Hello!!! Excited that I’m uploading again? I had a writing spree this weekend, wrote like three chapters, I’m so happy. It’s been ages since I’ve been able to do that. Well, just wanna say that this chapter officially begins the sequence to the end, as I’ve been calling it lol, so basically I think there’s like 7 chapters left. This is incredible cuz I never thought I’d even finish DELTA let alone its sequel. So thank you so much for continuing to support me and please keep it up because it’s soooo much incentive for me to write, you have no idea! It makes me so happy :) So please comment, tell me what you think, and vote and stuff.

Gracias! <3 vb123321

Chapter Twenty-Two



♣ Josh ♣



It was so ridiculously typical, me sticking it out with the kid and then having to go and rescue their asses in the middle of London. I was so unsurprised when Astrid called that I began pulling on my jacket before I even said hello. Joel bombarded me with questions as I called him to follow me to the car, and I answered as completely as I could, seeing as I knew next to nothing.



Astrid had been almost incomprehensible on the phone, conflicting emotions in her voice, but I figured out that Pierre had lied, they had tried to get away in the car but crashed, something had happened to Charlie, and now they were waiting for us a safe distance away. The usual thing. Wondering why she was always a wreck when she was on the phone with me, I told her tolerantly that I’d meet them with Joel and we could go back to the hotel, to which she totally freaked out.



“No! Pierre knows where we are, at least I think he does, anyway, and I don’t think that the hotel is a safe option right now…”



“So we’re going to camp out in the car, then?” I asked in exasperation, before remembering that they had freaking crashed the only car we had. “Freaking – Astrid, have you forgotten I don’t have a car?”



“Go rent one” was her answer. “We need to get a move on.”



I groaned, thinking of the complications of renting a car: contracts and credit cards and the awkward disbelief that I was actually old enough to be renting it. “Don’t tell me you’ve got some crazy plan.”



And then she went and told me that she had decided we were going to locate the place where she had found Charlie and scope it out. Miraculously, her memory of how to get there had been restored, though I suspected it was more like she was texting a certain someone. Astrid didn’t realize how easily I read her; ain’t no way she was going to pull wool over my eyes.



But still I agreed, seeing as it would be pointless to argue with her over the phone, even though it was a little difficult to explain it all to Joel as we checked out of the hotel and lugged my backpack and Astrid’s and his duffel bag down the street. Joel listened thoughtfully as I Googled a car rental place and told him what was happening at the same time.



“So if we’re trying to get this Red list, and this Cloying guy has it –”



“Actually,” I cut in, sighing as it became my responsibility once again to educate, “your brother has it.”



“What?” Joel didn’t really know what the Red list was, but he knew from our tones that it was a very serious matter.



I made an apologetic face. “Yeah, sorry about that. Astrid kept insisting you shouldn’t know…well, okay, to be fair, I didn’t want to tell you either. But, yeah, Jay has the Red list. He took it when he left Delta, which is why Young and Delta are still after him. Remember how we talked about this?”



He nodded, his blue eyes roaming the streets as he thought that one over. “So what are you going to do to him to get the Red list?”



“That’s a fantastic question,” I replied, slightly bitterly, because there was absolutely nothing we could do if he didn’t agree it give it away. I couldn’t see why he would want to give it back, except maybe to get Delta off his back, although I couldn’t really see Young welcoming him back with open arms, either. Truth was that Jay would most likely never be able to return to the States, even if he gave back the Red list and exposed Cloying and shot a smiley face in the moon. But I couldn’t find a way to explain that to his fourteen-year-old brother.



“Well.” Joel frowned briefly. “At least that explains all that German you kept using whenever I was around.”



Laughing, I looked back at my phone to locate a car rental shop, and it turned out that there was one nearby. I almost didn’t believe it, because convenient things like that usually only happened in novels like Twilight, but I wasn’t complaining. It took us ninety minutes to walk to the place, convince the guy with some help from a fake ID that I was in fact old enough to rent a car, and drive out with a sigh of relief.



Joel was quiet in the shotgun seat, not even humming as I turned on the radio to fill the awkward silence. Some boy band was playing, yodeling about how that’s what made me beautiful, but even though it was freaking annoying, Joel made no move to change it, so I was eventually forced to. He didn’t say a word until we neared the place Astrid had told me to meet them at, and then he said, “There they are,” and pointed to a small restaurant.



As I braked on the side of the street, I looked over to where they were hiding in the alleyway next to the building. They moved towards the car as I unlocked the door, sliding into the backseat without even a thank-you. I was about to comment on this when I caught a glimpse of their faces. Charlie looked awful, his skin paper-white and the lower half of his face covered with smeared blood. He wouldn’t look at me, closing his eyes and leaning back the moment he got into the car, the dark shadows more prominent than ever.



Astrid looked like she had been crying, or had been close to it, and she wasn’t saying anything either. Her eyes kept drifting to Charlie, the emotion in them so confused and shaken that I didn’t know what to think. Clearly something had happened, something that had made them both disappear into themselves, and I had a feeling it had nothing to do with Pierre.



“So…you guys okay?” I asked awkwardly, keeping the car in place.



“What happened to your face?” Joel was staring at Charlie, who opened his eyes to look blankly at the kid until he began to look uncomfortable.



“I’m fine.” Charlie’s voice was a monotone. “We ran into someone back there.”



“We ran into Finn,” said Astrid suddenly, which I thought was extremely insensitive of her, as at the mention of his name, Charlie winced.



“It wasn’t important,” he said, his voice sharpening as Astrid frowned.



“Charlie –”



The look he gave her was so fierce that she shut up, though she continued to stare at him with that expression I couldn’t understand. Charlie’s bloody jaw was clenched, his hand trembling on the edge of the window, and he wouldn’t look at Astrid, staring at the outside world as she bit her lip. Joel was giving me a nervous look; I grinned at him reassuringly and searched for something to say.



“So how ‘bout we –”



“I thought we were going to go get the Red list,” piped up Joel. “From Jay. You think we could, like, hang out with him while we’re at it? Or is that not really…happening?”



“Josh!” protested Astrid after a brief pause, and I held up a hand defensively, making a show of studying the road.



“What? I wasn’t going to lie to the kid. He has a right to know.”



“I’m not a –”



“Yes, Joel,” I said wearily. “I know you’re not a kid. And I already explained about the whole situation with Jay. I’m sorry, buddy.” I gave him as apologetic a look as I could; he shrugged with a resigned air that was a little strange to see on his normally happy-go-lucky features.



Now I glanced back at Astrid in the rearview mirror. “So. Are we going to go to this place where you found Charlie now that you’ve miraculously remembered where it is?”



Charlie went a bit whiter, if possible, but he said nothing. Astrid hesitated, glancing at him, and then scowled at me. “Actually, I was going to suggest that we stop at a gas station or something so Charlie can clean up his face, and I can look at a map or something. I’m not exactly sure where we are.”



Looking at Charlie, I decided that would be a good idea and promptly put the car back into drive. “There is one problem with your flawless plan,” I said to Astrid. “There aren’t any gas stations in the U.K.”



“What?” Joel looked startled. “Have they made those eco-friendly cars that run on sunlight already?”



Astrid made an exasperated noise. “Josh is being an idiot,” she explained. “Of course there are gas stations in the U.K.”



“But there aren’t!” I insisted, pulling off the side of the road and loading up Google on my phone at the same time.



“Josh –”



“They use petrol. So they have petrol stations.”



A moment of silence, and then Charlie snorted so loudly in the backseat that his nose started bleeding again. Astrid, being Astrid, immediately freaked and yelled at me for being such a moron, but I caught Charlie’s eye and grinned at him. He didn’t smile back, as he was too busy mopping at his face with his sweatshirt sleeve, but I was relieved to have seen – or heard – some reaction out of him.



“I don’t get it,” Joel complained, slumping in shotgun, and I handed him my phone, smirking.



“Search a petrol station, bud. I don’t want Astrid to yell at me for using my phone while driving.”



“The guy you rented this car from isn’t going to be very happy with you,” commented Charlie thickly, leaning his head back to keep the blood from flowing. “I’m pretty sure he didn’t want a red paint job done.”



Laughing, I drove down the street, making an effort to stick on the left side while Joel found a petrol station. Charlie was feeling dizzy from blood loss as I pulled into a parking spot, so Astrid sprinted inside and grabbed some paper towel from the bathroom, hurrying back to the car to hand it to him. I didn’t understand how paper was going to stop the bleeding better than the cloth of his sleeve, but it slowed within a few minutes, and with it Astrid’s breathing.



“I’m fine,” he assured her, his eyes strangely dark as he glanced at her. “Will you please stop freaking out?”



“Right…” Astrid had the grace to look mildly embarrassed. “I’ll just go check out a road map, then. Anyone want to come, grab something to eat or something?”



“I’ll just, um, use the restroom,” said Joel, typically, getting out of the car, and they disappeared inside the station.



I twisted around in my seat so that I was looking at Charlie, who immediately growled, “Don’t you dare start on me, too.”



“Wasn’t going to.” And as he raised a dark eyebrow, “Well, okay, I was. But now I won’t, since your nose is clearly going to survive.” He rolled his eyes, and I moved my chair back a little so that I could face him more easily. “So what happened?”



The hesitation was clear on his face, his eyes staring straight through the windshield, and I waited patiently for him to speak, knowing it would take a moment. He removed the wad of paper towel from his face, waiting a moment to see if it had stopped, and then disregarded it entirely. When he did speak, his voice was slightly hoarse, although it could have been from the blood slicking the back of his throat.



“We went to that café place, and Pierre came in and tried to talk to Astrid, like the whole ‘I’m really trying to help you’ thing. He had a bunch of Omega agents in that place –”



“Omega?”



“What Astrid calls his agency.”



“Like they’ll be our end or something,” I offered, unable to help myself, but he didn’t react to that one.



“Stephen was there. Remember, that guy from the SIS we met on the train in France?”



I blinked. “Really? That’s interesting…did anyone ever tell you how I met up with him at the police station when we got Astrid out of the manor, after you, um, you know…”



“Died?” Charlie had a strange smile on his face. “Yeah, I think Astrid mentioned that briefly. So it’s obvious Stephen was in Pierre’s agency, then.”



I nodded, wondering what that meant. “Well, now it is anyway. You think Omega or whatever it’s called had him in France to keep an eye on Pierre?”



Charlie groaned. “All this thinking makes my head hurt. Let me finish what happened. We realized who the agents were, so we scrammed, but a couple of them followed us and crashed the car into the side of this building.”



He then proceeded to tell me about their escape through the reception hall and meeting Wulf, which made me frown in perplexity. Wulf had a tendency to pop up unexpectedly. Then they had moved away from that place and ran into Finn, and for a moment Charlie couldn’t speak.



“I couldn’t shoot him,” he said quietly after a moment, his face quite blank. “He was going to kill Astrid, and I couldn’t do it.”



“It’s okay,” I said in a soft voice, taking a stab at compassion. “I mean, killing isn’t always the answer. It just shows you’re better than he is, you know?”



He looked at me then, his grey eyes bleak. “I wanted to kill him, Josh. This wasn’t some Mother Teresa moment; I hate him more than –” He clenched his fists, shivering. “I hate him! I wanted to kill him, but I couldn’t, because he’s right. I’m a coward.”



I couldn’t think of anything to say except “No, you’re not,” but I knew that wasn’t much help. He made a little gesture of thanks, though the emptiness didn’t leave his eyes, and it was clear that my words had little effect on him. It hurt to see the look on his face. Finn had not broken only his skin and his sanity; he had broken his will.



“So then?” I prompted cautiously, and his face clouded.



“Astrid shot him in the shoulder, and he left. Those Omega guys were still after us, so we were, like, hiding in this one shop. When they left, we went out and stood next to the building, trying to cover…”



“And?” I wondered if I really wanted to know: His eyes squeezed shut and he buried his face in his hands, the picture of despair.



“I told her.”



“What?”



His voice cracked. “You know – how I feel about her – and –”



“Oh.” We both fell silent. I felt awful, refraining from asking the obvious question because it had an obvious answer. Charlie took a deep breath, controlling himself, and raised his head to give me a weak smile.



“Sorry, man. I’m being a wimp. I guess it’s back to watch and wait, huh?”



It hurt him to say it, I could tell, and his words almost hurt me as well, galvanizing me into saying, “Bro, she does care about you –”



He was shaking his head. “Please don’t.”



“I’m serious!” I was angry now, sitting up straight and glaring at him emphatically. “You didn’t see her; you didn’t have to live with her for three months after she thought you died. I’ve never seen her like that, she was so upset, and when we found you again – well, I know that was just about the happiest moment of her life.”



“Josh –” Charlie had a pained look on his face.



“You didn’t see her,” I repeated, a little softer now. “When you were sick, right before you went to the doctor, she would sit next to you by the couch every second, just crying and holding your hand. Even Wulf said –” I shut up, not sure how to put the expression that had been on her face at that moment into words.



Charlie exhaled, slouching on the seat and shoving his hands into his pockets. “Thanks for that, Josh,” he said after a moment, although there was still disbelief on his face. “I guess I can only hope you’re right.”



“She’s just confused, what with Jay and Pierre and everything. You know Astrid; nothing’s ever simple with her.” And as he smiled slightly, I added, “But from what I heard from her on the phone about Pierre, she’s over him. About time, I might add. So now she’s just trying to work out how she feels about Jay, but she’ll get through that.”



“Yeah.” Charlie pulled a bitter face. “Now that Jay’s Mister Hero.”



I grinned. “Don’t let him get to you.”



He frowned. “It’s not even so much that I mind – just that it’s so much harder to hate him for what he did now. You know what I’m saying?”



I gave him a long look, musing over that one. To my surprise, I found myself thinking something along the same lines. “I gotcha,” I said at last, and then shrugged. “It’ll work out. And if it doesn’t, I guess you know Astrid isn’t the one for you. I never did get why you like her,” I mused. “She’s so freaking annoying ninety-five percent of the time.”



That got a real smile out of him. “Josh, I don’t recommend going into the counseling profession.”



“You’re right,” I agreed, nodding sagely. “I’d probably end up just telling them to get themselves a gun.”



Shaking his head but smiling, Charlie looked out the window, his eyes watching Astrid as she and Joel walked back towards the car. I studied him for a moment, taking in the bloodstains and the heavy dark shadows under his eyes and the whiteness of his skin, and then wondered how he was still on the move. He looked, to put it nicely, like crap.



Astrid pulled open the side door and slid inside, throwing a package of baby wipes into Charlie’s lap and saying, “Here, you can use these to clean up.”



“Thanks,” he murmured, ripping it open.



“She wouldn’t let me get a latte,” Joel objected as he sunk into shotgun side. “Said I was too young or something.”



“Get used to it, buddy,” I advised, patting his head. “She still tells me that, and I’m not even a minor anymore.”



Astrid was half-smiling, half-frowning. “The caffeine in it –”



“Will stunt our growth,” finished Charlie and I together, and Astrid laughed a little sheepishly.



Charlie began mopping his face with a wipe, the blood finally disappearing, and as it was only too obvious that everyone was watching him, I said, “So, what are we going to do?”



“You know, that question comes up an awful lot,” observed Joel.



“Things don’t always happen as quickly as they do in movies,” said Charlie, a touch darkly, and I knew what was on his mind. Six years was quite a long time.



Astrid sighed. “Joel’s right. We need to get cracking. The thing is, we don’t really have anything to do, and I don’t know about you guys, but I’m sick of hiding. Is everyone okay with trying to find Cloying’s place and scoping that out?”



We all knew she was talking to Charlie but murmured agreement anyway. Charlie paused a little, emotion in turmoil in his eyes as he looked at Astrid. “It’s so dangerous,” he said after a moment. “You don’t know what’s in there –”



“He won’t be there.” Astrid’s voice was soft, as if she figured Joel and I wouldn’t hear her though we two feet away. “Jay said they moved out once me and you disappeared. You should be okay.”



I caught a glimpse of Charlie’s face in the rearview mirror: His eyes flashed so fiercely that I opened my mouth to say a pacifying comment, but his voice was calm when he spoke.



“I’m not worried about myself. I can handle myself. It’s you I’m worried about. All of you,” he added, just a touch belatedly.



I jumped in before there could be an awkward pause. “So you don’t mind?”



The corner of his mouth twisted slightly. “I’m not sure ‘don’t mind’ is accurate, but I agree that we should go there, especially if Jay did text Astrid.”



No one missed her guilty start.



“Why did he want you to come, anyway?” asked Joel, frowning, and Astrid hesitated.



“He, um, wanted to talk to me eventually. He doesn’t realize you guys are coming, too, I guess, and he doesn’t know we’re coming right now, but I figured since we wanted to go anyway…”



Rolling my eyes, I turned in my seat so that I was back at the wheel. “Where do I go, navigator?”



Astrid gave one last nervous glance at Charlie before pulling out her phone and showing me a picture of a road map that she had taken in the gas station. Wondering why she hadn’t just bought one – how expensive could a map be? – I pulled out of the station’s parking space and onto the road.



It took us more than two hours to even draw near the place, because the streets and highways were so wacky and Astrid’s directions so shaky. Charlie fell asleep against the backseat window, his hair falling into his face, and I caught Astrid glancing at him more than once, to my satisfaction. Maybe she was finally coming to her senses. Joel slouched in shotgun, humming along to some song with one earphone snaking out of his ear.



When we neared the area, Astrid told me to stop the car. As I braked, Charlie jerked awake with a panicked look. As he took in where he was, he relaxed against the seat, leaning his head back and closing his eyes with an exhausted look. I looked back at Astrid, raising an eyebrow, but she was busy with something on the seat. After a moment, she handed me a square piece of paper with some sort of symbol on it.



“Put this on the dashboard. The spotters won’t shoot at us if they see us.”



“I thought you said they weren’t going to be there?”



“It’s better to be safe than sorry,” she said grimly. “That’s why I think Charlie and I should go on the floor, just in case. They’ll probably think Joel is Jay, and Jay said they aren’t on huge alert right now, anyway, but you never know.”



That didn’t remotely make sense in my mind, but I decided to just go with it and hope we didn’t get shot. It seemed too easy. Nonetheless, Charlie and Astrid flattened themselves to cramped positions on the floor and Joel did something to his hair that made him look even more like Jay. I gave him an impressed look, and he smirked.



“Jay likes the windswept look,” he said, and I grinned appreciatively.



I began to drive forward at a relatively normal speed, keeping my eyes ahead as Astrid instructed. We made it two miles without getting shot at, so I figured everything was going okay, and as I reached the landmark that Astrid had told me to stop at, she and Charlie rose up from the floor and seated themselves again.



“Now we have to go in the back door of that building over there,” she said, pointing with a tense look. “Hopefully Jay was right that they’re gone.”



“Guns out anyway,” I added, pulling out my own and checking it. “Joel, stick close to me and don’t do anything stupid.”



He made a face at me as Astrid began to outline a rapid plan. Charlie was barely listening, his eyes fixed on the targeted building, and when Astrid finished, he just nodded agreement and gripped his gun tightly. His mindset was clear: shoot first and ask questions later. I could hardly blame him.



We moved out of the car, following Astrid’s advice and going in pairs to the back door of the building. My nerves were spiked, my heart pounding as I tried to keep a three-sixty surveillance without turning my head conspicuously. Joel bounced nervously at my side, his hands jammed in his pockets and his eyes constantly flicking up to my face for a look of assurance. I felt like an idiot, taking the kid out into enemy territory like this, my conscience kicking me in the ass. What were we thinking?



Despite my skepticism, we reached the door without intervention, although I felt uncomfortably like someone was watching. Joel and I stood in the shadows as Charlie and Astrid approached the door as well. When they rejoined us, we looked to Astrid for some way to get in, but she merely reached out and flipped open a password box, punching in some numbers.



“I saw Jay do it when he took me here,” she explained, and Charlie frowned briefly.



“Good for you,” I said, to keep the atmosphere neutral, but she didn’t react. Taking a deep breath, she pushed open the door, and we all automatically stepped out of the doorway, drawing our guns closer to our chests. Astrid glanced inside, her eyes darting around, and then she gave us a tense nod and stepped inside. We followed her, taking in the dark, dusty room as she moved further into it.



“Someone close the door.” Astrid’s voice was a whisper. “Don’t want it to look weird from the street.”



Charlie was silhouetted in the doorway, frozen, and as she looked back at him to reinforce her order, something changed in her face. I glanced at Charlie as well and saw how white his face was and how obviously he was struggling to go forward. Joel looked scared too, his blue eyes even huger than usual as he stuck close behind me, but Charlie’s eyes held a stark terror I had never before seen.



“Come on, buddy,” I said softly, and he looked at me like a frightened animal does when cornered. “No one’s here. And you have your gun this time.”



His eyes moved down to his hand as if he had forgotten it was there, his brow furrowing in brief confusion, and then, so swiftly that I nearly missed it, he clasped a hand around his wrist. Something like relief passed over his face and he nodded, gripping his gun even more tightly as he stepped into the room and slowly closed the door behind him. We all jumped slightly as it clicked into place.



“Let’s get this over with,” said Charlie, his voice rough and hoarse. “Where’s Jay?”



“I’m not sure.” Astrid gave him a wary look. “I guess we should just look around. Do you think he’s up here or down in the more modern bit?” And as I gave her a confused look, she explained, “It’s like that French doctor’s place. Old, rundown building is a façade and underneath is the real thing.”



Joel’s eyes were wide. “What is this place?”



“Stronghold,” said Charlie flatly. “For people.”



“Was Cloying here?” I asked, beginning to pace the room as I looked around.



Charlie shook his head. “Not that I know of. This isn’t his territory.”



I stopped suddenly as I reached another doorway, someone smacking into me from behind. Whipping around with a sudden burst of adrenaline that came from shock, I placed my gun against the forehead of the person behind me, only to see that it was Joel. The kid nearly peed his pants, his hands flying up as he babbled apologies. Exhaling loudly, I lowered my gun, glaring at him.



“What was that for?”



“You told me to stick close to you!”



Raising my eyes to the ceiling, I turned to Astrid and Charlie, beckoning for them to come nearer. “Is this the door to the basement area or something else?”



Shrugging, Charlie replied, “I don’t know the top area. They never took me out of the basement. Astrid knows more than I do, probably.”



“You never left the basement?” Joel was incredulous. “You know, I always made jokes about living in my basement forever, but I dunno…”



Charlie actually smiled. “Your basement was undoubtedly much nicer.”



Astrid interrupted, her eyes snapping tensely. “I’m sorry, but can we get a move on? I hate standing around in this place. So what’s it going to be – upstairs or down?”



I leaned into the next room, looking around. It was darker than the room we were in and seemed to have even more cobwebs, but there were footprints in the layer of dust on the floor. A prickle of unease ran down my spine as I glanced back at the others. Charlie was eyeing the basement door with an apprehension that made his shoulders ramrod-straight in tension, while Astrid was frowning indecisively.



“Downstairs,” I said after a moment. “There are footprints in this room, but they’re pretty old. It’s not really like Jay to hang out in a dusty old place anyway.”



“He always cleaned the garage,” Joel pointed out, and I rolled my eyes.



“For the money, bud. Does any kid actually enjoy cleaning the garage?”



“So it’s definitely downstairs?” Astrid’s voice made it clear she didn’t want to talk about Jay any more than we had to, which I thought was a bit hypocritical considering the reason we were there. “Let’s go, then.”



I gestured for Astrid to go first, which she did with only a slight hesitation. Opening the door, she headed down the steep set of stairs that came after it, and I glanced at Charlie for him to follow her, saying, “I’ll stick to the back. Joel can go after you so he’s between us.”



Charlie’s jaw tightened as he stepped onto the stairs. I shoved Joel after him, the kid giving me a reproachful look as I scanned the room one last time and followed him, leaving the door ajar. An open door was one thing; there was no way I was shutting us downstairs in that place. My heartbeat began to pick up as I light-footed it down the stairs, my fingers curled reassuringly around the cold metal of my gun and my eyes on the lookout even though it was too dark to see anything but Joel’s hair.



A blinding light made my eyes squeeze shut reflexively as I stopped a few steps from the bottom. Opening them to see Astrid with her hand on a light switch, I swore and blinked several times to clear my vision.



“If that didn’t mark our arrival, I don’t know what did,” I muttered, and she gave me a sour look as we took a look around. We were in a long corridor with harsh artificial lights overhead, several doors branching off from it. Astrid looked nervous, glancing at the pale Charlie as he stepped into the corridor from the stairs and came to her side. Joel and I followed, the kid stunned into silence as he took in the drastic change from antique to modern.



“I feel like we shouldn’t just waltz down this hallway,” I said, to break the silence.



“What else can we do?” Astrid was already moving forward, but she paused as Charlie grabbed her arm, his grey eyes flicking around.



“This place isn’t as empty as it looks. Be careful.”



“Of course.” Astrid looked briefly puzzled and then shrugged as she continued her way down the hall. We stepped into place behind her; I made sure Joel was sandwiched safely between Charlie and me, because despite Astrid’s reassurances, I agreed with Charlie: We definitely were not alone. There was someone else here, and I didn’t mean Jay.



The hallway seemed to go on forever, although that might have just been my jumping nerves, but Astrid didn’t stop until she reached the end. I caught her and Charlie exchanging glances as they paused by a double set of doors but couldn’t read their expressions. She looked back at Joel and me, gesturing to them with the obvious implication that she intended to open them. I shrugged, and she did so.



We flattened ourselves on the side wall as she did so, me pulling Joel over next to me, and cautiously Astrid poked her gun around the corner of door and wall before she entered. The expression on Charlie’s face was anything but inviting as he followed her, his back so tense that I thought his arms might snap off. I held Joel back for a moment before Astrid called us in, her voice lilting up about an octave, so that I knew who to expect as I stepped inside.



Sure enough, Jay stood on one end of the room. It was a large area with a high, circular ceiling and smooth walls, like some sort of auditorium, except there were no seats. There were a few wooden tables with various papers sprawled on top of them, a couple hardback chairs grouped around them. The high ceiling lent a bright but gentle light to the room, clearly illuminating everyone’s features.



I took in the displeasure on Jay’s face as Joel entered the room in front of me. Tugging the kid’s sleeve to keep him from dashing to his older brother, I shunted him away from the doors to the right. Astrid was standing in the center of the room, several feet in front of the door, and Charlie stood two feet behind her like a protective guard dog. His face was taut as he and Jay exchanged a long look I didn’t understand, but then Jay’s attention was taken up by Joel.



“What’s he doing here?”



“He wouldn’t stay away,” said Astrid, her voice even although her eyes gave her away.



Jay’s jaw clenched, the muscles in his arms tightening beneath his t-shirt as he jammed his hands in his jeans pockets. “I didn’t say to bring him. It’s too dangerous for him here.”



“I thought you said no one else was here.” Charlie’s voice was sharp, one hand already prepared to grab Astrid’s shoulder as he watched Jay for his reaction.



“Right now,” he said, face darkening. “And I hope forever, but you never know.”



“Well, that’s reassuring,” I said under my breath, but shut up when Joel gave me a wide-eyed look.



Jay looked over at his brother again. “Are you okay?” And when Joel nodded, he let out a deep breath, his shoulders drooping. “You all should get out of here.”



“We’re here to talk,” said Astrid strongly, putting her hands in her jacket pocket so that her gun was out of sight: a gesture of peace. “I thought that’s why you wanted to see me anyway.” Jay hesitated for only a second, but Astrid was still speaking: “Is it about the Red list?”



I inhaled a breath of air sharply, catching Charlie’s flash of concern in my direction as he glanced at me with eyebrows raised. Astrid was throwing everything out there, even though the ball was in Jay’s court. Jay’s face showed nothing, his eyes roaming over ours as he stood silently for a long moment. Joel was shifting from foot to foot anxiously at my side, glancing from me to Jay as if he was avidly watching this game.



“What about it?” Jay’s voice was guarded.



“I’m guessing you still have it?”



His eyes narrowed slightly. “Of course. It’s not something you keep under your pillow.”



Astrid nodded, walking forward with a blasé air and pulling out one of the chairs from the table. Sinking down into it, she ignored the stares everyone was giving her as she gave the papers on the table a cursory glance. A muscle twitched in Jay’s jaw as he watched her, his arms folded across his chest, and Charlie was frowning; everyone was wondering what she was playing at.



“Young wants you to get it for him, doesn’t he.” Jay wasn’t asking a question. I tensed, stepping forward so that I was standing next to the table, Joel hurrying to my side.



Astrid didn’t answer that, lifting a paper off the table to look at it. Jay crossed over towards her suddenly, taking it from her hands and slamming it down on the table. He leant over the tabletop so that he was staring her in the eyes, his face all at once cut in sharp, savage lines.



“Doesn’t he?”



His voice was so harsh, snapping like a whip around the room, that Astrid actually had the grace to back down a little. She sat back in her chair, removing her hands from the table and putting them peacefully in her laps, palms upwards. Her body language screamed peaceable, but Jay’s body remained tense as he watched for his answer.



“Yes.” It was Charlie who spoke, his voice quiet as he fixed his grey eyes on Jay. He had stepped up behind Astrid protectively, but remained calm as Jay looked at him. “Young wants the Red list.” Jay straightened, his eyes fiery, but Charlie said neutrally, “But it only makes sense. Did you really think he was just going to leave you alone?”



Jay looked at him, something flickering in his expression. “Of course not,” and his voice was almost resigned. “But I thought maybe you guys had more sense than to follow his orders. I thought you felt the way I did about Delta, because you left and everything –” He seemed to be struggling for words. “I thought there was more to you than this.”



And then Charlie did something I would never have expected him to do: He tucked his gun into his jacket pocket, relaxing his posture and looking Jay in the eye. “There is,” he said calmly, and I felt something change in the atmosphere, something between Charlie and Jay as they looked at each other for a long moment.



“I’m sorry,” said Jay then, and I started; I couldn’t remember the last time I had heard him really apologize. “I should have realized – you have a family.”



Completely thrown, Astrid, Joel, and I stared between them as Charlie nodded in mere acceptance of his apology, neither condemning nor condoning it. His grey eyes flickered towards Joel as he said, “You should understand. Don’t you want to be out of all this mess now?”



Real pain gleamed in Jay’s eyes. He didn’t respond, but his expression as he looked at his little brother said it all. Astrid sat speechless and unmoving in her chair, her eyes wide as if she was scared of interrupting the moment. I remained still as well, trying to process what was going on.



Jay had no emotion in his voice. “So you want the Red list.” Charlie nodded passively, not saying anything, and Jay stared at him for a long moment before saying in an almost pleading voice, “And do you think Young would –”



He couldn’t even finish the sentence, and an awful silence fell over the room as reality set in and he realized what he was saying. His face tightened, knuckles tightening as he leaned over the tabletop with his head down. A strange look was on Charlie’s face as he watched Astrid get up and walk over to Jay’s side, putting a hand on his back.



Jay raised his head at her touch, glancing at her with a sad little smile that made a little spring of pity well up inside of me. What had happened to cocky, undefeatable Jay? I almost preferred him to this resigned new character.



He straightened, his eyes on Joel as he said slowly, “So you want me to give you the Red list so you can get back to the States.”



“It’s the only way,” agreed Charlie, his voice still dispassionate. “But it’s your choice.”



His words echoed in my ears, my mind buzzing as I realized what he was saying. Charlie was giving Jay the choice – Charlie, who had gone through all he had because of Jay and what he had done. Charlie, who had every right to hate Jay and shoot him right there and then, take the Red list, and get back to his family, who didn’t even know he was alive. And yet he was giving Jay a choice.



This all seemed to be running through Jay’s mind as well as he looked at his little brother. Joel’s eyes were anxious, his mouth trembling a little as he watched his brother. I knew he wanted to go to him, to know that everything all right, but he had been in this crap long enough to know that those words would never be true.



“You need to go back to the States,” Jay said slowly, as if he was memorizing material for an exam. “Your mom –” His face twisted, most likely remembering his own parents, and his voice quavered a minute bit. “She needs to know you’re okay…” One hand moved up to his neck, reaching for that silver chain, and we all were all motionless, waiting and afraid to make a noise as we watched his thoughts play out on his face.



He fingered the chain, looking away from his brother to meet Charlie’s eyes again, and then he looked down at the object on it – a flash drive disguised as a key, Astrid had said. The key to the United States of America. I saw the decision in his eyes, his hand beginning to remove the chain from his neck –



And then a door slammed, and all hell broke loose.