Break The Ice (25 page)

“And if someone sees us?” I say.

“Don’t let them.” She pulls the door open and ushers everybody in.

I let her go before me and catch the door with my foot at the last second to keep it from slamming. All four of them squat at the top step in two by two rows. I catch up and see what’s stopped them. Two guards stand right next to the door, talking. The one in front turns his head to the side, and I can’t help myself. “Silo?”

I whisper the name, but his head turns, only slightly so he doesn’t arouse suspicion with the other guard. He nods his head, laughs at the correct times, but there’s no way he’s listening.

“Are you trying to get us caught already?” Ti says.

“We can trust him,” I say.

“We can’t trust any Dinmani in this building. They’re all working for Tinjo.”

“Not all of them,” I say, looking from her to Tinjen.

Ti rolls her eyes. “Of course not us.”

“And Silo isn’t either.”

“Do you hear that?” It’s the other guard. He looks over Silo’s shoulder.

All five of us drop down so fast that we almost fall backwards down the stairs.

“I heard nothing,” Silo says.

Silo’s voice gives me an odd sense of sorrow, especially in this hospital where I first met him. Back on Dintar, he seemed like a different person than the one I met outside the cafeteria with his brother. The death of a person that close changes you, every one of us knows that.

“I am going to check it out,” the guard says.

“Good idea,” Silo says. “Cannot be too careful.”

Five seconds of utter silence tortures me as I wait to see if the guard appears above us. There’s nothing we can do except fight back, so I brace myself and wait for it. But nobody appears. Instead, something thumps against the floor.

“You were always one for entrances,” Silo says.

Without thinking, I stand up and look down the hall. Silo hovers over the dead guard, wiping a small knife with a blood stained towel.

“I didn’t think I’d see you here,” I say.

“I did not think I would return,” he says. “But I did not think you would, either.”

“I’m here for the same reason as you.”

“If you seek vengeance, I hope you did not come alone.”

I walk up the remaining four stairs. Behind me, the others show themselves. I can see it in Silo’s face as he takes it all in.

“Good choices,” he says. “Though I might question the loyalty of the traitor’s son.”

“Not if you’ve seen what I have,” I say.

“And you have a plan?”

I look behind me. I can see in their eyes that nobody trusts him still. It’s also obvious that they have no plan. And neither do I. “We’re improvising,” I say.

“Let me know how far that gets you. A new guard gets here any minute. Help me move this one outside.”

“Not outside,” Mel says. She brushes past me and steps around Silo, pressing her back against the wall. The panel beeps when she swipes her card. “Put him in here.”

“An access card. Good thinking,” Silo says. He grabs the dead guard’s arms and looks up at me. “A little help.”

I wrap my arms around the legs and lift. We carry the dead Dinmani into what looks like a break room–tables and chairs pushed to one side of the room near the windows and open space taking up the other half. I let go of my end once Silo places him in an empty corner.

“Why here?” Dan says, closing the door once everyone is inside.

“Because of that door,” Mel says, pointing to a door on the opposite side of the room. “There’s a checkpoint around the corner,” she says. “I’m guessing Tinjo has some people guarding it. Nobody without a keycard can get in here, so it’s one way for us to sneak around them.”

“The nurse is right,” Silo says. “They keep three men there. A fourth guard cycles outside this room.”

“When’s the next rotation?” I say.

Silo checks the clock on the wall. “Any minute. I will stand outside and give you some time if I can.”

“How do we know you won’t sell us out?” Ti says.

“Have faith,” he says and walks out of the room.

Four of us stand in a small circle while Mel digs through the cabinets. She keeps throwing things onto the floor until there’s nothing left, and then she moves on to the next.

“So what’s through the other door?” Dan says.

“Haven’t you been listening? It’s your way out.” she says, tossing a box of crackers behind her. “It takes you through two other rooms and then into the main hall.”

“How do we know there won’t be guards waiting at any of those doors?”

She shrugs. “Do you have a better idea?”

“No, I’m just saying–”

“Look,” she says, turning to face us. “I don’t know what the hell to do, okay? You wanted to get inside, and we’re inside. If we run into more guards, that’s your territory. Take them out or chase them away, I don’t care.”

“A Dinmani warrior would not run away from a fight,” Tinjen says.

“Then I guess you’ll have to kill them,” she says. “Ah-ha.” She pulls out a small bag and dumps its contents on a nearby table. Scrubs. “I knew I stashed a backup bag somewhere.”

“You’re looking for a change of clothes?” Dan says.

“I can’t fight, that’s clear. But I’m not waiting around here, hiding somewhere until I can help. If they kept any patients in here, who knows if they’re being cared for? I’m going to find out.”

“I don’t like it,” Dan says.

“It was more a way for me to tell you what’s happening, not ask for your permission,” she says, sliding the scrubs over her clothes. “Besides, I don’t need your–”

“Okay,” I say, interrupting her. We don’t have time to argue. “Mel knows what she’s doing. She’s smart and I trust her judgment. What about the rest of us?”

“If she insists…” Dan glares at her for a moment before sighing. “I’ll take her to wherever they’re keeping the other nurses and patients. They have to be somewhere warmer than these halls, right?” Dan says.

“I have an idea,” Mel says, fixing her hair back in a ponytail.

“And we’ll find Tinjo,” Ti says, looking at Tinjen and me.

“That is probably best,” Tinjen says. “No offense to the Sunjin or the human, but it will be best if we do the fighting.”

“You know that I can…” Dan stops himself and shakes his head. “When this is all over, you and I are putting your words to the test.”

“You will regret those words,” Tinjen says.

A knock at the door startles everyone. I run over to the door, not wasting any more time. My fingers wrap around the doorknob when someone puts a hand on my shoulder.

“You’re not even going to ask who’s there?” Ti says.

“I can hear you,” Silo says from the other side of the door. “It is me.”

With the twist of the knob, the door opens and Silo pokes his head in. “The new guard comes in thirty seconds. Make a move now.”

I don’t like the idea of splitting up. It’s never worked for me before, and I don’t see why it will now, but there’s no stopping Mel. She wants to help the others, and I don’t blame her. “You two go. Pretend you snuck out or something and have Silo escort you back. If all else fails, Dan–”

“Don’t worry. We’ll be fine.” He extends a hand, and Mel takes it, smiling. “After you,” he says. They both leave the room. Dan’s muffled voice tells Silo the plan.

“Where do we start?” Tinjen says.

“Eager?” I say.

“Are you not?”

“He has a point,” Ti says. “Waiting around won’t help us.”

“Okay, okay. I don’t know what we’ll find on the other side of that door. See if you can grab anything from this room as a weapon. Something heavy or sharp.”

I root through a few cabinets before finding a tool box. Dozens of screws and nails fall out, but there’s no hammer or even a screwdriver. I remove the top layer and see a decent sized wrench buried beneath some anchors. That’ll work.

Ti empties some drawers and picks up an old steak knife. “Is this useful?” She presses the blade against her finger and pulls back right away. A small dot of almost black liquid dribbles down her finger.

Tinjen flips a table over and works one of the metal legs back and forth until it snaps off. He peels some of the wooden fragments off and swings the metal like a bat.

“Why am I not surprised?” Ti says.

Tinjen lets the table leg fall to his side and looks down at Ti’s scalpel. “I can say the same thing.”

“We need to get to the second floor,” I say, trying to bring the topic back on point.

“What is on the second floor?”

“Mom’s old room.”

“You think she’ll still be there?” Ti says.

I approach the door Mel told us to leave through and crack it open. There’s nobody on the other side. Closing it without making a sound, I turn back. “I don’t, but someone else will be. Stay close.”

We make it through the first two rooms without alerting anybody. At the start of the hallway, two men argue on the other side of a closed door. I stay low and sneak past the window, hoping Tinjen and Ti do the same. Two more hallways and not a single Dinmani. I hold the door leading into the staircase open, letting them go in first.

“Are we sure any Dinmani still protect these halls?” Tinjen says.

I pass him and take the lead again. “If it wasn’t colder than the Arctic, I’d agree with you. Keep going.” I stop outside the door leading onto the second floor. I still remember the path to mom’s room from that first night, the floor’s layout deep in my memory.

After waiting for two minutes without a sound from the other side, I open the door and step into the hall. I check my right. Nothing. Before I can move my head back, somebody yells from the left. I turn in time to see two Dinmani running at me, both gripping two-foot long ice spikes.

They stop five feet from where I stand, unaware that I have backup standing a foot to my left, waiting on the opposite side of the door.

“How did you get up here?” one guard says.

“I walked right through the front doors,” I say.

“You will come with us.”

I scratch at my chin. “I don’t think I can. I have a meeting with Tinjo, and I can’t be late.”

His eyes shift from mine to the wrench in my hand. He must make the connection because he charges, his weapon drawn and ready.

The door swings outward, pushing the hinges back farther than usual and giving off a loud screech. Tinjen bursts through, running between the spike and me. He lets the Dinmani ram the ice straight into him. Unlike when I got hit, Tinjen doesn’t even flinch. That makes it twice that he has taken a hit for me.

Tinjen pushes the guard back, giving himself two feet of space in between, and cocks his arm, table leg in hand. He twists his torso and pivots his foot, smashing the metal into the guard’s temple with the full force of his body. The Dinmani falls to the floor without a chance to scream.

The second guard isn’t far behind. When Ti saunters out next, she stops him in his tracks. With a quick flick of her wrist, she throws the knife like a dart. It slices the second guard’s arm but doesn’t stick.

“Is that all you have?” the guard says, laughing despite his partner being beaten so easily.

“Well, I found this in the stairwell,” Ti says, lifting a fire extinguisher up. She pulls the pin and sprays the guard from head to toe.

“I do not think it is working,” Tinjen shouts over the spray.

“Maybe this will.” Ti takes a running start, jumps, and slams the extinguisher down. Holding it by the handle, she swings it around for a second strike and sends the foam covered Dinmani into the wall, out cold.

“Move quick,” I say, gripping my wrench tighter. “I’m sure more are on the way.”

Running down the hall, I slide around the corner and straight into a Dinmani. I don’t give him a chance to react. I swing the wrench left, right, and bring it down once from the top. The third shot to the head drops him.

“How much farther?” Ti says behind me.

“One more turn.” I take the corner wide and keep my speed up. I run past the rooms I walked outside of before, wondering if their old occupants are safe. Or even still alive. I keep moving until I’m standing outside of mom’s old room.

Like I expected, it’s empty, but the vacant bed still makes my chest ache. A small part of me hoped that she’d be inside, sitting up and smiling, thanking me for letting Tinjo help her. Instead, there’s no trace that she ever even lay in the bed.

“What next?”

I don’t even know which one spoke. It takes all of my concentration to stop staring at the bed. Closing my eyes, I steady my breathing and think. I had a plan. What was it?

“Tinjo,” I say.

“What?” Ti says.

I take a step inside the room and say louder, “Tinjo.” Nothing happens. No smoke, no flashes, no portals. Not even the disembodied voice. Anger builds up in my chest, and I shout this time. “Tinjo!”

“What are you doing?” they both say at the same time.

“He said to come back here! He said to come back here and say his name and he would appear.”