“Damn straight,” Nitro says, cheering.
“The seven dead villains we saw tonight are too high a price to pay.” My voice breaks. “And if we don’t stop this now, there will be another seven. And another seven. And another—”
I shudder at the thought of how many people the heroes might have already killed in the name of research, or whatever their excuse is. There is no way I can live with myself if even more die and I could have done something—anything—to stop it.
“Exactly,” Jeremy says. “I won’t walk away. I can’t.”
“None of us can,” Rebel agrees. “Not now. Not from this.”
They nod, faces solemn and eyes coolly determined. That’s when I realize that the villains never planned to just walk away after finding Deacon. He’s not their only goal. Even if Rebel, Jeremy, and I never thought beyond rescuing him and my mom, Dante, Draven, and Nitro had always intended to be in this to the end. They’d always intended to end this.
“We need a new plan,” I say, fighting a yawn. Far out on the horizon, the first pink of sunrise is beginning to show. “But we’ve been up for going on forty-eight hours now. We need to go somewhere safe where we can get some rest and regroup.”
Nitro jams his hands into his pockets and glances at Draven and Deacon. “I have an idea where we could go.”
They exchange a long look, and then Draven nods. “The safe houses.”
“What, like in witness protection?” I ask.
“More like villain protection,” Nitro tells me.
I start to ask why villains need safe houses, but considering what I’ve seen, everything I now know, it doesn’t seem so far-fetched. The only thing that seems far-fetched is that the heroes have managed to keep this whole program under wraps. That they’ve managed to torture and kill villains for years—without reason and definitely without trials—and no one has been the wiser. Well, no one but the villains, and nobody was listening to them.
“We have a dozen or so houses scattered throughout town,” Draven explains. “The closest one is across from the cemetery on Ninth.”
“Then let’s go,” Jeremy says.
The others nod, and for the first time we really feel like a team. Not like a bunch of strangers with a common goal, but a real team. One that trusts and respects each other.
It’s a powerful feeling, which makes me think that maybe, just maybe, we have a chance.
We all pile back into the van, this time with Draven behind the wheel and me in the passenger seat. Two days ago I would have never thought I’d feel so comfortable in a vehicle with three villains, let alone trust them as much as I do. But a lot can change in a couple of days, especially when two days feel like two lifetimes.
As we drive back down the mountain, I start to drift. I’m locked in my thoughts and half asleep when Draven starts cursing, his voice low and calm despite the words pouring out of his mouth. The contrast is terrifying. I look up as he rolls to a stop in front of a house. In front of what used to be a house.
Now it’s just a pile of smoking rubble.
Chapter 20
“Holy shit.” Nitro presses his forehead to the van window. “They leveled it.”
“Keep moving,” Jeremy instructs. “If they destroyed this location, it’s likely that they’ll have surveillance in place.”
Draven squeals away. No one says a word as he drives on, presumably heading for another safe house. This one is razed too, as are the next six. The entire villain network has been compromised.
“They’re gone,” Dante keeps repeating. “They’re all gone. The public records are clean. There was nothing to trace those properties back to us.”
“How could they know?” Nitro demands. “Only villains knew about the safe houses.”
“How many villains have they taken over the last few weeks? How many have they tortured? Is it such a stretch to think that some of them broke under the pain?” Draven’s voice is aching. It rips my heart to shreds.
“Was anyone—?” I can’t finish the question.
“No,” Dante replies. “They should have been empty.”
“We only use them as a last resort,” Nitro adds.
Draven slams both fists against the van’s steering wheel, lost in his rage and helplessness. I want to help him find his way out, but I don’t know how.
Nobody says anything as Draven pulls into the shadowy corner of a grocery-store parking lot.
“They’ve declared war.” Draven pulls out his phone and tries calling his uncle again. Dante and Nitro are both texting people like crazy too. Desperate to find out if the empty safe houses are the only places that have been hit.
I wish I could do something, but I have no one to call. There’s no one I can trust who isn’t already in this van. But what scares me most is that the friends Dante and Nitro are calling and texting aren’t answering.