The Child Thief 3: Thin Lines

by Bella Forrest

“I apparently managed to choose the one house with an owner who believes in doing things himself,” I huffed, steering my bike around a particularly inconvenient wheelbarrow. “Figures.”

  Then I was past the gardening tools and into the wider garden area, and I saw not only a large lawn, but also a rose garden and a swimming pool.

  A pool. For a split second I thought it might be the place for us to hide. If we could get under the water and under one of the floating toys, we might just be able to hide from anyone who came after us.

  But no, I realized a second later. We wouldn’t be able to hide the bikes that way, and if we were in the pool, we’d be trapped. The homeowner would have the chance to call the cops, and any Authority agents with guns would be able to pick us off as they liked.

  I sped past the pool, revving the engine to pick up speed again, and aimed for the gate on the other side of the monstrous lawn. Plenty of space to pick up speed here, though the lawn was spongy with moisture and making it more difficult, and if we could just get through there and make another turn before the Authority’s van turned around and decided to search the cul-de-sac, we might get away. I wasn’t holding my breath, but things were starting to look a lot more positive than they had when we were out on the street.

  “Freeze!” a voice roared behind us, the tone magnified by a loudspeaker. “You’re under arrest for violations of Code 315 of the Burchard Regime, and for suspected murder of government agents!”

  I clenched my jaw and revved the engine again, having no intention of freezing. I knew they had guns, and I knew they were aimed right at our backs, so I swerved right and aimed for the fence that was running along my side, rather than the gate ahead of us. I bashed right through it, wood exploding out around me, and Jackie zipped through after me, and we fled through yet another backyard—which looked exactly the same as the one we’d already been in.

  But we needed to get out of here. That van might not be able to follow us, but agents on foot surely could, and being in wide-open areas like this was the stupidest thing possible. I also didn’t know how much fence-bashing my motorcycle was going to take. Sure, it seemed to be doing fine, but it was only a matter of time before a piece of wood punctured the engine, or worse, the fuel tank, and that would be the end of me, and probably Jackie as well.

  We needed to get out onto the street again, where we could run, and where I could stop using my bike as a battering ram.

  “Ant, how do we get back out onto the street?” I asked, breathing heavily in a combination of effort and panic. “I want out of the backyards and onto pavement again.”

  “I second that idea,” Jackie muttered from behind me. “I don’t feel like being shot in the back today.”

  My mind screeched to a halt and then stuttered forward again at that. Jackie was behind me, and therefore in a lot more danger of getting shot than I was. But she was also wearing a second-skin suit, at least.

  I wasn’t. I hadn’t put mine back on after we took it off to doctor my leg. Suddenly my back felt like an enormous target, extremely vulnerable.

  “Ant!” I shouted, when he didn’t respond.

  “I’m working on it,” he said. “It’s just hard when you guys are moving so fast. But it looks like you’ve got another street one house away from you. Keep going straight, bust through another fence, and you should be out on a street that runs between houses. They have streets every three houses in that neighborhood. The good news is that my mapping system shows that everyone has gone back into their houses, so you don’t have to worry about hitting people.”

  Bust through another fence. No problem.

  “And from there?” I asked. “How do we get to the main highway?”

  “Turn left,” another voice said.

  “Jace,” I gasped.

  I could almost see him nod, and the expression of grim determination he would be wearing.

  “Yep. Heard what was going on via the comm. We’re all back here with Ant. Get out of there,” he said simply. “The road Ant told you about will take you up to the main highway. If you have to turn, turn right, and then left again at the next street. Every street leads to the same place. It’s laid out like graph paper. Impossible to get lost.”

  “And it might be impossible to lose the Authority,” I replied grimly.

  We reached the fence, and I ducked down, praying to anything that could hear me that this wouldn’t be the end of the chase, and took a deep breath just as I hit the wood.

  My bike blew through it with a distinct and fairly scary stutter, and then I was skidding on pavement, my eyes moving back and forth with panic as I tried to figure out whether we’d come out on a street that was clear. I moved the handlebars to the right and the left, trying to regain control of my bike, and then turned to the left.

  No Authority agents. Clear street straight ahead of us. We had a straight shot to the highway. If we’d managed to lose the agents behind us.

  We took off up the street, no doubt breaking every speed limit in the entire neighborhood, and I watched the mirror on my bike anxiously, terrified of seeing that van pull into the street with us. We were making one hell of a racket, and it would only take slowing down and listening in order for them to find us. But that couldn’t be helped. If we managed to get out to the main road before they did, and get out of there quickly enough, I thought we might pull it off.

  And if we did that, I’d spend the rest of my life thanking the lucky stars that had been watching over us.

  True, they’d know we’d gone to the highway. But if we were gone long before they arrived, they’d have to guess at which direction we went. And they might guess wrong. Or they might not be able to catch up with us at all.

  Then I saw him. It wasn’t the van, and it wasn’t even a group of soldiers. One guy on foot had managed to follow us through the backyards. He must have seen the hole we made in the fence and known exactly where we’d gone. He came tearing out of the last yard, turned to the left, saw us, and immediately dropped to his knee and brought his gun up.

  A split second later, Jackie’s motorcycle exploded.

  36

  I swerved to the side of the road, came to a screeching halt, and jumped off my bike, knowing that no matter what had just happened to Jackie, I had to keep my priorities straight.

  That agent had to die. And I was the only one here to take care of him.

  I dropped to my knees and scooted behind the bike to take away his target, then yanked the gun from my hip and brought it quickly up to eye level.

  Another bullet came flying my way, courtesy of the agent, but it went wide and hit the bushes behind me, leaves exploding out in a cloud around my head.

  I straightened my gun. To my surprise, my hands were steady, my eyesight as sharp as it had ever been. And he was close enough for me to know that I could hit him. I could even see his face, since he wasn’t wearing a helmet. And that was the horrible part. I could actually see what he looked like—which was a big deal, considering I was about to kill him.

  But it also meant that I could see that he wasn’t speaking. He hadn’t had a chance to call this in yet, and if that was true, it meant that taking him out would set us free. Sort of.

  Plus, something seemed to be wrong with his gun. I didn’t know whether he was out of bullets (was that even possible?) or whether it had jammed, but he was knocking it firmly against the heel of his palm now, his expression panicked.

  I narrowed my eyes, steadied my aim on his chest one more time, and pulled the trigger.

  Two seconds later he dropped to the pavement. And he didn’t move again.

  I leapt to my feet, leaving him for dead, and sprinted toward where Jackie was lying on the ground, part of her clothing smoking slightly. The remains of the bike were now spouting flames about twenty feet away from her. She’d been thrown off it immediately, far enough away from the fire that I hoped it meant she wasn’t too badly burned. Though, my bigger hope was that she was still alive.

  Skidding to my
knees, I put a hand to her forehead, then to her neck, and held my breath, straining against the world around me as I prayed for a pulse. Something—anything—to show me that she was still alive, still with us.

  I was also praying for it to happen before more agents showed up. We were in the least defensible situation ever right now.

  Suddenly, Jackie coughed and started trying to sit up.

  “Oh my God, what the hell was that?” she asked hoarsely.

  She froze about halfway up and collapsed back onto the pavement.

  “Oh my God, I’m broken,” she wheezed. “Robin? Is that you? Something inside me is broken. I can’t… I can’t feel my legs very well, and I feel…”

  “Well, you were just involved in an explosion,” I replied, leaning over her and trying to catch her eyes. Her gaze was wide and vacant, and for a moment I was afraid she’d somehow gone blind. Then her eyes spotted me and latched on, coming quickly into focus.

  I grinned, unable to stop the feeling of relief that was rushing through me and reached down to scoop her up.

  “We’ve got to get out of here,” I said, sliding my hands under her knees and then around her back behind her shoulders. “I’m sorry in advance for how much this is going to hurt, but we can’t stay here.”

  To my surprise, she started struggling against me. “You’re right!” she huffed. “You’ve got to get out of here. Just leave me, Robin. I’m injured, and you’ve got to leave me behind and get yourself out.”

  I leaned down and shoved my face in hers, daring her to look away from my gaze. “Not in a million years,” I said clearly. “I’m not leaving you behind, and that’s my final answer. Now, take a deep breath. Something tells me this is going to be unpleasant.”

  I shoved my arms under her and lifted, and she cried out, but didn’t struggle any more. I sent a prayer of thanks up into the sky above me for how light she was, then staggered back toward my bike, moving as quickly as I could and sending another prayer asking that the Authority be far away.

  I had no idea how I was going to get both of us onto that bike. I didn’t think she’d be able to hang onto me, and if I couldn’t put her behind me, I didn’t think this was going to work.

  “Put me in front of you,” she breathed out. “Facing forward. You’re going to have to hug me to reach the handlebars, but it’s the only way we’ll be able to do this.”

  I jerked, surprised at how lucid she was, then nodded firmly. I got to the bike and set her down gently, moving her so that she was straddling the seat, then threw my leg over the machine behind her and climbed on.

  It was a tight fit, no doubt about it. But we were both small girls, and this way I could keep her between my arms. I was going to be exhausted by the time we got out of here, but I would have done that and a million times more to keep her safe.

  I hadn’t been lying when I told her I wasn’t leaving her behind. My mind wouldn’t accept that as any kind of option.

  I leaned forward, hit the ignition, stretched out to grasp the handlebars—with Jackie huffing a soft laugh at my difficulties—and then hit the gas and tore up the street, my eyes on the mirror, watching for Authority agents coming up behind us.

  We got to the highway without anyone on our tail, and I turned right and sped toward Trenton, and the forest that was our current home base. More importantly, I got back on the comm.

  “Where are you guys?” I gasped, my left arm already aching with the effort of holding Jackie up. She was definitely damaged in some way, and it seemed to be on her left side, because I couldn’t get her to sit up straight to save my life. She’d also stopped talking, and that made me really worried.

  I hadn’t seen any blood, or anything that looked like burns, at least on the exposed skin. Her second-skin suit should have protected her from anything like that on the core of her body and most of her limbs. But a lack of injuries on the outside didn’t mean everything was okay. There were a whole lot of bones and organs inside that could have broken with a fall like that.

  “Hello?” I asked more sharply. Where were they? What had they done, waited until we were really in trouble and then—

  “Robin?” Jace suddenly asked in my ear. “Where are you? What happened? We heard an explosion, and one of the comms started fizzing out, making a bunch of noise.”

  “That’s Jackie’s,” I said. “She was involved in an accident. I need you guys; where are you?”

  “Fifteen minutes up the road,” he replied. “Is Jackie okay?”

  I inhaled. Was it better to tell them now, or better to let them see it themselves?

  “No,” I answered a moment later. “She’s hurt, but I don’t know what’s wrong with her. I took care of an Authority agent that caught up to us, and I don’t think the rest of them know exactly where I went, but they’ll figure it out, and fifteen minutes away isn’t enough distance from them.”

  Fifteen minutes away wouldn’t even give them time to lose the sound of the bikes, I didn’t think. And I definitely didn’t want to be sitting there on the side of the road if they came after us. We needed more distance.

  Then I remembered that there had been a copse of trees a bit further along. There weren’t many, and I’d discounted them as a permanent hiding place right away, for that reason. But right now, they seemed perfect. At least they were something other than sitting in an open field.

  I shifted my grip with my left hand, flexing my bicep to keep the arm tense so that I didn’t drop Jackie, who was now leaning heavily across my arm, and revved the engine. More speed would make it more dangerous if she fell, but it would also get us to those trees more quickly.

  “The copse of trees to the side of the road about half an hour up,” I said quickly. “Meet us there. It’s an obvious hiding place, but there’s nothing to be done about that. I have to stop. And be prepared. You notice Jackie isn’t saying anything right now. There’s a reason for that.”

  I bent lower over Jackie’s hunched body, trying to eliminate some of the drag, and increased our speed again, ignoring the voices on the comm asking me what the hell I meant. I didn’t have time or breath for more talking. Not when I was trying to support all of Jackie’s weight while driving a motorcycle and watching the rearview mirror for signs of Authority vans or whatever else they’d brought in terms of vehicles.

  It was the longest half hour of my life, ducking and weaving through traffic and going far too quickly, wondering every second whether the drivers I passed were going to call and report me for having an unconscious girl draped over my arm, and by the time I found the small copse of trees I was aiming for, I was convinced that my left arm was actually dead and hanging on just because the fingers couldn’t function enough to let go. I pulled off the road at the group of trees and skidded to a halt, my right hand overly twitchy on the brakes.

  Within seconds, Ant had emerged from the trees at a run, a hoarse cry emanating from his lips.

  “Oh my God, is she dead?” he wheezed when he pulled up. He began touching Jackie’s face and then her neck, running a hand through her hair and trying to get her to sit up. “What happened to her? Where’s her bike? Jackie? Jackie?!”

  He bent down, got his hands around her torso under her arms, and hefted her up, his breath heaving.

  At the movement, she finally came back to life, and cried out. Then she realized that it was Ant moving her and gave him a thin smile.

  “Boy, is this how you welcome me back?” she asked, her voice cracking. “By lifting me up like a sack of potatoes? Be careful, something’s broken.”

  He responded with another hoarse sob, turned her so she was cradled like a baby against his chest, and turned and dashed back into the forest.

  Jace, Nelson, and Kory had appeared next to my bike by that time—I assumed that Abe had stayed back, ready to help Ant with Jackie—and Jace’s hand was already on my left arm, which was hanging uselessly by my side.

  “What happened?” he asked, stooping down to stare into my eyes. “Are you okay?�
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  He grabbed me and pulled me against him in a rough hug, squeezing the air right out of me, and I squirmed.

  “Nothing’s going to be okay if we’re standing here in the open when the Authority comes by,” I said. “Kory, can you get my bike? I didn’t see any agents after me, but I want to be under cover if they show up.”

  Jace’s arms disappeared from around me, but a second later he hoisted me up against his chest, turned, and ran for the small forest. As shocked as I was, I kept it together enough to look behind us and see Nelson sprinting after us, and Kory wheeling my bike rapidly after her.

  When we reached the forest, Jace put me on my feet, and I saw that we were in a small clearing, barely big enough to hold the seven of us. Jackie was lying on the ground, Ant and Abe both hovering over her like a pair of gawky storks, and the bikes were hidden in the trees.

  “What happened?” Jace asked, using his hands on my shoulders to keep me steady.

  “We were trapped by the Authority,” I said. “They came skidding in just after you guys left. We got away by driving through people’s backyards, but then an Authority agent discovered us and shot the tire out on Jackie’s bike. She crashed and it exploded. I don’t know what’s wrong with her, but she claims something’s broken.”

  Jace nodded, looking from me to Jackie and then back at me. “What happened to the agent who saw you?”

  I met his eyes, my own gaze firm. I’d done what I’d done. There would be plenty of time to think about it later. Right now, I did my best to use the words but avoid absorbing the idea. “I shot him. We couldn’t have him calling his team in, and I didn’t want him firing another bullet at Jackie. Then I got her on the bike and got her here. But I can’t take her all the way back to Trenton. I was barely strong enough to keep her on the bike this long.”

  I turned and looked at Ant and Abe, and their patient. “Ant, does she have any visible wounds?” I asked. “I didn’t see bleeding or burns.”

  Ant looked up, his eyes rimmed in red like he was about to start crying, but steady. “I don’t see any blood,” he said firmly. “And if there was an explosion, the suit protected her. But it doesn’t have shock absorbers. She might have broken bones or internal bleeding.”