Page 101 of Renegades

Cronin’s mouth worked in silence. He held a leather-bound book to his chest, squeezing it like a life preserver. “I… who are you?”

“I am the Sentinel.”

It was said in that same righteous tone Nova remembered, and she couldn’t help rolling her eyes.

“Answer me quickly,” said the Sentinel. “We don’t have much time.”

“I… a trade? Yes. Yes, all right. I am a fair businessman. But… everything’s been destroyed. If you’re here for guns or explosives, it will have to wait until I can reestablish connection with my—”

“That doesn’t interest me,” said the Sentinel. “I’m here for information.”

Nova frowned, her suspicions growing. Outside, she heard someone calling her name and she turned to see Ruby and Oscar racing through the alley, each carrying one end of a long aluminum ladder. Relief swelled through her chest. She wondered where they had gotten it from, though at the moment it didn’t much matter.

“Information?” said Cronin. “Well, that I have in spades.”

“I’m looking for Nightmare.”

Her heart jolted and she spun back to face the Sentinel. He wasn’t facing her and she could see the visor only in profile. But Cronin—she could see him just fine, and the way his stunned eyesshifted toward her made her pulse thunder beneath her skin. She gave a quick, desperate shake of her head.

“Tell me where I can find her,” said the Sentinel, “and I’ll not only get you safely out of this building, but I’ll take you somewhere that will give you a significant head start when the Renegades come looking. You and your granddaughter can leave this city and never come back.”

Narcissa’s gaze swiveled from the Sentinel to Nova, her eyes wide. It was impossible to tell if the Sentinel meant what he was saying, or if the offer was merely a ploy to get the Librarian to talk. Perhaps the Sentinel would betray their deal as soon as he had the information he wanted. That’s what a villain would have done. But a Renegade? Who were all about honesty and integrity?

But if he did mean to follow through with such an offer, he’d be letting the Librarian go free, a man who had put hundreds of illegal weapons out into the streets. What would the Council say about that? Had they already approved this deal, all in an attempt to find Nightmare? To findher?

Nova swallowed, debating whether or not she should be flattered.

“Nightmare?” Cronin said. His eyes stayed focused on the Sentinel now and Nova could almost see his thoughts grinding inside his head as he tried to work out his best chance for long-term survival… and freedom.

“She’s wanted for an attempted assassination on the Council, though I suspect I don’t need to tell you that. You supplied the gun she used, didn’t you?” The Sentinel took a few steps closer, his feet clopping against the floorboards. “I want to know where she is and who she’s working for. Answer that and you’ll have the rest of this day to find yourself accommodations other than a prison cell.”

“Where she is,” Cronin squeaked. “Who she’s working for?”

His focus slipped off the Sentinel and settled on Nova. Her hand dropped to her belt and the stun gun holstered there.

Cronin’s Adam’s apple bobbed sharply. “Well,” he gasped. “That’s a… a complicated matter.” He cleared his throat. “You see, the girl who… who goes by Nightmare, as… as some know her… by that name… well, she—”

A flaming blue sphere soared in through the broken window. It landed on the wooden floor, bounced once—

Nova dived for cover behind a display case, throwing her arms around her head, while the Sentinel launched himself for Cronin and Narcissa, shielding them both.

The detonation blew the corner off the library, tore a hole through the floor, and heaved the walls outward. Plaster and glass and roof shingles cascaded onto Nova’s back. The floor beneath her tilted sharply toward the epicenter of the explosion. She grabbed for one of the built-in shelves, holding tight to the molding as the floor dropped out from under her feet. Books rained down around her but she swung her knee upward for purchase and held on.

The rumbling of the walls had not yet stopped when she felt a surge of heat and all the smoke released from the floor below, searing and thick. Nova coughed and looked around, trying to see through the haze. Flames were surging down below. The wall to her right was gone and she could see the theater across the alley, but at least the opening allowed for the smoke to billow outward. She coughed. Her eyes stung. There was no sign of the Sentinel or Cronin or Narcissa. Had they fallen through to the floor below? There was no sign of them down there, either.

The bookshelf she was clinging to began to cave inward, the exterior walls weakened by the explosion. She gritted her teeth andsearched for a way to get out, but there was nothing else to grab on to. She sensed that to take a single step onto the splintered floorboards would send them crashing down.

Her gaze snagged on a light sconce overhead. If she could get to it, she might be able to grab on and swing her body toward the opening…

Though her palms were slick with sweat, she curled her fingers around the shelving and reached, scrambling upward, even as the shelves groaned and tipped toward the broken floor. Gravity tugged at her. She stretched, her arm reaching toward the sconce. Inches away… what might have been a mile away…

Her fingers slipped.

Nova screamed as she fell into the fire.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

SOMETHINGGRABBEDHERIN MIDAIR.

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