The Flight of the Silvers (Silvers #1)(205)

The widow’s deep green stare briefly came into focus. She spoke in a broken whisper.

“Go.”

Hannah shook her head, fighting tears. “Goddamn you. Don’t.”

“Run as fast as you can. They won’t catch you.”

“Don’t do this to me. You can’t give up like this.”

Amanda covered her face with trembling hands, muffling her sobs and her horrible thoughts. What does it matter, Hannah? Where will we run? Where can we possibly hide?

“This is just what Evan wanted,” Hannah cried. “He came here to break us. It’s not supposed to work on you. You’re supposed to be the strong one!”

“I can’t go through it again.”

“You think I can? You think I will? I’ll slit my wrists before I watch the sky come down again.”

“Don’t . . .”

“Don’t what? Don’t check out early? What do you think you’re doing now?”

Amanda closed her eyes. “Hannah, please . . .”

“I’m not leaving without you. You either come with me or we sit here and wait for the Deps together. I can’t imagine they’ll be nice to us, Public Enemies Number One and Two. But hey, maybe they’ll put our brains in matching jars. At least we’ll finally look alike.”

“Hannah, what do you want me to do? My leg’s broken.”

“I’ll carry you.”

“Where? How do you expect to get past them if you’re hauling me around?”

Hannah pinched her lip in busy contemplation.

“We’ll go up.”

“What?”

“You remember when we woke up Theo at the parade? He was all confused and thought he was picking us up from the roof. Maybe it wasn’t a dream. Maybe it was a premonition.”

“That’s crazy. How would they pick us up?”

“I don’t know. Two of them have a direct line to the future. One’s a boy genius. And there’s no limit to the crazy things Zack will do to get you back. He’s probably already stealing a blimp.”

Amanda let out a teary laugh. The maddening artist would jump into fire for her, and yet he fled for the hills at the first sign of romantic trouble. If anything, she wanted to live just to smack him.

“We don’t even know if they got out of the building.”

“They did,” Hannah said. “I’m in the blackest mood of my life, but I know in my heart they got away. I know I want to see them again. I might even be able to handle what’s coming if I had all of you with me. Can’t you understand that, Amanda? Don’t you feel the same way?”

Warm tears spilled down Amanda’s face. She bit her lip and nodded.

“Good. So you’ll quit bitching and let me carry you?”

She sniffed and nodded again. Hannah looked around.

“All right then. I guess the first step . . .”

Her eyes froze wide at the office door. A large black figure stopped just outside the clouded glass. “Oh no . . .”

The armored Dep raised his handheld thermal scanner. He snapped to alertness at the orange figures on his display.

“I have two on the fifth floor! Two on the fifth—”

His body twitched with neuroelectric mayhem as a hidden chaser from the nearby flower pot jolted him. Hannah had snatched Evan’s computer from the rug and frantically mashed at the controls. She knew from Amanda’s painful experience that one of the buttons remotely triggered the weapon. Apparently she’d found it.

The agent staggered forward, his mirrored black helmet crashing through the glass. He toppled back to the hallway carpet.

The other seven elites quickly converged on the fifth-floor landing. Melissa eyed the twitching agent from a distance, then motioned to three of her crew.

“Loop around and flank the other side. Make sure they—”

A small black ball the size of an apple flew out of the broken door of the law office. It bounced off a planter and rolled five yards down the hall.

The Deps watched in puzzlement as Evan’s sleeping-gas grenade exploded in a swirling white cloud, far away from any living targets. Melissa caught a hint of quick movement through the smoke cover.

“It’s the swifter. She’s making a run for it. Go downstairs and guard all exits. Do not let her out of this building.”

The agents hurried down the steps. Melissa held her breath and sped through the gas cloud. She could see the cumbersome figure on the walkway now. To her surprise, it wasn’t just Hannah on the move. The Great Sisters Given were fleeing as one.

Hannah clenched her jaw, struggling to keep Amanda steady on her back. A week ago, she’d taught herself how to expand her temporal field, a trick she hoped she’d never have to use. She knew that if even a small piece of Amanda left the confines of the temporis, she’d be rifted. But with armed and armored agents running around like cheetahs, there was little choice. She had to try. She had to run faster.

Melissa bolted after them, vexed by the widening gap. Even with the burden of a 120-pound sibling, Hannah had the speed advantage. She must have been shifted at twice the suit’s limit.

Before Melissa could line up a decent leg shot, Hannah ducked into the stairwell. Melissa chased her inside and crunched her brow at the heavy footsteps above her. What the hell is she doing?