Broken(39)

    “And by tangled, you mean when you got your ass kicked.”

    “Yeah,” Zack said. “So anyway, what was the deal?”

    “When she was in containment,” Kurt said, and looked around, as though there were someone in the car with them, “Winter had me go down there to taunt her, goad her, then offer to spring her. He wanted me to play on her guilt from being able to see everything that was happening on the news. He told me what to say, how to say it.” Hannegan shook his head. “They’ve been feeding her a steady diet of misery while she was down there, making her feel guilty.”

    “Who?” Zack looked at him with unconcern. “Ariadne?”

    “Maybe her, too,” Kurt said, waving him off, “but definitely Winter. He wanted her to know what was going on, how many people were dying. And then he goes and tells me to help her get out. I dunno whether he wanted to see if she’d try or if he really wanted her outta here, but he told me to help her escape, and take her wherever she wanted to go if it was here in the cities. So I did. Dropped her off at her house. Turns out he’s trailing us the whole time with a squad.” Hannegan shook his head in amused disbelief. “We see Wolfe go into her house from a couple blocks away and he just keeps us at a distance. He’s got the place bugged from top to bottom, and he’s sitting there with one of the tech guys as everything’s going on, that stoic face of ice.” Hannegan’s expression changed, and he smacked his lips together. “He sent her there to die, man. I wouldn’t get real attached to that girl, cuz Winter already tried to throw her to the undertaker once.” There was almost an expression of guilt on Hannegan’s fat face, furtive, almost ashamed. “I mean, she’s a little bitch, but—”

    “Yeah, that sucks,” Zack said with all the interest he might give a pronouncement about the weather.

    “Yeah,” Hannegan said. “You’re not concerned?”

    “She’s just a job, pal,” Zack said, and looked back to the steering wheel. “I do what I’m told. Like playing undercover, y’know. Acting.”

    “Yeah,” Hannegan said, “but didn’t he tell you he wanted you to get close to her to get her to stay?”

    Zack nodded. “Yeah. And?”

    “But then he had me help her throw herself into the path of Wolfe?” Hannegan gave Zack a knowing look. “What do you think the old man’s playing at? One minute he saves her, the next he tosses her to the wolves—err … Wolfe?”

    “Who knows?” Zack asked with a light shrug. “It’s a job. A weird job, but a job. Pays better than being a city cop, or even an FBI starter like my college roommate.”

    “Yeah, but if he’s that quick to toss one of his own under a bus, do you think he’ll ever pull that with either of us?” Kurt eyed Zack, watching for a response.

    “I dunno,” Zack said. “Probably tends to make me look over my shoulder a little more carefully, though.”

    “Smart move,” Kurt said, shifting his bulk in the car seat to look straight ahead again. “Seriously, though. I wouldn’t get attached to the girl.”

    “It’s just a job, man.” Zack put his hands on the wheel. “In addition to being the death of me if I touch her for very long, she’s not really my type.” He frowned. “And immature. Maybe a little crazy, locked up all those years. Who knows?”

    “Yeah, well,” Kurt said, “I’m just trying to watch your back, y’know. Somebody should around here.”

    “I gotcha, buddy,” Zack said with a wide, exaggerated smile. “And I’ll watch your back, too. We’re humans in a meta world; we need all the help we can get, right?”

    “I suppose so,” Kurt said, and turned his eyes back out the windshield. “I will tell you, though, I’m glad the girl won in that bout with Wolfe. If she kills that bastard in the metal suit, I might almost like her.”

    “I doubt it,” Zack said. “You don’t really like anyone.”

    “I liked you well enough up til now, you jackass.”

    They both laughed, and the dreamlike quality of the world around me faded into an insistent buzzing sound. I came back to consciousness, in the car, the drowse of sleep clinging to my eyes as I forced them open. A streetlight overhead shed light on me, giving me a view of the parking lot of the bar. I was still here, and when I glanced back, I saw that the place was closed, all the lights off now. Snow had started to fall while I was unconscious, and there was a light dusting already on the ground. I wondered how long I had been asleep when my cell phone buzzed again in my coat. I picked it out of my pocket and thumbed it on, then hit the message indicator. The text was from Kurt, and was as simple as could be.