Chapter 89 TRAIL OF BLOOD
POV SYLVIE
The Astoria shelter did not smell of "silver age" or miracles; It smelled of burnt coffee, basement dampness, and the metallic fear of four people who knew the world still wanted to see them dead.
"If you ever say this is a victory, Aris, I swear I'll throw you out of the window," Nathaniel growled. He was sitting on the edge of a lab table, bandaging his bloody knuckles. He had gotten into a fight with two Sterling security guys in the parking lot half an hour ago. Guys who didn't come to arrest us, but to "clean up the board."
I was in a corner, dusting off my glasses with a piece of my torn robe. My whole body hurt. She was not a heroine of legend; She was a 21-year-old law student who hadn't slept in three days and felt like her brain was going to melt.
"Astra is not 'collaborating,'" I said, looking into the sealed room where my sister, the woman who nearly killed us in London, sat in silence. She is catatonic. Or worse, it's waiting.
Sera was on the floor, leaning against the wall, looking at her hands. They no longer shone like lamps; they were now the color of human skin, pale and scarred from Cavill's needles.
"The water in Astoria is clean, Sylvie," Aris insisted, his voice trembling. That's what matters.
"What matters is that we don't have money," I blurted out, standing up. The cold of the basement made my bones sink. The scholarship is dead. My father's Trust is frozen by a court order from Singapore. And we have half a dozen mercenaries from the "Vitreous-Lotus" surrounding the campus.
Nathaniel stood up, finishing adjusting the bandage. He came up to me, and this time there wasn't a movie line. He just put a hand on my shoulder, squeezing tightly. His eyes were bloodshot.
"We have to move, Sylvie. To stay here is to wait for the slaughterhouse. Julian called me. He says that Lin Wei is no longer sending mails; is sending an extraction team. They want Sera.
"And Astra?" I asked.
"They want Astra dead. It's a loose end with too much information on how to hack human genetics.
Suddenly, a thud echoed through the steel door of the laboratory. It was not a courtesy coup. It was the sound of a hydraulic ram.
"Down! Nathaniel shouted, pushing me behind a row of metal filing cabinets.
The door was blown into a thousand pieces. There were no colored lights or heroic music. Just the deafening noise of gunfire and the smell of gunpowder that flooded the room in a second.
Sera let out a scream that tore my soul apart. Astra, in his room, did not even move. He stared at the wall as bullets ricocheted off the reinforced glass.
"Sylvie, the service tunnel!" Nathaniel drew his gun, returning fire as he covered himself with an overturned table. Take them both! Get moving!
I crawled across the floor, feeling the broken glass cut into the palms of my hands. I grabbed Sera by the arm. It was freezing.
"It will be, look at me. You have to walk. Now!
We arrived at the Astra gate. I looked at her through the glass. She looked identical to me, but her eyes were empty, as if she had erased her own soul so as not to feel the pain of the real world.
"Astra, move, or we'll leave you here!" I shouted at him.
She turned her head slowly. A small smile, cruel and sad at the same time, appeared on his face.
"The problem with being the 'Academic Weapon,' Sylvie... is that you always expect people to follow the rules. Lin Wei has no rules.
A tear gas shell exploded in the center of the laboratory. White smoke began to fill the room, burning my eyes and throat. Nathaniel was losing ground. There were too many.
"Get out!" Nathaniel roared between coughs.
I grabbed Astra by the collar of her dress and forcibly pulled her out of the room. There was no elegance. There was sweat, snot and the terror of dying in a dirty basement in New Jersey.
We entered the service tunnel, a narrow, dark corridor that smelled of rats and old pipes. I closed the door behind us and bolted, listening to the bullets hit the metal from the other side.
We were in the dark. All that could be heard was our heavy breathing and the dripping of a distant pipe.
"Where are we going?" Sera whispered, trembling violently.
I looked into the darkness of the tunnel. I no longer had a master plan. I didn't have a law to protect me.
"Let's get Julian," I said, and my voice sounded like it belonged to someone else. A person who no longer believed in justice. If he wants to play both sides, we're going to make his the one that burns first.
Nathaniel appeared in the shadows, reloading his weapon, his face stained with soot. He looked at me, and there was no "baby." There was a silent question: Are you ready for what's next?
I nodded. The audit was over. This was a hunt.