Riley Gage's Arc

Chapter 4 of 6

Riley is still catching his breath when the shout cuts through the market noise. He turns and sees two GiganCorp guards closing in on Xyra's crates, the ones she just finished stacking. She's twenty feet away, her back to them, adjusting her climbing gloves. They're moving fast. A security drone drops from above, red and blue lights washing over the stack of metal boxes. The crates are sleek, covered in glowing patterns that pulse brighter now, like they're reacting to the scan. Riley's brain kicks into gear before he can stop it. Those boxes are flagged. Contraband, prototype tech, something GiganCorp wants badly enough to send muscle and hardware. Xyra still hasn't noticed. She has maybe ten seconds before they box her in completely. Riley's hand goes to his pocket. The EMP detonator is there, the one with the smiley face he etched on last week because it made the Rats laugh. He built it to knock out surveillance grids, not corporate drones, but the principle is the same. One pulse and everything electronic in fifteen feet goes dark. The guards would still be a problem, but without the drone scanning her face, Xyra could slip away. His thumb hovers over the trigger. If he does this, GiganCorp will know someone interfered. The Rats will ask questions. His brothers will have one more reason to be disgusted if they ever find out. But Xyra is right there, and she doesn't see it coming. He presses the button. The drone drops like a stone, lights dying mid-spin. The guards shout and spin toward Riley, and Xyra's head snaps up. She sees the dead drone, sees Riley twenty feet away with his hand still in his pocket, and her eyes narrow. She doesn't say anything. She just grabs the top crate and runs, vanishing between two stalls before the guards can recover. Riley backs up, pulse hammering, and realizes his hand isn't shaking anymore. He just made a choice, not because it would impress anyone, but because letting her get caught felt worse than the consequences. The guards are closing in now, shouting for him to stop, and he turns and runs. But for the first time in days, the noise in his head is quiet.