Interlude [h.s]

thirty-eight

It happens two days later.

Alouette is walking down the corridor when two guards walk past her. They're heavily armed and she immediately holds her breath. They shouldn't be allowed to bring weapons to the upper floors. That can only mean one thing.

Not long after three men of Harry's personal guard walk by. They're wearing black uniforms and are carrying at least one weapon each. They rush towards Harry's office without as much as a word. Jayden comes after them, and Alouette stops him by the arm.

"What's going on?" she hisses, trying her best to sound panicked and surprised. She needs a confirmation.

"A Revolution attack," he whispers in reply, and for a terrifying second she fears Ezra went against everything she told him and attacked the Palace instead.

She was clear when she told Nathan about her plan: a completely unplanned attack to a non-government building. No citizens involved, no innocents should get hurt because of the Revolution. That goes against everything it stands for. Ideally one of the new storehouses on the outskirts of Northfair. But if he brought it to the heart of the city...

"Where?"

"The bank in the north district," he tells her. "I must run, it's ongoing. If we're fast enough we'll catch them."

He walks away and Alouette purses her lips in worry.

No matter how fast they are, she thinks, please be faster than them, Elijah.

• • •

NORTHFAIR BANK, NORTH DISTRICT, NORTHFAIR

When Ezra told Elijah he had a job for him, in no way he'd been to guess he'd end up robbing a bank. He supposes there's no easy way to go about this, and if he'd sat him down and told him what he planned on making him do, he would've never agreed. But he didn't, so here he is, standing inside the vault of the NorthFair Bank.

Sometimes he wonders at what point in life he went so wrong. This is one of those times. He supposes he should count his blessings; after all he and his team managed to get inside and are still alive.

"Hey!" someone shouts at him, and he looks up. It's one of the other men on his team, he never bothered to learn his name.

The alarm is now ringing. He's surprised it took it that long, he'd imagined it would go off in the second the vault was opened. It's been a far too easy job so far—he'd expected the entire world to be against them considering they broke into a bank with close to no planning.

His teammates are walking past him, their pockets filled with jewels and precious stones to the brim. The employee standing in the middle of the room red-faced and trembling is heartbreakingly embarrassed and terrified. He helped them sneak in. They would've never got this far without him. Elijah wonders if Ezra chose this bank on purpose, because one of its employees is on their side.

He shrugs and walks out of the room. So far everything has been too calm, and it unsettles him. They were told to attack a bank in the loudest way possible, and yet there still hasn't been a reaction from the Palace. Do they simply not care?

"Okay, are we good to go?" a voice says in his earpiece. "Let's evacuate in the next ten minutes, I'm in no mood to meet the President's dogs right now."

Elijah looks behind the corner. The corridor is completely empty. Most people would think of it as a good sign, but he does not. It's an usually busy bank. If the employees aren't there, it means they're somewhere else. But he supposes he's lucky, too. He doesn't like when innocent people get involved. "It's all clear," he replies. "Nobody in sight."