Archenemies (Renegades #2)
Marissa Meyer
CHAPTER ONE
ADRIAN CROUCHED ON THE ROOFTOP, peering at the delivery entrance behind Gatlon City Hospital. It was early morning—the sun hadn’t risen yet, though hints of light were turning the sky from charcoal gray to pale violet. The dimness made it difficult to see anything ten stories below, beyond a couple of vans and a supply truck.
“I have eyes on the getaway vehicle,” said Nova, who was watching the quiet streets through a pair of binoculars.
“Where?” he asked, leaning toward her. “How can you tell?”
“That van on the corner.” She swiveled her view from the vehicle to the hospital door and back. “Nondescript, blacked-out windows, engine still running even though it’s been parked since we got here.”
Adrian sought out the van. Steam was rising from its exhaust pipe in great white clouds. “Is there anyone inside?”
“One, in the driver’s seat. Could be more, but I can’t see into the back.”
Adrian lifted his wrist toward his mouth, speaking into his communication band. “Sketch to Smokescreen and Red Assassin. Suspected getaway vehicle is parked at Seventy-Ninth and Fletcher Way. Set your stations to the south and east escape routes. Still waiting on internal recon from Monarch.”
“Roger that,” Oscar’s voice crackled back at him. “We’re on the move.”
Adrian tapped his fingers against the rooftop ledge, wishing the back entrance to the hospital had better lighting. There were six street lamps, but three of them were burned out. Shouldn’t someone have taken care of those?
“Can I see?” he asked.
Nova held the binoculars out of his reach. “Get your own pair.”
Though he wanted to be irritated with the response, he couldn’t help a twitch of a smile. It was fair enough, he supposed, as Nova had spent twenty minutes that morning explaining to Oscar all of the modifications she’d made to this particular pair of generic binoculars. They now sported autofocus and stabilization functionality, motion targeting, night vision, a video recorder, and computerized lenses that could display GPS coordinates and weather forecasts. And because that evidently wasn’t impressive enough, she’d also added software that combined targeted facial recognition with the Renegades’ prodigy database.
Evidently, she’d been working on them for months.
“Fine, I will get my own,” he said, pulling his fine-tip marker from the sleeve of his Renegade uniform. He started to sketch a pair of binoculars onto the side of a metal utility box. “Maybe I’ll give mine X-ray vision.”
Nova’s jaw tensed. “Were you always such a one-upper?”
He beamed. “I’m only kidding. I would need at least some basic knowledge of how X-ray vision works. But I’m definitely giving them that motion-targeting feature you talked about. And ergonomic handholds. And maybe a flashlight…” He finished his sketch and capped his marker. Pressing his fingers against the metal surface, he pulled the drawing from the utility box, transforming it into a functional, three-dimensional reality.
Kneeling beside Nova again, he adjusted the width of his new binoculars and peered toward the street. The van hadn’t moved.
“There’s Danna,” said Nova.
Adrian swiveled his view toward the delivery bay, but the doors were still closed. “Where—”
“Third story.”
He readjusted and saw the swarm of Monarch butterflies pouring out of an open window. In the darkness, they looked more like a colony of bats silhouetted against the building. The butterflies converged over the hospital’s parking garage and morphed into the figure of Danna.
The communication band buzzed. “They’re heading out now,” came Danna’s voice. “Six altogether.”
“Seven with the driver,” Nova corrected, as the van pulled forward. It turned the corner and came to a stop in front of the delivery doors. Seconds later, those doors were thrown open and six figures came pouring out of the hospital, loaded down with enormous black bags.
“Citizen status?” asked Adrian.
“All clear,” replied Danna.
“Roger. Okay, team, we are cleared to engage. Danna, stay on—”
“Sketch!” said Nova, startling him. “There’s a prodigy.”
He blinked over at her. “What?”
“That woman—the one with the nose ring. She’s showing up on the database. Alias … Hawthorn?”
He racked his brain, but the name wasn’t familiar. “Never heard of her.” Adrian watched through his binoculars again as the figures threw their haul into the van. The woman with the nose ring was the last to climb in. “What’s her power?”
“Evidently she has … thorn-covered extremities?” Nova shot him a baffled look.
Shrugging, Adrian spoke into his wristband again. “High alert, team. The targets have a prodigy with them. Stay with your assignments, but proceed with caution. Insomnia and I will—” A bang startled Adrian and he turned to see that Nova was already gone. He lurched to his feet and peered over the side of the building. The sound had been Nova landing on the first level of the apartment’s fire escape. “… take the north post,” he muttered.
Tires squealed. The van lurched away from the hospital. Adrian raised his wrist, adrenaline coursing through his body as he waited to see which direction …