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

Of course, the task was simple, but not getting caught was going to be the difference between life and death, making it infinitely more complicated.

I didn’t have much in the way of a plan beyond killing Sage in the hopes that everything would stop, but I also wasn’t na?ve enough to assume that was all it would take. No, the real goal was locating Leo and initiating the New Day protocol. It was the only way to remove the source of Sage’s power. His control over Scipio was what was stopping the Tower from working, and initiating the protocol in Leo would take that control from Sage forever. Even if we died, Leo could turn the Tower against him—against the legacies—and get rid of them. It was the only chance we had of saving the Tower.

I looked down at my watch and sighed, hating that I couldn’t give Maddox any more time to mourn Quess. “Maddox?” I called hesitantly toward where she was still standing, staring at the pipe valve.

She turned slowly, looking down at me from her elevated position. Her eyes were red from crying, but she sniffed and nodded. I refrained from saying anything more while she pulled out the lancer we had recovered and checked the battery pack.

“I’m ready,” she said hoarsely. “What’s the plan?”

She descended the steps while I let Eric explain. Even though we had come up with it together, I was already having doubts about it. There was so much that could go wrong. All Sage or anyone in the room would have to do was look up, and we’d be dead. A part of me wanted to tell them to hold off—wait and let me go first, to make the attempt alone, to see if our plan even stood a chance.

Or, better yet, try to convince them to run away. We’d just lost Quess; there was no need for them to risk their lives, too.

It was on the tip of my tongue to ask them to turn back, but I knew it was pointless. Not just because they wouldn’t go, but because there was nowhere for them to go. The compartment we were in only had one way out now that we’d sealed the pipe back up, and that was forward.

So, I swallowed the urge, pulled out my gun to recheck how much ammunition I had, and then pushed off the wall and into the hallway, leading the way.

The passageway between the two vats was narrow, forcing me to turn sideways to move through it. The ladder we needed was only thirty feet down the hall, though, running up the side of the chrome vat. It wasn’t long before we were climbing, heading for the vent in the ceiling twenty feet above us.

It took no time for me to get up to it and pull off the grate cover, then hand it down to Eric, who gave it to Maddox. A quick check of the edges of the vent told me that there weren’t any sensors or automated defenses inside that Dinah’s schematic might have missed, and I grabbed the edges of the vent to support my upper half and then stepped up a few more rungs until I could get my knee on the inside and pull the rest of my body through.

I noticed two things immediately: first, the air vent was large enough to stand in, and second, it was deathly cold. Possibly just as cold as the pipe had been, if not colder. I knew that was impossible—and I was sure the air in here was several degrees warmer—but the wind made it feel cold. The air being pumped through the room whipped past me at a phenomenal rate, tugging at the edges of my hair, where I had it secured, and if I faced directly into it, it felt like I wasn’t able to breathe.

Luckily, I was heading in the same direction as the wind, not against it, so it was easy enough to turn my back to it and stand up. Within seconds I was moving clear of the opening, breathing air onto my hands to keep them warm and flexible. I moved my hand light around the darkened edges of the massive vent, checking to make sure we were alone, and then turned around to give Eric a hand.

He was already partially through the opening, but his muscular frame was making it difficult for him to raise his leg high enough, so I reached down, grabbed a fistful of his uniform at the back, and hauled him up a few more inches. It helped, and within moments, he was standing and we were both giving Maddox a hand up.

We left the vent open—Maddox had secured the grate between two of the rungs below, to avoid trying to climb with it, and it wasn’t worth the effort of going back for it—and proceeded down the shaft into the air filtration system. I knew from the schematic that the ventilation chamber over the room below was large, but nothing could have prepared me for the size and scope of what I saw as we exited the vent.

The entire thing was easily large enough to stand up in, except for the hole in the center of the dome-like room. Overhead, a massive fan spun, pushing the air down into the space. I could see the crackle of energy through its spinning blades, which told me that the power beam was directly overhead, perfectly centered over the opening below. Light from the room lit up the area in which we were standing, and I shut my own light off for fear someone might notice the beam, and then slowly approached the wide opening.

It was enclosed by a waist-high rail, likely to keep workers from accidently falling, but I slowed to a stop long before I reached the edge, not wanting to draw any attention to myself should anyone be looking up.

I immediately frowned when I saw that the area beneath us was not clear like the schematic had read, but instead contained a smaller domed structure, the curved roof of it ending just a few feet under the ceiling above us. In fact, I could easily jump down to it without using my lashes. I wasn’t sure what it was or why it was there, but it did offer a small amount of cover.

Emboldened by the fact that the dome provided something else we could hide behind, I dropped to my stomach and crawled to the ledge of the platform, trying to get a glimpse of the area around the dome. I approached it slowly, not wanting my movement to be the thing that gave us away, and cautiously wrapped my fingers over the edge for one final pull forward.

Rows of machines met my gaze, casting dark shadows behind them while multicolored lights intermittently illuminated their faces. There was no sign of any movement or people, but there was more of the room to see.

I carefully pushed away from the edge and maneuvered into a kneeling position, waving for Eric and Maddox to come up right beside me. A moment later, both crimson-clad figures were squatting down next to me, their eyes on my hands while I signed in Callivax. We need to scope out the room to see if there is a guard set up, where Leo and Grey are, and where Sage is, before we go down. Let’s spread out, taking different positions around the edge of the platform, and watch for one minute. If we don’t see anyone, we’ll go in blind, but let’s hope we can figure out where these guys are so we can find the best entry point.

Maddox nodded and began creeping to the left, while Eric flashed me a thumbs-up signal and went right. I watched them go for a second, eyeing their slow and deliberate pace with appreciation and respect, and then returned to my belly and crawled back up to the edge again.

I kept one eye on my friends as they slowly got into position and one eye below, trying to remain hyperaware of everything at once. It was an impossible task, but I tried nonetheless, knowing the next part of our plan required us to get in unnoticed.

Maddox’s hand shot up suddenly, and I immediately looked at it, watching as she signed, Got a sentinel by a door. Appears stationary. At your three o’clock.

Not great, but if we could keep the dome between us and it, we could make it work. I turned my gaze below, looking for any sign of movement, and then froze when I heard Sage’s voice say, “Ah, good, you’re awake. I was worried that last round was too much for you. How are you feeling?”

My skin crawled at how pleasant and cheerful his tone was—how friendly he seemed to be toward whoever he was talking to—but I could hear the undercurrent of malice that twisted his words, and I knew exactly who was on the receiving end.