But she couldn’t deny that she was glad Adrian Everhart was alive. She was glad that his smile was just as warm and relaxed now, after an extremely trying day, as it had been at the parade. She was glad …
Well. Maybe she was just glad.
Adrian looked like he wanted to say something to her, but couldn’t quite find the words. He was staring at her, a question in his eyes, but he seemed to think better of it as he swallowed and looked away.
“We need to get you to headquarters,” said the Captain. Nova started. Momentarily caught up in Adrian’s dark brown eyes, she’d almost forgotten the Councilman was there. “The med staff will want to see you.”
Adrian shook his head. “I’m fine. I feel fine.”
“This isn’t open for debate. That goes for the rest of you too.” The Captain fixed each of them in turn with his icy blue stare, which could not have been more different from the celebrity smile he usually wore. “Go back to headquarters. Get checked out, then get some rest. We’ll speak more about this tomorrow.” He looked at Adrian again, and Nova could tell he was trying to use some sort of stern, fatherly expression, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. He was clearly too overwhelmed with relief that Adrian was okay, and something about that look made her feel like a screw was being turned in her stomach.
She’d once had a father to look at her like that too.
The Captain turned to go.
“Dad, wait.”
He paused.
“The Detonator was here,” said Adrian. “She’s the one who set off the explosions. Cronin was still selling on the black market, just like we suspected.”
“The Detonator? Ingrid Thompson?”
Adrian nodded.
The Captain pressed his lips. “And what about Gene Cronin? Where is he?”
“He’s…” Adrian hesitated. He glanced once at Nova, then the others. He cleared his throat. “I think he might have gotten away.”
“No,” said Nova. “He’s dead. Ingr—the Detonator killed him, up on the roof of that theater.” She pointed. “Then she ran. I tried to stop her, but … she got away.”
“We saw her too,” added Oscar. “When she got down to the alley, Ruby and I tried to chase her, but she threw some of those bombs and we couldn’t follow fast enough.”
“What about the mirror walker?” said Ruby. “Does anyone know what happened to her?”
“She escaped through a mirror, after … after the Detonator killed Cronin,” said Nova. “She could be anywhere.”
The Captain sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose. “This proves your theory, Adrian. It seems the Anarchists haven’t been quite as dormant as we thought. I don’t think we can pretend any longer that they aren’t still plotting to bring about a second Age of Anarchy. They will have to be dealt with.”
Nova tensed. “When? What will you do?”
The Captain looked at her. “I’m not sure yet. But they’ll be preparing for us to make a move after today. We’ll have to act fast.”
She gulped. What did that mean? They would retaliate in days? Hours?
The Captain frowned then, as if a thought had just occurred to him. He turned back to Adrian. “Did you find out anything about Nightmare?”
Adrian’s mouth tightened. “Nothing.”
The Captain nodded, and Nova did not think he seemed particularly surprised. “Go back to HQ. We’ll discuss this more tomorrow.”
“The Sentinel was here too,” Nova said.
Captain Chromium drew up taller. “The Sentinel?”
She nodded, watching the Captain closely as she said, “I shot him.”
Everyone stilled, eyes swiveling toward her in surprise.
“Multiple times,” added Nova.
“Did he attack you?” asked the Captain, his expression darkening.
Nova blinked, finding it impossible to admit that, actually, he had saved her.
So why had she done it? She could hardly remember. She’d been livid at the time. Angry at Ingrid and her betrayal, angry that everything was falling apart around her, angry that Adrian might be dead and her first mission had gone so awry and that it all might have been worth it if she could have just learned who or what the Sentinel was, but he wasn’t telling her anything.
Angry that he was pretending to be her ally, when she knew to her core that he was her enemy.
But she couldn’t explain any of that to Captain Chromium.
“At first, I thought he was sent by you, the Council,” she said. “But he said he wasn’t. He said he’s acting on his own objectives and, honestly, I couldn’t tell if he was an enemy or not. When he refused to reveal his identity, I shot him. It hardly seemed to slow him down and he still got away, but … I thought maybe you should know. I thought…” She cleared her throat. “I thought maybe if he is working for the Council, you should tell us, so we can know how we’re supposed to treat him, as an ally or not.”