“I didn’t want you to.” She winks. If she’s saying I would have told her to stay back like I did Jhamal, she’s right. I’m just not trying to put any of them in harm’s way.

“What do you think it is?” she asks.

The alleyway where they set the delivery is between a smoke shop and a boarded-up beauty boutique. With the vehicle out of sight, I peer ’round the corner for a better glimpse. The ground level of the alleyway is lined with the back doors to several shops. Up above, wide windows. One is open with a red sheet blowing in the wind.

This is a drop. Someone’s waiting for this package.

Someone’s here.

I press a finger to my lips, the hair on my neck standing. I point at the window, then at the box. Zora’s brows furrow, but understanding hardens her expression when a door in the alley creaks open. We tuck out of sight around the corner and listen. Footsteps. Wood creaks. Breath hangs in my chest like a scythe.

I peek around the corner and the someone is alone, hovering over the box. His head is shaved on one side, an L branded into his scalp. The same L as on the palm of the boy we buried. Swooped bangs hang over his face and he looks like he hasn’t slept in months.

He gazes around and I snatch myself back, hiding around the corner. Still, Rue. Be still. Metal scraping against itself says he’s opening the box and didn’t see me. I try to let out a breath, but even the thought of breathing cuts deeper than a knife.

I dare another peek. He’s chest deep in the box, pulling out a metal contraption with both hands.

The Loyalist studies buttons on the device as if he’s trying to figure out how to turn it on. He taps something red, and metal pinchers snap at the machine’s sides.

“Maybe it’s a trap?” I whisper to Zora, the feeling returning to my fingers. “The Chancellor could be working with this band of whoever they are to set traps all over the City to catch me.”

“Like the fire arrows.”

“Yes.” It’s the only thing that makes sense.

Zora’s eyes meet mine and in hers is a question: What do we do?

“If we can get our hands on that trap or, better yet, him… maybe we could find out more about the Chancellor’s plans?” I raise my eyebrows in question. What does she think of this idea? Is it dumb?

But she nods, then falls behind me, pressing her bare shoulder to my back as if to say she’s ready. She moves with me in one motion. I signal for the others.

“Bri, stand by to disassemble the trap if he manages to activate it somehow.”