“I’m running all of the mall’s camera feeds through my facial recognition program,” Thea said as the team pulled into the Silvium Center’s parking lot. “I’ll also put a few drones in the air with my own cameras. If he shows up, we should get a match.”
Grace stared out the window. The crowds weren’t as bad as they’d been the day before, but there were still a lot of people milling around.
“Great,” Jasper replied. “Thea and I will head to the roof and access the closed store from there. She’ll look for any new messages between Aymes and Ringmaster.”
“Can’t we bug their equipment so that we can see any messages they send in the future?” Holly asked.
Thea shook her head. “I tried at Starchatter, but Ringmaster must have good techs working for him. I couldn’t get any of my own code to stick,” she explained. “But, if we find out Aymes is using his own personal devices to communicate with Ringmaster, I could hack them.”
“While Thea and I are breaking in, I need you three nearby,” Jasper told the others. “If Aymes shows up, you’ll need to distract him so he doesn’t catch us.”
“Distract him how?” Grace asked. “Fight him?”
“Don’t worry, violence won’t be necessary. Just, I don’t know, tell one of those kiosk dudes that Aymes wants free lotion samples. That’ll take a while for him to get out of.” Jasper threw open her door.
A few people gave the vehicle weird looks as the team climbed out, and Grace realized just how beat up it was. Not to mention all the dirt and sand it had picked up on the drive out to the shack. “Uh, is it a good idea to bring the car back to the place we stole it from?” she asked.
“Eh, it’s fine,” Jasper said. “I turned the F’s on the license plate into E’s with a permanent marker.”
“That’s stupid,” Holly told her. “But it is so dirty and banged up at this point, I’d be surprised if anyone recognized it.”
The five entered the mall and split up. Grace wandered down a random corridor and realized she was on her own in public for the first time…ever? Aside from the few seconds she’d spent alone in an aisle at MoonCo, anyway. She carefully eyed everyone who passed by, suddenly fearing she’d be attacked at any moment.
There are no Blades here, she reminded herself. After a few minutes of walking the first floor and willing herself to relax, Grace moved up to the second level to get a better view.
“Aymes is here,” Thea announced over the comms. “North entrance. First floor. He’s walking pretty fast.”
“I can intercept,” Holly said. “Do you have any information I can use?”
“He’s indicated interest in attending some pretty prestigious universities around the star system,” Thea said. “He also plays volleyball—”
“Volleyball?” Jasper asked. “Like, some kind of space volleyball?”
“Uh, just regular volleyball. The Janus System does pick up the occasional sport from other systems.”
“Huh.”
Grace’s gaze swept across the crowd below. Across the corridor was a travel agency. Get away today! the banner out front read. Transportation across three star systems.
Maybe it wouldn’t be hard for Grace to get to Earth on her own. Would Jasper come after her if she did? She felt a strange twinge of guilt at the thought.
Kara had asked her to find a way to Earth. But that had all been part of her organization’s plan to take down Starr, hadn’t it? Wouldn’t helping Jasper handle the governor instead be more effective?
Still, it was hard not to feel more guilt at the thought of disregarding the woman’s last request. She’d died to protect Grace. Grace rested her hands on the railing in front of her and squeezed until her knuckles paled.
After a long moment, Grace took a deep breath, quashed the internal debate, and turned her focus to the north end of the main corridor, where she spotted Aymes walking at an impressive pace. He had on a backpack and stared intently at the screen of the tablet he was holding. He didn’t notice Holly until she was waving a hand in front of his face.
“Excuse me!” Holly’s voice echoed through the comm, and it sounded like she’d managed to plaster on a fake smile. “Would you be interested in a program that will help you get into university?”
Aymes looked up at her with a distressed expression. He spoke loud enough for Grace to hear him through the comm, too. “Sorry, I’m in a hurry.” He stepped forward.
Holly took a step back to keep herself in front of him. “It’ll only take a few seconds to sign up.”
“Sign up for what?”
“Uh, the email list.”
“I don’t have time for this.” Aymes ducked under her arm. “Maybe later.”
“First ten people to sign up get, uh, free textbooks? You need textbooks, right? Damn, lost him.” Holly’s face dropped as Aymes walked away. “Dax?”
“Headed toward him,” Dax responded. His voice rose. “Excuse me, I’m part of a program looking to recruit—”
“Bit busy.” Aymes dodged Dax.
“Ouch,” Jasper said. “He looked kind of anxious in the school pictures Thea found. I was hoping he’d be too polite to say no.”
“I could catch up to him and shapeshift.” Down below, Holly folded her arms. “But I don’t know what would get him to stop.”
“Just keep stalling as much as possible,” Jasper replied. A boom came through the comms, followed by a burst of static. “We’re in.”
“I’ll try,” Grace said. She climbed over the railing and glided to the ground in front of Aymes, stopping him in his tracks. “Excuse me, do you have a moment to talk about, uh—”
“I’m in a hurry—” Aymes started.
“The birds are dying!” Grace blurted. “At an alarming rate. If you could spare a few janos—”
Aymes pulled a bill from his pocket and tossed at her. “That’s all I’ve got.”
Grace snatched the bill from the air and turned to watch him leave. “Uh, I didn’t stop him, but he threw five janos at me.”
Then, to her surprise, Aymes did stop. And turn around. “Wait a minute,” he said. “Have I seen you somewhere before?”
Grace shoved the bill into her pocket, cursing inwardly. She shouldn’t have brought out her wings. “I don’t think so.”
“Yeah, you were an intern at Starchatter. Wren Starwright. What are you doing on Si Hera?”
Grace breathed a small sigh of relief. He recognized her as a fellow intern, not wanted criminal Grace Alvarez. “I’m…writing an article about the birds. That are dying.”
“Which birds?”
“Red ones?” Grace tried.
“The only red-colored birds on Si Hera are an invasive species, and they’re doing pretty well,” Aymes said.
“What a nerd,” Jasper muttered.
Aymes shook his head. “I’m sorry, I don’t have time to talk right now.” He turned and disappeared into the crowd.
Grace sighed. “He’s getting away.”
“Thea?” Jasper asked.
“No, I’m not done,” Thea replied. “You can see me typing, Jasper!”
“Could we get a time estimate?”
“Five minutes. And before you ask, I’d say Aymes is three minutes away.”
“Great.” Jasper sighed. “Then I guess it’s my turn.”