Took Me Yesterday (book 2 of The Tomo Trilogy)

How to Kill Them

The next day, a ladder fell off of a cleaning crew's truck on Debary's Lane. Five minutes later, a good Samaritan dragged it off the public's sidewalk and propped it against the nearest house. A minute after that, a fire started at the compound, and a window on the third floor opened to listen to the sirens. When all the fire trucks passed—and all the curious stares went back inside—a nearby van opened its doors. One by one, five people ran out, scaled the ladder, and ducked into the window. All in less than fifteen minutes.

Miles, Lily, Rinley, and me, overseen by Tasia's tactics. Tame slammed the window down behind us as soon as the last of us got inside, but my eyes stayed on the street.

"Sneaking up here to sit in the window would kill the point, Gray," Tame said.

I turned to her. "Where are the other two?"

"Broden's on watch," Rinley said, disinterested. "My brother"—she said the word with disdain—"hasn't come out of his room."

"Do we have eyes on him?" Tame asked.

Tasia rolled her eyes. "The kid may not be on our side, but he's not on his dad's either."

"That's true," Rinley snorted like she heard a joke the rest of us couldn't. When no one laughed, she folded her arms. "Trust me, he'll come around."

Tame stared at mini-female-Noah, and then looked at me. "Can I talk to you alone?"

I hesitated, but relented and walked to the other side of the room. I knew what she'd say before she said it. "Why do we have any of the Tomerys in on this? She could run back to Noah—or worse—their father, and tell him everything we had planned."

"Rinley," I said her name as loud as I could, and when I got her attention, I spoke again, "Why do you want to overthrow your father?"

She blinked. "Sounds like a good time to me."

I looked back at Tame. "She won't go back to him."

I tried to walk away, but Tame grabbed my arm. "A fun time?" she repeated.

"A good time," I corrected."

Tame tightened her grip. "That's not a good enough reason to do this."

"That's not her real reason and you know it," I said. "Do you know where we found Rinley in Topeka?"

Tame's face stabilized like she never considered the decade Rinley had been missing.

"She was shot at, then locked in an institute to hide," I said. "I identified her by a scar on her wrist. A big one."

The implication of her attempted suicide was written all over Tame's face.

"And then, Rinley overhears that her rescue meant nothing? That all her father wanted was information on the Gray family? That children were killed in her family's name?" I continued. "That girl isn't going back, and we need her."

"Fine, but if she gets in the way—"

"Trust me, she has more of a purpose in this than you."

Tame silenced as I stepped away and faced the crowd. "I need an update on everything that happened while I was in the hospital." My eyes trailed over Tame's plan, knowing it could work if I had the right excuses, but I needed every tool first.

"It started with me," Lily said, explaining where she'd been going in the middle of the night. While I thought it was just Miles' room, Miles had encouraged her to befriend Jazzy, and so she did.