Pain blinded me, flashing white beneath my eyelids. But I was down, not out. When the man tried to haul me up by the front of my shirt, I swung a leg around and caught him by the ankles. He landed on the ground with a grunt, his gun clattering against a nearby patch of rocks. I kicked until I made contact with something solid. I knew it wasn’t enough.
I tried pushing myself up to my feet, but the world swung wild and loose under me. My head throbbed, and something hot and wet poured down over my right eye—blood. I could taste it then, just as plainly as I felt the air move as Liam lifted the man clear off the ground with a wave of his hand. He threw him like a rag doll into the sharp edges of the picnic tables, knocking the skip tracer out in a single blow.
Zu, Chubs, Zu, Chubs, my mind was stuck on a loop. I pressed a hand against my forehead, to the place where the gun had burst the skin in a jagged line.
I don’t know what happened next. It felt like my head was skipping seconds as we moved. At one point, I think Liam must have tried to help me up, but I pushed him away with clumsy, slow hands.
Run! I tried to say. Get out of here!
“Ruby—Ruby.” Liam was trying to get my attention, because he hadn’t seen what was up ahead.
Zu and Chubs were sitting on the ground, outside of Betty. Their hands were handcuffed behind their backs, and their feet tied straight out in front of them with a length of bright yellow rope. Standing over them was none other than Lady Jane.
This was the first time I had seen her up close—close enough, at least, that I could make out the beauty mark on her cheek and the sunken quality to her eyes behind the black frames of her glasses. Her dark hair was down around her shoulders and curling with the humidity, but her skin still looked as though it had been pulled taut over the sharp angles of her face. Her black shirt was tucked neatly into her jeans, and a black utility belt was there to keep them both in place. I recognized the countless devices hanging from the belt. The orange identifier, a Taser, handcuffs…
“Hello, Liam Stewart,” the woman said, her accent cold and silky.
Next to me, Liam braced his feet and threw his arms up—to knock her back, I think. The woman only tsk-tsked, nodding a head toward her outstretched left arm. My eyes followed its angle downward, to the gun pointed at Zu’s head.
“Lee—” Chubs’s voice was unnaturally high, but it was the look in Zu’s eyes that planted me in place.
“Come here,” the woman said. “Slowly, with your hands on top of your head—now, Liam, otherwise I can’t be sure that my finger won’t slip.” She cocked her head to the side.
Panic, I thought. The panic button—where? My backpack was somewhere tucked under the front passenger seat. If I could get to it, if I could reach the door—
“Yeah?” Liam spat. “And what’s the going rate for me these days? How much did it get cut back when it took you three weeks to finally catch up to us?”
Her smile faltered, but returned with far more teeth than before. “You’re still at a healthy two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, love. You should feel proud of that. You barely fetched me ten thousand the first time around.”
Liam was vibrating with rage, too choked up to speak. I heard his breath catch in this throat. I suddenly understood how he had known so much about her—this was the same woman who had captured him before.
“You can’t imagine my surprise when your name popped back up in the bounty database—and with that kind of reward? It seems that you’ve gotten yourself in a fair bit of trouble since we last met.”
“Yeah, well,” Liam said, his voice rough. “I do my best.”
“But, darling, how could you be stupid enough to go back to that place? Didn’t you think I’d look for you there?” The woman tilted her head again. “Your friends were only too willing to tell me where you were headed and why in exchange for letting them go. Lake Prince, is it?”
My pain gave way again to fear. If she finds East River… God, I couldn’t even imagine the consequences.
Liam could, from the look of it. His knuckles were white with the effort it took him to keep his fingers clutched in his hair.
“If I can pull in that much for you, imagine what I’ll get for a whole camp full of kids,” she said. “Enough to finally buy my way home, I think, so thank you for that. You have no idea what kind of funds it takes to get an official to look the other way and admit someone from a disease-ridden country.”
The next second of silence that passed was deafening, only because I knew exactly what he would say next.
“If you let them all go, you can have me,” he said, both hands still on his head. “I won’t give you any trouble.”
“No!” Chubs shouted. “Don’t—”
The woman didn’t even need a moment to consider it. “You think I’m going to do you any favors? No, Liam Stewart, I’m going to take all of you, even that girl of yours—maybe you should consider her condition before you try to bargain?”
His eyes slid my way, taking in the blood streaking down my face. I tried to keep my vision straight as I took the tiniest step forward.
“I don’t know where you came from, little girl, but I can assure you that where you’re going won’t be nearly as pleasant.”
I’m not going back.
None of us were. Not if I could help it.
“Come here,” she said, her eyes on me but her gun still trained on Liam. “You first, little girl. I’ll take special care of you.”
I went one step at a time, ignoring Liam’s sharp intake of breath and the buzzing in my ears. My eyes went from Chubs, to Zu, to the woman’s all-too-pleased face. Everyone was watching me.
Everyone will know.
And no one would be willing to have me after that.
“Turn around,” the woman barked. Her eyes flickered over to where her partner was still hidden behind a tangle of picnic tables. I saw her grip relax ever so slightly on her handgun with her focus torn, and I took my chance.
My knee flew up, nailing her just under her chest. The gun clattered to the ground, and I heard Liam take two running steps in my direction, but somehow I was faster. Blood was alive and warm on my face, dripping from my chin. The woman’s eyes widened as my hand closed over her exposed throat, slamming her back against Betty’s door. When her gaze met mine, I knew I had her. The pain that exploded behind my eyes told me so.