Echo emerges from behind the bar, grinning over a bubbling drink. The sight loosens the tension in his chest. “You’ve come to check on your favorite patient?”
“Echo,” Rafael says, hoping he’s got the name right.
She chuckles. “That’s me.” Beckoning him over, she continues, “You should be proud of yourself, kid. Followed your suggestion and got myself checked out by a doc across town. She said you did a great job repairing my old noggin.”
He forces a smile. “I guess so…” The details are foggy, unable to remember much besides how hard his hands were shaking.
Echo takes a swig from her mug. “Has the boss man been fair to you, by the way? I don’t meddle in how he runs the crew, given the mess his uncle’s death left us in.” She leans over the bar. “But I can’t stand the thought of him treating my precious savior poorly. Bad enough you got stuck here in the first place.”
The gang leader is many things. Intimidating, confrontational, strangely insistent that Rafael speak his mind. Protectiveof his crew and this neighborhood in ways Rafael didn’t expect. But fair might be too much of a stretch.
“He’s been…complicated.”
Her brow lifts. “Complicated how?”
Rafael shrugs, unsure how to explain what he’s barely processed. “I don’t know. Maybe… he wants me to speak up? Question things more?” He pauses, trying to find words that don’t sound ridiculous. “I think he gets frustrated when I stay quiet. Or—I could be wrong.”
It’s disorienting. At VitaCorp, keeping his head down and following orders kept him employed and out of trouble. Here, silence seems to irritate Kane more than disagreement does.
A slow smile forms on Echo’s lips. “Pushes you to speak up, huh? That’s the Baron for you.” She pauses, studying him. “Has heactuallylistened when you do?”
His mind flashes to yesterday in the medtruck. For a moment, Rafael wondered if Kane was going to pull the trigger. Until he went against every instinct screaming not to get involved. And Kane lowered the weapon. Because Rafael asked him to.
The realization sits uncomfortably.
“Yeah…” Rafael says eventually. “He listened…For some reason.”
Echo props an elbow on the bar, resting her chin in her chrome hand. “Huh. Interesting.” A wry smile tugs at her lips. “He barely listens to me most days, and I’ve known him for years.”
Rafael blinks. She has to be joking. Kane clearly respects her. Why would he take advice from him over one of his own lieutenants? The question is still tumbling through his mind when the hiss of a door opening cuts himoff.
Wren strides inside, adjusting the guns at her back, with Viper—Rafael thinks that’s his name—beside her. He’s shorter than most of the crew, bald head etched with old-school black tattoos, and one chrome optic glinting under the lights.
Echo raises her drink at them. “Hey, kids!”
Viper rolls his eyes before nodding at Rafael, then striding over to a holo billiard table, checking his wristlink. Wren catches Rafael’s eye and hesitates before sliding into the next stool.
“Rafael,” she says, voice low. “I wanted to…I need to…” Wren exhales and squares her shoulders. “Taking you from Midtown…that was wrong. Not just tactically. It was wrong. You never should’ve been dragged into this. I was trained to protect our people, not to hurt outsiders. Baron always said true strength is restraint, fighting only when we have to. So…I’m sorry. And thank you for saving Echo.”
Rafael studies her, uncertain how to respond. Wren kidnapped him at gunpoint, yet here she is apologizing, seemingly genuinely. The context he’s witnessed doesn’t justify what they did, but makes the anger harder to hold on to, even if he can’t accept being held captive.
“Thank you,” he manages. Not quite forgiveness. His friends always tease him for being too quick to let things go. But she deserves some acknowledgment.
Her shoulders ease slightly. “Did you tell him about Dr. Hayashi?” she asks Echo.
Rafael’s stomach drops. What does she mean? Is the doctor not coming? Or worse, did something happen to them?
Echo shoots her a glare. “Wren…” She sighs. “That’s not for us to say.”
“I’m—” Wren’s face pales as the sound of footsteps cuts them off.
Striding across the bar is Kane in his full combat armor, long jacket, and leather boots. His visor conceals his expression from this far, but the set of his jaw speaks volumes.
“She never said anything,” Echo hisses in Rafael’s ear while Wren buries her face in her hands.
He nods instantly. Clearly, Wren didn’t mean to speak so carelessly. But a knot builds in Rafael’s chest, regardless.
“Hello, boss man!” Echo lifts her drink as if nothing happened. “We’re all present and accounted for…except Coda. But he’ll probably be on time, like usual.”