Forged(41)

“But the streets . . . ,” Charlie argues.

“The back exit. Then to May and Carl.”

Charlie drags me into the back room, bolting the door behind us.

“What’s going on?” Harvey asks. He’s sitting at Badger’s desk with Clipper, a series of notebooks spread out around the computer.

“The Order’s in town,” Charlie says. “We need to get you to the docks. May and Carl are pushing off for a few days of fishing, and you need to catch them before they do.”

He clears a bunch of water crates from the center of the room to reveal a trapdoor.

“What about the others?” I ask. “Bree and Sammy and—”

“I’ll try to get word to them, but you guys have to move while you still have the chance.” Charlie yanks the trapdoor open. “Take the tunnel ’til it ends. The stairs there connect to Badger’s house, which’ll put you a block from the wharf.”

“We can’t just leave the rest of the team.”

“You don’t have a choice.”

Back in the bookshop, the muffled ding of the entrance bell sounds. Harvey grimaces, surveying his options: the storefront or the trapdoor. For a split second I think Bree might be right, that he’s going to march to that hidden door and throw it open, show the Order exactly where we’re hiding. But he only grabs Clipper by the cheeks and plants a kiss on the boy’s forehead.

“Go,” he says, pushing him toward the trapdoor. “We’ll be right behind you.”

In the storefront, muffled arguing breaks out. Harvey shovels the notebooks and hard drives into his backpack.

We’re in the dark tunnel and fleeing before we’re able to hear how things unfold overhead.





TWENTY


BADGER’S HOUSE IS SPOTLESS: MINIMAL furniture, and even less personality. It’s like he owns the place as a front and nothing more.

We survey our path to the docks from the second-floor windows. A few buildings obstruct the view, but from the commotion in town, it seems the Order is still congregating around the bookshop.

“Put this on.” Harvey throws me a lump of cloth from Badger’s dresser.

I shake it out. It’s a dark hooded shirt. The hood is oversized, and when I pull it up, I feel completely shielded from the world. Harvey puts on one of Badger’s hats in an effort to hide his own face.

When we’re ready to make our move, Clipper sticks his head outside, scanning the streets. A quick nod and we’re on our way, racing through the rain. It’s now pouring so hard I can barely see more than a wingspan in front of me, but we make it to the wharf without incident. If there are Order crews keeping watch from their boat, they can’t see any better than we can.

As soon as we’re onboard, the boat lurches to life.

“Wait!” I cry to May. “The rest of the team.”

I glance at the shore like I expect them to appear there, but all I see is a thick sheet of rain and a plume of smoke battling it. Right around where the bookshop stands. Stood.

“What are you staying out here for?” May snaps. “Head down. They’ll be happy to see you.”

“They’ll . . . ?” My eyes trail to the nearest stairwell.

“In the crew quarters.”

I take the steep stairs too quickly. They’re slick with rain, and I tumble down the last few, catching myself on my hands and knees. In the narrow hallway, I call out for them.

Bree appears first, darting from one of the bunk rooms so quickly she has to pull herself to a stop by the jamb of the door.

“You idiot!” She shoves me in the chest with both hands. “Ducking out”—another shove—“and we had no clue where you were”—another—“and I thought . . . I thought . . .” She slumps against my chest and hugs me around the middle. “Damn, you scared me, Gray. You scared me so much.”

“Sorry.” I fold my arms around her.

Sammy steps into the hallway and Bree straightens, puts a formal distance between us.

“Nice of you to join us,” he says.

“How’d you guys know to get to the boat?” I ask.

“Adam wasn’t checking with the hotel owner about chores. A tip came in during the earlier morning hours—from one of Bleak’s team—that the Order was in town. Couldn’t have been more than five minutes after you left that Adam told us to pack.”

“He thinks they’re searching for you and Harvey,” Bree adds. “I knew that Forgery would be nothing but trouble.”

“We’re heading for Bone Harbor,” Sammy explains. “There will be no going back to Pine Ridge. Hiding will be impossible, and the Expats probably won’t even make a stand against those Order members tossing town. Vik won’t want to waste resources or lose supporters to a fight. We need them.”

“For what exactly?”

“We’ll have a tough time getting that info from Adam now.”

I eye the crew quarters behind him. Emma stands in the doorway, but no one comes to join her.

“How?” I ask.

“He hung back at the hotel and promised to slow them down, wanted to give us a head start,” Sammy says. “If we’d known what he had planned . . .”

“He detonated something,” Bree says. “Manually, from the inside, once the Order filed in. There’s no way he survived the blast.”