Liam shook his head. “We’re making it look like Heath jumped him, but there’s a good chance they’ll have Rowe as the first suspect in aiding Heath’s escape.”
Rowe struggled into my prison uniform. “Yeah, but my registered address is still the house next to Norma’s. They’ll go there first if they do suspect me of being involved. It’ll buy us time. And if I do a good enough acting job, they’ll cross me off the list before they look any further than that. You know how to get through Saint View to Old South Road? It’s by the Mountainside turnoff.”
I tied the final knot on my shoelaces and stood. “I know it. I go fishing around there in the summertime.”
“You need my ID pass and the codes. Two-five-four-six to get through the solitary doors. Eight-five-four-five to get out the main ones. Repeat them.”
I mumbled the numbers a few times until Rowe was satisfied, and then the four of us stood staring at each other, inching in so we formed a tight circle.
Liam eyed me. “You can’t take any of our cars without drawing huge suspicion. Stay off the main roads.” He cracked the tiniest of grins. “If you have to, dredge up those old high school memories and hot-wire a car.”
“What makes you think I ever hot-wired a car?”
All three of them stared at me with disbelieving expressions.
“Fine. I might have stolen a car or two, but I didn’t make a habit of it. I doubt I could still do it, even if I could find a car old enough. But I won’t have to. I know Saint View. I know the backstreets and alleys. I’ll get myself to the cabin.” I filled my voice with a confidence I didn’t feel. Because I knew, deep down, that this wasn’t going to be even half as simple as I was making it out.
I picked up Mae’s hand and squeezed her fingers between mine. She looked up at me, her nerves finally showing through beneath her bravado.
“Be careful,” she whispered.
“Always.” I leaned down and placed confident lips against hers.
She pressed up onto her toes immediately, wrapping herself around my body and clinging like it was the last time she was going to see me.
I clung to her right back, because there was every chance this would be the last time. I was well aware that the guards in the towers surrounding the perimeter weren’t shooting blanks. Rowe’s guard uniform was still only cotton and polyester.
It wasn’t going to protect me from a bullet in my back.
I breathed in the scent of her hair and the taste of her lips. Nerves kept me from deepening the kiss the way I wanted to, but it was enough to just hold her.
Liam and Rowe watched, but there was nothing sexual in it this time.
When I pulled away, I turned to the two of them. “See you on the outside?”
They nodded.
I swallowed hard, then drew them both in, hugging them both quickly and a little awkwardly before stepping back. I couldn’t look at Mae again.
With my gaze to the floor, I slipped out the cell door to escape.
2
Rowe
The moment Heath walked out the door, relief cascaded over me. We still had a long way to go, but getting him to actually agree to try had been half the battle.
When the doors closed behind him, I had no regrets. I hadn’t been lying when I said I wasn’t going to stand by and just watch somebody else I cared about die. Not if there was anything I could do about it.
Steeling myself for what I knew had to happen, I turned to Liam. I sucked in a deep breath, letting it fill my lungs beneath the ugly prison-issue clothes. I closed my eyes. “Do it.”
Liam hesitated.
“Do what?” Mae asked.
Neither of us could face her. It was one thing for me to take punches from Liam, but both he and I knew that a few bruises across my ribs and a black eye wasn’t gonna cut it when the cops interviewed me.
We had to go all out.
Liam grimaced at me. “Fuck man, I don’t want to but…”
“I know. Just do it. If you do it well, I won’t feel it for hours.”
“Mae, don’t watch.”
Her eyes went wide. “Wait, Rowe—”
Liam’s fist connected with the side of my head, and the world spun around me. I stumbled forward, vaguely aware of him catching me, before the darkness took hold completely.
3
Heath
It killed me to walk away from Solitary and leave Mae and the others behind. I didn’t want to do this alone, and yet I didn’t want them with me either. If they got caught, there’d be no explaining it. With every step toward the main exit, I clutched Rowe’s employee ID card and chanted the codes beneath my breath. I wouldn’t pause when I got there. I wouldn’t rush and give away the nerves that coursed through my body. At this time of night, there was nobody around, and most of the cameras in this shoddy prison had either never worked or hadn’t been replaced after the riot. But if there was a working camera? It would highly likely be the one on the main entrance and exit.
I made it there without incident, keeping my eyes down. Rowe wasn’t much shorter than me, and from behind, with his cap pulled low on my head, we could probably be confused for each other. But if they got one glimpse at my face, I’d be recognized instantly. I hadn’t exactly managed to keep the low profile I’d wanted while I was in here.
I swiped Rowe’s card and then punched in the memorized code. I don’t know why I was surprised when the lock popped. Maybe there was still a tiny part of me that suspected Rowe was setting me up.
That door swinging open put all doubts to rest. We might have started on opposite sides, but that line had blurred somewhere along the way, and now, as I walked out into the main waiting room, I realized there was no longer a line at all. Rowe had my back.