Shel puffed out her lips. Raised her eyebrows. “Braver man than I am.”
“Yeah, well. Sometimes we just get lucky in life like that.”
They walked further along this empty wasteland. The dusty ground crunched underfoot. Empty shells clinked as they passed by from bullets long ago fired. Crows swooped down, and the sun got lower and redder. And as Noah walked further, he got that shiver up his arm. A shiver that he was close to some kind of resolution. Close to some kind of hope. Even if this was only the beginning in the conflict. Even if it wasn’t even a banker that Kelly would be able to convince her people to join them in the fight against the Reds—this fight against an unknown enemy that Noah only knew from hearsay so far.
But it was the beginning. And it felt like it was the beginning of something else, too. The beginning of the end.
Protect Iqrah from the Reds.
Hide away from the Society forever.
If that’s what they had to do, it’s what Noah was willing to do.
He got closer. Saw that blindfold over one of Kelly’s eyes, the one that was missing. Saw her trying to stifle her smile. And he got an urge to run. An urge to head over there, to wrap his arm around her back and hold her tight.
But he kept his cool, too. He kept his composure.
That was always the way with Kelly. This game of wills. This battle to see who could contain their cool the most.
He wasn’t sure how much longer he was going to be able to contain this.
“Just remember something, bud,” Shel said.
Noah looked around. Saw Shel looking at him with a rare… was that concern in her eyes.
“Huh?”
“Never put your eggs all in one basket. It’s a recipe for heartache.”
He frowned. He didn’t know what to think of her words. But they sent a shiver down his spine. Or maybe that was just the night, creeping further in. The darkness getting closer.
A sense someone was close.
A sense something was coming.
He walked further until he was right at the entrance to the industrial site. Until Kelly was just metres away. Until only a metal railing separated them.
And then he stopped.
Stood there.
Stared at Kelly as she stared back at him.
Each waiting for the other to talk. Each waiting for the other to break the silence.
“Just couldn’t keep yourself away, could you?” Kelly said.
Noah smiled. He opened his mouth. “I—”
A bang.
A bang somewhere behind him.
He spun around, instinctively stepped in front of Kelly, in front of Shel.
He couldn’t figure it out. Not at first.
Not until he saw them.
There was a group of them. Eight of them.
All wearing Society black.
Except…
A red mark.
A red marking across their chests.
The one in the middle raised a megaphone to his unmasked mouth.
“I believe you’re the one we’re looking for, one-arm,” he said.
And then he stepped aside and placed his rifle at something on the ground.
“So why don’t you get on your knees, right this goddamned second, or you can say goodbye to your princess here.”
He froze.
He couldn’t speak.
Couldn’t think.
All he saw was this man.
Rifle pointed at someone.
Iqrah.
They had her.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Noah stared into the distance at the Red holding his rifle against the head of an unconscious Iqrah, and he wondered why things could never be frigging straightforward.
The light was fading. The sun setting lower and lower, casting a reddish glow over the industrial estate. Shel stood behind him. Kelly stood behind him. All he could do was stand there, shaking. Wanting to tap into that place inside him. Unsure if he could. Especially with Iqrah in the position she was.
He didn’t want to think they’d put a bullet into her. He didn’t believe they would. After all, if they did that, they jeopardised everything.
But from the tales he’d heard about the Reds so far, it was all or nothing with them.
“Come on, Noah,” the leader said, speaking through the megaphone. “No need to make a scene here. Just come over here, and we can get this done with. Nobody needs to get hurt.”
A shiver crept up his spine. He didn’t want to go over there. Didn’t trust these people.
But Iqrah...
He didn’t want to leave her there, either. He didn’t want to risk anything happening to her. He didn’t trust these Reds with her or with him.
“Don’t do it, Noah,” Kelly said.
He looked around. He’d been so lost in the moment he’d lost all sense of who was surrounding him, who was in his presence.
He looked at Kelly. Saw the horror in her wide eye. The realisation of the severity of this situation.
And then he looked at Shel, too.
Up to now, he hadn’t seen much from Shel other than a smugness. But right now, he saw something else. A concern. A fear, too.
“She’s right, buddy,” Shel said. “Goin’ over there is the last thing you wanna do. But I have a feeling you’re gonna ignore us and do it anyway.”
Noah took a deep breath. Sighed. “I have to—”
“Noah,” the man said, speaking through the megaphone. “None of us are violent people. You know how this ends. You know the only way this goes. Only us, we’re not as lenient as the Society shills. It’s all or nothing with us. So come the hell over here, right this goddamned second. Do the right thing.”
He looked into the distance. Looked at the five guards, rifles raised. Behind them, he swore he saw more of them in the shadows. Rifles raised. Pointing at the industrial estate. Waiting to fire.
And that protectiveness kicked in again. That defensiveness.
That urgency to look out for the people closest to him.
He looked back at Kelly, and as much as he wanted this to be a proper reunion, as much as he wanted it to be a moment where they never looked back, he sighed.
“I have to go. I’m sorry.”
He didn’t want to say he’d be back. He didn’t want to make any promises he couldn’t keep.
Kelly stepped forward and did something Noah didn’t expect.
She
