“You’re here,” Linette said. Her voice had transformed from confident to meek. “Are you DRI?”
She eyed Linette without answering, and her gaze moved to the next cell. Her jaw tensed.
“He’s one of you,” Tater said, sounding scared. “DRI. They came in and killed him when the sirens went off.”
“And who are you?” the woman asked.
“Prisoners,” Linette said, still on her knees, peering up.
“Why have you been imprisoned by your own kind?”
“We wanted to contact the DRI,” Tater said. “We wanted to work with you, to help find outliers, but they said no. They said you all were the enemy. That’s when we knew they were the outliers you warned us about. So the three of us tried to leave, and they stopped us. Locked us up.”
Words bubbled up inside me and came out as a shaken whisper: “I knew you would come.” And I did. I think I always knew this place was too good to be true. I’d even held back from getting too close to Jacob.
The woman looked at me, stared at the tears that trickled down my face as I peered up like the lamb that I was, all laid out for slaughter.
“Can we help you?” Linette begged, sounding convincingly fanatic. “Will you get us out of here? Please?”
The Baelese woman’s eyes scanned until they landed on the key ring on the wall. She nodded to her nearest soldier. “Cuff them and bring them with us.”
Rylen
It’d always been my dream to fly a fighter jet, but not like this. Not with Amber and the others down there, running for their lives. I imagined I’d work my way up the ranks and take online courses, eventually become an officer so I could fly. But I always imagined the people I loved would be safe at home. I’d been in such a damn hurry to join the military when I was eighteen. I should have listened to Mr. Tate. Tater and I were just dumb ass kids when this war started. Back when we thought we knew who the enemy might be.
We couldn’t have been more wrong. About everything. All of us.
I nosed the jet back around toward base with Captain King behind me in the copilot seat. He outranked me, but that shit didn’t matter anymore. I’d read everything about this jet that I could get my hands on, and I’d been in the simulator countless times. Still, nothing could prepare me for the cold fear I’d feel knowing who I was directly protecting. Knowing what was at stake.
I finally, for the first time in my life, felt stable, and it was because of her. All these years. I hadn’t let myself believe there was a chance. I wasn’t going to lose her now.
“What do you see?” I asked King through our helmet mics.
“DRI in all black, crawling all over the base like fucking roaches. None of our people in sight.”
I exhaled heavily. “Good.” They’d made it to the hangars.
Now that I knew Amber was safe on a plane, I could concentrate.
King was turned, watching behind us. “Passenger Carrier One is up.” The first plane had taken off.
I searched the perimeter of the base. “Three white vans at the entrance and something smaller. Jeep, maybe?”
“Let’s take them out,” he said.
“Not if there’s a chance they’ve taken any of our people prisoner,” I responded, glad as fuck that I’d forced him out of the pilot seat. Top’s orders were to take out any enemy aircraft or ground vehicles that were directly stopping our people from getting to the hangar or trying to stop our planes and choppers from leaving. King always wanted to blow shit up—even on simulations—but I wasn’t taking any chances.
“Carrier Two’s in the air,” Lennox called.
A blip sounded from my radar screen and my pulse shot up. “Incoming!”
Not one, but two enemy jets were heading straight for us.
King let out a howl I’d heard in times of war—the wicked sound of thrill when it came down to killing or being killed. But that was all right. I was in control, and being killed was not an option.
“Let’s take ‘em down,” I said.
Amber
My face was glued to the small window and my heart was inconsolable. The higher we climbed, the more a frosty layer grew around the bottom of the window. I could see nothing but white ground, mountains, and clouds. The entire plane and all fifty passengers were eerily quiet. Top stood in front, staring blankly at us, his mouth clamped shut.
Dreadful imaginings ran rampant in my mind, despite my desperate attempts to hush them. Images of Remy being dragged from the greenhouse by DRI, Tater shot on sight, Rylen’s jet bursting into flames and crashing down. Would I ever know their true fates? Once again, my heart seized and I fought to breathe, covering my face as I brought my knees up in the seat.
Devon sat next to me, with Shavonta on his other side. Now and then he’d give my knee a pat, but he mostly acted as if he was unfazed by my sounds of despair. He respected my need to freak out. I didn’t know if any of the rest of our gang was on this plane. I couldn’t bear to look around.
At one point I heard Shavonta whisper, “Do we know where we’re going yet?”
“Nope,” Devon whispered back. “Top’s waiting ‘till we’re clear of air signal.”
I didn’t care. I didn’t care about anything. I just wanted to be back at the bunker with my brother and Remy, come what may, or in that cockpit with Rylen. I bit down hard on my thumbnail. So many people here had lost everyone they loved. How did they do it? How did they manage to sleep and sometimes even smile? I found it hard to believe I’d ever have those desires again. That my body would ever find rest again.
“Ladies and gentleman,” Top called out over the sounds of engines and propellers. “We’re clear. Thank you for your expedient exit from the base. I can now tell you we’re on our way to Anchorage, Alaska. I’ve been in contact with an underground bunker there since day one, and they welcome us. From there, we will forge a plan of attack. My estimation is that we will act this spring. Mere months away. There’s no time to lose. They’ve got another ship due to land by the end of the year. You with me?”
A round of “Hooah!” filled the plane, giving me a chill.
“It looks like all but a few people made it aboard—”
“Who didn’t make it?” I asked.
Top shook his head. “I don’t know yet—”
“What about the fighter jet?” I sat on the edge of my seat. It was a stab to the chest to see his face fall.
“We have to keep all lines of communication closed, so as not to be tracked. It’s a waiting game now.”
I sat back heavily, my hands trembling as I brought my thumbnail to my mouth.
“And for those of you feeling like shit, like there’s not much to live for anymore . . .” He gazed around the cabin with steel eyes. “I find that vengeance is a damn good motivator.”
Some chuckles and more “Hooahs” rang out, and I clung to his words.
Vengeance. Yes. I would play my part in bringing them down. I’d do whatever I could to keep the Baelese from succeeding in this takeover. They’d ripped everything, everything, from me. I wouldn’t let terror and loss kill my spirit, not while there was still breath in my lungs and blood pumping through my heart.
I pressed my hand against the window and stared out at the dark night as one hot tear slid down my cheek, and I made a promise to my family. Remy. Rylen.
“I won’t let it be for nothing.”
in the final book,
UNDONE,
Coming Fall 2017
To all my Sweeties (my readers), group hug!!
Thank you to my family and friends—the usual suspects—for their love and constant encouragement. Especially my daddy, Jim Hornback, for his help with all of the military stuff in this series.
Thank you to Ann Kulakowski for the cheerful wakeup calls to get my booty in gear.
Thank you to my early readers for their valuable feedback: my friends Meredith Crowley, Jill Wilson and Hilary Mahalchick, bloggers Jaime Arnold and Jessica Reigle, and author-friend Cindi Madsen. I w
ould have been lost without you guys on this one!!!
Thanks also to my proofreader, Nichole Strauss of Insight Editing Services, and my formatter Christine Borgford of Type A Formatting. You guys are so wonderful to work with!
I feel like I need to give a shout out to Twitter for keeping me humble by refusing to give me that little blue verified checkmark. Hehe.
And thank you Jesus for getting me through another book. I still can’t believe this is my life.
Dream big, dreamers.
Photo Credit: Anastasia’s Photography Eastern Shore
Wendy Higgins is a soccer mom and backstage drama mama. What most people in her tiny bayside town don’t know is that she’s a USA Today and NYT bestselling author of paranormal, fantasy, and science-fiction romances. She’s a former high school English teacher who now writes full time in her pajamas, and lives on the Eastern Shore of Virginia with her veterinarian husband, daughter, son, and little doggie Rue.
Wendy earned a bachelor’s in Creative Writing from George Mason University and a master’s in Curriculum and Instruction from Radford University.
Reach Wendy Online:
Email:
[email protected] Website: www.wendyhigginswrites.com
Twitter: @Wendy_Higgins
Facebook: WendyHigginsWrites
Instagram: @wendyhigginswrites
Wendy Higgins, Unrest
(Series: # )
Thank you for reading books on BookFrom.Net Share this book with friends