Adrian lifted his communicator band to his mouth. “Sketch to the Council. We’ve just witnessed an Anarchist, the Detonator, entering the Cloven Cross Library. There are civilians inside. An extraction team is requested. We’ll hold the area.”
“An extraction team?” said Nova, gaping at him as she tried to muddle through what Ingrid could be thinking. The last thing she was supposed to do was give actual evidence that Gene Cronin was dealing on the black market—and seeing an Anarchist enter the library may not be evidence, but it wasn’t going to help the case for his innocence, either.
But Ingrid must have a plan. She knew Nova was up here. Did she still want Nova to bring the team inside?
“The extraction team will go in after the Detonator, and maybe the Librarian too,” said Adrian. “They’ll probably bring backup. The Detonator hasn’t been active in almost ten years, but she had a reputation for being pretty volatile back in the day.”
Inhaling sharply through her nostrils, Nova looked down at the closed library doors. Whatever Ingrid was thinking, she would have planned on there being only three Renegades on this mission. Whatever she was planning, an extraction team probably wasn’t on the agenda.
“We should go in,” she said.
Ruby looked at her. “What?”
“The Detonator makes bombs, right? She could blow up that whole place in seconds. What if … what if she gets into a fight with Cronin or something else sets her off? There are children in there. We can’t risk anyone getting hurt!”
The others exchanged looks, significantly more anxious now than they had been even seconds ago.
“We’re supposed to call for backup,” said Adrian, but his words carried little conviction. “We’re not supposed to engage.”
“That was when it was just us and the Librarian,” said Nova. “But things have changed. Now there’s an Anarchist involved. What if this is our only chance to catch them both, red-handed?”
Adrian looked at each of them in turn, his brow setting in determination. “Making sure the civilians are safe is our top priority…”
“But if we go in there and start ordering people outside,” said Oscar, “that’ll just tip the Librarian off that we’re on to him.”
“And probably scare off the Detonator too,” said Ruby.
Adrian peered down at the library for an agonizingly long minute, as if mesmerized by the sunlight glinting off its windows. “The civilians are our top priority,” he repeated. “We’ll find the Detonator and the Librarian and hold them until help arrives. No violence if we can help it, and no need to cause a panic.” He looked up, his jaw set.
“Now we’re talking,” said Oscar, a wisp of gray smoke curling around his fingers as he grabbed the head of his cane. “Let’s go be superheroes!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
THE OAK DOORS SLAMMED SHUT behind them and Adrian found himself engulfed by stale air and the aroma of leather and brittle pages. He paused in the vestibule, taking in the entryway and the lobby beyond. He had never been to this library before, and now he was wishing he would have come inside when he’d scouted out the area before. He wouldn’t have felt quite so vulnerable now, to be going into a place completely blind, having very little knowledge of its floor plan or exits. He could have come inside during business hours, attempted to be discreet …
The problem with that was, thanks to his dads, it was too likely he would be recognized.
So, he took the time now to observe what he could. Inside the entrance hall, two alcoves stood to either side, each containing a marble statue. To his left, a noble scholar held an open book in one hand, the other raised up in a gesture of brilliance, as if the book had just revealed to him the secrets of the universe. In the other alcove, a scribe noted his thoughts into a journal with a long, feathered pen.
Worn wooden floorboards stretched ahead into a central lobby, where a silhouette on the floor indicated where the old administration desk had once been bolted down. A cheap banquet table stood off in one corner, framed by dark wainscoting on the wall and a large antique mirror that reflected what little daylight reached this central room. The beams of light that did enter through a couple of smartly placed upper windows illuminated drifts of thick dust circulating through the space.
Adrian moved forward, one hand taking the marker from his back pocket and clutching it instinctively. Beside him, Nova gave his hand a curious look, before meeting his gaze with something almost like teasing.