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?’
“Yeah. I think Kira would be on board to help as well. We’re trained Tranquility operatives, skilled in hand-to-hand, blades, and firearm combat. Do you have anyone else in this place with that kind of experience? You’ve already told us that a lot of the people here are victims of circumstance. Most probably don’t even know how to hold a gun, much less how to put someone into a chokehold. Right?”
Crew shrugged one shoulder noncommittally. “Some of our people are pretty dangerous and have skills. Like the folks who used to work forThe Reject Project.” He heaved a sigh, and his face softened. “I also may or may not have a guy who used to be an accountant. So, yeah, they could use some help.”
I turned my hands out in a gesture of supplication. “Then we’re here for you. Say the word, and we’re on it.”
The look on Crew’s face was a combination of relief and gratitude. “That would be amazing. Honestly, it would take my stress down about three or four notches, knowing my people will have a fighting chance. I have to tell you,” he added, leaning close, “there are some people here who have no business fighting. The problem is, I’d be a hypocrite if I didn’t let them. I promised I wouldn’t order anyonetofight. I can’t turn right around and order themnotto fight.”
“I get it,” I said honestly. “Again, we’ll do what we can.”
“Thanks,” he said. “The other problem I’m having is getting my head wrapped around the timeline. It could take days to get everyone ready for a full assault on the lab. Kira made it sound like Simon’s shipments of specimens and weapons could go out at any time. I think our initial attack might have slowed down that timeline, but not by much. We might have bought a day. The war is only going to increase in intensity. Those fuckers pushing for it back home will bedesperateto get their hands on something to give them an upper hand.
“We’re going to do our best to plan fast and be ready to stop Simon, but I’ve gotta admit that I’m not hopeful. If it comes down to it, I’d rather focus on simply hijacking the shipment transportation and getting everyone off the island, even if that means we don’t stop Simon.”
What Crew was saying a lot of sense. Everything was moving so fast now. We’d thought we had a good plan before, but we’d been surprised by the sheer amount of lackeys Simon had. It had caught us off-guard, and we’d almost failed to make it out with Kira and the others. We’d lost two people in the process, and we didn’t have the element of surprise now that Simon knew we’d discovered his lab.
