Hollowgirl Read Online Free PDF Page B

messed up,” said Zep as the carriage descended. “We’re all thinking that, right? Clair just killed someone.”
    â€œClair Two did,” said Clair One.
    â€œAm I the only one freaking out?” he asked Clair. “Why aren’t you freaking out? Have you done this before?”
    Clair stared up at him, not knowing the honest answer to that question. She had shot more dupes than she cared to think about, but if Q was right and there were no dupes in the Yard, then that meant that Drader had been himself. A traitor who would have killed her given a chance, but a person nonetheless.
    â€œNo, I haven’t done this before,” she said. She had just crossed a line. “Shit, shit, shit.”
    Her hands started shaking uncontrollably. The gun fell to the elevator floor. Kari picked it up and folded Clair to her chest. The silver bullet hole was right at Clair’s eye level. She stared at it as she held Kari in return, finding justification there but no comfort as the elevator descended.
    â€œNice one, Zep,” said Libby, slapping him on the chest. “You’ve broken her.”
    â€œI didn’t mean to. It’s just . . . you know.”
    â€œYou’re freaking out, yes. Find a way to do it quietly.”
    â€œZep’s right,” said Tash. “This can’t be happening.”
    â€œIt’s okay,” said Kari, her voice a muffled boom in Clair’s ears. “We’re not hurt. I can’t promise that everything is going to be all right, but I can promise to do everything in my power to keep you safe. That’s my job.”
    â€œYou told me that in New York,” said Clair.
    â€œHmmm. And look what happened.”
    â€œWe’re still alive, aren’t we?”
    There was silence in the elevator, apart from the whining of the mechanism responsible for their rapid descent. Kari rested her chin on the top of Clair’s head. That small intimacy made Clair feel slightly better. She just needed a quiet moment in which to catch herself while her entire life fell out from under her. . . .
    â€œSorry,” said Zep.
    â€œDon’t apologize,” said Clair, releasing Kari from her death grip. “You were right. I think I was overdue for a breakdown.”
    â€œSeveral, by the sound of it.” He grinned at her and her heart lightened a little more.
    â€œSo at the bottom of this thing we’re going take the train,” said Clair One, her voice harsh. “How do we know they won’t be waiting for us there?”
    â€œThere’s no booth until the other end of the line,” said Ronnie.
    â€œAnd we have to go that way, right?”
    Clair felt weary. Clair One just would not let it go. Clair supposed she wouldn’t either, in her shoes.
    â€œThere are observation stations at various points along the tunnel,” said Q. “I will arrange transport to meet you at one of those.”
    â€œAnd then? We can’t get out of the Yard. We have no idea where Wallace is. We haven’t even started talking about what we’ll do if we find him.”
    Before Clair could say anything, a chat request appeared in her infield, the first she’d received since arriving in the Yard.
    It was from Ant Wallace.
    Clair stared at it for a second, chilled to the core. They hadn’t spoken since she had blown up his space station, killing earlier versions of both of them. It was like hearing the voice of a ghost that had been haunting her from the shadows, never showing its face.
    â€œI just received a chat request from Wallace,” said Clair One.
    â€œSo did I,” said Ronnie.
    â€œAnd me,” said Zep.
    â€œDon’t answer it!” Clair said, trying to keep the panic from her voice. “Don’t do anything. Let me think.”
    PK Drader had seen her, and Wallace would have been watching through Drader’s lenses. Q had masked her on the way to the observatory, so anyone tracing