by Lola Dodge
“Straight through the next intersection,” Tair called as we tore down the hall. “Then two more lefts, but we have to clear a security checkpoint.”
Okay. That wasn’t so—
A Helix ducks out of the next hallway, rifle pointed straight at Tair.
“On the right!” I yanked Tair out of the way before the timeghost caught up with the present. The guy in body armor broke his cover and his shots tore into the wall where Tair would’ve been standing.
Too close.
Benj took him out before he got off a second volley. Adrenaline had me shaking as echoes of the gunfire rang in my ears. Way too close. And according to the timeghosts, more fighters were coming. “There’s another squad. Run!”
I broke into a sprint. Tair, Benj, and our mini-squadron formed up around me. That was fine, but we needed cover or everyone was going down. “Someone find an open door.”
The guys tested handles as we booked down the corridor. The timeghosts of the past showed throngs of office workers bustling around the hall, and somebody must’ve left their door open. The first couple were coded shut, but finally, I caught a glimpse of the recent past—a woman bursting out as gunshots rang. She hadn’t bothered locking up behind her.
“In!” I waved the guys through the doorway.
We piled into the room and threw the lock. Thankfully, the room was empty—just desks and a few pushed-back chairs. My panting breaths echoed loud in the silence, but I wasn’t the only one breathing hard. After the Helixes’ footsteps thundered past outside, Benj peeked back into the hall.
“Clear,” he said. “Are we close?”
“Next turn,” Tair said. “Just have to get through the security checkpoint.”
Nagi hustles down the hallway, protected by his security detail. He slips into the lift, and the doors slide closed.
The timeghostly lines solidified by the second. Any minute and this was going to be the past instead of the future.
I could rewind us again if we failed, but it would be crazy hard to repeat all the steps on this timeline. Even if I could gut out another timewind, I didn’t have the energy for a bunch of them.
The games had to end now. “Let’s go.”
We ran through the hall in a pack, ducking or hiding from shooters. One of Benj’s guys went down. Then another.
I couldn’t stop to think about it. All I could do was keep moving, trying to call out the enemies before they came into view. But I couldn’t catch them all.
One guy ducked out of an alcove with his gun pointed at my forehead.
My body lurches, back of my head blown out—
Oh, God.
Tair grabbed me and shot at the same time. The Helix’s bullet missed. Tair’s didn’t.
My knees trembled so hard I almost fell over. Too freaking close.
“Are you okay?” Tair held me up. “Quanta?”
The gunshot still rang in my ears, but I shook myself. “It’s okay. We have to keep moving.” I forced my legs to take a shaky step. The farther I moved from the dead guy, the steadier my legs got, but I couldn’t stop the twinge of horror running through me. This day…
We turned the corner. The checkpoint.
A handful of guards stood behind the desk. With automated weapon systems down all over the building, they were underpowered—only handguns. We had those, too.
Benj and our guys charged. I focused on the bluish shapes ahead instead of the red blood. Gunfire echoed from other hallways, and a blast went off in a hollow whump that rattled the walls.
So much death.
But I’d chosen this path. Now, I had to make sure it was worth it.
I spotted movement at the end of the hall. “He’s here!”
Grabbing for my gun, I lunged ahead. I had to steer this timeline the right way.
Possibilities winked out with every step we took. Passing time and the changing situation meant fewer and fewer choices. Fewer ways to win.
I just needed one.
Nagi’s guards push him toward the lift. Our ambush takes them by surprise, but there’s no cover for any of us. Body after body falls in the shoot-out. Benj shoulders me aside just before a bullet flies. He jerks as he takes a hit to the leg, but doesn’t fall. “Go!”
Only two guards remain standing. They line up like video game villains, and space opens up between them, showing Nagi as he leans into the retinal scanner, vulnerable for a split-second.
I can make the shot.
But after that…
Tair would take down the guards too late. I didn’t want to die, but there was no time to look for a better option. My whole body shivered. I should’ve known. It was always going to be Nagi or me, and I’d made my choice a long, long time ago.
If there was a chance to kill this bastard, I was taking it.
And I’d pay the price.
Blood thumping in my ears, I ran. “Straight ahead. Pick them off one by one.”
We were on top of Nagi’s goons before I could second-guess. Gunfire exploded. I kept my weapon up but didn’t pull the trigger yet. I had to line up the perfect shot.
One of our guys went down in front of me. I jumped over him. Tair moved at my side taking down anyone who aimed at me. If I treated it like a shooting sim, it wasn’t so scary…
But the blood. That was still too real to imagine away.
Nagi’s guards peeled off one by one. Tair chucked a knife, nailing a guy in the chest. Suddenly the guns were down, and groups of fighters battled hand to hand. A Helix lunged for me, but Tair stepped in to block him. I kept moving. If I timed this right, Tair would still be standing at the end. That was important.
I was almost to Nagi. Just a few more—
“Watch out!” Benj jerked me out of the path of a gunshot. The bullet ripped into his leg.
Crap. I’d seen it coming and I still hadn’t seen it coming.
“Go!” He shot back, but a Helix ambushed him from the side, taking him down to the ground. I hesitated, but he yelled again as he struggled. “Go!”
He was right. I couldn’t miss my window.
Doctor Nagi was leaning for the retinal scanner. Time seemed to slow as the last two guards took aim. For better or worse, they lined up just the way I’d seen. The narrow space between them made the perfect lane.
They aimed for me. I aimed for Nagi. Right for the Green Helix embroidered on his lab coat’s pocket.
The gunshots echoed in one deafening blast.
My hit connected. Nagi went down.
But so did I.
I couldn’t feel the bullets. Except I was lying on the floor now.
Huh. I’d missed the fall. I tried to get up, but nothing happened.
“Quanta.” A blurry Tair crouched over me. “You have to rewind. Now.”
“Na—” I choked. Not good. My throat wouldn’t work right.
Was Nagi dead? I needed to know.
It took everything I had to turn my head to the side. Nagi’s guards were all down. Motionless. Nagi was still crawling. Halfway onto the lift.
Alive.
“Na—” A gurgling noise slipped up my throat.
I should be panicking. But I felt nothing. No pain.
Because shock.
But Tair had to finish Nagi. Nothing else mattered.
“Rewind.” His voice cracked. “Rewind. Quanta.”
The morning at Roboloco felt like a thousand years ago. I couldn’t bring us back.
I didn’t want to bring us back.
Instead, I watched the beautiful blue future playing out. Tair squeezes Cass into a crushing hug. Devan falls into a pile with Kiri and Aliya, all of them crying and laughing. Cipher, her hair its natural strawberry blond, rocks a sleepy baby whose moss-green eyes slowly flutter shut.
It was perfect.
“Quanta.” Tair’s ragged voice broke through to me. “You can’t… Please…”
I blinked. His face was fuzzy. Distant.
Tair was crying.
Not perfect. Defin
itely not perfect. There had to be a way to—
Pain clamped down as I took a breath. Or tried to. There was a gurgling noise…
Shit.
One last future glowed in front of me. Tair holds my limp body on the way down the lift. Nagi wheezes on the floor. The bunker.
The bunker.
I grabbed for Tair. I had to tell him…
But my world was already going dark.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
ALTAIR
“Bun—” Quanta choked on blood. “Bunk—”
“Shh.” I put pressure on wounds in her chest. “You’re okay.”
Air wheezed from the punctures in her lungs. I pressed, trying to staunch the blood.
It flowed through my fingers. Warm.
She had minutes. Less than.
My hands shook. We couldn’t do this. I couldn’t do this. “You have to rewind. We’ll try again.”
What was she thinking, taking Nagi on alone?
Leaving me to survive alone? I didn’t want it. We needed to be together.
She needed to stop bleeding. Why wasn’t she rewinding?
“Please, rewind.” Now. Please, now.
Benj collapsed next to us. “Here. Use this.”
He held a white tube. Medical foam. It would stop the bleeding. “I can’t take pressure off.”
“Hold her still,” Benj said. Quanta jerked as he jammed the syringe into her wound and pushed the plunger. Foam seeped out and solidified over the first bullet hole. I moved my hand off the second wound and Benj emptied out the tube. Another bloom of foam. The white was tinged pink with blood.
“Na—” She choked. “Bunk—” Choke. “Med—”
“Please. Don’t try to talk.” I couldn’t watch.
Her arm flopped to the side. Slowly, she made her finger point.
Nagi had crawled onto the lift.
He was on his hands and knees, trying to reach the panel of buttons. Bleeding. He wouldn’t last long. Even if he made it down—
Quanta’s words finally connected. Bunker. Med bay.
Doctor Nagi’s bunker had to have a med station.
I scooped Quanta up. “Follow me.”
Benj hobbled along. Seven of his guys were still up and mobile. They fanned out behind me.
I kicked Nagi in the chest.
He hit the lift’s wall and slumped. Blood soaked the front of his white coat, but he was still breathing.
Let him suffer.
I hit the button and the doors closed. The lift started to go down.
Slow seconds ticked. Quanta’s gurgling breaths grew farther and farther apart and more desperate. “You’ll be okay.” Somehow, my voice sounded calm.
But Quanta’s warm blood spilled over my hands. If I lost her…
The thought choked the breath from my lungs. To never see her smile again. Never sleep next to her in peace. Never—
I couldn’t. I had to save her. I would save her. There was still time.
Jesus. Why wasn’t the lift moving faster?
I tried to count my breaths and stay calm. She’d be fine when I got her in the med bay. I only needed a few seconds.
The lift doors barely opened and I was already dashing out, cradling Quanta in my arms.
The narrow chamber held a conference table and a wall of screens. I didn’t care. Where were the fucking med supplies?
Trying not to jostle Quanta, I hurried through the next door. The larger room held more tech gear. Chairs and workstations. More doors split off. There should be bunks and food storage.
Quanta gurgled again.
Where was the goddamned med bay?
A flashing blue light caught my eye. There. Behind a glass door.
I sprinted as Quanta gasped for breath. I knew I’d found it when the pressurized door opened. Sterile steel surfaces. Glass-fronted cabinets. Rows of antibiotics and boxes of med supplies.
And mechanized exam beds. Her chest had already stilled.
It’s not too late. It’s not too late.
I continued the chant as I slid her onto the closest bed and hit its control panel. Her eyes were closed and blood congealed over her chin. Bile rose in my throat.
It’s not too late.
Powered on, the touchscreen glowed. I punched the voice command option. “Critical patient. Two gunshots to the chest. Blood loss. Shock.” My voice sounded raw.
“Evaluating.” The table whirred to life.
I stepped back as robotic arms extended from the sides of the bed. Scanners moved along her body. I bunched my shaking hands into fists.
“Lungs damaged. Initializing extracorporeal CO2 removal.”
Tubes extended, and lasers lit up the veins under Quanta’s skin. The robotic arms stuck her with needle after needle.
Time stretched, waiting. The machine’s voice updated each new treatment. Sterilizing the wounds. Applying regenerative cells. Synthetic skin grafts.
I hovered, barely moving. Barely even breathing.
“Patient condition stable. Calculating extended treatment plan.”
I collapsed onto a stool and put my head between my knees. Quanta would survive.
I would survive.
Taking off my glasses to rub my face, I still trembled in fear. Quanta had gone after that shot. She could’ve safely stayed back. Instead, she’d lunged after Doctor Nagi herself.
She’d probably saved us all, but as soon as she woke up, I wanted to have a long talk about acceptable risks. Because I couldn’t go through this again.
“What’s the plan, Orpheus?” Benj’s voice startled me back to reality. I hadn’t realized he was in the room. He sat on an exam table, applying a synthetic skin patch the gunshot wound in his thigh.
I checked Quanta again. She was still but breathing. As long as the control panel marked her as stable, I could leave the room for a few seconds.
Long enough to deal with Doctor Nagi.
First, I kissed her forehead. Then I strode out to find the bastard who’d almost cost Quanta her life.
The guys had propped Nagi into one of the chairs at the conference table. A red stain spread down the front of his coat. His neat, slicked-back hair was mussed, and his head lolled onto the chair back.
The man was almost out of time.
“Altair Orpheus.” His voice was weak, but he was still breathing. “Will you be the one?”
I closed the distance between us and yanked him by his lapels. “I’ll be the last one you see.”
White dots of rage flashed in front of my vision. I wanted to choke him to death myself.
He gasped. His wound was higher on his chest than I’d thought.
Quanta had good aim. And after all she’d suffered at his hands…
I forced myself to let him go and he coughed as back hit the chair. As much as I wanted to do the honors, I’d let Quanta keep the kill.
Letting him bleed out would be its own justice.
“The formula.” He grunted, trying to sit up straighter. “You must… Continue my work.”
My jaw slipped open. I would’ve expected him to beg for his life before this.
Continue his work?
I’d always thought Doctor Nagi had more sense than the other Seligo, but he was just like his creations. Utterly delusional. Everything about power.
Did he really believe I’d throw away everything and everyone for the chance to pick up his crown and rule? That I could ignore how he’d tortured Quanta? Taken my sister?
Let alone the centuries of death and suffering he’d caused?
What bullshit. Dots flashed in front of my eyes again. Did he want me to kill him?
Cold clarity seeped through my rage.
That was it. He really did want me to kill him.
And I knew exactly why as soon as I realized where I was standing. Whoever occupied this bunker could control the whole of the Citadel.
I yanked Nagi’s chair to the wall of vidscreens. Then I grabbed his wrist, jerking his arm to the scan panel. H
e grunted in pain. After the scanner flashed, the screen blinked on.
“Welcome Doctor Nagi. What is your command?”
I knocked his chair back before he could fumble for the keyboard. “Transfer all authority and codes associated with Doctor Tenma Nagi to Altair Orpheus.”
Doctor Nagi spluttered, choking. He slumped deeper in the chair as the color leeched from his face.
“Confirmed. Welcome, Chairman Orpheus. What is your command?”
I grinned at the sweet rush of victory. We’d outplayed him. Finally. I only wished Quanta were awake to share this with me.
“Holy shit,” Benj said. “Did you just do what I think you did?”
“I did.” And Nagi was about to hear exactly what I thought of his legacy while he bled himself to a well-deserved death. “Alert all Black Helix commanders to cease fire and return to their stations to await further orders. Populate a map showing all criminals flagged as traitors, rebels, or test subjects. And alert whoever manages the facility where Cassiopeia Orpheus is being held that the hostages are to be prepped for immediate transport.”
“Yes, sir.”
I rolled a chair up to the console. I had the world at my fingertips.
After a burst of exhilaration, I settled in to send the most important orders. My authority would only last as long as it took the senators to erase me from the system, and I wasn’t tempted to try holding onto Nagi’s power. That would mean living in the Citadel, constantly a target.
Most importantly, Quanta would be miserable. Our priority was still escape.
I pulled out my com and messaged Knight. Send me your ship’s info and I’ll clear you for entry. Meet us on the senate’s landing pad. And hurry.
Done. The ship’s info popped onto my com along with Knight’s message. Everyone okay over there?
We will be. Quanta would need serious recovery time, but as long as I could keep her attached to her treatment bed, she’d get the care she needed. After this, I didn’t plan on letting her out of my sight until she was healed.
Twenty minutes?
See you then.
Benj and his crew locked down the lift and blast doors to stop anyone from joining us in the bunker. I kept an eye on the building’s security feeds. Most of the activity clustered around the senate chamber as the uninjured escaped and med techs dashed through the corridors, trying to save the injured.