Alex stood frozen in the dark murk beyond their vision. Is that what she thought would happen?
I almost lost her already.
“It doesn’t have to be like that. Get away from him. Step out of his shadow. Stay away from the dark. Lena, there’s light in you. I helped you find it back in that car. I can do it again. That’s what you need.”
A wave of relief flowed through Alex at the low, impatient sound she made.
“I need to make a difference for those girls. I need to make sure they have the chance to decide who and what they’ll be for themselves. This path is the way to do it. We’ve cleared the Council from one city. There are seven more.”
Seven more cities to stalk and clear. Seven more chances for the Council to strike at Lena.
Alex’s eyes closed for less than a second, but the weight of the truth pulled at him. When he opened them, the red haze dissipated. He had done what he did so well. He’d made a decision.
He glanced down at the forest floor and deliberately stepped on a branch. The crack echoed through the clearing, and he stepped out to their faces turning toward him. Except for the smears of dried blood on their cheeks, they’d both been healed. After Jackson had worked on her, she’d evidently been well enough to fix his face. Maybe it was the stark newness of the skin beneath the smears, but his face seemed livid with guilt to Alex.
Jackson dropped his gaze.
Lena didn’t. She watched him come, eyes wide, and scrambled to her feet to meet him.
He wanted to go to her and reassure her, give her soft words and a soothing touch like the idiot in front of her, lay it out for her and make the choice so easy Jackson would never be able to make her doubt it. But Jackson was right about one thing.
And it had Alex’s stomach churning.
The anxiety made him stride forward, keeping his voice business-like instead of offering her comfort.
“Are we good? Everybody healed up and ready to go?”
Her reaching hands caught at the bottom of his shirt, tried to lift it to get to the bloody slash beneath. He caught her hand and forced a small, tough-nut smirk. “Once we’re at the rendezvous point. I want to get you out of here. Now.”
She opened her mouth to protest, but he turned away, gesturing Jackson ahead of him with his head. They marched through the forest, the last of the light from dusk falling outside the dense foliage barely penetrating.
With Jackson and Lena healed, they made good time. His mind roamed ahead to what was coming—not just the conversation he’d need to have with her, but the decisions he’d have to make for his men. Unable to predict the outcome of the former, he focused instead on the latter.
How many men had they lost? They couldn’t afford any. It took too long to train their young agents, and the available pool of candidates was limited to Sparks strong enough to be sent off to the Ward School.
Alex had been telling Thomas for years they needed to expand their reach and begin drawing in mid-ranges to the cause. Erika had been an example of what a talented, dedicated mid-range could achieve. It wouldn’t take much to plant some of their Ward School Guardians in the Relo-city schools to keep an eye out for likely candidates. He’d even made the strategic move himself at Azcon a decade before, grooming a sympathetic young Azcon student he’d overheard making impolitic statements against the Council to his mother as they shopped. That the relationship had eventually revealed secrets that led to complications didn’t lessen the young man’s overall usefulness.
He glanced down at one of those complications now as she marched beside him. Judging from Jackson’s stiff back as he moved through the underbrush ahead of them, he was none too pleased with her loyalty, even if she had been angry and disappointed with Alex before.
In spite of her apparent choice, Alex didn’t doubt the decision he’d made. This time, he’d rather stay the course and let events play out as they should, even if they led to danger. Even if the danger was emotional, and not physical.
They came over the next rise, leaving the tree line, and a line of electric vehicles spread out as dark shadows below them on the back road. His men moved around them, wearing their headlamps, stowing gear and weapons. A group of five of his most senior Agents gathered around a map one of them had spread over the hood of a vehicle.
“Lena, can you wait for us?” He nodded to indicate the middle cars. “You know where the water is if you want to clean up.” They carried a supply in the back of every vehicle. “Jackson and I need to check on what we know about Lucas and his soldiers.”
“Wait,” she protested, “you said you’d let me take care of you.”
He flashed her a smile. “I can keep five more minutes. They need orders. Go get cleaned up. I’ll be done before you know it.”
He didn’t look back when he turned. He stalked away, moving through the dark to his men, expecting Jackson to follow.