Page 81 of Red Marked

It’s so early that it’s still dark out. We walk through the hallway, along the main hall, into the back stairwell and the service corridor beyond it.

Neither of us speaks.

We barely even breathe.

I follow two steps behind him in a pair of Rift’s shorts and a tank top. He stops twice, his head cocked for a few moments before we go on.

At the side door by a room with the sign Debrief Room, he checks his watch. Then he pushes it open, and we’re outside.

We wait, our senses on full alert. When Flint is satisfied, we hurry across the lawn to the fence, between where the floodlights are pointing. We’re over in less than ten seconds, careful to avoid the barbed wire. Then we’re running into the jungle, breathing a little more easily now that we’re under cover.

Flint slows and stops. He nods at me.

This is where we’re going to say goodbye.

I pull the tank top over my head, push the shorts down, step out of them, and hold them out to Flint.

He takes them. His eyes move over my naked body for just half a second. Then they’re back on my face.

What? Wait!

Was he checking me out?

No way.

It isn’t like that, I decide on my next thought. I’m making something out of nothing. He told me he didn’t want to look at me naked. He got mad about it. I’m being an idiot. Flint hasn’t checked me out…ever. He’s not about to start now.

He pushes the folded clothes into the small pack at his feet and pulls the drawstring tight. I have the rest of Rift’s borrowed clothing in there. It’ll do until I can get supplies in town.

“Thank you,” I whisper.

“Tell me the plan.”

“Again?” I frown.

“Yes,” he tells me, “just to be sure. Humor me.”

“Fine. I will head down the ridge and southeast under the trees until I hit…” I go through everything, including how I’ll get across the jungle boundary. It’s little more than an open patch of grass that is heavily patrolled by dragons, unless you go through the official checkpoint. It’s their job to keep ferals on the jungle side of the fence. Any caught trying to cross are killed on sight. It’s a huge deterrent.

“Once I’m out and far enough away,” I say, “I’ll shift and fly to the rocky ridge above the river fork. The one with the dead fig tree on it. I’ll meet you there.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

“Not if I get there first.”

The corner of his mouth twitches. “Don’t be cocky. It might get you into trouble.”

“Yes, boss.”

“If you’re not there by midday, I’m coming back for you.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be there.”

He looks at me a second longer and then nods.

“Good luck, Star.”

“I don’t need luck.”