I’d gotten a decent idea of everyone who was going to be involved in this sting based on the hours of discussion I’d spent with people on the forum over the past week, but the ground volunteers still needed to meet before the actual day, in order to get comfortable with one another. It was a necessity if we were going to trust each other enough to cooperate efficiently on this mission, and would also give us the chance to hash out some finer details face-to-face. We’d all wear masks, of course, just like we would during the mission itself, but putting eyes and a voice to the cyber personalities was a vital human part of the equation.
Especially because we didn’t trust each other 100 percent yet. I was praying we didn’t have any moles in the group after Nathan and the admins’ vetting process, but the danger was there. And as Jackie had so succinctly put it, it would only take one mole to bring us all down.
It was a chilling thought, given how comfortable I’d started to grow with folks on the forum, but it was also a point I couldn’t afford to forget. Not with our most recent, graphic reminder of what was at stake here.
Meeting in a more casual, low-risk environment beforehand was important, even if it just made us all feel a little easier about the situation, and the team we’d be working with.
So, come Sunday evening, I found myself closely monitoring the discussion thread that was dealing with potential meeting venues. I made several suggestions myself, while trying to be mindful that these people came from all parts of the UNA. I was in the middle of responding to another member’s suggestion, which I believed to be too far north to be fair to most members, when my phone rang.
I rolled out of bed to snatch it up from where I’d left it charging on the floor, and to my surprise, the caller ID read… Mr. X. My heartrate increased a fraction as I stared at the screen, wondering where he’d been all this time, and why he was calling me. He’d never called my phone before, not even when we’d been going on visitations together, so it struck me as odd that he’d be calling me now.
Then the thought occurred to me that he could be finally getting back to me with good news about the archives, and I quickly answered it with an enthusiastic, “Hey, Hux!”
“Hey,” he replied, in a tone that was considerably less lively than my own.
“What’s up?” I asked, frowning.
“I, um. I heard back from my last contact about the archives this evening.”
My heart plummeted at his tone, and I instantly braced myself for the disappointment I knew was coming. “And none of them could help,” I finished for him with a sharp sigh, not wanting to drag it out.
He exhaled. “Yeah. I’m… I’m really sorry. I was hoping at least someone would come back with a lead, but people are scared to even try poking around government-owned cyberspace.”
And I didn’t blame them, considering that it could warrant the death penalty.
Still, I struggled to bite back the disappointment. I’d known from the start that the chances were slim, but it had been hard not to get my hopes up. When I’d joined, I couldn’t help but see this portal as a new and exciting potential gateway into the archives, with how many additional people I’d have access to. But maybe the portal still wasn’t big enough to include that one special gem.
In the meantime, I guessed there was still Nelson. And perhaps I shouldn’t be too despondent, given how hopeful she was about having gotten closer to a way in.
“Okay,” I said, trying to put a lid on my conflicting emotions. “I really appreciate you asking around anyway.”
“I know it’s not good enough, though,” he replied, sounding genuinely annoyed.
“Yeah, well…” I swallowed, unable to keep from being touched that he’d been taking this so seriously, while also feeling frustrated myself at the lack of leads. “There’s probably nothing more we can do right now. Maybe someone or something else will come up in the coming weeks.” I realized I hadn’t told him that Nelson was working on the archives and was about to add it to try to make him feel better about the failure, when I remembered her rule: no unnecessary information. So I decided against it. “Anyway, speaking of the coming weeks,” I added, wanting to change the subject for both of our sakes, “what do you think of everything that’s been going on?”
I hadn’t made much of an effort to speak to him recently, for various reasons, but I was genuinely curious to get his take on how everything was unraveling. To be honest, it all felt like it was happening so quickly, I was still in a state of processing it myself.
“You didn’t see I volunteered for the ground team?” he asked, sounding mildly surprised.
I frowned. “No,” I replied, wondering how I could have missed him there.
“Well, I guess I came forward a little later than everyone else because of, uh, family commitments. But yeah, I’m part of the team.”
“Ah, I see,” I replied, guessing he’d added himself since I last checked… and realizing this meant I was probably going to see him again in a few days. The initial meeting was probably going to take place in the earlier part of next week, specifically Wednesday, because it was a public holiday for the entire nation. Even the factories would be closed, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity, given that many of us would have to travel hours to the meeting venue.
“That’s cool,” I added quickly, realizing I’d left too much of a gap after my initial statement. Because it was cool. It was just fine.
My mind then latched on to the latter part of his first statement, and it was on the tip of my tongue to ask how things had been going with his sister since our visit—I knew he was supposed to see her on Sundays—when I swallowed it back, reminding myself that, even though it seemed like harmless information, since I already knew about his sister, it was unnecessary, and asking would be breaking protocol, which I needed to stay in the habit of not breaking.
So instead I changed the subject again. “What are your general feelings about this, anyway?” I asked. “Positive enough to volunteer to be on the ground, but… anything else?”
“Well, I don’t think there’s going to be anyone on this mission who’s not feeling nervous, but I’d say my optimism outweighs the negative. I seriously think this will be a good way for us to build trust with one another, as well as seeding some trust with the public.”
“And how does Nathan feel about how everything’s playing out?” I asked, still wondering which of the admins Nathan actually was.
“He’s excited and optimistic, like the rest of us.”
“Good,” I said, blowing out, and then falling silent.
There was a long pause, then, in which I wondered if Jace was going to say something else. Whether the news of the archives had been the only reason he’d called me. But if he had been about to say anything, he apparently thought better of it.
“Okay, well, I guess I’ll let you go now,” he said, clearing his throat. “I’m sorry again. If there’s anything else I can do, let me know. And I’ll keep my ear to the ground regardless.”
“Thanks, Ja—Hux,” I said, quickly correcting myself. I didn’t want to use his real name over the line, encryption present or not.
“You’re welcome,” he replied, and then hung up, leaving me to push thoughts of him aside again, along with my disappointment about the lack of archive leads, and return my focus back to my tablet… and the small beginnings of a rebellion that was gradually taking shape.
27
By Tuesday, we’d finalized the venue—an empty warehouse on an industrial estate in the suburbs bordering Tucklons City—and Wednesday morning found me getting ready to leave. The rest of Nelson’s group and I were traveling together, given that we had access to an aircraft—and Nelson was coming too. Since she’d become one of our main strategists, she wanted to meet some of the members of her IT team and get a feel for our action group as well. She wouldn’t be coming with us on the day of the mission, but would be involved remotely by providing technical support and advice should the need arise. So she needed
to know who she was going to be dealing with.
It had been the car dealer guy on Jace’s trusted list, “Marty Bales,” who came forward with the venue. He’d said the storage space belonged to a contact of his, and that he could arrange to give us access to it. And he was who I spied first when we reached our destination.
I’d just climbed out of the aircraft when I spotted him standing outside the entrance of the large, windowless gray building. He was wearing a mask that concealed his bald head, but I recognized the short, portly form of the forty-something-year-old, as well as his intense, low-pitched voice as he addressed another small group who’d arrived a couple minutes before us.
I wasn’t sure how to feel about him being at the meeting today, honestly. Jace’s and my visitation with him hadn’t exactly inspired me with confidence about his character; he’d been too high-strung for my liking, with an emphasis on vengeance that had made me uncomfortable. I wasn’t sure that his motivations truly aligned with what we, as a group, were trying to achieve here: a steady, well-balanced mindset that would allow us to make plans and decisions based on logic, rather than emotion. Still, unless he was an excellent actor, he was fully committed to bringing the CRAS down. Which should be enough of a qualification for providing us with a safe meeting spot.
All the same, I wasn’t planning to let my guard down.
I glanced around at the small parking lot we’d touched down in, opposite the warehouse, as I waited for the rest of my team to disembark. Strips of reddish sunset streaked the cement walls, while dark shadows were beginning to swell in every corner. The area was mostly devoid of vehicles, which made sense. The rest of our team was probably parking closer to the city and walking the rest of the way to the warehouse, so that they didn’t reveal their plate numbers.
As if on cue, my eyes caught movement to the left of us—more dark-clothed figures approaching the building on foot—and I felt the sudden need to check my mask. My hands went instinctively to my face, feeling at the fabric, and then I breathed out slowly, trying to calm my nerves.
So much could go wrong in all of this, but so much could go right, too, and in this moment, I had to try to focus on the latter. Because this meeting was pivotal for the future of OH+. It would basically determine whether Nathan’s entire idea would fly or fall, whether we could actually come together and cooperate as a group… or not. If we couldn’t muster the courage to meet in the flesh, then nothing would ever come of all the work we’d put into building up the platform. And the CRAS would march on.
“You think that’s what Mr. Montague sent the suits in?” Jackie whispered, pointing to a truck that was parked adjacent to the warehouse.
“I guess,” I murmured, not sure what else it would be for.
In addition to checking each other out in person, we’d also realized that this meeting was an opportunity to familiarize ourselves with the tech we were planning to use during the mission, and that included Mr. Montague’s suits, among other things. Luckily, he’d been able to arrange for some on short notice—using that truck, apparently, because I didn’t know of any other resources that would have required such a large vehicle. If they existed, I hadn’t been told about them yet.
“Okay, folks,” Nelson said suddenly, disembarking from the aircraft a few seconds after Marco. “We ready to go in?”
“Ready as we’ll ever be,” Julia muttered.
Sucking in a deep breath, I took the lead with Jackie, remaining conscious of the gun tucked beneath my coat. With hindsight, I realized I would have been more comfortable if the meeting was being held out in the open, rather than in a concealed space. It would have made for an easier escape if anything went sour. But it was a little late for that now, as we’d all agreed to it already.
Plus, outside had other disadvantages. For instance, we couldn’t try out the equipment we’d brought with us and would run the risk of being seen or overheard by security guards or late-shift workers on the industrial estate.
Nope, we were just going to have to suck this up.
We lined up behind the small crowd that Marty was letting in one by one and waited tensely for our turn. I sensed nerves radiating off the people surrounding us, too, given the lack of conversation, and it was a relief when it was finally our turn to face the man.
“Log in, please,” Marty murmured, his dark blue eyes giving us each a furtive look. Since I was nearest to him, he handed me his pad first, with the OH+ login window pulled up. I bit down on my lip, experiencing the same moment of doubt as when Jace had asked me to log in on his device. Technically, there wasn’t much damage a person could do to me even if they did get access to my account, due to the lack of personal information there. But still, the idea of Marty wanting to capture our logins for some reason made me feel uneasy, even though I didn’t know why he’d want to do that.
Pushing the doubt aside, I punched in my details and showed him the successful login. He nodded once, then logged out and handed his pad to the next person: Nelson. He remained standing in front of the entrance until he’d approved each member of my group and ticked our handles off in his register, and then he stepped aside, allowing us to enter.
The building’s interior was nothing but a single, long, high-ceilinged room. A line of white plastic tables had been cobbled together and arranged to run down the center of the space, along with several dozen plastic chairs, and I was surprised to see half of them filled already. We’d been angling to get here earlier than the appointed meeting time—it was due to start in half an hour—to allow for some time to get comfortable with the environment. But apparently we hadn’t been the only ones with that idea.
Before I bothered too much with the people who were already seated at the tables, my eyes moved instinctively around the room, scoping out potential exits. There were three, from what I could make out: the main entrance we’d just come from, one emergency exit in the center of the wall to my right, and another emergency exit at the opposite end.
“Let’s try to sit toward the back of the room,” I told my team softly, discreetly gesturing toward the exit at that end. I wanted us all to be near a door, just in case anything went wrong and we needed to make a rapid escape, and as the seats closest to the other two doors were taken, the farthest end of the conference tables was our best option.
“Good idea,” Marco muttered. He’d been about to reach for a random seat closer to us, and now immediately adjusted his trajectory.
As we made our way down the long room, squinting against the fluorescent strip lights that lined the ceiling, I switched my focus back to our fellow meeting attendees, and suddenly spotted Jace in a chair near the end of the tables. His bulky form was unmistakable. The only reason I hadn’t seen him right away was that he was hunched over, engaged in some kind of conversation with two shorter, though similarly built, men, who sat on either side of him. There were eight chairs in a row free just near them, and since my team was heading straight for them, I guessed that was where we were going to sit.
Which was fine, of course.
Though subconsciously, I hung back a little, wanting to see if any of my team would take the seats closest to Jace and his companions—who, I realized as we approached, were his friends Kory and Cloyd, judging by their familiar voices. My team ended up leaving a seat free right next to the shorter man, and rather than deliberately sitting all the way on the other side of the line my comrades had formed, which would look weird, I took it.
Especially since Kory had already spotted me.
“Hey,” I said in a low tone, my eyes on the table as I lowered myself into the chair.
Kory nudged me in the shoulder. “Hey, stranger. Hux didn’t mention you were coming along.”
At that, I snuck a glance at Jace, and tried not to notice the way his amber gaze warmed on spotting me.
He then rolled his eyes at Kory. “It’s not exactly any of your business.”
When he looked back at me, I could tell he was smiling behind his mask. “Good to s
ee you.”
“And you,” I replied, smiling broadly back—perhaps a little too broadly. But damn, it was good to see him. I’d gotten so used to being with him every day during our visitations, and now that I was seeing him again after so long, I had to admit I’d missed him quite a bit over the last week.
But there didn’t have to be anything wrong with that. You could miss a person while still staying at “just friends” level. You could still do a lot of things, actually. I didn’t need to get hung up about this. And I was determined not to.
“Oh, hey, Mr. X,” Nelson said, peering around me from the seat on my other side.
He broke eye contact with me to give her a friendly nod back. “Hey.”
Nelson then turned to face the center of the table and leaned in to me, asking in a quiet voice, “You know those guys with him?”
“Uh, yeah,” I replied softly, turning toward her—and remembering that I had omitted a large chunk of that particular Sunday during my report. “Yeah, I… They’re cool,” I concluded, deciding that was all she needed to know.
She smirked. “Okay.”
“What are your handles, by the way?” I asked, swiveling in my seat to look between Kory and Cloyd, genuinely curious. I’d had no idea his friends were going to be involved with the ground mission, and given that I didn’t know their handles, wondered if I might have interacted with them on the forum recently without even realizing it.
“LumberJack. Just Jack for you,” Kory replied with a grin, and I frowned at him, not remembering seeing him around.
“Hairy_poppins,” Cloyd muttered.
This time, my eyebrows rose. “Oh, Stayhome Dad!” I said, a grin splitting my face. I couldn’t have forgotten that handle if I’d wanted to, and I remembered now that he’d started that wise “Changing Perspectives” thread a while ago, when the portal had first opened. I’d also seen him around on the boards since. I had to wonder at his choice of name, though. Had he managed to escape the mountains with his child, or children? And was he somehow still able to look after them, even now?