The next morning, I was the first to rise. I read quietly, trying to calm my nerves, until other people began stirring. Then I gently shook Nik awake.

"What?" he murmured sleepily.

"We need to go to headquarters," I whispered. "Today's the day." Even just saying it sent rushes of emotion shooting through my system.

That woke him. He stood, careful not to disturb a still-sleeping Sarah. I met his gaze in the semi-darkness and couldn't read the expression I saw there.

"Today's the day," he repeated.

*

Luckily, we weren't too early. The guard patrolling the building ushered us in and took us to the conference room.

The Gambler and Evie were already waiting for us.

The former of the pair gestured to two police uniforms laid over the backs of a couple of chairs. Without so much as a word of greeting, Nik and I quickly changed behind screens set up for the privacy.

Once we were in disguise and seated, the Gambler cleared his throat. "Here's the plan. Get inside the building. One of you needs to cause a distraction so the other can get into the control room. Everything should  be fairly easy to navigate in there - locate where your friend and brother are and then press the 'open all doors' button. You'll want to have a designated meet-up point so that you can get back to each other from there, go to your friends, and get out. Any questions?"

"Where do we go once we get out?" I asked.

"The jail is only about a block from the exit point. Go to the roof and you'll be able to see the city perimeter."

I had never been to the city perimeter. The thought both thrilled and terrified me.

"Are both of you leaving?" Evie asked softly.

If Nik hasn't made up his mind, I have. I'm not losing more family.

"Yes," I replied. I could feel Nik looking at me, but refused to meet his gaze.

"Then that settles things," the Gambler announced. "Are you ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be."

The man grinned. "That'll do."

*

"Are you okay?" I murmured to Nik as we hurried down back alleys, following down the map that Evie had sent to my comm.

"Fine," he replied shortly.

"Nik, we can't do this right now. What did I do?"

"I haven't decided if I'm leaving or not. I still don't know if I want to."

I sighed. "At least this way, if you decide to come, you'll be allowed to. Nobody's going to force you to do anything."

He was silent for a moment before replying, "You're right. I'm sorry."

We continued on in silence until we emerged onto a main street. I slowed to a stop as I caught sight of a building across the street with bars on the windows.

"I can't do this."

Nik glanced over to me. "What? Claire, Charlie is in there." He reached over and squeezed my hand tightly. "You're wearing the uniform. Now you just have to wear the confidence."

I nodded, forcing a tight smile. He returned it, released my hand, and led the way across the street.

We strode right into the jail, past the small reception room, directly into the belly of the prison. Within seconds, we were walking among cells. I tried to ignore the horrible remarks and heartbreaking pleas as I scanned for Mouse and Charlie.

"Prisoners who are considered valuable are put in solitary," Nik murmured, dodging an outreached hand. "They won't be out here."

We continued walking until we emerged into what was undoubtedly the cafeteria. I caught sight of a small room overlooking the space and nudged Nik. "Figure a map'll be in there?"

He nodded and I strode over to it, fumbling with the keyring at my waist until the door unlocked.

Luckily, no other guards occupied the space. A map decorated one wall and after quickly scanning it, I realized that the control room was down a nearby hallway.

Now all we needed was a distraction.

"We meet back out here once I open the doors," I told Nik in a low voice.

"I have a better idea," he replied.

"I don't know if we should really - "

"I go down to solitary so I can get Mouse and Charlie right away."

I considered this. "Okay, that actually sounds like it'll work. Be careful, though."

"What are we going to do about a distraction?" We both glanced guiltily towards the entrance as a guard emerged. Luckily, he strode straight through the cafeteria without giving us so much as a second glance. We thought for a few seconds before I slowly asked, "What if...we got the prisoners involved?"

"What?"

"We're freeing them - they'd probably be willing to help us! What if we explained the situation and got two of them to fight or something?"

Nik sighed. "I'm not even going to think this through too much. We can sure as hell try."