Free The Fall by Claire Merle Page A

butterfly closures to fix Cole’s cut. Then she squeezed Cole’s split flesh back together and started applying the stitches at either end of the wound. Meanwhile, Ana smeared arnica onto his bruised knee. The acrid smell of the ointment, blended with the metallic odour of blood trickling from his arm, made her queasy.
    More night guards arrived, including Nate and Rachel. Tobias ordered them back outside, though not before Nate had shot Ana a look of total loathing. Seton went out to explain to the growing crowd what was happening. Ana overheard heated discussions about the Warden, the disc, whether she would leave the Project straight away, and how they would evacuate all those who weren’t trained to guard the wall.
    Cole ducked his head to catch her eye. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I just couldn’t let him walk off with you. I panicked.’
    ‘It’s OK. You’re all right. And I’m still here. Besides, I think he was holding back.’ She glanced across to the other side of the room where Ed was guarding Dombrant. For all the Warden’s threats that night – the knife held to her throat, the Stinger on its highest setting – when the moment came for him to use Ana to his advantage, Dombrant had thrown her aside. ‘He didn’t want to hurt either of us.’
    ‘Wouldn’t go that far,’ Cole said, wincing as he tried to bend his knee.
    ‘They won’t do anything to him, will they?’ she asked.
    Cole shook his head. ‘No way. Tobias won’t let them lay a finger on him. It would be asking for trouble.’
    Clemence finished securing the final butterfly stitch. ‘There.’ She covered Cole’s wound with a bandage, then wrapped gauze under his arm and over his shoulder.
    ‘We’ll have to leave tonight, won’t we?’ Ana asked. Clemence regarded her with a warmth and kindness that, in itself, was unsettling. It made Ana think of the moon and the angel.
    ‘Seton has already decided,’ Clemence said. ‘He will personally take you to a safehouse. You will be able to rest and recover.’
    ‘Won’t you need him here?’ Ana asked.
    ‘He’ll be back by morning.’
    The minister’s recording was safe and the council had an evacuation to plan. As one of the Project’s three council members, why would Seton risk taking them across the City tonight? What weren’t they all telling her?
    Tobias blustered into the cabin from outside, followed by his second- and third-in-command. Sandra angled straight for Clemence and the medical kit, asking for a sedative.
    ‘I’d like to take a look at the Warden’s interface,’ Cole said to Tobias, hobbling to his feet. ‘That infrared program he’s got would be pretty useful if I can copy it.’
    Tobias dug up Dombrant’s interface and contact lens and slapped them into Cole’s hands. ‘There have been volunteers,’ he said unhappily. ‘Several people have offered to help escort you across the City.’
    Relief lightened Cole’s face. Ana knew what he was thinking: they wouldn’t be an injured guy, an old man and a girl crossing London alone tonight.
    On the other side of the cabin, Sandra crouched down beside Dombrant and rolled up his shirt sleeve. As she injected him, the Warden caught Ana’s eye, making her throat grow dry. Tangled thoughts occupied her: her father’s reaction to tonight’s events; what was on the minister’s recording; whether the Board would authorise an attack on the Project.
    She watched Dombrant’s eyelids close and his body slump as the sedative took hold.
    ‘I’ll find out who is going with you,’ Clemence said quietly, drawing Ana’s attention back to their side of the room where Cole now perched on the stool with his injured leg stretched out, examining the Warden’s interface. ‘The storeroom is a mess but we need to make sure you all have equipment and IDs.’
    The Minister left the cabin, joining the heated discussions outside, which Ana could still hear going on among the guards and those representatives who’d been