Page 143 of Forged Absolution (Fates of the Bound 4)

“Who is the shooter?” Lila asked.

“His name is Olivier,” Camille said, her eyelids fluttering. “I tried to tell you. I tried to warn you. I wanted you to know the truth. I wanted to tell you everything. What if there’s not time?”

“There will be time.”

“You have to find Blair. She’ll know what to do.”

“The girl’s in shock,” one of the admins said, pressing her wrinkled hand against Camille’s cheek. “She’s growing cold.”

“Where’s the damn doctor?” Lila turned around to the purplecoats, all bloody, every face pale. She and Dixon seemed to be the only ones who had survived the ambush unscathed.

Boots clomped against the path outside. The front door rocked in its hinges as someone kicked it. The admins squealed in a panic, most still holding on to their charge’s wounds while they crouched, torn between hiding and doing their duty.

The door rocked again. “It’s McCrae. Let us in before the asshole shoots us too.”

Lila and Dixon rushed forward and unlocked the door for Dr. McCrae and her six assistants. The group wore purple scrubs, and each carried a leather bag. A flood of purplecoats rushed into the room behind them, taking positions throughout the room. Overhyped on adrenaline and anxiety, many paced. Others braced the doors and windows, guns in hand.

Another group of militia entered with half a dozen stretchers. The wheels clacked upon the wood.

“The evening shift is on its way too,” Dr. McCrae said, brushing past Lila and Dixon to scan the room, stopping when she noticed Camille. “Maggie, take Nico. The rest of you, tend to the others. Everyone who isn’t shot or wearing scrubs get out of the way.”

The admins scattered, returning to their positions in the back of the room, unsure what to do now that their jobs had been taken away.

Lila dragged Dixon from the rest of the group. “If Olivier wants Camille dead, then he’ll make his way back here to finish the job. I’m taking a radio and going up on the roof. I’m going to find that asshole before he takes another shot.”

Dixon pointed at the oracle’s cabin.

“Blair’s fine, Dixon. Connell probably sent half his men to protect her and her sisters. Go there if you must, I won’t hold it against it you, but I’m going hunting. That asshole broke into my car and my room. He put his hands on me. I’m going to find him, and I’m going to shoot a dart straight up his ass.” She snatched a radio and pinned it to her shoulder, then stalked to the front door.

“Keep away from the exits,” one of the militiamen ordered, a rifle cradled in his arms. “We’re on lockdown.”

“No, you’re on lockdown.” Lila threw open the door and sprinted outside, circling to the back of the building. She ignored the shouts and curses from inside.

The door shut behind her. Dixon kept up her pace.

“If this guy had been a true sniper, Camille would be dead.” Lila circled to an edge of the building farthest away from the sniper’s last position. She dug her fingers into the wide gaps between the stones and pulled herself up to the first floor, the rock cutting into her fingers as much as the cold. When she came to the second floor, she gripped the first crisscrossed log joint, which provided easy hand- and footholds, and continued her way up. Splinters dug into her hands, and the ground retreated below.

When Lila reached the top, she swung out, catching an exposed beam in the eaves to pull herself up and onto the roof, a feat made much easier by the roof’s low slant. Dixon shimmied up behind her. The pair walked carefully to the center of the roof, their boots sinking into the soft asphalt shingles, their backs bent into a crouch. No buildings rose taller than the admin building, giving them an unbroken bird’s eye view of the compound.

It only took them a few seconds to spot the sniper rifle. It lay abandoned on the roof of a cabin nearby, well within range. A ring of purplecoats had spread themselves around the structure, heads twisting back and forth frantically as they searched the area. Two recruits paced across the cabin’s roof, ignoring the gun, both scanning the nearby alleys.

“Olivier is on the move with another gun, mark my words. He’s got one mission this morning, and he hasn’t finished it yet, not by a long shot. You understand that if he believes we’re onto him, he’ll come for us next?”

Dixon nodded. He walked carefully to the edge of the building, pointing for her to take the opposite corner, both their heads swiveling to catch a glimpse of Olivier and sound the alarm.

The security personnel seemed just as frustrated as they were. No one had a good fix. Not even Connell. He and a few of his men had rushed the guard towers. Others had spread themselves out along the compound’s stone wall, several noticing Dixon and Lila.

Connell lifted his radio to shout at them. Even from so far away, they could see his scowl deepen.

Before he could say a word, another shot rang out.

Chapter 27

Lila and Dixon both rushed toward the front of the admin building, boots thumping against the shingles, their arms spread wide to keep their balance. They planted their feet near the roof’s lip and scanned the ground in the last shot’s direction.

One of the purplecoats on the ground aimed at Lila.

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