Unknown 9 by Layton Green (each kindness read aloud txt) 📕

Henrik didn’t respond. When she glanced back, his head was bobbing as if he couldn’t hold it up. Zawadi and Cal caught up and zoomed past them, turning left at the corner. Andie followed. She knew the best way to help Henrik was to get the hell out of there.

The SUV roared down the street behind them, then fell farther and farther behind as the nimble motorbikes raced deeper into the neighborhood. Andie guessed the Moto Guzzi she was driving was at least twenty years old, with only a few hundred ccs. But that was more than enough power to eviscerate an SUV in tight quarters. She had no idea what had happened to the police sirens, but she suspected the Ascendants had something to do with that.

Soon they emerged onto a larger street, which spilled into a circle of pavement fronting a medieval gate flanked by a pair of squat barbicans. The road led straight through the gate. Zawadi cut to the left, barely slowing as she zipped through a smaller archway at full speed. This archway signaled the entrance to a succession of covered arcades, which extended up the hill as far as Andie could see in the light from the headlamps.

Andie clutched the handlebars as she followed Zawadi, at once seeing the wisdom of the decision. Composed of ancient paving stones worn smooth over the centuries, the roofed colonnade was not wide enough for a car and ran straight up the long hill, which must have lead to the basilica.

At first a succession of darkened houses and shops flanked the colonnade, but after a mile or so the tunnel of painted archways left the city behind as it climbed higher and higher into the forested hillside.

Henrik’s grip on Andie’s waist grew weaker. Beside them, a paved road wound up the hill in circumspect fashion. Soon Andie glimpsed lights near the bottom that surely belonged to their pursuers. The situation grew worse when the paving stones turned into a staircase for the final portion of the climb. It took all of her strength and balance to manage the jarring ride up the incline while reaching back to grip Henrik by the shirt, helping to keep him steady.

They emerged from the colonnade into a courtyard at the base of a domed basilica high above the city. Stone walkways and manicured green spaces dissected the ancient piazza. Zawadi parked her bike and left it running as Cal jumped off and dashed over to help Andie ease Henrik to the ground.

After a glance at her wristwatch, Zawadi joined them, checking Henrik’s pulse as he lay unmoving on the stone pathway. Andie had never felt so helpless. They didn’t even have a bottle of water for him.

“They mean well, but they’re wrong,” Henrik murmured. “We were all wrong.” Blood bubbled at the edges of his mouth, a worrisome purple color.

“Hush,” Zawadi said. “Save your energy.”

His breathing was very shallow, and Andie took his hand as his eyes closed. He started to whisper something, and she bent down to listen. “Find Dr. Corwin,” he whispered. “He’s our only hope.”

“We’ll find him together,” Andie said. “Stay with us. You’re going to make it.”

“Zawadi,” Cal warned. “Lights on the hill.”

Andie turned to see a pair of headlights approaching on the paved road that led to the basilica. The road spilled out on the opposite end of the courtyard, in a parking area beneath a retaining wall. She also heard the distinctive thump-thump of a helicopter approaching from the distance.

Cal cringed as a wasp-shaped copter swooped into view. “Who the hell’s that? More Ascendants?”

“Our ride,” Zawadi replied. She was cradling Henrik’s head in her arms when Andie turned back around. Zawadi checked his pulse one more time, then gently let him go.

A lump rose in Andie’s throat. “Oh my God. He’s dead? We can’t just leave him here.”

“We must, and we will.”

Zawadi ushered them into the safety of the colonnade as Andie suppressed the urge to vomit. Zawadi might be right, but Andie hated the logic of the situation. Henrik had risked his life to get them out of Bologna. Not only that, he had risked his life to help her after she slipped into the shadow world—and now he was dead because of it.

Because of her.

As the vehicle neared the top of the hill, powerful searchlights swept the base of the basilica. Above them, the ultralight copter began to descend into the courtyard. The SUV was out of sight beneath the retaining wall, though someone was shouting instructions in Italian, and gunshots started pinging off the body of the copter.

“As soon as it lands,” Zawadi said, “run for your lives.”

“You’re not coming?” Cal said in disbelief.

“That was never my intention.” She reached beneath her shirt and lifted a small gray pouch off a utility belt, then tossed it to Andie. “Funds and documents and a secure phone are inside. Only texts, no calls.”

Andie felt a stab of desperation as Zawadi raised her gun and stepped away. “When will we see you again?”

“Soon.”

“How?”

“Go! Now! Follow the Star Phone!”

The helicopter hovered just above the ground, whipping the air around them. Zawadi grabbed Henrik’s gun and began firing to distract their assailants, racing toward the retaining wall at the edge of the courtyard. As she drew nearer, she ducked behind benches and potted trees, anything she could find as the spotlights swept the grounds. Two Ascendants tried to run up the stairs on either side of the wall, but Zawadi drove them back. She had the higher ground, but it was only a matter of time before someone flanked her.

The pilot opened a door to the cockpit and threw out a rope ladder. With Cal right beside her, Andie hunched over and dashed across the courtyard, flinching at each spurt of gunfire and waiting for a bullet to pierce her in the back. She sprinted for the ladder with everything she had, outpacing Cal. She jumped to grab a rung above her head, scrambled up like a