The Operator

His heart ached at her heavy sigh as she reached for the coffee, her tension vanishing when most of the milling people were pulled to the stage with a guitar riff and enthusiastic cheer. “Thank you,” she murmured, her words meaning more to him than they should.

Silas and Allen alone knew her past. Only Silas could guess her future. There were, and never would be, any easy answers for her, and all he wanted was for her to be happy.

“Do you have it?” she asked around the rim of her cup.

His worry rushed back. “Yes, but I don’t want you to take it. Peri—”

“Bill has Allen,” she said, setting the cup down and putting a cold hand atop his.

Silas’s breath caught. He didn’t trust Allen, but he was his friend, and Bill wouldn’t have a problem killing him. “No one told me. Is he okay?” he asked, and Peri’s hand gave his a squeeze before slipping back into her coat pocket.

“For the moment,” she said cryptically, wincing as she stretched her leg. “Bill is offering a trade. Allen and a vial of Evocane for a chance to snag me.”

Trap, he thought, but she already knew that. “But you don’t need Evocane.”

Silent, she stared into the coffee he’d gotten for her.

“Peri?” he questioned, fear sliding cleanly through him when she wouldn’t look up. “I know the lure to take the accelerator and remember has got to be incredible, but it’s nasty stuff. You don’t want to get hooked on it. The more I dig, the worse it gets. Some of these compounds are fighting each other, and I don’t even know why they’re in there. A sodium uptake inhibitor? Immune depressors? I know how much you want this, but they aren’t balanced and there are going to be ugly side effects when the longer-lived compounds begin to build up.”

“Then it’s a good thing I don’t need it,” she said as she yanked the felt-tip pen from her pendant and scribbled on the napkin. He leaned forward, going cold when she wrote BILL DARTED ME WITH EVOCANE.

“How,” he whispered, eyes widening as she wadded the napkin up into a tight ball. But the answer was obvious. Oh God. He only had three days to give her. She was running without a net and was rightfully scared. At least she hadn’t been accelerated. The syringe holding the accelerator she’d taken from Bill was locked up in Steiner’s office. Had she?

His lips parted to ask her, but Peri shook her head to stop his next words, pointedly letting the balled napkin drop between them. She thought one of them might be bugged, and with the ease he’d slipped WEFT, it was probably him. Shit.

“I expect that whatever Michael brings, it won’t be Evocane. I’m just after Allen,” she said lightly, but he could see the lie in the way she kept looking over his shoulder to the skaters, as if expecting Navy SEALs to come lurching up between them.

“This is a trap,” he said, deathly worried as he handed the three Evocane pens to her under the table.

He watched, his heart breaking as she tucked them away. There was guilt in her eyes when they flicked up to find his—guilt and relief. “Of course it is,” she said. She took a slow breath, gaze distant, as if she was feeling the paths of her life shift ninety degrees to a direction she didn’t want. “That’s why Harmony is with me. Trap or not, this is likely to be the only shot she’ll get at Michael. I think he killed her entire team in front of her for an object lesson. I help her get Michael, she helps me get Allen. You know I’m no good on my own.”

She was, despite what she said, but the relief he’d seen when she took the injector pens made it clear that she was risking her life on chancy intel and limited resources for the hope that the Evocane Bill promised her would be real. What if it isn’t? Will she go back to Bill to stay sane? Would I tell her to go? Drive her there? Kiss her good-bye and walk away?

“I’ve got to go,” she said, rising as the crowd began singing along with the band. “I can’t tell you how much this means to me. Thank you.”

“Peri, about the Evocane,” he said as he stood as well. “I’m getting close to figuring this out. A week maybe,” he lied. But he’d given her only a few days’ worth, and she knew it.

“I’ll be fine,” she said as she scanned the square, the thump of the bass beating into them. “Keep doing what you’re doing. I’m seeing this through. I owe Harmony that much. Steiner was just getting in the way.”

But she was dancing to Bill’s tune, and they both knew it.

“Good,” he rushed, not wanting to see her leave. He wished he could go with her, but the cold truth was he’d slow her down. His muscles were good for breaking heads, not speed records. “Don’t let him accelerate you. Once you take it, there’s no going back.” At least now, all she has to do is beat the withdrawal.

From her distant bench, Harmony swore and stood. “They’re here!” she said loudly, and Peri’s focus blurred.

“They followed me,” Silas said, but Peri shook her head even as she took a last gulp of her coffee and stuffed her crumpled napkin with her note on it in her pocket.

“No. They’ve been on us since we hit I-70. I’m sorry, Silas. Will you be our rabbit? If they follow us to the drop site, we won’t have a chance. I’m sorry.”

He could tell she was, and he nodded, not caring whether it made him into a chump. “Go,” he said as he gave her a hug, eyes closing as her slight body relaxed against his. He could feel it even through his thick coat. She felt so small, he could hardly bear it. “Call me,” he finished, refusing to let his throat close as she pulled away.