Stealing the Amplifier was a joke.
Once this entire debacle was over, Thorne would make sure to tell his team just how unprotected the object really was. They were unlikely to believe him, because every time he mentioned how stupid it was that it was even being kept at headquarters, he got death glares from a top-level MiB admin.
It had only taken him ten minutes and the hardest part had been putting together a makeshift rope that let him descend into the vault without setting off any alarms. Since he had been part of the team that had recovered the Amplifier, he knew exactly where it was located, who guarded it, and when their rotations ended. With Elanora anchoring him from above, he found that—to his delight and utter frustration—his MiB-certified lock-breaker worked on the first try of opening the protective case.
Of course, these types of lock-breakers were only issued to the top agents entrusted with the most classified missions, and why would they suspect someone like that to steal the Amplifier?
He wasn't stealing, though, not really. He was just going to borrow the Amplifier for safe keeping until he managed to kill Sybil, get Cress into custody, and then spend the rest of his evening interrogating her. Then, depending on her answers, he hoped to spend a long time playing interrogation instead.
And a lot depended on her answers. She had lied to him. Betrayed him. Possibly created a secret folder somewhere else with all of their non-existent future babies.
He gave a tug of the rope to let Elanora know he was ready for her to pull him up.
He high-fived her when he reached the top of the chute. "Excellent work as usual. You completed this task even better than some of the seasoned agents I work with from time to time."
To his dismay, she tried to kiss him again.
MiB training had not prepared him to deal with ditching Elanora. Seducing someone as a distraction was the oldest trick in the book and usually the first scenario of deception that agents were taught at the Academy. Nobody bothered to prep the agents for the scenario in which the seduced someone had received the exact same Academy training.
Especially when she wasn't aware that she was that seduced someone. Trying to get rid of Elanora after kissing her was like trying to get dried blood out of his suit after a particularly bad mission. It just wasn't happening. Which was precisely why he'd decided it was better to keep her around just a little longer and use for all she was worth.
It had certainly made taking the Amplifier easier. But now, even if he did manage to get rid of her, there was nothing stopping her gushing, happy self from running straight to his team and ruining everything. He had to mask the fact that her continued presence was irritating the aces out of him.
While Thorne brushed off her advances with the raise of a seductive eyebrow and a drawled "Later, darling," he recalculated his moves.
"That was such a rush," said Elanora, her fingers finding his for the umpteenth time. He squeezed her hand assuredly in the way he had all the other times before dropping his hand just as quickly.
"Indeed. And now we need a celebratory drink, don't you think?"
Her eyes widened with happiness. "You mean…?"
"I said 'Later, darling,' didn't I?"
He caught her nervous swallow even as her head bobbed with enthusiasm. He should probably volunteer to teach the MiB lesson on seduction after this was over.
As he hurried her along the secret corridors again to yet another alternate exit, he thanked his lucky stars for all the Lunars out there who were currently creating enough problems to keep the agents away from MiB headquarters.
When they felt fresh air and Elanora hugged him—before just as quickly letting go and trying to straighten professionally—Thorne contemplated what kind of person Elanora would be once she found out that he had used her. He hadn't been lying to her when he'd said she was talented, and he wondered how her skills would help her get revenge as a scorned lover.
He would think about that later.
"Your house or mine?" he said, slinging an arm over her with a grin.
"Y-yours is fine," she said, her cheeks warming.
"Perfect."
Elanora's nerves filled him with a guilt he was having trouble assuaging. When he sat down next to her on the bed and offered her a glass of wine, her hands shook so much that he nearly called the whole thing off.
He wanted to tell her that she was too star stuck, too amazed that he would lavish his attention on her. That she was a sweet girl and deserved someone who would dote on her in ways that she probably couldn't imagine yet. And that she should run, because he was bad news, and people got hurt because of things he did.
That spy life meant a solitary life.
If he would have just told Cress those things then he wouldn't be here taking advantage of an innocent young woman.
But an agent had to think about his mission first, before anything else.
And with his mission in mind, he took a sip of wine and tucked a strand of Elanora's hair behind her ear. Elanora drew in a breath and set her wine on the nightstand, its contents splashing upward from her shaky hands.
"We could always just watch a drama or play a round of Royals," he offered, knowing the statement alone would set her mind at ease.
Elanora smiled warmly as expected, then threw her arms around his neck. He let her kiss him, let her entertain the fantasy, then pushed her back down on the covers. He took charge, bringing her hands up and overhead, letting her lace her fingers through his. She smiled against his lips, and he thought he might be sick, but he continued kissing her, opening his eyes to check that hers were closed.
Click.
She opened her eyes, but not quickly enough.
Click.
Before she could formulate any alternative ideas about what his plans for the evening were, he rolled off her immediately and stood up. "I'm sorry, Elanora," he said. "This was never about you."
Elanora blinked at him, then up at the way she was handcuffed to the bedpost, her dark eyes still recovering from desire and slowly beginning to fill with confusion and worry.
"I'm not going to hurt you," he said quickly. "Something's happened, Elanora, and I need you to stay here. For your own safety. When it's over, I'll come back and explain everything. I promise."
She pulled down hard on the metal around her wrist. "Let me go, Thorne."
"I can't."
He had expected her to cry, but her face gave away nothing but betrayal. She began to twist frantically on the bed, trying to escape. When she remained stuck, she gritted her teeth. "Let me go! I trusted you!"
"I know."
Thorne turned his back on her, and only when he was facing his closet did he close his eyes for a brief moment. Kissing her had been the biggest mistake he'd made all day. There was no cut and dry way to get out of this situation. He couldn't risk letting her go and alerting anyone at MiB to what he was up to. But he also couldn't let her go afterward without her either attempting to kill him or telling MiB that he'd basically kept her hostage.
He had not thought this through at all.
Once he had regained his composure, he rummaged around for something else to bind her other hand. Deciding on a long sheet, he emerged to find her sitting up on the bed, working to free herself.
"Please don't make me tie your legs too," he said when she attempted to kick him in the balls.
Glowering now, she watched him tie her other wrist tightly to the same bedpost, keeping a bit stiller than before.
"Do you want a blanket?"
When she didn't respond, he got her one anyway and set it beside her. She could put it over herself with her legs if she got cold. Then he pressed one of the buttons on the panel above the headboard and ejected the breakfast tray. He took the wine and set it on top of the tray. He left the room momentarily, only to return with a big glass of water, some bread, and two straws.
"In case you get hungry or thirsty," he said. He stepped back to observe her, then decided to move the breakfast tray closer so that she could reach the food and drink without bending her head too much.
"I'll be back in a few hours to let you go," he said. "I'm…I'm really sorry."
He slid the door shut behind him before she could say something to change his mind. He entered the lock code on the door for good measure, and headed to the kitchen to find a knife.
The pain he felt while cutting out his trackers didn't make him feel any better.
Sybil Mira had not updated her comm number since Cress had written it down in her hacked notes about Thorne's mission. In fact, Thorne only had to wait one ring until she answered using the audio option only.
"Mira," said Thorne. "I believe I have something from MiB that you've requested."
"Agent T," cooed Sybil. "I was beginning to think you'd left MiB in pursuit of another career. You didn't show up on camera at the latest decoys I planted for your team."
"Some of us had work to do."
"I'm so happy to hear that. Do you have my Amplifier?"
Thorne's fingers closed around it in his pocket. "Of course."
"Let me speak with Aimery to confirm it."
"Aimery's not part of this deal."
"Then we don't have a deal."
"An Amplifier in exchange for one agent sounds like a pretty good deal for you. But I guess if you're too worried about your boyfriend, I'll just bring this little device right back to MiB headquarters."
He heard Sybil suck in a breath on the other end of the line. If she didn't accept the offer, he had nothing more to trade. "And your team?"
"In the dark."
There was a long silence, but when Sybil spoke again, he was sure she was smiling. "And I'm to believe you're going rogue for one agent? Are you really that desperate to see her again?"
Thorne looked up at Luna, gleaming brilliantly despite the city's lights. "You didn't expect anyone to take the deal."
"I'm delighted to learn that you've defied my expectations."
Thorne growled. "The Amplifier for the girl. Do we have a deal or not?'
There was another pause, then: "Meet me on the Haifo Bridge over the Yongding in thirty minutes. Come alone. If I even get a hint of MiB activity other than your own, I'll make sure you watch while I kill the girl slowly myself. And you know I'll still get my hands on the Amplifier anyway."
Thorne hung up on her before she could trace the call back to his current location.
The Haifo Bridge was rickety and unstable, abandoned years ago as a means of pedestrian travel when wind storm after wind storm had battered back any attempts at reconstruction. Looking down at the Yongding River from the edge, all turbulent and dark, it was easy to see why Sybil had chosen this spot for the exchange. The way the river crashed against the walls that tried to contain it would make it too difficult for anyone nearby to overhear, and the rickety spirals of the bridge would keep anyone from wanting to interfere.
Thorne waited at the edge of the bridge, not afraid to cross, but unwilling to go to the middle where he would be more exposed. It was unlikely that Sybil Mira came with good intentions.
He took the Glamour Blockers out of his pockets and tied two each around his ankles, attached three to his belt, stashed another one in each pocket, and clipped two to the back of his collar. The one in his wrist had been the most powerful, but it was left blinking silently in his apartment attached to his tracker. He threw his tie over the edge of the bridge and watched it flutter down and disappear before it hit the roaring water. If things escalated to a fight, he didn't want it slapping him in the face from the wind.
His shades detected activity on the other side of the bridge. Four short ticks of glamour upward, two ticks downward, then a slow tick up.
Cress.
The signal she always used to communicate with him repeated itself. His heart ticked right along with her waves of glamour. She was still alive!
He strained through the wind to see better across the bridge. Then there was a sudden wave of glamour so high that his wattage meter ticked into the red. He stumbled back from the intensity of it against the black night. Then, he could see her.
Sybil Mira.
She was wearing a high-collared long coat that flared out at the waist, exaggerated due to the amount of wind. Her raven hair billowed just as much. Behind her, she was flanked by two men. One of them was practically dragging Cress behind him.
He swallowed hard as he adjusted the size of his wattage meter inside his shades to as small as possible. It had started going crazy, lighting up with yellow and blue and red, making the arrow within the meter dive all over the place.
He knew Sybil clearly had no intention of letting him walk out of here alive. But what was the point of being an agent if he didn't defy the impossible from time to time? Dying was not on the agenda tonight.
And giving up the Amplifier to a mass murderer certainly wasn't either.
Thorne tightened the hold on the gun in his pocket and strode forward, determined to let her think that everything was business as usual.
They stopped within ten meters of each other.
Sybil gestured to the man behind her who was holding Cress, and snapped her fingers. The man dropped Cress at her feet the next instant, which almost made him shoot Sybil right then and there. But he had seen powerful Lunars defend themselves against bullets before—they could easily manipulate unsuspecting Earthens into jumping in front of them and taking the hit. Did he want to risk it, if one of these men happened to be Earthen?
"Looks like someone wanted you after all, Crescent," said Sybil. "Though I'm not sure why." Fixing her steely eyes on Thorne, she said, "Are you familiar with Crescent's history on Luna?"
Caught off guard by the question, a "no" slipped out unintentionally.
Sybil's lips curled into a vicious grin. "No? Allow me to enlighten you. Crescent and I have become quite acquainted in the last few hours we've spent together. She was abandoned as child, did you know that? Not even her own parents could stand to be around her. And then she came to Earth because—"
"I know why she came to Earth," Thorne lied. He needed Sybil to stop talking. He knew talking was just stalling in these situations.
"And look how much good that has done. She's betrayed her own kind and for what? Only to be abandoned again by the people who she thought would accept her. Since you've come alone, it's clear the agency has rejected her. And why would they want to risk anything to save a wretched Lunar traitor such as her? Any Earthen can be taught to hack into networks."
"That's enough," said Thorne sternly. He had never bothered to think about how a Lunar might react if one of their own kind joined MiB, because the idea of it was so absurd. The divide between the planet and the moon had always been absolute.
"She's a weak-minded, untalented Lunar with hardly any strength left to her gift. Lunars have to use their glamour to make it strong, you know, and you've allowed your agent to run around with one of your chips all these years. It's clear that your agency never planned to keep her around." Sybil sneered. "Since I've seen the video footage of you two together, it's clear someone like her must have only one thing to offer you, Agent T, and I assure you, it would be much more pleasurable with someone less pathetic."
One of the men at her side barked out a laugh, but Thorne's eyes drifted down to Cress. She had been sending him repeats of her standard glamour message throughout Sybil's discourse, but they stopped when the bite of Sybil's insult weighed down on her. She looked away from him to hide the onset of silent tears.
"What do you care so long as I hold up my end of the bargain?"
"My queen was quite interested to learn this new development of your agency's interests in our people," Sybil said. "Using the Shells as lab rats for your technology wasn't enough, I see."
Thorne let out a bored snort. "Fake sympathy wasn't part of our arrangement, Mira. If your queen took better care of her people, we wouldn't have to deal with your people even on our planet."
Sybil's eyes narrowed. "And yet you've taken up with one."
"If I find it amusing to entertain myself with a Lunar, that's my business."
Cress gasped, but he didn't make eye contact with her, keeping his gaze split between Sybil and the way the wattage meter was progressively ticking higher and higher. Thorne was glad for his decision to arm himself with as many extra Glamour Blockers as possible. He didn't have much time.
"Let 'im have his way wit' her," said the same man who had laughed, spitting in Cress's direction. "She ain't no use to us, Mistress."
Thorne raised an eyebrow. "Keep damaging my goods and I might just put a dent in yours."
Sybil frowned. "Let's see it."
"What's to keep us from killing each other once we have what we want?" said Thorne, leaving his hand in his pocket.
"You mean you don't trust me, Agent T?"
"As much as you trust me."
"Fair enough." Sybil jerked Cress up to her feet. Thorne wondered if she would blow away in the wind if Sybil wasn't holding on to her so tightly. "Kinney, Stanish, drop your weapons as a show of good will."
Guns clattered to the ground.
"Your turn, Agent."
Thorne threw his gun haphazardly to the ground. He was sure everyone was just as aware as he that they all carried back-up weapons.
Nonetheless, he accepted Sybil's show of good will and decided to give one of his own. He reached hesitantly into his pocket again and twirled the device around in his hand. "It's just the Amplifier," he said quickly when Sybil pulled Cress more tightly in front of her.
He held up both hands, showing that one was free, and that the other contained the pen-like device. He twirled it around again. "It would be a real shame if this just"—he made a show of nearly dropping the Amplifier and Sybil gasped—"fell into the Yongding."
"Don't play games. You would be dead before it hit the water."
Thorne shrugged. "I want my Lunar. You want the Amplifier. This should be fairly simple, so maybe you can explain why we're still standing here."
"I'll go get it, Mistress," said the man called Stanish.
"Not a chance," Sybil hissed. "I'll make the exchange myself. You keep watch in case he attempts something untoward."
Sybil began to walk forward with Cress, who looked terrified at the thought of joining Thorne. Her hands were still bound behind her back, but the way her feet almost glided across the rickety bridge made Thorne wonder if Sybil wasn't glamouring Cress into complacency.
Thorne closed the gap to meet them halfway, moving carefully over some of the ripped pieces of the bridge floor. When they stopped right in front of each other, Thorne had every desire to pull out his second gun and shoot Sybil. But with two men behind her, he or Cress would be dead before he even got in a hit.
"The Amplifier," said Sybil.
"The girl," said Thorne.
"Don't do it, Thorne!" said Cress desperately.
Sybil clapped a hand over her mouth. "The Amplifier first."
Grudgingly, Thorne held out his hand, palms up, revealing the device. Sybil snatched it up greedily, and pushed Cress away from her—towards the edge of the bridge. Cress screamed and stumbled. Thorne dove for her, catching her by the shirt before she could go over.
The second he caught her, he wanted to pull her close. But they needed to get out of there—fast. He struggled to get her binds off when he noted that Sybil was actually retreating towards her men.
"I'd be careful about turning that on," Thorne shouted to her as he continued with Cress's binds. "You'll alert every agent in the Eastern Commonwealth of your presence just by lighting that up for a second. Your choice, of course."
Sybil turned back to him. "If I turn it on, I'll be unstoppable."
"That's what the last Lunar who used it said before MiB captured him," Thorne shouted. "But turn it on then, and see what happens." He grabbed Cress's arm as soon as it was free and began to guide her carefully back across the bridge. It was a hard feat with one eye trained on Sybil and the other permanently in his pocket, holding his gun.
The meter in his sunglasses began to tick upward again—fast. Sybil was using her glamour and attempting to use the Amplifier.
"Thorne!" said Cress, stopping dead in her tracks.
"What?" he said irritably just as a bullet whizzed by his ear.
Swearing, he flattened himself over Cress on the ground and pulled out his weapon to shoot at—
"Elanora?" said Thorne, his throat going dry, his finger halting on the trigger instinctively. How had she escaped? How had she followed him here? Had she tried to shoot Sybil and missed?
"Hello, Agent T," said Elanora coolly, her gun pointed straight at him now. A single handcuff dangled from her wrist. "Having fun without me?" Then she called out, "Sybil! He cheated you! That's not the real Amplifier!"
Thorne rolled, taking Cress with him, and shot at Elanora. She ducked expertly, just like an agent trained to dodge bullets. In the two seconds that it took Thorne to scramble to his feet, shove Cress behind him, and take more shots at Elanora, Sybil and her cronies had sprinted back to them, guns pointing.
"Out of shape, Agent T?" said Sybil. "Or are you just the weak link in a team that didn't bother showing up?"
He pointed his gun straight at her heart, though four guns pointed back at him. He was not out of shape, he was merely not used to having to protect a second party while he protected himself too. This was why he didn't want Cress on the field with him, he mentally screamed at her.
"Using a MiB trainee undercover for your own purposes, Mira. You come up with that all on your own or was it your pathetic queen?"
Kinney made a move but Sybil held up her hand. "Wait. The Earthen says the agent cheated us. We might need him alive to extract information."
"I saw the real Amplifier when he stole it," said Elanora, her eyes wild. "It has one of those Lunar shiny gems on it."
Thorne snorted. "'One of those Lunar shiny gems.' Nice, Elanora. Clearly your new buddies have shared a lot of information with you."
"More than you did while you were trying to get in my pants."
Behind him, he felt Cress bristle.
"Aw, your girlfriend's upset, Thorne. Has it been too long since you've tied her to a bed?"
He scowled. "And to think I felt bad for using you."
"Enough chit chat," said Sybil. "Where's the real Amplifier, Agent T?"
Thorne shrugged lazily. "Gave it to you."
"That's not it!" said Elanora.
"You really think we'd keep the Amplifier in its original state so that someone like you can easily identify it? I switched out the case while you were probably busy crying about how you failed your Mistress. Was that part of your big plan, Elanora?"
"I was busy using the broken wine glass to cut loose your binds so I could track you and make sure you completed your task."
"You completed my tasks."
"That's what I let you believe. I'd already hacked into her netscreen before you even created a fake mission. You were so shocked by her obsession with you that you didn't even bother to think that it was too easy." Elanora batted her eyes and put on a saccharine voice. "Girls like to pretend they're married to their crushes, Thorne."
Behind him, Cress began to cry. The same panic he'd felt at hearing that line the first time didn't come back, though. He faced Sybil again. "Congratulations, you successfully used an Earthen to your advantage. This will go down in history as a new feat for Lunars."
Sybil's eyes narrowed into slits, but with her hair whipping into her face, it was hard to take her glare seriously. Thorne silently cheered that he'd thrown his tie into the water before meeting her.
"I promised you I'd make you watch me kill your girl if you betrayed me. And that's what I'm going to do if you don't drop your weapon."
He couldn't see Cress behind him, but he knew that there was nowhere for her to run with how he'd positioned them. "All right," he said. "I'll put down my weapon. But if you hurt Cress you'll never find out where the real Amplifier is."
"Maybe I'll just kill you instead," said Sybil.
"If you were going to kill me, you would have done it by now, honey," said Thorne, adding as much condescension into his voice as possible as he laid the gun on the ground.
Sybil fired her weapon. A bullet embedded itself in Thorne's right thigh. Cress screamed. The pain forced him to his knees.
"Perhaps," said Sybil, "but I might let you bleed out if you don't tell me where the Amplifier is. Or should I let your girl bleed out?" She pointed the gun at Cress, and Thorne had enough sense to jump up before she fired again. The bullet pierced through his right shoulder.
He swore and doubled over.
It was over. Sybil was going to kill them both.
"Tell me where the Amplifier is, Agent T."
He could never tell her where the real Amplifier was. It was as Kai had said: one person was not worth cities of massacres. Sybil cocked her gun.
"Okay, okay. You called my bluff," he said, finding it hard to talk at all. He was bleeding out. "Just—just let me say goodbye first." Without waiting for a reply, he turned on one knee to face Cress. If she shot him again it wouldn't matter, anyway. He was already as good as dead, so he might as well try to save one of them.
Her face was an ashen reflection of her former home. "I'm so sorry, Cress," he said, pulling her to his chest with one arm and guiding her hand into his front breast pocket at the same time.
Where the real Amplifier was.
He gave her hand a squeeze to try to make her understand. Then he pushed his luck by allowing himself a quick kiss. The warmth of her lips spread over him like a song. He breathed out a sigh at the momentarily relief from his wounds. Pulling away, he whispered, "You're still….you're still the prettiest girl I know."
"For a Lunar," she said, a fresh tear falling down her cheek.
He laughed and squeezed her hand harder. "Today I couldn't be happier that you're a Lunar."
Meeting her blue eyes for just a split second longer, he turned back to face Sybil and her pawns. He hoped Cress could turn on the Amplifier and get it going without Sybil noticing, but she was a natural at detecting bioelectricity. It was unfair that Lunars had their own types of wattage grids embedded within their anatomy.
"Wasn't that charming?" said Sybil dryly. "You better start talking. The next shot will be a fatal one. Whether it goes to you or her is up to you."
Thorne nodded. "I'm ready to tell you," he said slowly, trying to think of what obscure location would make enough sense to buy Cress enough time. But he heard a familiar noise in the distance, and suddenly, his confidence returned. His team. "Tsk, tsk, tsk, you shouldn't have played with your glamour this whole time, Mira." He tapped his shades with the hand of his uninjured arm. "Everyone knows you're here now."
She glanced to the right as a hover approached the bridge. That was all it took.
With a yell of pain, Thorne threw himself at Sybil. She shot at him, but the bullet went over his shoulder, hitting Elanora instead. Thorne flipped Sybil over so she blocked him from the two men. His shades and her gun clattered to the ground.
He didn't know where Cress was—if she was even still alive—but Thorne continued his fight with Sybil. He kept her pinned to him with his uninjured leg wrapped around her thigh. Sybil clawed at his face, his neck, and then, the bullet wound in his shoulder. Somewhere, he thought he heard a scream, but it was covered by the sounds of agony leaving his own lips.
Bullets rained down around them.
More screaming.
Then, a knife.
Piercing his arm.
Over and over.
The blood splattered his face, Sybil's face. His vision began to blur. He could still make out Sybil, the knife, his ruined arm. The knife in his arm stopped slicing into him. Instead, he saw a glint of metal above his chest. He took a shuddering breath and waited for the final stab to his heart.
It didn't come.
Instead, the witch stabbed herself.
Sybil's shriek of pain overwhelmed his senses. She collapsed on top of him. Blood covered both of them so much that he couldn't tell if it was his own or hers.
Everything's going to be fine. It was like his own mind was whispering it to him.
"Cress," he mumbled, trying to push Sybil off of his body. He found that he had more strength than he had thought. Something in him was telling him that if he just managed to get up, he would be okay. He had to bandage his wounds. His arm would be fine. The pain wouldn't last. His line of sight focused just a bit.
"Drop your glamour, Lunar!" he heard someone shout.
Everything's going to be fine.
"Cress," he mumbled again. His body hurt so much.
No, his body didn't hurt at all. He had to make it to the hover for help.
"Hand over the Amplifier now or you will be killed!" said the same voice again. Jacin?
Thorne managed to get to his feet and teetered.
That's right, he was going to be fine.
"She's using it now! She's been spying on Thorne all this time!" said Elanora.
Wait, Elanora?
Thorne tried to survey the scene despite his desperate need to walk to the hover. There was Elanora, still standing but injured from her bullet wound. Next to her, in a row, stood Kai, Wolf, and Jacin. They faced Cress, who stood at the edge of the bridge, all of her attention focused only on Thorne.
But this Cress…she looked….like an angel. No, a goddess. A dream. Was he dead?
"She came with Sybil and these two men," said Elanora, her voice scared and nervous. "She attacked us and she's controlling Thorne now. She's trying to kill him. He shouldn't even be able to walk right now."
"I'm going to the hover to get help," said Thorne, but he didn't know where the words had come from.
"Drop your glamour, Lunar!"
Jacin fired a shot, but when the bullet hit the ground by his feet, he stared at his hand as if it had betrayed him.
"Cress…good…" said Thorne dumbly, trying to convince his feet to walk away from the hover and go to her. Why was it so hard to walk?
"Stay back, Thorne!" said Kai.
He heard another hover, heard more shouts. He had to make it to the hover. He had to find the med kit.
He heard more bullets. Something in his mind snapped free. He shook his head, confused, and the sting of his wounds bit him as if brand new. He saw the guys converge on Cress, and he wanted to help her, meant to help her, but everything in his vision was going out of focus again.
Someone came to stand in front of him. He recognized her brown eyes.
"You're going to die," she whispered. "How does it feel?"
"Elanora," he said, trying not to sway on his feet. He would kill her, he would…
"Yes," she said. "Goodbye, Agent T."
She was grinning. Her hands were on his chest. His feet were tripping backward.
Then there was only wind and air and the roar of rushing water.
A shape flew past him. Fell past him?
It was really over.
The last thing he thought of before the river claimed him was Cress's moon tattoo.
