Chase Sterling's Arc

Chapter 1 of 2

Chase Sterling needed the citadel's front gate, and the two guards blocking it did not know they were about to help him reach it. His name sat on the government Registry now, a mistake he never made and could not erase. But the Registry did not know one thing about him. Chase could hear what people thought. He leaned against the wall across from the gate and listened. The taller guard was thinking about his aching feet. The shorter one was counting the hours until his shift ended. Neither watched the shadows where Chase stood. He read their hands first, the way he always did. Both men held their rifles loose, fingers slack. No fear. No suspicion. Good. Behind him, boots scraped stone. Chase turned. A blonde woman crouched in the gap between two buildings, spiked hair catching the gray light. She wore patched leather and a wide belt heavy with ammunition. A knife rode at her hip, not the rifle slung on her back. He had traveled beside her for three days now, and he still could not hear a single thought from her. Her mind stayed shut like a locked door. "You're staring," Pink said. She did not look at him. She watched the guards. "I'm listening," Chase said. "There's a way through. Their heads are half asleep." "Heads don't stop bullets." She checked her knife. "South post ignores me. I cross the east wall there. You want the gate, you're on your own." Chase kept listening. Then the taller guard's thoughts sharpened. New orders. A name on a list. He pushed off the wall. "They got a message," Chase whispered. "The citadel is sealing entry at nightfall. Registry names get held at the gate for transport." Pink's jaw tightened. "So the front door closes." "Tonight." Chase's stomach dropped. His plan had needed the gate. Charm one guard, read the other, walk through smiling. That path was gone. "If I don't get in before dark, I don't get in at all." The shorter guard turned his head toward the alley. His eyes stopped moving, fixed on the gap where Pink crouched. Chase felt the man's thought land like a stone. He sees her. Chase stepped into the open before he could think it through. He raised both hands and smiled, easy and warm, the smile people trusted. "Evening," he called. "Lost my way. You two look like men who could point me right." Both guards swung toward him. Rifles lifted. Their thoughts flooded in at once, and one word repeated in each. Registry. Registry. Registry. The smile had failed. His name was already on their list. Behind them, the gate began to grind shut. Pink was gone from the alley when Chase glanced back. She had chosen the east wall. He stood alone in front of two raised rifles, the front door closing, and the only man in the city who could hear their next move had run out of soft ways in.