He gripped her upper arms, giving her a gentle squeeze. “I really don’t know where she’s being held.”
Arden made a frustrated sound. Stepping away from him, she turned toward the glass wall. “Before you said you’d help me. Are you going back on that?” She wasn’t really upset with him. She knew she was asking him to betray his family. Mostly she hadn’t stopped being angry with herself. Asking him to lay his neck on the line for someone he didn’t know was too much to presume despite whatever was growing between them.
Then she immediately felt irritated for giving him an out. This was her job, her responsibility. When had she started thinking of him as a person she cared for deeply and not as a Croix? She needed this information no matter what it cost him. Keep this up and she’d be on the verge of getting pinched by govies herself.
Arden gripped the railing, her fingers turning white.
“Perhaps it’s worse than you think,” he finally said, coming up behind her. He laid his hand on her lower back and began to rub soothing circles.
She turned again to face him, forcing him to step back while her hands went to grip the rails at her side. “What do you know?”
“Nothing of their plans,” he said. “But what I have heard is troubling. The govies have been given a directive to extract information in any way possible, including torture.”
Arden’s body tightened. They both knew that meant if the govies accidentally killed Mariah during the interrogation, they wouldn’t be held responsible. Which made it all the more imperative that she find Mariah right away.
He nodded. “I don’t know if I can find out where she’s being held. That kind of thing is not information that I can easily access.”
“You have to try,” she said. He was her only hope at this point for redemption regarding Mariah. She couldn’t accept a no.
Dade stared at her a long time. “I’ll call in some favors.”
“Promise me.”
“I’ll do my best,” he countered. “If the information can be sourced, I’ll get it for you.”
His words didn’t inspire Arden’s confidence.
Dade leaned in, his hands sliding around her waist. He nuzzled a spot under her ear before he whispered, “It’s going to be okay. We’ll find her.”
Arden liked the way he felt. It was comforting. Easy. Making it possible to forget her fears and to simply feel. She leaned into him.
“I know.” She trusted him. Had from the beginning, or she wouldn’t have risked everything to come here.
“I want to see you again, more than to give you the information. I want to spend more time with you. I’ll do whatever I need to make that happen.” He sighed into her hair, hugging her close. “It’s been too long since I last saw you. I hate not knowing when the next time is going to be.”
Arden closed her eyes, wishing the same thing. “Dade, it’s not a good idea. I thought we agreed to that.” But the way her voice trailed off was not convincing.
“Right. Well, you’ll need to contact me to get whatever information I find.” He’d pulled away enough for her to see his face. He looked sad. “It’s too risky for you to come here again, especially if I start investigating.”
“What do you suggest?”
“There’s a ticket station outside the transport grid on Level Four, just south of Washington Street. Do you know it?”
“Yes.”
“Outside is a set of benches. I’ll spray-paint a red halo on the back of one when I have information for you.”
That sounded easy enough to watch for. She knew a vid-camera in the area she could reposition and hack into in order to keep tabs. “Okay.”
“I’ll meet you at midnight in the West End Church the night I leave the signal,” he said. “There’s a back entrance halfway down the alley, marked by a blue cross. Knock twice. When the priest answers, tell him, ‘May the sun shine for all.’” He quoted the traditional greeting of the Lower Levels.
“He’ll know that I’ve sent you,” Dade said.
Questions flooded her mind. Why did he keep secret company with a priest? What exactly was he up to? Had it anything to do with his initial hesitation to help her? And yet she didn’t ask. He had offered to help her. That was all she needed from him. If she pressed too much, he might not get her what she wanted.
He could keep his secrets.
“Can I trust this priest?”
“With your life,” Dade said. “But understand that by coming into his church, you’re swearing to protect him should he ever ask.”
“Understood.” She fidgeted, looking around, then said, “I need to go.” Not really wanting to, but knowing that the longer she was here, the greater the likelihood of her getting caught.
“Not yet.”
He leaned down to place his mouth against hers. Kissing her in a way that tied her ever closer to him. Twisting her up inside. She wanted this.
Reality couldn’t be forgotten, though. Eventually she pulled away, her mouth wet and puffy. “When I’m with you, I feel as if I could touch the sky.”
“It’s the same for me.” He brushed his mouth against hers with teasing kisses. “Let’s not stop.”
Arden ran her hands over his shoulders to bring him flush against her, letting him deepen the kiss again. Allowing herself to float on the bliss that he stirred inside her.
Colin clicked in her ear, interrupting the moment. “Where are you? Your exit window was ten minutes ago.” Nervousness strained his voice. “Your failure to return to the lobby has been noted. There are two guards in the hallway.”
She pulled herself from Dade’s embrace. They stared at each other, a wealth of words in the silence.
Arden touched the mic. “Be ready for pickup.”
Colin sounded relieved when he answered. “Five minutes.”
She focused on Dade. “I’ll look for your signal.”
He nodded.
Then, before she could give in to her weakness to kiss him again—or worse, tell him how much she looked forward to seeing him—Arden turned and balanced on the railing. She danced to face Dade. Shaking off her uniform shirt, so that she could access the sky suit beneath.
Dade laughed. “Next time you’ll have to take me with you.”
“It’s a date.”
Arden lifted her arms, engaging the light wings attached to her back. They unfurled, and Arden clipped herself into the control cuffs around her wrists. Then she fell backward into the purple sky, before she flipped to a dive, sliding the wings back to catch the current.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN