The Girl Who Dared to Think 7: The Girl Who Dared to Fight

Worry about that later. I interrupted, shaking off my relief and continuing to move down the hall. What’s your situation?

Bad, Maddox replied for him a second later. We’re all in one piece, but we can’t get through the escape tunnel. Motion sensors on the other side are going crazy, like there’s a small army up there. Luckily Leo and Quess were able to restore power by hacking Cornelius’s link to the Core, but IT has figured out what they did and is working to kick us out. Not to mention those bastards are using cutters to get through the wall. They’ve dismantled every defensive measure we’ve had, room by room, and they’re probably just a few minutes from getting through this door. We’re trapped.

I slowed down as I approached the stairs that led into the first main room of my quarters, checking to make sure the room was clear. Thanks to Maddox’s report, I was prepared for the destruction that lay within, but it was still gut-wrenching to see. The couches and sofas I’d set up theater-style for my briefings with my Knight Commanders had been torn apart by the small photon laser emitters I’d placed at strategic points. Piles of burning fabric lay strewn wildly through the room.

I was halfway down the stairs when I spotted the first body: a young man with curly hair who looked a lot like Liam, but older, was lying on his stomach, blood pooled around the severed stumps where his arm and leg had been, from where the laser emitters had caught him. Behind him, I spotted three more bodies in various forms of dismemberment, and another two on the floor between me and the next door to the hall.

That was six people, but we had arrested over a hundred legacies. And they’d all been in the cells in the Citadel. Some of them were probably stuck fighting the Knights somewhere, but how many were here?

Do you still have cameras? Can you tell me how many are outside the door? I asked, carefully stepping over the bodies and suppressing the queasiness I felt as I headed up the stairs toward the next hall. I paused to check down the curved corridor for any sign of movement. There was none, but I held my position, waiting for Maddox’s answer. If the answer was a few, then I could come up behind them and take them out. If it was more than that, I was going to have to think of another way to help my friends escape.

Liana, there are over forty people in the next room, Zoe piped up, her voice lined with urgency. Whatever you’re thinking, knock it off. You can’t fight your way through them.

No, I couldn’t fight my way through forty people alone. She was right about that. Even if they were trapped in the hall, I only had so many bullets. But if Leo and I could get them pinned between us and our guns, maybe we could create a crossfire that would kill and wound many of them.

But if they had lancers, then we’d be sunk. They’d have a way of attacking us at any range, and since there were only two of us and more of them, chances were they’d cut us down before we could do any considerable damage.

I blew out a breath, looking around and trying to think. There had to be a way to get my friends out, but how? The escape hatch had been eliminated, and the ceiling was enclosed, meaning we couldn’t easily climb up the shaft to try to escape them, so the only way in or out of the apartment was behind me, on the elevators. And there were no legacies left alive between me and those elevators. If I could just get everyone to me…

A moment later, it hit me, and I turned back to the elevator bay, already transmitting my thoughts to Maddox and the others. Use the room controls to create a way from the war room to one of the elevator bays, I ordered. You’ll have to raise a few walls here and there, but there’s no one guarding the front rooms, and if you put walls down in the hall, sealing your path, you’ll be long gone before they figure out what’s going on.

Hey, yeah, that’s a great idea, the youngest member of our group, Tian, chirped. I’m on it!

Good. Be aware that the legacies have a target, I informed them. They’re after Leo. Apparently, he has protocols that Sage needs in order to replace Scipio with Kurt. Whatever you do, get him out of the room first.

I’m your best fighter, Leo immediately said, the affront in his voice thick. You’re going to need Maddox and me to cover everyone else as they run away! We can’t be sure—

I argued with you about this exact same thing once upon a time, I snapped, my patience coming to an abrupt end. I was referring, of course, to the insufferable rule about not letting me go first into dangerous situations—and sending him instead. And I lost. Accept the inevitable and get out of there first, or Quess and Maddox have my permission to knock you unconscious and drag you. We need you, Leo. The Tower needs you. So stop arguing.

There was a pause, making the sounds of my boots on the stairs quite loud to my ears, and then a, Fine. Tian and Eric are figuring the best way to get around these guys. We just need a—

Leo, Quess cried, his voice desperate. I need you! There’s something weird going on with the data stream!

I stopped mid-step and turned around to face the war room. Ignore it, I ordered. Get out of there!

We can’t! Leo shouted. We’re going to lose power in the Citadel if we don’t—

I don’t care! I thundered, angry that he was risking his life over the power in the Citadel. We’ll worry about it later! Now means now!

If we lose the power, Tian won’t be able to move the walls to let us out! I just need to buy her a few seconds to finish laying out a path for us. Give me a second!

There was a long pause, and my heart began to skitter out of beat, dread forming as each second went by without any sign of the walls being moved. I heard muffled sounds in the background, and quickly thought, Guys, what’s going on?

The only response I got was from Leo, and it wasn’t directed at me.

It’s a feedback surge, he cried. Everyone get down, now!

I took a step back toward the main room, my eyes widening as the lights in the quarters flickered, a sharp, high-pitched hum beginning to fill the room. I recognized the sound as the one Tony’s server in Cogstown had made—right before an electrical surge had hit the servers and me—and danced back just as sickly green lightning began to spark from the outlets, shattering the bulbs overhead and casting the room into darkness.





30





The net buzzing in my skull died a heartbeat later, telling me I had lost my connection with the others. My pulse skyrocketed as I realized that whatever power surge I’d just witnessed had likely fried the delicate components in the quarters, including Cornelius. Whatever attack the Core had just launched against us had taken the program out, and with him, the power that Quess and Leo had managed to keep from Sage’s hands.

But that was the least of my worries. My friends were trapped. I had no idea whether the emergency power was going to come on, but if it didn’t, I wasn’t sure they’d be able to use the room controls to get out. Any second now, the legacies were going to finish cutting through the door, and my friends would be trapped with no way out, and Leo would fall right into Sage’s hands. I had to get to them.

I broke into a run, turning on my light so I could see where I was going. Tony, I thought, my breathing already labored. I need you.

Already on it, doll face, he replied, and I felt his presence rise up to meet mine. He stayed just below the surface, but it was like he spread his own arms and legs out, just under my own. The burning in my lungs began to ease as he somehow managed to slow my breathing, and my heartbeat dropped in response. He then released a small trickle of adrenaline while stimulating my brain to produce more endorphins, giving me a wash of energy. His thoughts were just behind mine, explaining everything as he worked, giving me reassurance, until it was hard to tell where my thoughts began and his ended.