“You’ve changed your tune from earlier.”
“We’re all allowed moments of doubt.” Hyland sighs tiredly. “I haven’t seen my son in five months. Can you blame me for being downbeat?”
Swallowing my guilt, I cast him a tight smile. “I guess not. I’m sorry.”
“You don’t need to apologise. I know it’s been hard for you too. We all want Ember found.”
Lapsing into tense silence, the screaming of the car’s engine fills the time it takes to eat up each mile between us and Ember. The closer we get, the tighter Hyland grips the steering wheel.
“Right here!” Axel shouts, his purple-haired head popping between the seats. “Last location was the outskirts of the farm up ahead.”
All around us, the stiflingly hot night causes a haze that muddies our line of sight. We turn off the road then onto an unlit track, the dirt peppered with pebbles and surrounded by sandy plumes.
Each time the car jerks, my heart leaps into my mouth. I swear, infiltrating a hostile encampment in the Sahara desert with no backup was less nerve-racking than this.
“Pull over here.” Axel slams his laptop shut.
“Right here?”
“We need to go on foot.”
Throwing the car door open, I swing my prosthetic out first, using the frame to haul myself up. All around us, the hum of angry cicadas fills the still air.
We’re surrounded by fields of towering, glossy coffee plants, the elongated leaves shining in the moonlight. Axel points towards the field on our right, accessible by a narrow dirt track.
“We’ll never find her out here,” Hyland mutters, scanning the nearly black landscape. “Why didn’t we grab flashlights?”
“It’s pretty deserted,” Axel muses.
“Yeah, we haven’t seen anyone for a while. No residential buildings near the farm fields either.”
“Why?” I wonder, suspicion chilling my blood.
Cupping his tattooed hands around his mouth, Axel throws his head back. “EMBER!”
Both Hyland and I physically recoil at the ear-splitting screech. The little shit has the most ridiculous pair of lungs on him.
“For fuck’s sake, Ax!” Hyland hisses furiously.
“What? It’s efficient.”
“It’s going to rain down hell on our heads!”
Ignoring him, his hands remain cupped. “It’s been a while since I had any fun. EMB?—"
Curled fist snapping out, Hyland thumps him in the shoulder. Axel’s loud yell is cut off by the blow, causing him to yelp instead, shooting our resident enforcer a dirty look.
“You got a better plan? Like searching the entire farm?”
“Yes!” Hyland booms. “This is a stealth mission.”
“You wouldn’t know what stealth means if it slapped you around the face!”
“You’re such a little bastard.”
“Aw. Thanks for the compliment.”
“It wasn’t a fucking com?—"
