Page 51 of Redstone
“What the bloody hell is going on here, petal?”
Pence’s voice shocked Isidore out of his fugue. He shook his head, silent as he weighed his options. This was a fucking mess, was what it was. No guards were rushing in to shut things down, more than half the prison population was going to need Regen for bot-inflicted burns, and Robbie was possibly gravely injured. If Isidore waited to do this all the right way, the closest to the legal way, there very well might be new leadership in place that would refuse any and all requests for transfers while they figured out what thehellhad just gone down.
Isidore couldn’t take that risk. If not even Robbie was safe, then there was no way Kyle would survive that long, especially not with the prisoners in a state of upheaval. And besides … the door was open.
Isidore reached out and grabbed Kyle’s hand. “We’re getting out of here,” he said. He could still see the bot in the distance. If they stuck close to it, they could follow it through the doors. From there, he’d be able to find his way to the hangar. Robbie and Wyl’s ship would open to him, and if anyone was going to forgive him for an act of piracy, it was them. “Come on.”
Another hand found his. “You’re not going anywhere without me, darling,” Pence said grimly.
“Then shut up and keep up,” Isidore said, and he tugged them into a run as he chased down the bot. Hopefully, it wouldn’t turn around and shoot him when it saw the three of them behind it.
Surprisingly, the bot led the way straight to the ship hangar. Wyl was already there, completely blind to everything except Robbie as he lurched forward toward his husband. “ZeeBee, status!”
“Alive and recovering. Currently, he is under the influence of Regen. Expected return to consciousness in three-point-seven standard hours.”
“Oh.” Wyl shuddered and leaned against the bot’s sturdy body, bringing his head close to Robbie’s. “All right. All right. Fuck, it’s all right.”
“Not completely,” Isidore said. He could see it took effort, but Wyl eventually lifted his head and looked at him. “Hi.”
“Oh. Oh, shit,Isidore!” He was being hugged before he could stop it, something that was sure to cause conniptions in the central security room, but Isidore couldn’t care less. “Fuck, are you okay? What are you doing here?”
“Seizing the day,” Isidore said, feeling a little like falling apart now that he was in friendly arms. “There’s bound to be an inquest, they’ll ask questions, it isn’t safe—it never was, but now—”
“No, you’re right,” Wyl agreed, finally letting him go to look at his companions. “Mr. Alexander. And …”
“Pence, mate.” He almost sounded normal. “Just Pence.”
Wyl looked at Isidore. “He’s with you?”
“He is now.” Whether Isidore wanted it or not, apparently.
“Then he’ll come along. Let’s kick this shithole to the curb. ZeeBee,” Wyl addressed the bot, “get Robbie situated in the ship. You guys, follow him. I’ll be right there.”
“What are you going to do?” Isidore asked.
Wyl smiled darkly. “Since there’s no reason to be subtle anymore, I’m gonna kill every fucking camera and tracking system in this fucking place before we leave. Let them try to send someone after us once I’ve punched their eyes out. Go,go.” He waved them toward his and Robbie’s little ship, then headed to the nearest control panel.
Isidore followed ZeeBee on board, still clinging to Kyle and Pence. They settled into the tight quarters right behind thepilot’s chair, and Pence turned to Isidore with a raised eyebrow. “Interesting friends you’ve got, my dove.”
“You have no idea,” Isidore said dryly.
“We’re really leaving?” Kyle asked. He sounded dumbfounded. “Right now?”
“It’s an opportunity we might not get again.”
“But what about my lawyer? And what about—” He stopped speaking when Isidore shook his head.
“They’ll weather the storm better than we would. This is just a course change, Kyle. We’re not throwing away the map.”
“What map, pet?”
Isidore breathed a sigh of relief when Wyl joined them, firing up the engines and heading for the nearest air lock, which opened obediently to his command. “The one that leads to the end.”
Whatever that was, now.
Chapter twenty-five
By the time Tamara found out what Wyl had done, she’d already sent the encrypted data from the warden’s computer on to Sir. In the chaos of the prison riot, every alarm echoing through the halls of Redstone and people distracted and afraid, she had run to her quarters, built her communicator, and transmitted everything she had, every tiny terabyte of data, until she had confirmation that it had gone through to Sir. She thoroughly destroyed the hard copy, then sat on her bed and just … waited. Waited and worried. Wyl had been sointent, and ZeeBee had been so fast, and then there was just …
