Free Enemy Inside (Defectors Trilogy) by Tarah Benner Page B

the bits of rubble off us. Amory pulled himself into a seated position. He was shivering.  
    “Come on,” I said. “We have to get to the safe house.”
    I visualized Godfrey’s map. I knew we were still several blocks away. I didn’t want to cut across the main roads and risk another rover, so we made our way slowly around the perimeter of our route until I found the street we were supposed to take.
    Amory was silent as we traipsed through the snow. I worried his last episode had taken a toll on him, but I didn’t want to ask. Running from the PMC, it was easy to forget that he resented me for breaking him out and making him a fugitive again. But now that it was quiet, the distance between us seemed to grow.
    Sneaking a glance in his direction, I could see he was shaking from the cold, and his lips were turning blue. He had his hands tucked inside Greyson’s thin jacket.
    “We’re getting close,” I muttered.
    He nodded but did not look at me.
    The trip back in the direction we came seemed twice as long as the journey to the tunnel. Then, I had felt relieved that Amory was all right and hopeful that we would escape Sector X. Now, we had no prospect of leaving, and it was becoming very clear that Amory was not all right.
    I knew we were almost to the safe house when buildings began to rise from the rubble. I should have felt reassured to have more cover from the eyes of patrolling PMC officers, but instead, the rising apartments and offices made me feel boxed in and trapped like a wild animal. Any escaped carriers that had survived the riots could be hiding in the shadows. My hands were freezing where they gripped the cold metal of my rifle, but I was on high alert and ready to shoot anyone or anything that posed a threat.
    Walking the streets, it was easier to see the remnants of what had been Manhattan. We passed an abandoned newsstand, a market, a cleaners, and several restaurants. The buildings here were older, but the scars of a more recent evacuation were fresh. Parked cars stood collecting snow, trash bins overflowed, and boxes of belongings people couldn’t take with them were piled in the alleyways.
    Finally, we reached the block Godfrey had marked on the map. Remembering the address, I squinted up through the darkness for a building number. We counted down the block, and when we reached the building with the correct address, I knew instantly that we were in the right place. Stenciled onto the brick with black spray paint was a lion just like the one that marked Uprising Pub.
    The building was boxy and nondescript, sandwiched between a police station and another abandoned apartment building. Fire escapes snaked up its flat face of brown brick, and all the windows were dark.  
    I tried the door, but it was locked.  
    “Did he give you a key?” Amory asked.
    I shook my head.  
    “How are we supposed to get inside?”
    I didn’t know. I racked my brain, trying to remember if he had given me any special instructions. He probably expected me to figure it out, but I was cold and exhausted, and I felt as though I might collapse.
    Amory’s eyes drifted up toward the fire escape. “Do you think . . .?”
    “It’s worth a try.”
    The ladder hung over my head several feet out of reach.  
    “Here,” said Amory. He crouched down in the snow, and it took me a moment to realize what he was suggesting.
    I breathed out slowly and swung a leg over his shoulder. He held out a hand, and I took it for balance as I sat on his shoulders and swung my other leg over. Gripping my thighs, he stood up easily. I wobbled, clutching his upper arms for balance.
    “Don’t drop me.”
    “I won’t.”
    My heart was thudding. It felt strange to be sitting on his shoulders like a child, but he managed it as if I weighed nothing. I didn’t trust myself not to lose my balance, but Amory had a strong hold on me, and I trusted him. I reached up and grasped the ladder, the metal creaking in protest as I yanked it down.
    I felt