Page 18 of Rivers and Roads

I bit the inside of my cheek. I didn’t trust the others—not entirely. Wolves like Lior were likely in bed with the ones who were setting our people up to be captured and mutilated, and there was no way to tell who they were.

Unless Nadya had some idea.

“How do you know you can trust them?”

“I don’t,” she said. “But I’m hedging my bets and releasing the information wide. Enough of this information will make it into the right hands. Everyone in this rebellion knew we could only operate in secret for so long.”

I stilled and leaned back against the wall, my arms crossed. “You realize that this could get you killed.”

“I’ve taken that risk every single day from the moment I got here. They don’t trust a single Wolf. It’s not about keeping my identity secret. It’s about setting off a metaphorical fire and making sure the destruction spreads.”

It was good, but it wasn’t enough, though she had to know that. “Do you know their end game?”

She laughed softly. “I can only guess. But I do know the face of the man who needs to be taken down.”

My brows rose. “Oh yeah?”

“Yes.” Yet again, her tone petrified me. “He’s charismatic, and young, and dangerous.”

I opened my mouth to ask who the hell this human was, but there was a shrill ring, and I realized it was her phone. She shot me an apologetic look as she dug it out of her pocket, then gestured to the files on the table.

“I need to take this. Feel free to look around.” And then she was gone. I could hear her voice trailing off, and logic told me to listen in, but it felt almost wrong to do it. Maybe it would bite me in the ass later, but I wanted to trust that Kor had made the right decision.

With a sigh, I picked up the papers and began to read, but none of the information was particularly helpful in that moment. At least, it wasn’t a map to Zane. She had a meticulously organized list of Wolves who had been reported missing—organized by name and date they disappeared. There were red marks by some, and I had to assume that those red marks meant that the Wolves were either found or dead. Or likely both.

There were enough that it made my stomach twist on itself, but there were almost fifty who could still be saved. My eyes searched until I found a name I recognized—Bryn. He was on the list, close to Kor, but I was more surprised to realize how many Wolves were before him.

I moved up to the very top, and my heart beat hard in my throat when I saw the name there: Yasin Abbas. Her brother maybe? Though something told me it was a more intimate connection than that.

I tucked the sheet aside and then moved on to a list of cities. There was no key to help me decipher, but I had a feeling they were all potential labs. I could only assume the reason she hadn’t passed this on to Kor was because she had no hard evidence, and there was no point in sending Wolves only to find nothing. We’d done that enough times to learn our lesson.

We were at the point we couldn’t waste resources, including time and bodies.

Before I could dig further, my phone buzzed in my pocket, and I realized it was my alarm. The serum was still in the car, so hurried out to grab it, dragging both of my bags back with me into the house. When I got to the front room, Nadya was still gone, but I could hear her voice a little closer. I didn’t really want a witness to my little routine, so I roamed through the hall until I found a half-bath, then shut the door and began the prep.

I hoped—desperately—that I wouldn’t have to get too used to this. That it wasn’t going to create some sort of addiction that I could never recover from. I wanted my eyes back, my body back. I wanted to feel myself again. It would be worth it if we found Zane, but I was tired of suffering for our cause.

With a breath, I filled the needle, then swiped my skin clean before stabbing it in and hitting the plunger. The initial pain was less, but I could feel it building in the pit of my stomach. It only took another second for my knees to buckle and my vision to white out. A scream lodged in my throat as I grabbed the edge of the sink, and when I came to, I was panting against the cold porcelain, and Nadya was standing in the doorway staring at me.

“Is it like that every time?” she asked.

I licked my lips, my tongue painfully dry, and I shook my head. “Every dose gets better,” I told her, pushing to my feet. My knees were weak, but I was no longer overcome by fatigue. I wrapped the needle in a tissue since there was nowhere to properly dispose of it, and I shoved it back into the case.

Her eyes narrowed, and she crossed her arms over her chest. “Anyone who sees that is going to become suspicious. For a second, it sounded like you were dying.”

I shook my head, turning on the tap so I could splash water on my face. “It won’t be an issue. Doses are every twelve hours, so unless I’m there all night, the only person at risk of seeing me is you.”

She didn’t look entirely convinced, but it wasn’t my job to sell this serum. I was on it, and it was the only way I was going to get into ComTech and get the information we needed to save not only Zane, but everyone else we could get our hands on.

After a long moment, Nadya took a step back. “You should probably eat. You’ve been on the road for a few days.”

I didn’t want to eat. I didn’t want to sleep. I didn’t want to do anything except learn what I needed to know in order to get Zane the hell out of the lab and somewhere safe. But I knew I wasn’t going to be any good to him if I was run into the ground. I was weaker on the serum, and he was counting on me.

I followed Nadya into the kitchen where I blinked in surprise to find a massive computer set up. There were three large monitors on the table, all displaying code, and more equipment I didn’t understand. I suddenly felt out of my depth, and I shot her a look as she opened the fridge and glanced over her shoulder at me.

“Are you panicking?”

I couldn’t help a small laugh. “A little. I spent my entire life fighting with teeth and claws and guns. I barely know how to work a printer.”

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