The Recruiters open fire, not caring who they shoot. I see one Recruiter lighting what looks like bottles of alcohol, tossing the makeshift bombs into the crowd. The flames lick and spread. People try to beat them out but there’s no room and bodies flare and flail.

I’m pushed along the platform, no longer paying attention to who’s grabbing me and why. Rough hands shove me into a car that’s already moving, the steel cable pulling it up and away.

Safely inside, the din of the riot drowning all sound, I press my face against the window and watch the shore recede. The few Recruiters left are unable to beat back the tide of panicked people and are soon engulfed.

Some of them leap for the cable car but we’re already too far away, the metal box swinging side to side as we’re pulled slowly over the river. I feel the steel cable shuddering under our weight, the entire cab stuffed with Recruiters.

I look around desperately and then I sense the heat of Catcher against my back. “We made it,” he says into my ear and his hands find mine. My body trembles, overwhelmed by our narrow escape. By the number of people left behind.

Men around me shift out of the way as the large Recruiter with the red sash pushes his way toward us. He stops in front of our tiny trio and I twist to face him. He looks at Elias and then at me and finally at Catcher, and his face breaks into the grin of a predator.

“Nice to see you again,” he says.

“Conall.” Elias’s voice is strained. “You promised we’d be safe.”

I glance at the faces around us, everyone tense after the ordeal on the dock and many still clutching weapons tightly. It’s very easy to see that these men belong to Conall and will do anything he says.

We are utterly at their mercy.

“You made the right decision,” he says to Elias. “You promised him to us and you delivered.” And then he turns and shoves his way to the other end of the car.

I’m left staring at Elias, shock making my breath run shallow and my head light. “You set us up?”

Catcher’s hand tightens around mine. “Not right now, Annah,” he warns.

I stare at him in disbelief. “But that man said Elias—”

Catcher shakes his head once, sharp, and then his eyes scan those around us. All the Recruiters listening in.

I glare at Elias and then turn back to the window, preferring to watch my city fall than look at a traitor.

We’re just approaching the midpoint of the river when the horde stumbles onto the cable-car landing we just left. People jump from the platform, trying to escape, but it’s no use—the water’s half frozen and there’s nowhere for them to go.