“Always hated the guy,” he said.
Colin nodded, trying to say something, anything, but unable to because of the lump in his throat. He’d been sucked back to another time, another place, when they were both kids. Colin was wearing Hayden’s coat, following on his heels, so sure that no one, not one single person out there, could beat his big brother.
“Me too,” he finally said.
Around them, the war waged on. Another of Matchstick’s explosions rocked the sidewalk beneath their feet, this one near the entrance of the building. Colin wiped the sweat from his eyes, torn. The Brotherhood had started the fight, and the Small Parts Charter, McNulty’s boys, and the other workers who stood by them had answered. But blowing up the factory took things to another level. If there had ever been a shot Hampton would listen, it was gone now.
Or maybe this would be what it took for him to finally take them seriously.
Hayden squeezed Colin’s shoulder and gave him one parting look before slipping into the crowd to join another fight.
“Get away from the building!” Colin shouted. Thoughts of Agnes burned through him. How many other kids would die out here today? He had to get everyone he could away from Matchstick’s mayhem.
“Back up! Back up! Into the street!”
Henry appeared before him, nose bleeding like an open faucet.
“Form a line,” Colin told him.
“Line up!” barked Ty, taking up the call. “Block the building! Don’t let anyone through!”
“Form a line!” gargled Henry, standing to Colin’s left. “Pass it on! Go!”
Gabe, who’d come just before the fight, took a space next to Henry, a tire iron braced before him. “Form a line!” he yelled. One of McNulty’s boys stood beside him. Gradually, they pushed the fights away from the building.
A body shoved between Henry and Colin. It was a woman, nearly Colin’s height, and he stared in shock at her profile—at her firm, set mouth and hardened stare.
“Ma? What are you…”
Her arms linked with his to make a chain. “Well? You’re my boy, aren’t you?” She turned to face him, the look on her face the same one she gave when he stepped out of line. “Is there a problem?”
Henry laughed at Colin’s stunned expression, then took her other arm.
No, there wasn’t a problem. Ty may have taught him how to fight, but his ma had taught him to be tough long before that. With her at his side, he felt every time she’d told him to pick his chin up, and pull his shoulders back, and do the right thing. He felt like the man she’d raised him to be.
“Keep together!” Ida Walter ordered, distracted by Zeke zipping past them.
“They took down Hayak!” he shouted. “Martin’s holding ’em back by himself!” Colin followed his trajectory toward the street corner, where Hayak set up his food cart every morning. The lamppost marking the spot was now bent at an angle, and he could see nothing below it.
Hayden ran after Zeke, and Colin swore and closed the gap with his outstretched arms. He was just about to tell Henry to tighten the line when Chip yelled his name.
“The greenback, they got her!”
Colin froze. Ty, who’d taken his right side, turned her face to see him clearly with her good eye. She grabbed Chip’s shoulder.
“What greenback?”
“The Hampton girl!” His face was covered with grime and tracks of sweat that ran down from his hairline. “They took her back to the factory—I tried to save her—you believe me, right?”
“’Course I believe you.” She looked to Colin, mouth pulled into a tight line.
He took a step back, spinning to face the gray stone building, scorched black near the main entrance from Matchstick’s bomb. There was a fire somewhere; he could smell it through the sweat and blood and nitro air. Horrified, he realized it was coming from inside the building. White smoke billowed out from the front doors.
Lena was inside the building. With the Brotherhood. With the fire.
“Stay.” Ty’s grip latched around on his biceps. “You have to stay. They listen to you.”
“They’ll listen to you now!” He jerked back. Another explosion, and pellets of concrete hailed down over them. From somewhere behind him came a man’s fatal scream, and Colin’s whole body cringed at the sound.
“Stop Matchstick!” he shouted to anyone who would pass on the call. Ty grabbed his face in her hands and forced him to look at her.
“You stay here,” Ty said. “I’ll get her. I’m your best man, right?”
The look on her face was absolute confidence. She was his best man. He trusted her, even when everything inside of him demanded he find Lena.
He nodded. “Yeah.”
“Good,” she said. “I’ll bring her back to you. Don’t worry.”
Ty’s gaze lingered a moment longer, flashing with something close to regret. And then she grinned savagely, and ducked out of the line. His last sight of her was her small form running toward the front door and disappearing into the smoke.
38
TY
The Brotherhood had blocked the alley leading to the employee entrance in order to secure the building, but thanks to Matchstick’s bomb the front doors were clear. White smoke plumed out of the right side from where the glass had been shattered, but no flames were visible from the outside.
As Ty neared the entry, fear caught up with her—hot and thick and suffocating, like the smoke that had swallowed the whole Metaltown sky. She covered her mouth and nose with her sleeve, and shoved her feelings aside. The greenback needed her help. She’d taken on the Brotherhood to pick Chip up off the pavement. She’d taken on her father to stand beside the charter. She was one of them, as much as Ty had wanted otherwise. She was one of them, and that meant she wasn’t going to get left behind.
Ty would not let Colin down. Not this time.
She squinted, and kicked out the ragged shards of glass to clear her path. She was just about to step through the door frame when a hand closed on her arm.
Turning, she saw Liam, his face smeared with soot, his face lifted with confusion. A trickle of blood ran from one ear; Ty suspected he’d been too close to the last blast. She glanced back at Colin, who was still holding the line, pushing the fights away from the factory. It worried her that Matchstick was nowhere in sight.
“They’ve got one of us in there,” Ty shouted to him.
Liam’s brows scrunched. “Better hurry. Cops are on their way. Word is, there’s a suit on the beltway giving the order to shut this thing down.”
A shiver passed through her. “Hampton.”
The Bakerstown cops were dirty, owned by the man that owned everything. If Hampton ordered it, they would end the riots by any means necessary.
Without another thought, she ducked through the hole in the glass, her sleeve covering her nose and mouth. The fire seemed to be contained to the debris in the foyer; the door to her left was clear. She hopped over a burning board and shoved through into the hallway that would lead to Minnick’s office.
It was quiet inside. An eerie, sticky kind of quiet that muffled the rebellion outside to only a faint roar. Keeping low, Ty raced down the hallway, but before she was halfway she heard a clacking of footsteps behind her and wrenched the knife from her boot.
Liam skidded on his heels, grasping the wall for support as she spun back to face him. In that moment, she thought she’d never been so happy to see a friendly face.
She nodded. He nodded back.
With silent, deliberate strides they approached the door. Ty pressed her ear against the wood and heard a crash, and then a stifled cry of pain.
Lena.
Ty shoved Liam aside and rammed her shoulder into the door. It cracked and gave way, and she burst into the room with a fierce roar. Bracing low, she prepared to defend herself, but found the office empty. It wasn’t until she jogged around Minnick’s desk that she found Lena, laid out sideways on the floor, still seated in the metal chair. Her wrists had be
en bound behind her and a gag filled her mouth. A closer look showed that the back of the chair was lying on her forearm, which was bent at an awkward angle, like Lena had another joint between her wrist and elbow. Her eyes had rolled back, revealing a thin line of white.
“Watch the doors!” Ty told Liam, then knelt beside Lena to release her bindings. The girl’s fingertips were purple, and the wire had cut through the thin skin of her wrists in her struggle to get free. She’d probably tipped over the chair in her efforts.
Not bad for a greenback.
Once Ty had released Lena’s arm, she kicked the chair across the floor, and slapped her across the face. “Hey!” When Lena blinked sleepily, Ty slapped her again. “Does this look like naptime to you, princess?”
“What…” Lena gulped down a deep breath, her cheeks and neck red. Her long black hair was plastered to her skin with sweat. “It’s Schultz,” she rasped as her eyes came into focus. “He … he left. He’s looking for Colin. He was going to bring him here. He was going to use me to make him stop the fighting…” Her words turned to a groan.
Ty’s lips curled back over her teeth. “Get up, come on.” She jerked Lena roughly to a stand. The greenback nursed her arm against her chest, wavering once before leaning into Ty’s shoulder.
“I have to find Colin,” she said weakly.
“You have to find your father,” Ty told her. “You have to stop him. You’re the only one who can stop him.”
Lena found her footing. “He won’t listen to me.”
“Make him listen! He’s sending men here to end this. Not just Brotherhood knotheads—cops. Dirty cops. You know what that means?” Guns, thought Ty, her gut heavy and cold as lead. The demolition of Metaltown.
Lena swallowed. Nodded once. “What about Colin?”
“Let me take care of Colin.”
Again, she nodded. Then her gaze met Ty’s. “I’m sorry I fired you.”
Her uninjured hand closed around Ty’s wrist, and Ty glanced down at it, then back at Lena.
“Did you want a hug? Because now’s not a good time.”
Lena’s lips quirked. “Later then.”
Ty gave a snort.
“Astor, come on!” Liam shouted, just as one of Jed’s men came bowling into the room from the main floor. Liam had the chair in his grip and swung it hard into the intruder’s head. The man blinked, and fell like a stone.
“Astor?” repeated Lena, going still.
Ty glanced outside the door, knife ready. Footsteps were coming, though not at a hurried pace. Click. Clack. Click. Clack. As if there was no urgency to reach the office at all. Her fingers turned cold. She rolled her shoulders back.
“Astor Tyson?”
When Ty’s gaze flickered over she found Lena’s mouth open, with something between realization and horror playing over her reddened face. If Lena knew something about her past, if she could fill in the missing pieces of Ty’s fragmented memory, it would have been great, but there wasn’t time to ask.
“Go!” Ty shouted. “Liam, take her to the beltway! Make sure she gets there!”
He grabbed Lena’s good arm and dragged her toward the door, but she shook him free.
“It’s you?” she asked weakly.
Despite the urgency, curiosity was getting the better of her.
“Surprised?” Ty still was. She could almost feel the small, folded piece of paper in her hip pocket. The picture of her father.
“I know what happened,” said Lena quickly. “I know about the Medical Division.”
At her words, Ty’s world quieted. Her knife arm lowered. Liam hesitated by the door. It’s true, she thought. She wasn’t sure she’d really believed it until just then.
“We’ll get your division back,” Lena said. “I’ll help you.”
Ty’s breath released in a great shudder. I’ll be flush, she thought. The reality of it rushed over her, hot water on an ice-cold day. All those times she and Colin had run their mouths about what they’d do with a little green came flooding back. All those nights alone in the Board and Care, gripping her knife. All the scraps she’d pulled from trash for just a little bit of food. The things she’d come to expect, that she prepared for every single day, could actually be over. The weight of their chains slid off her shoulders. She felt light then, young. It was the feeling of hope, just before the crash, but maybe this time there wouldn’t be a crash.
“You mean that?”
“I mean that,” Lena said. “I promise.”
Ty felt herself pull taller. She hadn’t fully trusted anyone besides Colin since she was a child. The feeling felt strange to her. Risky. And suddenly she got why her friend had given this girl a chance.
The slow click of footsteps drew closer.
“Go,” Ty whispered. “I’m giving you a head start. Don’t make me regret it.”
Lena gave her a small smile. And then she and Liam bolted through the door and down the hallway.
* * *
Ty was blocking the factory entrance to Minnick’s office with the chair when she saw him. Jed Schultz, greasy as the first day they’d crossed paths. He was alone, sweaty, and half-beaten already, and that centered her, gave her an edge.
“Where’s your ugly friend?” she asked, bracing the knife before her. In her mind she tracked Lena and Liam’s flight. They should have made it to the door by now. If they pushed, they could hit the beltway in ten minutes.
“Funny,” said Jed, without a hint of amusement. “I was just about to ask you the same thing.”
“Colin?” she asked innocently. “He’s outside. Working your Brotherhood over.”
Jed laughed dryly. He didn’t have a weapon on him, not that Ty could see. That didn’t mean he wasn’t hiding one, though. She crouched, ready, as he continued to advance upon her.
“You set my little prize free,” he said. “Typically, this kind of thing would rub me the wrong way, but as it turns out, I might still have won after all.”
Ty flinched.
He stopped at the door three feet away, placing his arms on each side of the frame, exposing his chest. Daring her. Ty could smell him. Rank sweat and cinnamon cigarettes. She burned with hatred, for everything he’d ever done to Colin, and everything he’d ever done to her. She could stick him if she wanted, but her hand was unsteady. She’d never stabbed anyone before. She bared her teeth and gripped the knife harder.
“So it’s true,” said Jed with interest. “I can see it in your eyes—well, eye. Astor Tyson. The missing heir of Division IV.”
An icy trickle of fear dripped down her spine.
“You know there’s a reward out for information on you,” he said.
“I heard that,” said Ty.
“So that’s why you hid,” he realized.
No, she thought. I hid because I didn’t know. But now there was no stopping the memories. An electric train set her father had brought home. It stammered over the carpet. It whistled when you pressed a red button. She’d dreamed of it. Thought of it every time she’d gone to the train yards with Colin.
“You think I didn’t know you were the one behind the press? The engine driving the machine?” Jed glanced toward the main floor and its silent machines. “You got hurt, and Metaltown got behind you. They wouldn’t have done it for Colin—not for a Bakerstown boy. But for you … That’s some kind of power you got.”
Sometimes the best thing you can do is cut your losses, he had once told Colin. He’d wanted her out of the picture because he thought she was strong, not because he thought she was weak.
Slick, thought Ty. She twitched when he lowered one hand.
“We could strike up an arrangement,” he said. “It looks like McNulty means to take back Metaltown. With a little green, you and I could make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Ty narrowed her eyes. He didn’t scare her, not anymore. Not now that she was worth something, and he was the one trying to make a deal. The tables had turned.
She forced a laugh. “Sound pretty des
perate there, Schultz.”
“Think of how it could be,” he continued. “You can’t work anyway. You could own a stake in the Brotherhood. You could have the respect of Metaltown. Protection. Enough food to fatten you up. Think of how good it could be.”
How good it could be.
Her grip on the knife grew slippery with sweat. She didn’t want to hear him, but couldn’t help it. Once Lena Hampton helped her get her money, what would she do? Move to the River District? Live a flush, fat life with a defuser on her hip? No, she knew better. She didn’t belong there. She was a Metalhead, but she was a greenback, too, and a single girl with her pockets full of money was a recipe for disaster without enough protection. She had Colin, of course, but he already had a home and a family of his own.
It was just her, and she needed to look out for herself. The Brotherhood could help her survive.
In that moment, she considered how different things could be. When someone came to her and needed help, she could help them. Chip wouldn’t have to eat out of Dumpsters. She could take care of Cherish. She could make Metaltown safe.
It struck her that Schultz had probably thought the same thing once.
“No thanks,” said Ty. “I’d rather gouge my other eye out than help you.”
Jed’s face tightened.
“Well,” he said. “It’s a good thing Hampton wants you dead then.”
He moved fast—faster than she thought he could. He lunged, struck out with his fist like a snake. She raised her knife, but it was too late. He’d knocked it from her hand, and hit her hard on the side of her head. The vision in her good eye went bright white then exploded with color as she scrambled across the floor, searching blindly for the knife, surprise shocking every muscle into action.
He tackled her. Her cheek felt like glass when it slammed against the tile. The knee he planted in her back crushed the air from her lungs. Her vision refocused in a compressed point, and she screamed, a feral battle cry, and pushed up, every ounce of strength dedicated to getting free.
I’ve beaten better than you, she thought. Her fist sliced back and connected with his throat and he fell to the side. When he rose, his yellow teeth were bared, like a rabid dog’s.
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