“It was you all along. You’re the one who turned him in.”

“It was the heist of the century. It was going to change the face of the Resistance. Karden wasn’t fit to lead it. I had to get him out of the way.”

“And get complete control of the money.”

“He knew nothing about compromise. He was little more than a focused brute.”

“But a brilliant one. The only one who could pull off something like this.”

He shrugs. “He was good at some strategies. That was it.”

I step in front of Raine. “While you weren’t good at any. You thought he had already sent you the whole account number when you delivered his address to the Secretary.”

“I admit, it was a premature move.”

I laugh. “Premature? That’s a slight understatement.”

Watching the frustration rise in his face, I continue to mock him, comparing his stupid actions to Karden’s brilliant ones. He loses patience, waving the gun. “Give me the knife!” he yells. His voice echoes through the station. I talk right over his demands, belittling his intelligence, enraging him further.

“Give me the knife, you filthy lab mutt! You worthless glorified Bot! Give it to me!”

As he screams I lean close to Raine and whisper, “Go to the red light in the tunnel behind us. Don’t stop until you reach the second panel. Press it. I’ll catch up. Go.”

Raine moves away and Carver hardly notices. He’s only focused on me and my pack, which contains the knife. He stops screaming and holds the gun straight out, like he’s ready to fire.

“If you shoot me, you’ll never get Karden back.”

“A justified casualty for a bigger cause. Money is what this whole world’s about, and I’m tired of not having it.”

I try to stall for time, knowing I need only a few more seconds. “Money makes things happen,” I answer. “No denying it. But it’s not the biggest thing. Not by a long shot. It’s people that make the difference.”

“Not in my world,” he says. “Last warning. Toss me the knife.”

Lesson one: Never give the enemy a warning.

I pull the knife from my pack, smile, and act like I’m going to toss it to him, then stop. “Not a chance, ass**le.” I begin stepping back into the tunnel, the dim red light closing in around me. “Come and get it.”

Even if he gets a lucky shot in and kills me on the first try, he’s still going to have to venture to where I am in the tunnel to retrieve it—a tunnel that will plunge back into darkness again in just another second or two. I know he’s too much of a coward to do that. He shoots, grazing my arm, the hot sting of the bullet slicing my skin. The timed light turns off, cloaking me in blackness. “Be gone when I come back,” I tell him. “Run as far and as fast as you can.”

I turn and run deeper into the tunnel, shots ringing out around me, Carver screaming for me to come back, promising to split the money with me.

* * *

Without the protection of the hum from the first panel, I’m fair game for the half-humans. I run as fast as I can through the darkness, and thankfully I make it to the next panel and Raine. She’s already pressed the second light and I know it will turn off in seconds too so I grab her hand and we head for the third panel. We hear distant screeches, like the packs of half-humans are alert to our presence. I hope they’re retreating to deeper tunnels away from the sound of the high-pitched hum. We reach the third panel and press it, moving on to the fourth, now so deep in this labyrinth of tunnels it’s a wonder that anyone or anything has ever found its way out again. With the dim red glow, I can see scattered sticks along the abandoned tracks and I finally realize they aren’t sticks but bones. We’re moving so fast, I hope Raine doesn’t notice them.

We reach the fourth panel and rest before we press it.

“This is where he’s been all this time?” Raine asks, looking around at the grim reality of this modern-day dungeon.

“There are no guarantees, Raine. He could be dead, but when I was down here before, I sensed something. I think it’s him and I think he’s alive.”

“How will we know who he is? Do you know what he looks like?”

I shake my head. “I’ve never seen him. But I think we’ll know.”

She tilts her head to one side not understanding what I’m saying.

“He’ll look like you,” I tell her.

She braces an arm against the wall and looks away. “I don’t know if I’m ready for this part. I’m afraid.…”

I pull her close. “You? Afraid of anything?” But I know the feeling of trying to take in so much change so fast, and meeting a long-lost parent, especially under these circumstances, would have my head spinning with trepidation.

“Ready?” I ask.

She presses her lips together and nods.

I push the panel and we continue, another hundred feet of dim red light, and high-pitched humming. Halfway down the tunnel I stop and close my eyes, concentrate, trying to get past the distraction of the hum, trying to sense if we’re getting closer.

Something.

“Let’s keep moving,” I whisper to Raine.

When we round the curve of the tunnel, the reach of the light ends. We search for the next panel but can’t locate it. Raine and I look at each other, assessing our next step. We don’t know what lies ahead other than darkness.

“You can still go back,” I tell her. “You saw what happened to me the last time.”