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Chapter 49: The Way Back In
They landed the helicopter in a drainage ditch six miles outside the city, under a sheet of white camouflage netting that Navarro produced from a locker as if she'd been practicing the trick for years."They'll have drones up by noon," she said, killing the engine. The rotors wound down with a long, tired sigh. "Heat-seekers. We can't stay long.""We won't." Rowan climbed out into the snow and stood for a moment with his hands at his sides, letting the cold clear his head. Six days, he thought. Six days until the world closed, and a Hearth-bearer with two hundred bonds waiting for him in a tower full of strangers.Six days, and I can't even walk through my own front door."Rowan."Tess had come up beside him. She'd washed the blood from her face with a handful of snow and tied her hair back with a strip of torn sleeve. She looked like a woman who had decided to stop being afraid and had run out of other options."I've got a thought," she said."Does it involve shooting?""Eventually."
Chapter 48: The Haven Goes Dark
"Come on," Mara said, through her teeth. "Come on, Cassian. Breathe."The helicopter roared through the dark. Every rivet shuddered. Rowan knelt in the cramped cargo bay with a flashlight clamped between his teeth, holding the edges of a wound that shouldn't have been survivable. It ran from the base of Cassian's spine to his left shoulder blade, a long black burn crusted with frost and blood. Mara's hands moved with terrifying speed. She had stripped her coat and used it as a bandage. She had packed the wound with the last of their gauze."I've got a pulse," she said. "Thready. He's lost too much blood. He needs surgery, a transfusion, an ICU, and I have none of those things.""What do you need?""A miracle.""I'm fresh out.""Then pray for a better one."Beside them, Tess crouched over the radio with a headset clamped to one ear, her face tight with exhaustion. Ivy had both hands buried in her hair. Helena sat against the bulkhead with Lily asleep in her lap, one arm wrapped protect
Chapter 47: Say It With Me
For a long time, nothing happened.The salon was so quiet that Rowan could hear the chandelier ticking as it cooled. Two hundred and twelve people stood or sat in rows, in silver and white, and not one of them moved. The boy with the bloody nose stared at the floor. His hands, hanging at his sides, had begun to shake."Private Dray," Vale said sharply. "Eyes forward."He didn't obey.Mei's voice dropped to a whisper. "It's okay," she said. "I'm not mad. I just want to hear you."The boy's lips parted."I...""Private.""I don't..." His throat worked. His face crumpled. "I don't want to anymore."It wasn't loud. It was barely a breath. But the word seemed to ring in the silent room, and the light in the chandelier flickered as if someone had struck it.Vale went white."Eli," she said. "Think very carefully.""I'm tired," said the boy. Tears ran down his cheeks. "I'm so tired, ma'am. I want to go home.""No," said someone else.It was a woman near the door, a corporal with her hair tie
Chapter 46: The Offer
Vale let the heat go slowly, like a woman lowering a heavy curtain.The chandelier stopped swaying. The cracked glasses fell quiet. One by one, the soldiers along the wall climbed to their feet, wiping sweat from their faces, and took up their posts again as if nothing had happened. Not one of them spoke. Not one of them looked at the woman in the white gown.Rowan watched them, and the hair rose on the back of his neck."Sit," Vale said. "Please. I won't do that again unless I'm provoked.""You've been provoking us all night," Tess muttered."Sergeant Calder, I have been the soul of courtesy." She smiled, and sank into her chair with a rustle of silk. "Mr. Ashby. You have questions. Ask them.""How many bonds do you have?""Two hundred and twelve.""Do they know what they are?""They know they are warm. They know they are fed. They know that when the world ended, they were given a place at a table." Vale sipped her wine. "That is more than most people can say.""Did you ask them?""E
Chapter 45: The Perihelion
They never caught him.Tess drove like a woman possessed, with the troop carrier's engine screaming and the treads throwing up fans of ice. Ivy hung on to the dashboard and swore in two languages. In the back seat of the second crawler, Rowan watched the small dark shape of Cassian's snowmobile grow smaller and smaller against the glow on the horizon, until it vanished into a wall of white."He's got a twenty-minute head start," Mara said."I know.""We'll never close it.""I know.""Rowan...""I know." He pressed his forehead against the cold glass. "Mei said they want him willing. If he walks in on his own, they won't need to force anything.""Then what do we do?""We follow. And we hope they're polite about it."The ship appeared out of the blizzard like a mountain.It was an icebreaker, enormous, black-hulled and red-funneled, locked into the sea ice with a hundred meters of frozen cable. Searchlights swept the plain in long white arcs. A helicopter sat on the aft deck with its ro
Chapter 44: Lily
Rowan picked up the radio.It was a battered thing, held together with electrical tape, and it buzzed in his hand like a trapped insect. He didn't look at Helena. He thumbed the transmit key and spoke in a voice so calm that it surprised him."Major."A short pause. Static. Then, smooth as warm oil, "Mr. Ashby. I had hoped you would be asleep.""I was reading.""How charming.""I'm going to say this once." He felt Helena sway beside him, her breath coming in thin, ragged gasps. "We accept your terms. Forty-eight hours, as agreed. We'll fly to Solace. But if Dr. Marsh's daughter is harmed in any way, if anyone on that ship so much as raises a voice, the deal is off."A long silence."You've learned things quickly," said Vale."I had good teachers.""Lily is perfectly safe. She's been well fed and warm. I might even say spoiled." A faint, dry chuckle. "I'll see you in two days. Do give my regards to Dr. Marsh. She did try so hard."The line went dead.Rowan set the radio on the floor, v
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