Footsteps approached the cell before Grace had a chance to ask how Jasper intended on getting out of the station. Grace instinctively backed away from the bars, fearing it was her death approaching, while Jasper appeared unconcerned. Grace couldn’t say she found that reassuring.
A young woman stopped in front of the cell and began fiddling with the lock. It was difficult to discern much of her appearance in the soft glow, but she appeared to be wearing a police officer’s uniform.
“Got the key?” Jasper asked. “And my comm device?”
“Obviously,” the probably-not-an-officer muttered as she drew a key from her pocket.
Grace watched her unlock the cell with wide eyes. “Who is that?” she asked Jasper. “What’s happening?”
“Shh.” Jasper gestured to their rescuer. “This is Holly. Stay quiet until we get out of the building, all right? And move fast. My hacker can’t keep the station’s power out forever.”
Holly unlocked Jasper’s chains next, and then the two were hurrying out of the cell. Grace rushed to follow them down the hall.
Even though the world darkened with every step away from the windows, Jasper led the way with ease. How could she see so well? She was surprisingly quiet, too, considering her dramatic entrance earlier.
“Big group of guards at the end of the hall,” Jasper whispered. “On the other side of that door. Thea, you on comms?”
In the silence that followed, Grace became painfully aware of the sound of her own breathing.
“Excellent,” Jasper said. “And your heat scanning drone is working?”
They stopped in front of what must have been the door. Grace narrowly avoided bumping into Jasper.
Jasper continued in a hushed tone. “Quite a few guards between us and evidence storage. And they’ll all have flashlights. Holly?”
“Ready,” Holly replied. She pulled something out of her pocket. Grace could just make out the silhouette of a small sphere passing from her hand to Jasper’s.
After that, Holly took out another key and set to work on the locked door in front of them. It opened with a faint creak. Jasper grabbed Grace’s arm and pulled her forward into the darkness beyond. There was a click, followed by the sound of the sphere rolling across the floor. Hissing filled the air. Flashlight beams swung toward the three.
The light never reached them. Thick, black fog filled the air just in time to mask the three from view. “Smoke bomb,” Jasper whispered, sounding smug.
“Stop showing off,” Holly hissed.
“I’m just following the plan!”
“And narrating for your new friend.”
The three slipped past the confused officers. The officers’ quiet chatter helped hide Holly and Jasper’s exchange, along with Grace’s footsteps and heavy breathing. Jasper guided her and Holly through the basement labyrinth, and Holly occasionally dropped more smoke bombs from her pockets to keep them hidden.
A few minutes of walking brought them around a corner to a seemingly empty hallway. Jasper released Grace’s arm. A moment later there was a thud, a grunt, and the sound of a body hitting the ground. Grace winced.
Holly turned on a flashlight and pointed it at the door in front of Jasper. Jasper drew two pins from her hair and set to work picking the lock. It clicked a minute later, and she eased the door open. She entered, followed by Holly, then—after an anxious glance at the unconscious guard on the floor—Grace.
Neon pink light flooded the evidence room through the blinds. Metal lockers took up most of the wall space. Jasper trailed a finger across them as she circled the room. When she found the locker she was looking for, she picked that lock, too.
“Before you ask what we’re here for, this was all taken from my team during our last job,” Jasper said to Grace as she opened the locker door. “We barely got away.” She pulled out a data drive, black leather gloves, a miniature drone, a smartsphere model that looked a few starcycles old, and some cords. They all went into various pockets inside her coat. The last item, a silver cylinder about half an inch in diameter, stayed in her hand.
“Seen one of these before?” Jasper pointed the device at the ground.
Grace shook her head. “What is it?”
“Laser.” Jasper pressed a button on the cylinder’s side. A thin red beam struck the concrete floor with a hiss. Grace stepped back as Jasper guided the laser in a rough circle.
“How much longer, Thea?” Holly asked, a hand pressed to her ear. It was light enough now that Grace could see her sharp—and human—features: her green eyes, strong jaw, pale skin, and long braid of crimson red hair. The color looked oddly natural on her, despite being unnaturally vibrant for human hair. A black bag hung at her side. The dark blue officer’s uniform she wore was slightly too large. Of course, it was probably stolen.
Jasper finished the circle. The section of concrete she’d cut away fell into the dark and crashed into whatever was beneath the station. She gestured to the gaping hole. “Tunnels. Sewer pipes, maintenance access, abandoned train routes, et cetera.”
Grace leaned forward to peer into the darkness. “Wait, we’re just going to—?”
Jasper jumped into the hole and disappeared. With an annoyed sigh, Holly followed.
The room’s lights came on, wiping away the pink glow with blinding white. Grace glanced at the door. With the cameras presumably back online as well, she didn’t have long before she was found. She wiped her sweaty palms on her pants and sat down next to the hole. How far down was the drop? Her legs swung over the edge. Shouting came from the other side of the door.
Grace pushed herself into the unknown.
She hit cold concrete. The landing was awkward and left her legs aching, but she’d managed to avoid serious injury.
Jasper laughed. “You’re doing great, Angel.” Grace couldn’t tell if that was meant to be sarcastic.
Holly turned in a circle, illuminating the tunnel they’d dropped into with her flashlight. Fading yellow letters marked dark walls. Train tracks rusted beneath them. Trash littered the ground.
“Which way?” Holly asked.
Instead of answering, Jasper slid off her heeled boots and held out a hand. Holly pulled a pair of black combat boots from the bag at her side and tossed them Jasper’s way.
Once the boots were on, Jasper crouched next to a metal cover in the ground. She must have been stronger than she looked, because she lifted the circular cover without any apparent effort. “Down the ladder. Quick.” She glanced at the gaping hole above them. “Officers are about to come down.”
Holly went down first. Grace followed with shaky hands. The metal rungs were slick, and she lost her grip near the bottom. Her arms waved wildly as she dropped the last few feet to the ground. Holly raised an eyebrow, not making any moves to help.
Jasper pulled the cover shut, dropped from the top of the ladder, and somehow managed a graceful landing. She set off down the new, narrower tunnel they’d entered with a quick stride.
Grace jogged to catch up on Jasper’s right. “Where are we going now?”
Jasper pulled on the gloves she’d taken from the evidence locker. “Now’s not the best time for a lengthy explanation.”
“So, I’m just supposed to follow you blindly?” Grace asked.
“You’re welcome to leave,” Jasper replied with a shrug. “You’re not my prisoner.”
Seriously? Grace had been somewhat under the impression that this was a polite kidnapping. “Where would I go?” she asked.
“Jasper, she’s not our problem,” Holly cut in as she fell into pace at Jasper’s left. “She’ll only slow us down.”
“She has connections to Starr,” Jasper countered.
“Exactly. She could be a spy!”
“Why would I be a spy for the man who tried to kill me?” Grace asked.
“The attempt on your life could have been staged.” Holly rolled her eyes. “Duh.”
“No, I really think Starr wants her dead,” Jasper said. “And if Starr wants her dead, then she won’t last more than a few hours on her own. He has eyes all over Kronos.”
“Why would he have her killed? Why now?”
“We could theorize—and I do have theories—but that’s not important right now.” Jasper glanced at Holly with a raised eyebrow.
Holly huffed. “Okay, fine. But what’s in it for us?”
“Information on Starr.”
“I barely knew him.” Grace tipped her head back to examine the pipes running overhead. It didn’t do much to combat the stinging in her eyes, but she was able to keep tears from surfacing. “He gave me a room at the Governor’s Palace, but I didn’t see him much after I saved his life.”
“I think you’re more valuable than you realize.” Jasper stopped and looked at Grace. Grace’s head lowered to meet her gaze.
Despite the reputation, infamous villain Jasper Van Terra wasn’t going to hurt her—at least, not yet—but Grace had to mask the spike of fear Jasper’s intense gaze sent through her. Grace swallowed. “That still doesn’t answer my question. Where are you taking me?”
“A quick detour, then back to my place.” Jasper rested a hand on her hip. “If you’re with me, that is.”
“I don’t know what I should do.”
“I’m going to give you some advice I got from the side of a skybus one time: trust your gut. I mean, it was an ad for probiotics, but it’s pretty profound if you ask me.”
Grace stared. Jasper had to be messing with her.
“I’m the only person keeping you alive right now, and I’ll do whatever it takes,” Jasper continued. “But you need to do everything I say. Got it?”
One other person had been willing to fight for Grace’s life, but Kara Callisto was dead now. The least Grace could do was keep herself alive until she found some way to carry out Kara’s last request. Get off Kronos, get out of the Janus system, get to Earth.
“Okay,” Grace said. “I’ll follow you.” For now. As soon as she had a chance to escape Kronos, she would take it.
Jasper grinned. “This is going to be fun.”