Page 133 of Queen of Volts

Enne froze, stricken.

“Is Lola here?” the Bargainer pressed.

“She’s not,” Enne managed. “But she—”

“Then I don’t need to negotiate with anyone,” the Bargainer said. In a blur, she stepped backward, toward the front doors. “And I don’t need Bryce to end the game. Once you’re all dead, I’m sure I’ll have all the cards I need.”

“You can’t kill all of us,” Grace growled.

She raised her eyebrows. “Can’t I?” And then she lunged outside and slammed the doors closed. Harvey heard a lock click, but he couldn’t be sure if he’d imagined it.

Why wouldn’t she listen to him? How could she still not go to Bryce?

Roy charged forward and tried to follow after her, but the door didn’t budge. “No!” he shouted, throwing his weight against it. “No. No, no, no! They’re locked!” He swallowed and looked up around the Legendary. “They all might be.”

Dread sank in Harvey’s stomach like a stone, and his lungs tightened. This couldn’t be right. This couldn’t be happening. He didn’t know what made it harder to breathe: his fear or the smoke.

The two other guns in the room turned on him.

“Give us one reason,” Levi growled between gritted teeth, “why we shouldn’t all kill you right now.”

LEVI

Levi’s hand shook as he pointed his gun at Harvey, his own anger igniting his vision red, the flames engulfing the cardroom casting a stifling heat across his skin.

“I...” Harvey’s voice trailed off, as if even he couldn’t conjure a reason he should stay alive. His gaze traveled back wildly between the locked doors and Levi’s pistol. He was so distracted that he didn’t notice Enne creep up behind him, rip the gun from his hand, and deliver a swift kick behind his knees. Harvey crumpled to the floor beside Delaney.

“If it weren’t for you, we could have killed her,” Levi growled. “This could be over! We could—”

“You shot her, and it didnothing,” Enne told Levi.

“Are you suggesting it’s my fault?” Levi had known that the Bargainer’s talents would make killing her difficult, but he hadn’t envisioned that she would treat a bullet as less threatening than a mosquito.

“I’m saying it’s not just Harvey’s.”

“So...what? We let him go?” Levi didn’t want to fight with Enne, but he’d never trusted Harvey. He’d included him as a favor to Narinder, and he only owed Narinder a favor for the way things had played out between them. But Narinder didn’t know the North Side in the same way the rest of them did. Levi should never have trusted his judgment.

It felt thickheaded now. Harvey Gabbiano and his Chainer smile. Of course he’d betrayed them.

“We could use him as bait. Convince Bryce to call off the game,” Enne suggested.

“That won’t work,” Harvey grunted below her. His eyes were closed, and he made no move to resist Enne’s heel against his chest. He lay limp, like he’d already accepted his fate.

“Then why work for him?” she barked. “Why risk everything for someone who wouldn’t do the same for you?”

Harvey turned his head to the side, swallowing hard. He had no answer.

Levi knew he could still be lying. But maybe it was the defeated, broken look on Harvey’s face. Or maybe it was the pools of blood already soaking into the soles of his loafers. But Levi didn’t want to kill him. Two hostages in one night was low, even for him, but that was what Bryce’s game was, after all. It had diminished the value of a life to no more than a playing card. It had made friends into enemies of one another.

“You can all stand there arguing,” Sophia snapped, “but Harrison needs to go to the hospital.”

Levi whipped around to where Harrison lay, his head propped on Sophia’s lap, unmoving except for the shaky rise and fall of his chest. “Does anyone have any medical knowledge?”

“I do,” Roy said, running over. Something gold glinted in his pocket, and Levi realized that he had taken Hector’s card—his target.

“Not that I don’t care about the politician man,” Grace grunted, “but if we don’t get out of here soon, we’reallgoing to die.”

She was right. Even if the flames wouldn’t burn Levi because of his Glaisyer talent, he would be crushed when the building collapsed or by breathing in too much smoke. And judging from how the fire had climbed upward, swallowing the entire southern side of the casino, they didn’t have much time.