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  “It’s Jeremy,” Claire said. “He’s the friend I told you about.” She hurried over and crouched next to the man and smiled at him. “You okay?”

  The man named Jeremy looked from Claire to Rita and back again. “I don’t know. Am I?”

  “He looks okay to me,” Keo said. He walked back to the windows and looked out just in case Jeremy hadn’t come alone, or the two patrolmen decided to disobey orders and had returned to finish the job.

  Because of one random pillow. Jesus Christ, that was close.

  But there was no one out there except shadows and darkness and soft halos of solar-powered lights that could have used more juice. Fenton was sound asleep and would be for another eight hours or so, depending on how early these people got up to work the fields each day.

  Behind him, Claire was helping Jeremy up from the floor. Rita glanced over at him with another unasked question, and Keo nodded back. She lowered her gun and came out of her shooting stance, but she didn’t put the SIG away.

  “You’re bleeding,” Claire said, and took out a rag and dabbed it against Jeremy’s forehead. It wasn’t much of a wound—more like a scratch—but the way Claire was treating it, it could have been a gaping bullet hole.

  “I hit my head on the floor,” Jeremy said, almost as if he were embarrassed. He might have also blushed, but the room was too dark for Keo to be certain.

  What’s going on here?

  Keo watched them closely: the way she was acting toward him and Jeremy’s responses, and even the way they kept staring at each other like Keo and Rita were no longer in the room with them. Mostly, though, he paid attention to Claire—the soft way she spoke to him, the way her hands always found ways to make contact with various parts of him, and how close their faces were at all times.

  Gaby’s words, about Claire’s training, came back to Keo:

  “Don’t worry about Claire. She got through basic training like everyone else, and everything Danny and you couldn’t teach her, I did.”

  And Gaby had done some impressive stuff since the last time he saw her, with escaping from Fenton being just one of them. What other skills had she imparted on the kid in the years since Keo had seen her?

  A lot, apparently.

  “He didn’t mean to do it,” Claire was saying to Jeremy.

  “It felt like he did,” Jeremy said, glancing back at Keo.

  He was younger than Keo had initially thought—mid-twenties, maybe—and the sandy blond hair only made him look more youthful. He reminded Keo of Danny; he was just as tall and lanky. He couldn’t quite reconcile this young kid with the same one that had barked orders at Mr. Nosy and his partner minutes ago. If he had sneaked a peek during the exchange outside, Keo was sure he would have seen the two patrolmen quaking in their boots.

  But here, standing in front of him, Jeremy looked practically harmless. Or maybe that had a lot more to do with Claire’s presence.

  The teenager looked over at Keo now, and though she didn’t say anything, it wasn’t difficult for him to read what she wanted him to say.

  Keo obliged, smiling at Jeremy. “Sorry about that, kid. I didn’t know who you were, and we were on edge after, well, you know.” He walked over and stuck out his hand. “I’m Keo.”

  “Jeremy,” the man said, shaking his hand.

  “How’s the head?”

  “Just a scratch.”

  No shit, Keo thought, but he said, “Claire says you’re going to help us get into that compound.”

  “Is that what she said?” Jeremy asked, looking back at Claire.

  “I told them you were the only one who could do it,” Claire said.

  “That’s true, but…”

  “Jeremy, I told you what’s going on out there. What’s at stake. I thought you understood.”

  “I do, but what you’re asking… They’ll kill me if they catch us.”

  “They won’t catch you,” Keo said.

  “You don’t know that. You can’t promise something like that.”

  Kid’s got a point, Keo thought, but he nodded and said, with as much conviction as he could fake, “You didn’t think we came here unprepared, did you? This isn’t a suicide mission, kid. We have a plan to get out of here once the mission’s finished. Trust me, we don’t intend on being captured. You won’t, either.”

  “Jeremy,” Claire said, cupping his face in her hands and turning him back to face her. “Please.”

  At that moment, she looked taller than the Bucky when it was actually the other way around. Keo only had a couple of inches on Jeremy himself.

  “We have to do this,” Claire said, dropping her voice to almost a whisper, like her words were only meant for him. “There are so many lives at stake, not just ours. A lot of innocent people need our help. Please, help me to help them.”

  “I know, but…” Jeremy said.

  “Please, Jeremy. You’re the only one who can do this. There’s no one else.”

  “But what you’re asking…”

  “We need your help, Jeremy. I need you.”

  Jeremy sighed but didn’t say anything.

  And he didn’t have to, because Keo could see the way his body sagged against Claire’s.

  Damn, she’s good. What else did you teach her, Gaby?

  Fourteen

  “Claire’s right,” Jeremy said. “The only way into the compound without setting off alarms is through the front gate. There’s no way around that.”

  “What about the water?” Keo asked. “On the other side of the island?”

  “You mean, like swim to the island?”

  “That’s exactly what I mean.”

  “She’s right about that, too. There are guards watching the island 24/7, not to mention the snipers in the towers. There are four of them on the four points of the island. Plus the foot patrols.”

  “Are they good?”

  “Who?”

  “The ones in the towers.”

  “I dunno. No one’s ever tried to go onto the island without permission.”

  “How many guards per tower?”

  “Two at night and one in the daytime, at all times.”

  “Why only one in the daytime?”

  “Because you don’t fall asleep in the daytime. You do at night, so there’s always one alert guard up there. Or that’s the idea, anyway.”

  Keo went silent for a moment, replaying all the recon images he’d studied of the compound back in his head. Finally, he said, “So it’s the front gate or nothing.”

  “Yes.” Jeremy nodded.

  They were inside one of the clinic’s rooms in the back. The door was closed, and the only light came from the green glow stick resting on a counter. Keo stood on one side of the door with Rita on the other, and Claire and Jeremy sitting on an examination reclining table, their legs dangling off the side. They sat very close together, like two lovers wasting away a boring Sunday. A blue dentist chair, partially covered in tarp, glowed a sickly aqua color in one corner.

  “What’s in the warehouse?” Keo asked.

  Jeremy looked back at him. “I don’t know.”

  “Not even a clue?”

  The young man shook his head. “My part of security doesn’t extend onto the island. But you can say that about a lot of us. I can count on one hand the number of people with access to that warehouse.”

  Great. Why didn’t Claire seduce one of those guys instead?

  “But you can get us in there?” Keo asked.

  “Into the compound,” Jeremy said. “But not onto the island. You’ll have to do that by yourselves.” He looked over at Rita before returning to him. “There’s just the two of you?”

  “The smaller the number, the less risks,” Keo said. “But we have friends waiting outside to lend a hand, if we need it.”

  Keo thought about adding, And an air force waiting to bomb the shit out of your friends in the compound if necessary, but decided that was probably not something that would help his cause with the Bucky.

  �
��How are you going to get us inside?” Rita was asking Jeremy.

  “Things are fluid these days,” Jeremy said. “Personnel is constantly being reassigned, rotations changing on a daily basis depending on need. No one really knows where they’ll be the next day or how long they’ll stay there. Everyone’s on their toes, and I think you know why.”

  Keo nodded but didn’t say anything.

  “I can get you clothes,” Jeremy continued, “and walk you through the front gates. After that…”

  “We’ll be on our own,” Keo finished for him.

  “Yes.” Jeremy glanced over at Claire. “You’re staying out here. I don’t want you going inside with us.”

  “I have to,” Claire said. “They might need my help.”

  “No. That’s the deal. You have to stay out here.” He softened his voice. “I don’t want to lose you.”

  Rita looked over at Keo, a mild smirk on her face as if to say, I guess he doesn’t care about losing us, though.

  Keo grinned back, before saying to Jeremy, “Claire will stay out here.” Then, before Claire could protest, “We’re going to need her free in case things don’t go well or we need a way out pronto.”

  Claire narrowed her eyes at him but didn’t argue. Instead, she put her hand over Jeremy’s and squeezed, and the two exchanged a smile. Keo could almost believe he was looking at two lovebirds that were deeply, deeply in love.

  Almost.

  “We need to get in there before morning,” Keo said.

  Jeremy looked back at him. “So soon?”

  “The longer we’re here, the more chances of being discovered. Like what happened earlier. Will it make any difference if you bring us through the front gate now? This late?”

  Jeremy glanced down at his watch. “There’ll be a shift change at the front gates in two more hours. The one in charge is Tanner. He’s young and I know him, and he’ll be easier to convince that you guys are new recruits that he hasn’t seen before.”

  Keo nodded. “Two more hours it is. Until then…”

  “I’ll have to go back and bring you clothes,” Jeremy said.

  “All right. We won’t go anywhere until you get back.”

  Claire sneaked a look at Keo, and he made a slight nodding motion back.

  “Rita,” Keo said, “give me a hand outside.”

  Keo stepped out into the hallway, closing the door after Rita.

  Once outside, Rita was about to say something, but Keo shook his head and led her out to the reception area, where they took up positions next to the door and windows. It was just as dark and quiet outside as it had been when they were last out here. Fenton slept peacefully, safe and sound from everything that could hurt them.

  “I’m worried about killing people who don’t know what’s going on,” Lara had said back at Darby Bay. “There are a lot of people who just want to be left alone and live in peace. Sometimes they make bad decisions.”

  Keo wondered how many of Fenton’s citizens were ever going to know just how close they came to being flattened. If Black Tide were still being run by someone else, someone with Mercer’s temperament and less-evolved sensibilities about civilian casualties, this “fight” with Fenton would have been over before it even started.

  “They’re sleeping like babies,” Rita said softly. “Must be nice.”

  “Must be,” Keo said.

  Rita glanced over at the back hallway. “What do you think they’re doing in there?”

  “She’s probably convincing him that this is the right thing to do. He still sounded a little hesitant.”

  “She’s good. The kid. I almost believed she was in love with him.”

  Keo smiled. “Maybe she is.”

  “You think so?”

  “Anything’s possible…”

  “How did you convince him to help us in the first place?” Keo asked as he watched Jeremy jogging up the sidewalk before disappearing into the darkness.

  “I told him about what’s been happening out there, about what Buck’s people have been doing,” Claire said. She stood next to him at the window, looking after Jeremy.

  “The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?”

  “You’d be surprised how well that works.”

  “And he believed you?” Rita asked. She was at the other window across from them. “I mean, he had no firsthand knowledge, and you’re new here.”

  “Not at first, but I convinced him to look into it,” Claire said. “He asked some of the guys who have been out there. Friends of his from The Purge days that he could trust not to go reporting him for asking questions.”

  “So he didn’t know,” Keo said.

  Claire shook her head. “He’s never left town with Buck’s soldiers. He was part of Fenton’s original security force. That seniority is why he was able to order those two guys around earlier. They’re new. He’s not.”

  “You said he asked around. So he knows about everything? He’s totally convinced?”

  “He was convinced enough to come back and hear me out, and then keep listening.”

  “What if he hadn’t? What if he’d reported you?”

  “It wouldn’t have mattered.”

  “Why not?”

  “I didn’t tell him who I was. I only…intimated that I’d seen what was going on out there. I’m pretty sure I could have talked myself out of it. Failing that, I did go through Danny-approved basic. I didn’t reveal everything—including who I was—until I was 100 percent sure he wasn’t going to turn me in.” Claire gave him a wry look. “And no, in case you were wondering.”

  “I didn’t say anything.”

  “You didn’t have to. And the answer is no, I didn’t have to sleep with him in order to convince him to help us.”

  He smiled. “So you just batted your eyelashes?”

  “Not quite.”

  “What did you promise him?”

  “That he can come with us when this is over.”

  “He wants that?”

  “He doesn’t have family here. No girlfriend or wife. Just friends, but they’re not enough to keep him here.”

  “I guess he doesn’t subscribe to the Bros Before Hoes Club.”

  “Hey, she got the job done, so I’m not complaining,” Rita said.

  “Thanks, Rita,” Claire said.

  “No problem, kid.”

  Claire looked back at Keo. “So why did you want me to stay back when Jeremy takes you inside the compound?”

  “Because the chances of everything going smoothly and our managing to stay under the radar during this whole thing is…slim. That’s where you come in. We’re going to need you out here to save us.”

  “You? In need of saving?” Claire grinned. “Has that ever happened before?”

  “More times than I’d like to admit.”

  “I don’t believe that.”

  “It’s true. Contrary to popular opinion, I’m not Superman. I only wear my underwear on the outside on special occasions.”

  “When was the last time you needed saving?”

  “We’d need more than tonight for me to list all of them.”

  “I’m not going anywhere. You going anywhere, Rita?”

  “Nope,” Rita said. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  Keo sighed. “Let’s keep our eyes on the prize, girls. As I was saying… If things don’t go as planned, we’re going to need rescuing.”

  “That’s what Rudolph and Gholston are for,” Claire said. “Isn’t that why they’re still out there, standing by with a radio?”

  “Exactly. They’re out there, and you’re in here. If anything happens to Rita and me, it’ll be up to you to make contact and save our bacons. Just in case.”

  “Just in case,” Claire repeated.

  Jeremy returned thirty minutes later than he said it would take him. He was carrying a duffel bag when he knocked on the door, and Keo let him in. Rita stood nearby with her suppressed SIG, which she only put away after scanning the empty dark streets o
utside.

  “Thank God you’re back, I was so worried,” Claire said as she came out of the hallway and walked over to give Jeremy a hug.

  Damn, she’s good, Keo thought as he watched Claire embracing the young man and winking at him over Jeremy’s shoulder at the same time.

  “I’m fine, I’m fine,” Jeremy said.

  “Did you get the clothes?” Claire asked.

  “I got them,” he said, dumping the bag on the floor. “There was a little hiccup that I had to deal with before I could come back.”

  “What kind of hiccup?” Keo asked.

  “Nothing to worry about. Just some last-minute security personnel being shifted around. It always happens when Buck shows back up at the compound.”

  “Buck?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You said he was ‘back.’ Where was he before?”

  “I don’t know,” Jeremy said. “We don’t usually know his itinerary. That’s the kind of thing only his inner circle knows. The guys who have been with him even before he showed up in Fenton.”

  “But you say he’s here now, in the compound?”

  “Yeah. Why?”

  “You know exactly where he is? At this very moment?”

  “The conference building. He’s in there with some of his people. I’m not sure why they’re holding a meeting so late; I guess he just got back from somewhere and called them out of bed.”

  “How long do these meetings usually last?”

  “Could be anywhere from minutes to hours, depending on what’s being discussed. This one…”

  “What about it?”

  “I got the sense that it might take a while. Like I said, he usually doesn’t call meetings in the middle of the night. But I guess things are different these days, with everything that’s going on.”

  Keo looked over at Rita, who was staring back at him. It was easy to read what she was thinking, because he was pretty sure it was identical to his own thoughts.

  “What?” Jeremy said when he saw the quick glances between Keo and Rita. “What’s going on?”

  Keo didn’t answer him. Instead, he looked past Jeremy and at Claire, and she nodded back at him. It wasn’t a big nod—in fact, it was almost imperceptible, and he only noticed because he was looking straight at her when she did it.