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cares so much about protecting me, and if it has anything to do with why Commander Charlie pardoned me when he captured me in Crust.
    There isn’t time to press for answers to all my questions, not when we’re scrambling to get ourselves to safety. But soon I will demand them.

 
    4
    Shortly before midnight, we leave the valley.
    I’m strapped into a passenger seat in the main cabin of the hovercraft, at the two-person round table behind the cockpit. Fiona sits across from me, nervously chewing on her lip, ready to jump up if we run into any mechanical problems in flight. Darren is at one of the other tables. Sandy is still in surgery, and there’s been no word from Uma or the doctor yet as to how she’s doing.
    I grip my armrests tightly, bracing myself against the jolting of the ship from the stormy turbulence outside. Thick snow swirls in the darkness beyond the cockpit window, making it impossible to see more than a few yards ahead of us. The defroster is on high so the window won’t freeze over. We’re relying on flight instruments to follow a clear flight path to the Pipeline, and to pick up the signal of any approaching raiders. I hate not knowing where the swarm went after we lost it in the storm. It could be on the other side of the Surface by now or a hundred miles ahead of us, flying in our direction.
    Beechy’s keeping us close to the ground, in case we need to make a quick landing. I’m glad he and Skylar are the ones up in the copilot seats; they’re the only pilots I’d trust to get us through a storm like this.
    â€œBird one, ease off thrusters.” Skylar’s voice comes through my ear-comm, speaking to one of the X-wing pilots. “You’re going too fast.”
    â€œThis is bird one,” the pilot answers through the static. “Copy that. Slowing down.”
    Sam paces behind Skylar and Beechy with his arms folded, the slight limp still visible in his leg. Beneath his stony gaze, I can sense his nervousness.
    I spoke to him a couple minutes before take-off. He intercepted me on my way to my seat, acting as if he were ordering me to carry out a task for him. But the words he said under his breath were far less kind.
    â€œDon’t make the mistake of thinking you’re safe, just because I pardoned you and your friends until we reach the Core,” he said. “You might’ve convinced Lieutenant Dean to argue on your behalf, but I’m still the commander of this ship. I could throw you out the air-lock if I wanted. So, I need you to understand something.” He took a step closer to me, his eyes cold as ever. “If you or any of the rebels make any move to defy my commands, I will strand all of you on the Surface. I doubt you’d last more than a few days before you’d freeze to death. And I will personally make sure you have no way of calling for help or returning to the Core.”
    The smile he gave me was a vicious one. Before I could say anything in response, he turned away to answer Skylar, calling him up to the cockpit.
    It was likely a ploy to scare me; I doubt he has the guts to really throw all my friends and me off the ship, especially with the Mardenite army so close. He wouldn’t give up bodies that could help defend the rest of his squadron. Still, I glare at his back and grip the barrel of the gun tucked out of sight under my holster belt. I wish I’d shot him in a better spot than his leg back at headquarters. If only I’d crippled him enough that he was no longer fit for command of the ship.
    My fingers brush something hard inside the zippered pouch in my holster belt. Three thin, tubelike objects—the three syringes full of Charlie’s serum. The ones he gave to me with instructions to readminister the serum to myself every twenty-four hours, before it wore off. I’d forgotten about them. I should get rid of them before someone, namely Sam, finds out I have them and tries to