16. Dev

"We have to go back!" Hallie grabbed my arm and I almost steered us into a tree.

I jerked away from her touch and steadied us. "I need to get you to safety."

"Fuck that!" She turned so she was facing me, her features highlighted by the dashboard's lights. Her hair was a mess, and her pale skin showed evidence of recent tear tracks. "He's going to hurt Ward. Real bad." She bit her lip. "He showed me this—this device he had."

My blood ran cold. It wasn't a shock to hear that Crimson planned to finish what he'd started five years ago, but even so. Grimly, I pressed my lips together and shook my head. "I need to get you out of here, and then call in SPAM."

"You heard what that asshole said. They'll be long gone before SPAM gets here." Fresh tears leaked from her eyes, and she swiped them away angrily. "Fuck, I'm so tired of crying."

"I'm sorry. We thought you'd be safer—"

"Oh, none of this is on you. Ward was right—it's not your fault, or his, or mine. It's on that asshole who killed the agents and grabbed me, all so he could get to Ward." She reached out to touch my arm again, gentler this time. "Please, Dev. We can't leave him there."

"I—I know. But—" I looked at her, wondering if she could see in my eyes the fear I felt for her. "Hal, if anything happened to you…"

"How do you think I'll feel if anything happens to Ward? If he—" She choked on the words. "Knowing we ran away?"

"It's what he wanted us to do."

"Fuckin' heroes," she muttered. "Dev, please turn around."

I shook my head. "No."

Her hand tightened on my arm. "Dev—"

"I'm going to pull over here, and we'll walk back. They'll hear the SUV coming."

She deflated with relief. "Thank you."

I found a gap in the trees lining the lane and pulled into it. By the way the SUV sank into the deep snow, it might not come back out, but right now, that wasn't important. I got out and went around to the back, popping the hatch to see if there was anything that might pass for a weapon back there.

"Score." I hefted the tire iron I'd found with the spare tire under the carpet and handed it to Hallie. "Groin and knees. Got it?"

She nodded. "If I can't take them out with fire first."

"Only if you can do that in a non-flashy way. We don't want to alert them that we're here."

"Good point. Groin and knees, then."

"Then follow up with a blow to the head, if you have to."

She pressed her lips together in a firm line. "What about you?"

"I still remember my hand-to-hand combat training from the academy." Granted, I was rusty, but I was sure it was like riding a bike—it would come back to me when I started fighting. At least, I hoped it would. "Can you do the melting-snow thing so we don't have to waste our energy slogging through it?"

"Oh, yeah, sure." As she spoke, the snow around her began to evaporate, spreading out in a radius on all sides.

"Okay." I took a breath, mentally preparing myself for what we were about to do. "If we get overwhelmed, release hell on them, all right? Do what you have to in order to survive."

She nodded solemnly. "I will. I promise."

"I can't believe I'm doing this," I muttered.

"We're doing this."

"Exactly." I blew out a breath. "Okay, let's go."

Making our way through the woods was slow, but not as slow as it would've been had Hallie not been able to melt the snow. Although the moon was up, the pine trees around us mostly blocked the light from reaching the forest floor. There was enough reflecting off the snow all around to prevent us from walking into a tree or two. Heat radiated off Hallie, enough that I didn't feel the cold too badly. It wasn't a walk on a balmy spring day through the park, but our trip through the woods could have gone much worse.

I called a halt when I spotted the light of the cabin windows through the trees. Crouching, I leaned in close to Hallie so I didn't have to talk loudly. "We need to take out the guys with guns."

She nodded vigorously, her hands gripping and twisting on the tire iron. "Y-yeah."

I eyed her writhing fingers. "Be my backup, okay? I'll take them out, and you'll be there to have my back."

"I can do that."

"I know you can, kiddo. You got this."

I just hoped I did.

Staying low and concealed by the pine boughs as much as possible, we made our way forward. I froze when I spotted the end of a cigarette glowing red and sucked in a breath. Thankfully we were far enough away that I didn't inhale any secondhand smoke. Such a disgusting habit.

I did a countdown on my fingers for Hallie's benefit—three, two, one—then stood upright and walked forward like I wandered through random forests every day.

"Hey man, can I bum a smoke?" I put every ounce of my power into my words. I'd never tried to focus my ability before—it was always there, usually unwanted. Trying to use it felt like stretching a muscle in my brain.

The guard's eyes widened behind his balaclava, then relaxed as my power took hold. He gripped his cigarette with his lips and shoved his gun back, so it hung from its shoulder strap behind him. Then he dug his pack of smokes out of his pocket. "Sure. Need a light too?"

"You know it." I smiled and got even closer. Accepting the cigarette he handed me, I put it in my mouth—gross—then leaned forward as he lifted his lighter.

As soon as the flame flared, I struck out, the heel of my palm to his nose. Something cracked and he went down instantly. I spat the cigarette away and quickly relieved him of the gun, taking the time to check his neck for a pulse. It was there. Thready, but there.

I let out a shaky breath, happy I hadn't killed him. Not that I wouldn't take someone's life to protect Hallie, Ward and myself, but I would rather not.

"Holy shit," Hallie whispered as she came up behind me. "That was…that was awesome. Will I learn that at the academy?"

"Definitely."

"Cool."

"One down, five to go." I shouldered the gun and hoped I wouldn't have to use it. "Let's move."

We made our way clockwise around the perimeter of the cabin. One by one, I spoke to the gun-wielding minions we ran into, pouring my power into my words, and one by one, they let their guards down so I could get close enough to take them out.

Until I got to the last one.

At first, I thought he was simply another guard to take out, and I stood up to approach him like all the others. But as soon as he saw me, I realized it was Ward.

"Holy shit. You got out," I breathed, scrambling through the snow Hallie was too far away to clear.

"Yeah," he said, his voice cracking and rougher than I expected, but god knows what he'd endured at Crimson's hands. He wore the same parka all the other guards had, but no balaclava, and carried a rifle, which was explained in his next breath. "I stole some gear and ventured out into the snow, but I have no idea which way to go. I'm so glad to see you."

He smiled.

It was weird.

Not that Ward never smiled. Well, actually, I could probably count on one hand the number of times I'd seen his lips curve and still have plenty of fingers left over. I'd never thought he'd bend enough to smile when we were still under threat, but then, I didn't know him. Not yet. Everyone reacted to danger differently, and maybe he really was that relieved we'd come to rescue him.

Except he'd told me to take Hallie and run. Shouldn't he be mad?

I was so confused.

Okay, you know what? It didn't matter. We'd come to get Ward and now we had him. That was what I needed to focus on. "The SUV's back this way," I said, gesturing for him to walk in front of me. "Not far."

He took a step and immediately stumbled. Instinctively, I jolted forward to grab him before he could fall. Instead, he shoved me to the ground and aimed a handgun at my face.

Shit. Maybe he was mad at me for not taking Hallie and running.

His finger was on the trigger, but he hesitated, as though he couldn't bring himself to shoot me. I would fucking hope it would be difficult to put a bullet in my head after all we'd shared.

"No!" Hallie shouted. An instant later, a blast of heat raced through the cold air. It felt like a warm hug, but that was only because it wasn't meant to hurt me. Ward, however, flew off his feet and landed in a smoking heap a meter or so away.

I threw myself forward, hoping and praying Hallie hadn't killed him, while at the same time trying to puzzle out why he'd almost shot me. Had Crimson brainwashed him? That was the only thing I could think of.

At least until I reached his body. He lay motionless, and the scent of singed meat rose off him, even though he didn't appear outwardly burned, though his skin was darker than Ward's should be. As was his hair. It wasn't the same cut, either, and his open, staring eyes were an amber I recognized.

"Vole?" I whispered. But how? Why?

As we watched, his features changed again to ones I recognized—darker skin, bald on top, and cleanshaven. Agent Emile Paterson, otherwise known as Conduit. Then, finally, that face melted away into one that wasn't remarkable at all. Brown hair, brown eyes, white skin, indeterminate age, totally average, boring, and not someone I knew.

"Am I losing my mind?" I muttered as Hallie reached me. "That was Ward, right?"

Hallie bent over, her hands on her knees. "I-I thought so. And Conduit, maybe? I don't understand." She swallowed hard. "I might be sick."

"You did what you had to do. If you hadn't, he would've shot me in the head." I sighed and straightened. "Whoever he was."

Her sigh echoed mine, then she held up the tire iron as though realizing she'd mangled it into a twisted mess of partially melted metal. "Oops."

"That was six bad guys, right?"

"Six," she confirmed.

"Then we can have fun storming the castle." I shot her a look. "That's a movie reference."

She rolled her eyes. "I've seen The Princess Bride. What do you think I am, a heathen?"

"If you would continue to melt the snow, milady."

"As you w—"

Something slammed into my shoulder and sent me sprawling back to the ground. Pain hit next, paired with the realization I couldn't breathe. Dimly, I registered Hallie's scream and another wave of heat, and put two and two together.

"We miscounted," I gasped.

"Ya think? I took care of her, though." Hallie dropped to her knees beside me, her hands hovering over me. "I don't know what to do."

"Un-undo my jacket. We've got to see if it went through." I was pretty sure it had—a slug from a high-powered rifle wasn't going to let some paltry flesh and bone stand in its way.

She pulled my jacket away from the wound and promptly turned green. "You're gushing blood."

"Explains why everything's swimmy."

"Dev!"

"You're going to have to take the arm off."

She stared at me. "You want me to amputate?"

I held her gaze for a moment. "The arm of the jacket, Hal. You have to take it off so you can check my back."

"Oh. Right." She pulled the jacket off my arm, apologizing every time I winced or hissed. Then she levered me up slightly so she could take a look at my back. "Oh, Dev. This isn't—this isn't good."

"Bleeding a lot?"

"Y-yeah. And it's—" She swallowed. "Not a small hole."

"Okay. I need your help."

"I can make a bandage, or—"

"Yeah, that'll help, but first you need to cauterize the wounds."

She gasped. "What the fuck—no. I can't—what?"

It was getting harder to focus, which told me we needed to work fast. "I'm gonna bleed out if you don't, Hal. You can do it."

She stared at me for a second, then gave a firm nod. "I better get extra credit for this shit. Just sayin'."

"I'll write to your instructors at the academy."

She bit her lip, looking at my chest, then my eyes again. "You ready?"

"Not even close." I gritted my teeth. "Do it."

There were definitely no more bad guys in the woods, because my scream would have brought them running. When she rolled me partially onto my side to attack the wound on my back, I blacked out before she could cauterize it.

Small mercies.

I came to with her tapping my cheeks. "Dev, come on, that was supposed to save you, not kill you, you asshole."

"Tha's not very nice," I slurred. Everything was swimmy again. Swimmier. Was that even a word?

"I'm not sure what you're saying. C'mon, sit up, you need some water." Hallie helped me up and leaned me against a nearby tree, before scooping some snow into her hands. After a second, steam rose and the snow melted. Well, it mostly vaporized, but there was enough there for me to wet my throat, at least.

She did it two more times, and while it was no miracle cure, I felt slightly better.

"Your control is getting better," I said.

"Yeah, well, need and all that." She shook her hands free of the remaining droplets of water. "What do we do now?"

"We keep going."

"Are you crazy? You almost died and I—I—" Tears welled in her eyes. "I shouldn't have insisted we come back. I'm so sorry, Dev."

"No, you were right. I knew this was a possibility. Getting hurt, I mean. But we can't waste this opportunity." I gave her a wan smile. "The guards—well, most of them—are going to wake up eventually, tell Crimson that we almost got to him, and they're going to run. We need to take advantage of what we've done now."

"But how?" She swiped a hand under her eyes. "I don't think your hand-to-hand stuff is going to be all that effective now."

"I've still got my voice. But I've got an even better idea. We go on the offensive."

"Can you shoot? Because I don't—"

I shook my head. "No. Light the cabin on fire, Hal."

She looked over at it, startled. "Are you serious?"

"Absolutely."

"But Ward—"

"Crimson will get them both out. He won't have gone through all this trouble to get Ward here only to leave him in a burning cabin."

"Right. But what if Crimson can control the fire?"

"Then you light up more than one spot. Make it more difficult for him." I closed my eyes for an instant, but it felt too good, so I jerked them open again. "Remember, these are stolen powers. I'll bet that even after five years, using them doesn't come naturally."

"So it might not occur to him to do anything but run, is what you're saying."

"Exactly." I smiled again. Or tried to. Damn, I was tired. "Think of all the extra credit you're going to get."

"I'll do it, as long as you promise me one thing."

"What?"

"Stay awake."

"That's the plan."

I didn't share that this was one plan that might change.