Mindee Arnett - Avalon

This is too easy .

But Jeth dismissed the concern as he saw Lizzie’s tearstained face looking up at him. Her mouth fell open in shock, and she leaped up. He heard the sound of the door sliding closed behind him, but he didn’t panic. It was just a safety feature.

“Are you all right?” Jeth said.

“I’m fine. Just ready to get out of here.”

“Let’s go, then,” said Sierra. She slid the decryption card into the access panel. A moment later the words ACCESS DENIEDflashed on the panel’s tiny screen.

“What the hell?” Jeth said.

Sierra pulled the card out, then jammed it in again. Another failure message appeared. “No,” Sierra said through clenched teeth. “It can’t be.” She tried the card a third time, and the locks at last disengaged.

Jeth let out the breath he’d been holding and charged through the door, victory like a balloon swelling inside his chest.

He froze just beyond the doorway. More than a dozen guards were waiting in the corridor, guns drawn and aimed at him.

“Put your weapons on the floor,” the nearest one said.

Jeth’s head spun. How did this happen? They’d been so careful, made no mistakes.

Then the explanation struck him full force. Dax stood among the soldiers, and not as a captive. He stepped forward as Jeth spotted him.

“You betrayed us,” Jeth said. He couldn’t believe it. Dax had seemed so genuine, his story so true and believable. So much like my own .

Dax nodded, his expression impossible to read. “Hammer just cut a deal with Renford. And it’s like I said, Golden Boy: Nobody outruns Hammer. Not even you.”

JETH STARED AT THE FOUR BLANK WHITE WALLS AROUND him. He’d been right. A person could go mad in here.

He’d been locked in the cell less than a day, but already the restlessness was eating away at him. How long will they leave me in here? Forever? Only he knew that wouldn’t happen. Not with Hammer involved.

Jeth could only assume that’s what Dax had meant about a deal—that Renford and Hammer had somehow decided to work together. At first he couldn’t understand how it was possible, but then he remembered that Hammer had found Renford’s calling card. After that, it was just a matter of logistics. Dax must’ve told Hammer what happened on Moenia and what they were planning. Once Hammer knew, he could easily have used that information to negotiate with Renford. The idea of them working together was so horrible, Jeth couldn’t stomach speculating what their deal might entail.

At first his rage over Dax’s betrayal blocked out all rational thought. He beat his fists against the door, screaming until his lungs trembled from the effort and his throat became a raw, quivering thing inside his neck. But the rage soon gave way to anguish. He had failed them—Lizzie, Cora, everyone. None of them were safe now. Not from Renford and not from Hammer.

Finally, Jeth forced his mind away from these thoughts, focusing instead on not giving up, on finding a way out of here. Only there didn’t seem to be any hope of that. Nothing short of a plasinum cutter was getting through these walls, and he didn’t have a clue how to hack into the security panel by the door. And no tools, either.

He supposed his best chance was to be ready when they came for him.

The minutes continued to tick by as long as days, the hours as long as years. Jeth caught himself drifting in between sleep and wakefulness. Telling the difference between the two grew harder and harder.

Finally he heard movement outside. He stood from the bench he’d been lying on and raced to the small space beside the door, taking cover. He held his breath, muscles tense in anticipation.

As the door slid open, Jeth charged through it, throwing a punch at the person standing just beyond. His fist collided with Sergei’s jaw. Pain tore through his knuckles, but it didn’t stop the pleasure he felt as Sergei’s head snapped backward and blood burst from his lip.

Sergei wasn’t alone, but the other guards with him, a mixture of Brethren and ITA, couldn’t get to Jeth; Sergei was too big and the space in the corridor too small. Jeth kneed Sergei in the gut, grabbing the gun from his hand as he fell.

Jeth aimed it at the nearest guards, keenly aware of all the guns trained on him. “Go ahead and shoot, but I promise I’ll take more than a few of you down with me.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” a familiar voice said from Jeth’s right.

He turned and saw Dax. He steadied his grip on the trigger. Killing Dax alone might be satisfaction enough. Only he couldn’t.

Sierra stood in front of Dax. Although she didn’t block much of him, he had his gun pointed at her. For a second, Jeth didn’t believe Dax would harm her, but he decided not to risk it. Dax had taken him by surprise once before. Jeth wasn’t about to let it happen again.

He lowered the gun, and one of the ITA soldiers yanked it from his hands while two others grabbed him by the arms and shackled his wrists. He didn’t bother trying to fight them off. There were too many of them and nowhere to go. No, he needed to be patient and wait for a better chance.

He took in Sierra’s appearance, seeing nothing outwardly wrong with her, other than the shackles on her wrists, too. Still, he asked, “Are you okay?”

She nodded, her expression grim. “Are you?”

Before Jeth could answer, a fist the size of a boulder collided with his stomach. He bent over, heaving in pain.

“Do anything like that again,” Sergei said, leaning over Jeth, “and I’ll cut off your feet with a dull saw.” Then he spat on Jeth’s face.

Struggling to catch his breath, Jeth wiped away the spit with his shoulder.

“Come on,” Dax said. “Renford’s waiting for them.”

The soldiers herded Jeth and Sierra down the corridor after Dax. Jeth moved in close to Sierra as they walked and whispered, “Any word on the others?”

She shook her head.

He sighed. He’d expected as much, but still the disappointment stung. Where were Lizzie and Cora? What about Shady? Did Flynn and Milton manage to get away on Avalon or had they been captured, too? Dax had known their position, after all.

“Any idea what’s coming next?” Jeth said, his dread increasing with every step.

“Nothing good.” Sierra’s voice trembled as she spoke, and any relief he’d felt at seeing her unharmed faded in an instant.

Dax led them into a large room not far from the brig. Strange devices filled the place, many of them outfitted with straps and shackles. Torture devices, Jeth realized. Some were simple items, like the row of vices in all different sizes hanging on the far wall or the large metal table in the center of the room. Others were more sophisticated, like what looked like a pair of large mechanized boots, the kind designed to shatter shinbones in small increments.

Jeth sucked air through his teeth. “Why do I get the feeling this room wasn’t part of the original cruise ship design?”

“This is the interrogation room,” Sierra said.

“No kidding.” Jeth had a feeling she knew the place well. He gulped, trying not to imagine what was coming next.

Renford stood near the middle of the room, not far from the table and in front of two identical metal chairs that resembled massive thrones. He waved at their entrance. “Good. Bring them over here and sit them down.”

The soldiers pushed Jeth and Sierra forward and into the chairs. Thin, nearly invisible lines forming small squares covered the chairs. They looked like tiny compartments. What those compartments contained—needles, knives, hot pokers—he was certain he didn’t want to find out.