Kira Vex's Arc

Chapter 4 of 6

Kira left her family at the library and stepped back into the district. A tall watch crane now loomed over the rooftops, its searchlights swinging slow across the streets. The buyers had set up eyes. Every corner she crossed risked a face match. She pulled the worn city ID from her jacket and clipped it to her collar. A different name. A different woman. She ducked into a small strip mall — a glowing noodle place and a laundry shop wedged side by side. Steam from the laundry fogged the windows. She moved through the back, past stacked baskets, and out a service door into the next lane. The crane's light swept the street she'd just left. She kept walking, head down, ID swinging at her chest. Two men in wrong coats stood at the corner ahead, scanning faces. Kira slowed her pace and lifted the ID as she passed, bored, tired, a worker heading home. One man glanced at the card. His eyes slid off her. They let her go. She reached a quiet block and breathed. She had crossed the district unseen. But her savings were gone to the safe house, the leak was still in her family's circle, and the crane was still turning. She was free for the night — and further from getting them out than she had been at dawn.