Page 104 of Ford

She caught her lip, nodded.

Please, don’t make me let you go.

“Run.” He thumbed away her tear. “Run and don’t look back.”

He stepped away, and Ford was standing there, dark and resolute. He glanced at York.

Whatever passed between them, she didn’t know, but York strode past him, knelt next to Coco, and swept her into his arms.

She moaned, and the sound jerked RJ free from her hesitation.

Coco needed a hospital.

Run.

Not yet.

RJ ran over to them. Coco’s eyes were closed, but she opened them to RJ’s kiss on her cheek. “Stay alive,” she said to Coco. “For Wyatt, you have to stay alive.”

Coco closed her eyes.

“Go,” York said. Sirens churned the air.

Then she was running, chasing Ford and his friend back to the train yard. Ford hoisted them over the fence, tossed his pack over, then followed, and strode toward the train station.

She couldn’t resist the terrible impulse to turn around.

Ford reached back and caught her hand, perhaps reading her thoughts because he wrapped his arms around her, holding her back. Maybe even to steady her.

The militia had arrived, their lights churning red and blue through the alleyway, lighting up the shadows, putting York in brutal profile as he met them, Coco in his arms.

Someone barked an order to get down, and York knelt, Coco still in his arms.

Two militia ran up as he put Coco back onto the pavement, then one pushed him down to the ground.

“You don’t get it,” she said, her voice broken. “He saved my life. More than once. And I just…” Left him. Just abandoned him. “I should go back—”

“Have you lost your mind? You’re going to get yourself killed.”

And then Ford would risk his life all over again for her.

Not to mention what York might do.

“C’mon, RJ. Let’s go.”

Her final glimpse of York was his face in the pavement as he watched the militia attend to Coco.

The lights of the train yard glared down upon them, cutting through the black night as they crossed the platforms.

“We need to buy new tickets. We can do it at the kiosk downstairs.” Ford angled toward an entrance to the metro station below the train yard, and in the dim shadows of the cement underbelly of the city, he led them to a metal bench. Took his pack off and rested it there as he went over to a machine and purchased three train tickets.

RJ sank down on the bench, leaning against the wall. Closed her eyes.

Tried to swallow away the darkness in her chest.

“I shouldn’t have left them.”

“You had no choice,” Ford said as he came back. Only when she opened her eyes did she see his hand shake as he ran it across his forehead.

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