… you’re right. But I needed it to stop,” Sarah repeats.
“It’s not going to stop until that girl is dead,” Aisling points out.
“That’s not what I mean,” Sarah says, her voice dropping half an octave. “I want Endgame to stop too, Aisling, but I needed—what did you say, Greg? Madness? I needed the madness to stop. The madness in my head. If I’d pulled that trigger, then it would’ve … it would’ve …”
“Destroyed you,” Jago says, also letting down his guard a little. “I also tried, Celt. I couldn’t do it. It may have been selfish, but I think Sarah was right not to kill Sky Key. She was a child. A baby. Whatever happens, she was right.”
Aisling sighs. “Fuck.” No one speaks for a moment. “I get it. Truth is, I was praying the whole way up here that I wouldn’t have to do it up close and personal. That I’d have a clear and long shot with this.” She jostles her rifle and peers around Sarah into the dark room at the end of the hall. “But I guess I missed, right?”
Sarah nods. “She’s gone. She was repeating ‘Earth Key’ over and over and I think she touched it and—”
Jago clicks his tongue. “Poof.”
“What do you mean, ‘poof’?” Jordan asks.
“They just disappeared,” Sarah says. “It’s not that crazy when you consider that about thirty minutes ago Jago and I and the other two Players were in Bolivia.”
“Bullshit,” Aisling says.
“What, you didn’t teleport here too?” Jago asks, trying to make a joke, even while he still aims at Aisling’s temple.
Aisling doesn’t care anymore. It’s not the first time someone’s aimed a gun at her and it won’t be the last. “No, we didn’t teleport,” Aisling says. “Just good old-fashioned planes, trains, and automobiles … and feet. Lots of feet.”
“But Sky Key—she is gone, right?” Jordan asks.
Sarah nods. “Her mother’s in there, though.”
Aisling double-takes and tries to peer into the room. “Who—Chopra?”
“Yeah,” Sarah says.
“Alive?” Aisling asks, her voice a little too desperate.
“Sí,” Jago answers.
“Shit,” Jordan says. “That’s not good.”
“Why not?” Sarah asks.
Aisling says, “We uh … we just killed her entire family.”
“¿Que?” Jago says.
“This is a Harappan stronghold,” the old man explains from the back of the room, pride lacing his words. “Except it wasn’t strong enough.”
“She’s not going to like me too much when she wakes up,” Aisling says. “I wouldn’t like me, either.”
“Shit,” Sarah says.
“Sí. Mierda.”
“We should kill her,” the old man says.
But Aisling raises a hand. “No. Jordan’s right. It’s been too much today. Marrs”—Sarah and Jago realize that Aisling is talking to the man with the walkie-talkie—“you can keep her all Sleeping Beauty, right?”
“Sure, no problem,” Marrs answers, his voice nasal and high-pitched.
Jordan says, “Hey, we all sound cool. We’re cool, right?”
“Cooler,” Sarah says. But she gets where he’s going and lowers her gun. Jago does the same.
Aisling lays her rifle on the floor. “Listen, Sarah, Jago. I’m done Playing. I thought for a while that I would try to win, but there’s no winning here. We’re all losers—maybe the one who wins will end up being the biggest loser of all. Who wants the right to live on Earth if it’s ugly and dying and full of misery? Not me.”
“Not me either,” Sarah says, thinking again of how she set the whole thing in motion when she took Earth Key at Stonehenge.
Thinking again of Christopher and her guilt.
Aisling drifts toward Sarah, holding out her hand. “When me and Jordan and Marrs teamed up I told them that if we couldn’t win Endgame then we would try to find like-minded Players. We’d give them the option of teaming up with us so we could stop this whole fucking mess. For instance, if I ever find Hilal, I want to fight with him. He was right, way back at the Calling. We should have worked together then. Hopefully it’s not too late to work together now.”
Sarah steps closer but doesn’t take Aisling’s hand. “How do we know we can trust you?”
Aisling frowns, the corner of her mouth turning up. “You don’t know. Not yet.”
“Trust must be earned,” Sarah says, as if she’s quoting something out of a training manual.
Aisling nods. She’s heard that. They all have. “That’s right. But you can have some faith. I didn’t shoot you when I tried to kill Sky Key. I didn’t shoot you in the back in Italy when I had the chance, though I arguably should have. Pop over there certainly thinks so.” The old man grunts. “And a few days ago I thought the same thing. But maybe I didn’t do it so we could meet right now. Maybe I didn’t because the three of us aren’t done yet. What will be will be, right?”
“Sí. What will be will be,” Jago mutters.
Aisling says, “If we try to stop this thing together, really try, then I won’t hurt you. None of these guys will. You have my word.”
Sarah cradles her injured left arm. She stares at Jago and tilts her head. Suddenly all she wants is to fall asleep in Jago’s arms. She can tell that he wants the same thing. He snaps off a quick nod. Sarah leans into his body.
“Okay, Aisling Kopp,” Jago says for them. He puts out his hand and takes the Celt’s. “We’ll put our faith in you, and you will do the same with us. We’ll kill Endgame. Together. But one of my many questions can’t wait.”
Aisling smiles. It’s as if a gust of air has blown into the hallway. Sarah feels it too, and relief washes over her. No more fighting on this day. Jordan makes a low whistle and Marrs lights his cigarette. He crosses the hallway, mumbling something about checking on Shari Chopra as he passes Sarah and Jago. The only one who stays on edge is the old man.
Aisling ignores him and gives her full attention to her new allies. Maybe her new friends. “What question is that, Jago Tlaloc?”
“If Sky Key survived and we missed our chance, then how do we go about stopping Endgame now?”
Aisling looks to Jordan. “I’m guessing that’s where you come in, isn’t it?”
Jordan shrugs. “Yeah.”
