"If he runs, let him run."
The officer did not lower the weapon. "He attacked the convoy."
"Yes."
"He tore the vehicle apart."
"Yes."
"He assaulted an officer."
"You assaulted each other."
The Taurus man almost smiled.
"Don’t," Marek said.
The expression disappeared.
"If you try to restrain him now, he’s going to fight," Marek said to the officer.
"That isn’t a reason to let him go."
"No. But there are injured people here. The shooter is still somewhere nearby."
The officer’s attention moved to the pharmacy.
Marek did not know what the man was thinking. There had been too much in the last hour alone.
Detainees who had escaped because the detention center itself stopped functioning. Instructions about Ophiuchus that the officer had never received. A Gemini who could turn his own voice into something useless. A Taurus who could tear metal apart and still hit someone by accident with a movement he did not think was strong.
And now Marek, who had just told him that his own Mark had tried to take something from that same Taurus without permission.
The officer lowered his weapon. "Go."
The Taurus detainee stared at him. "What?"
"I said go."
The man did not move.
"Before I reconsider."
The detainee turned to Cooper, who was sitting beside the vehicle with one arm held close to his chest.
He hesitated. "I didn’t mean to hit you."
"You already said that," Cooper said.
"I know."
He seemed to want to say something else. He did not. He turned and ran toward the side street.
The Scorpius man stayed where he was.
"You too?" the officer said.
The man adjusted his glasses. "I was considering my options."
"You have about ten seconds."
The violet Mark along the left side of his waist became brighter beneath his detainee shirt. He faced the northern road. "They’re close."
The officer raised his weapon. He did not point it at him. "Then go."
The Scorpius man noticed the difference. "Why?"
The officer took in the damaged convoy. The missing doors. The shattered windows. The unconscious driver. Cooper’s shoulder. The woman holding her son’s hand.
Then the detention complex in the distance. "You want an honest answer?"
The Scorpius man waited.
"I don’t know what happened inside that building."
The man said nothing.
"I don’t know which of you were supposed to still be in there. Which of you were waiting for someone to decide something. Which of you were actually dangerous before tonight."
His attention went to the side street where the Taurus detainee had gone.
"And right now I don’t trust myself to sort that out while everyone here has abilities none of us understand."
The Scorpius man stared at him.
So did Marek.
The officer exhaled. "But if I see you shooting at civilians, that changes."
"I never did that."
"Then don’t."
The Scorpius man nodded once. He turned and ran after the others.
A woman’s laugh came from near the pharmacy.
"Gemini!" the officer shouted.
No answer.
Then his own voice came out of the building. "Thank you."
He stared at it.
A figure moved behind the pharmacy. The Gemini woman was visible for less than a second. Then she was into the same narrow street the others had used.
He did not fire.
Several seconds later something moved farther down Route Eight. A man crossed between two damaged vehicles. Marek saw him only briefly. A bow-shaped pattern of light ran along one arm.
The officer raised his weapon. The man was already running.
He tracked him. Marek watched his finger stay outside the trigger.
"He shot at the child."
"I know."
"Then why aren’t you firing?"
"Because he’s half a street away, moving between buildings, and I don’t know what’s behind him."
Marek checked the street past the fleeing man.
The officer was right. There were windows. Vehicles. Possibly people.
The detainee disappeared. The officer kept watching the place where he had been. His expression was not anger. It was not relief either. Marek could not name it.
The man had spent most of the day receiving instructions and trying to follow them. Every instruction now seemed to have another condition attached.
Don’t let detainees escape, unless stopping them gets civilians killed.
Follow Control’s instructions, unless the person speaking is not from Control.
Restrain dangerous Awakened, unless restraining them creates another danger.
Do not provoke them.
"You’re thinking too much," Marek said.
The officer gave him a tired look. "So are you."
"Yes."
"That doesn’t help."
"No."
The Scorpius man had been right. The engines were much louder now.
"They’re almost here."
Marek checked the side streets where the detainees had gone. "How did Scorpius know before we heard them?"
"Ask him next time."
"You think there’ll be a next time?"
The officer considered the empty road. "With how today has been?"
He did not finish it.
The first backup vehicle appeared at the far end of Route Eight. Then another. Then two more.
Four security vehicles. An ambulance. Behind them, a larger armored transport.
The officer lowered his weapon.
Marek counted them. "That’s more than I expected."
"Same."
The lead vehicle stopped well before the intersection. Nobody approached.
A rectangular light flashed from it.
Three times. Pause. Then twice.
The officer stared at it.
"What is that?" Marek asked.
"Visual verification." He took the light from his vest and flashed it back. Twice. Pause. Three times. "They don’t trust voice confirmation anymore."
He watched the vehicles come forward.
For the first time since Marek had met him, the man looked relieved.
Only slightly.
Then the radio on his shoulder came alive. Static. A voice followed.
"Convoy Three, confirm visual contact."
The officer took in the approaching vehicles before he answered. Then he pressed the radio. "Visual contact confirmed."
"Good. We weren’t trusting the radio."
"Why?"
"Detention Control reported multiple Gemini escapees."
Marek checked the side street.
"How many?" the officer asked.
A pause.
"Four confirmed."
Marek stopped.
Four.
The Gemini woman from Route Eight was only one of them.