Abandon

  “Why didn’t you wake me?”

  “The two men talking? They said your name, and I knew if they found you, it would be bad. So I let them find me instead.”

  “So the e-comms,” I said. “The first was from you. The second—”

  “They forced me to send it. I knew you’d figure out it was a fake. The Insiders sent Greene Leavitt to find you, and Min and Shade sent a body double to act for me at the jury.”

  “She searched the trees,” Shade said. “And found nothing.”

  “Show me, Saffediene,” I said, without power or control but with a gentleness that surprised me. She released my hands, hopped off the table, and lifted two potted trees onto the counter. They had very few leaves and bark the color of slate. The soil lay in uneven mounds, as if she had sifted through it meticulously. That was the Saffediene I knew.

  I ran my hands from the soil up the tree trunk. It felt cool and smooth. When I met the first branch, my fingers followed it, trying to feel something invisible. A leaf snapped off with a spark.

  I jerked my eyes to Saffediene’s. “Did you see that?”

  Saffediene picked up the leaf. A wisp of smoke trailed out of the stem. She turned it over, examining the back of it.

  “It’s nothing,” she said, handing it to me.

  I ran my finger over the delicate veins, desperate to find something. Nothing, despite the spark I’d seen. It really was a leaf.

  What am I missing?

  What? What? What?

  Only a handful of leaves remained on the tree. Impulsively I pinched them all off, sparks flying with each one.

  As the last one fluttered to the countertop, a p-screen fizzled to life, the tech leaping and arcing from the detached leaves to form a viewing area the size of my palm. Trek’s face flickered on it. “Message from Freedom: All feeds are being checked and double-checked by Director Hightower himself. Please update to the following frequency. Alpha kappa one five gamma row three.”

  The transmission ended; the screen dissipated.

  “I don’t believe it,” Min whispered.

  “When did you get this?” I asked.

  “Five, maybe six days ago,” Shade said.

  “Code all outgoing plants,” I told Min. “Employ all your runners and have the message out by tonight so everyone will know in the next two days.” She nodded, waving at Shade.

  “Saffediene and I will leave messages in the cities from here to the Southern Region.”

  “I’ll inform Greene,” Shade added, already retreating back down the corridor. Min hurried after him.

  I looked at Saffediene, who was watching me with wide eyes. “What?”

  “You reminded me of Jag right then. So authoritative.”

  “Let’s fly,” I said, ignoring her comment. “We’ve got loads of work to do.”

  * * *

  Saffediene and I separated, and I flew east while she went west. We would cover the corridor from Cedar Hills down to the Southern Region. Six days, I thought. Director Hightower could’ve learned so much about the Resistance efforts in six long days.

  I left a message in the correspondence tube outside Cave Pointe, and then flew south to Freedom. Just after noon I touched down on the northern border and opened my cache to Trek. The birds fly north in winter.

  I waited, hoping Trek had received the message, and that he could come right away.

  Twenty minutes later Trek appeared from behind the wall. He strode toward the techtric barrier without a backward glance. His eyes were bloodshot, his hair a tangled mess.

  He scanned me the same way I was analyzing him. “You look awful,” he said, his voice semimuted through the barrier. “You must not sleep either.”

  “Not much,” I said. “We were in Cedar Hills and just got your message.”

  He cursed and shoved his hands in his pockets. “I knew we should’ve sent a message to the safe house. But after you guys took Thane, we weren’t sure who’d be watched. And Starr couldn’t risk another meeting with Gunn.”

  “We lost six days.”

  “Yeah, and it’s six days we don’t have. The General is preparing to leave in the morning.” He smoothed a hand over his unshaved jaw. “Hightower has been checking the feeds from every city, and he found several false vids. That’s how he located your safe house. The false feeds either come from my hub or from Pace’s, and since he didn’t get the message, Hightower found his fake routing info.”

  “So Director Hightower found the cavern because of the false feeds we’ve been sending?” That settled in my stomach so much easier than a spy living in the hideout.

  “Right. And the General is leaving for Castledale in the morning, as those feeds account for the majority of the false vids.”

  “Pace was doctoring all those.”

  “Right. And since no one received our message, we weren’t able to bury the coordinates before they were found.”

  I exhaled. “Damn. Well, I’ve got the code going out through Cedar Hills’s plant network. Everyone should know by tomorrow night.”

  “That won’t help Castledale.” Trek pinned me with a meaningful look.

  “I’ll go. What am I telling them?”

  “General Darke is leaving in the morning. Our people will make sure his board will only have enough charge to get him to Arrow Falls, where he’ll be forced to stop to recharge. That will buy you about eight hours. He’s going to Castledale for a full status report. If you leave now, and fly nonstop, you’ll have approximately eighteen hours to evacuate all Insiders, and Director Pederson will need to make his completely noncompliant city absolutely compliant. Otherwise . . .” Trek let the words hang there, and I knew what followed them.

  General Darke would take over. Director Pederson would die—and so would anyone who exhibited qualities of noncompliance.

  “I’ll get them out,” I said, the determination in my voice covering my fear at having to return to Castledale and my doubts that I could really get an entire city compliant in under twenty-four hours. “We had to evacuate our hot spot. I’m sure we’ll find a place in the Southern Region.”

  “You have. City of Grande. Cache Laurel Woods when you get there.”

  “Laurel Woods?” The name tickled my memory. I had Gunn’s journal in my backpack; maybe her name was listed inside and I’d read it over and over.

  “Yeah, she runs an underground communication loop for the Resistance. She’ll direct you.”

  I nodded, anxious to leave for Castledale, yet never wanting to touch down there again.

  “Tell Jag that I’ve been promoted to the Transportation Rise, technology specialist,” Trek said.

  “Is Starr still in Twelve?”

  “Yes, and she has free reign of the city. She’s in Hightower’s back pocket.”

  “How’s she coping?”

  “As well as can be expected. She plays both sides flawlessly.” He grinned a sly smile that reminded me that Trek and Starr were together. “One more thing.”

  “Go,” I said.

  “Starr was going to cache this to Gunn on their next meeting, but now that the hideout is lost, I might as well tell you. Hightower has called for school to close at the end of the month. All students on Levels Three and Four have been moved into the Rises and begun professional training. That’s why I’m in Transportation.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Something major is going on. When will you guys be ready to launch the attack?”

  Anxiety thrummed through my system. I wasn’t Jag. I couldn’t answer that question. “I don’t know.”

  “What was the plan?”

  “Two weeks, I think,” I said. “The travel team had four more objectives to complete.”

  True fear skated through Trek’s eyes. “I don’t think we have two weeks.” He spoke so softly, I had to read his lips to understand.

  “I’ll see what I can do.” I turned, ready to get out of there.

  “Zenn,” Trek said. “Be careful with the elements. Hightower has ordered the Directors
in Arrow Falls and Allentown to make special note of anything unusual in the climate. There’s a backpack of supplies at the usual spot outside Castledale. It has a generator cube for you.”

  “Great. Anything else?”

  “We can relay additional instructions through Laurel. We’re wasting time. You’ll need every minute in Castledale.”

  “Right.” But I knew he could’ve said more. “Thanks,” I said, before stepping onto my half-charged hoverboard and setting my sights to the west.

  Trek’s information wouldn’t settle into silence. Director Hightower had moved fourteens and fifteens into professions already. If he was closing school at the end of March, he’d have a damn good reason.

  Besides a complete annihilation of the Resistance, what could he be planning? I thought briefly of the premier Rises—Medical, Technology, and Evolutionary. Could he have had a medical breakthrough? Manufactured some horrific disease that would kill us all?

  Or maybe he’d created a piece of tech that could . . . I didn’t even know. Had he managed to complete a successful batch of clones?

  My heart thundered as I turned to watch the glow of Freedom fade. Part of me wanted to go back and take my place as Van Hightower’s replacement. The other part longed to see that city burn to the ground.

  The problem was, in my mind, both parts were equal.

  Jag

  27. Thane touched down two seconds before Indy, whose expression said I could kill you with my bare hands. I may or may not have taken a step behind Vi.

  “Status,” I said.

  Indy pressed her lips into a thin line. Vi slipped her hand into mine and squeezed. Thane catalogued the movement and mirrored his mouth to match Indy’s.

  “Oh, brother,” I growled. “Vi and I are together. Deal or don’t. But you better damn well report.”

  Indy folded her arms. “Our people are secure in Grande. Laurel is organizing her moles. Everyone will be instructed to meet in Grande or Beachfront.”

  I nodded, switching my gaze to Thane. “What do you have?”

  “Nothing. I didn’t want to stay there without my daughter.”

  I almost laughed. “What a load of crap. I know you’re hiding something.” I squinted at him, wishing I could see inside his head. We still needed to discuss the microchip Starr had sent with Gunn, but I didn’t want to do it in front of Vi.

  “I am not hiding anything,” Thane said. “I’ve been relaying everything I’ve done and everything I know to the appropriate contact.”

  Which wasn’t me. It could never be me. I hated that, but Thane and I couldn’t work together. In fact it was my rule, one of the very first I’d made.

  But now everything had changed.

  “I am your appropriate contact from now on,” I said. “Neither one of us is in hiding anymore.”

  “Noted,” he said, his tone cool and his hands fisted.

  I turned my attention back to Indy. “What else? Why did you really fly all this way? You knew we’d show up at the safe house soon enough.”

  Indy held her ground, which I’ll admit I admired about her. “Well, there’s another tiny snag.”

  “Tiny snag?” I asked. “Define ‘tiny snag.’ ”

  “Grande is surrounded by Van Hightower’s people. Thane and I were on watch, which is why we’re not at the safe house.”

  “Hightower’s people,” Vi repeated. “What kind of people?”

  “Clones,” Indy said.

  My blood ran cold. A high-pitched squealing started in my ears. The images of all that purple, of those fetuses, of Cash Whiting, filled my head.

  They’d done it. They’d finally cloned a superhuman, even without Cash’s notes. In my stupor, I wondered if the clones could control the elements, or if they could read minds, or command people with ultrapowerful voices, or all of the above.

  My Resistance cannot survive against an army of super-humans, no matter how talented we are. I thought of Starr. Her last convo with Gunn had been a few days before, and she’d been so concerned with Raine draining Thane.

  Starr said she’d warn us, but maybe she didn’t know. Around me, the earth moved in slow motion. Clones, purple, Cash, clones, can’t win, Starr, purple.

  “Jag?” Vi’s hand on mine jolted me out of my fear.

  “What’s their talent?” I asked.

  “We don’t know,” Thane said. “Those clones were not made while I was in Freedom.”

  “Three weeks is awfully fast to manufacture an entire fleet of clones,” I said, the feeling returning to my limbs. Cash had said thirty days. Starr’s destroyed microchip wasn’t even that old.

  “Van’s been on the brink for a long time,” Thane said. “One of my Insiders destroyed a crop of successful embryos mid-February—and he paid for it with his life. This could have happened a month earlier.”

  I knew about the sabotage. I had cracking witnessed it. I began pacing, wild and unorganized thoughts running through my head. “Why didn’t we burn that place to the ground? Destroy all their notes?”

  “Things like that take time to plan,” Thane said. His calm reply boiled my anger into fury.

  “And you weren’t available to plan them,” Indy added.

  I shot her a death glare. She’d had access to Thane’s information. “You should’ve—”

  “I was running your precious Resistance a thousand miles away. Don’t you dare—”

  “Enough,” Vi said quietly, but with force. Indy and I didn’t take our eyes off one another.

  “Are our people secure inside the safe house?” Vi asked.

  “Yes,” Thane answered. “But Laurel won’t be able to get out her moles, and we can’t get in.”

  “So we need somewhere else,” I said. “Beachfront? Who’s there now?”

  “Director Palmer, and he’s friendly. But we don’t have the manpower to organize our people, unless you plan on flying to the thirty-one cities in the Union yourself.”

  A sob hiked up my throat. I swallowed it down. “If I have to,” I said.

  “No,” Vi said, putting her hand on my shoulder to stop my incessant pacing. “Let’s go see what the situation is in Grande before you freak out and fly off.”

  “I have never freaked out and flown off.”

  “Have too,” Indy and Vi said at the same time. They both smirked. A grin looked like it might break out on Thane’s face.

  I turned my back on them and stared into the sun as it bathed the plains. “Fine. Let’s go see what the situation is in Grande.”

  * * *

  Clones stood shoulder to shoulder along the perimeter of Grande. Beyond the clone barrier, nothing moved. No workers in the streets. No movement in the common areas. The public transit didn’t stir.

  After a preliminary check, I hovered with Indy, Thane, and Vi a great distance away from the city, out of sight of any enhancements a person could have, clone or not.

  “Can we freak out and fly off now?” I asked.

  “Quiet,” Vi said. “I need to concentrate.” She closed her eyes, reaching for me to keep her balance while she invaded the minds of the clones. Apparently their brains weren’t that complex, because only a beat passed before she said, “Use your voice. Then my—” She swallowed hard. “My mom can get the moles out. We can relocate to Beachfront or wherever.”

  “There are at least five hundred of them,” I said. “I’m supposed to tell them one by one to take a nap or something?”

  “You’re the one with the snappy voice,” she said. “And he can help.” She hooked her thumb toward Thane.

  I looked at Thane. It was obvious that neither one of us wanted to work with the other.

  I shelved my pride. “Voices?”

  “Voices,” he confirmed.

  Zenn

  28. When my older brother found out I was involved in the Resistance, he punched me in the face. That was the first time I broke my nose. He stalked out of the house while I bled on my mother’s pristine floor.

  When he returned, my
father was with him. The resulting discussion wasn’t a discussion at all. More like a shouting match between my father and my brother. My father won. He always did.

  And since my father favored me, I won too.

  I had no idea my brother had wanted to join the Resistance and my dad wouldn’t let him. I didn’t find that out until I’d been matched with Vi and quit. I didn’t know he’d joined until after he’d left home—and we’d never talked about the Resistance after that.

  The second time, my nose broke at the mercy of Vi’s fist. We were fourteen, and she was livid I wouldn’t tell her where I went at night without her. I was protecting her then, just like I do now.

  But that didn’t matter, because I quit the Resistance a few months later, and then Vi and I snuck out together at night.

  * * *

  I forced away the memories of my brother though I flew closer to him every second. I touched my nose, remembering the anger in his fist, the silence that had come between us ever since.

  I rode a westerly until ten miles outside Arrow Falls. Then I thanked the current and asked it to go back the way it had come. I powered on my board, flying low to the ground to travel unseen.

  The city of Arrow Falls was a tiny thing, with a fence surrounding the main buildings. Now, in mid-March, the radiating fields lay plowed and ready for planting. The first seeds would be sown in a month or two.

  I stopped just outside the city and left a message for Saffediene, detailing everything Trek had told me. She could alert Jag about General Director Darke. After that I zipped past the city without incident. The air felt stagnant, and landlocked as Arrow Falls was, I couldn’t expect anything different. Ten miles past the city, the red light on my board flashed. I activated the solar portlet again so it would charge, and called on the wind.

  I rode the breeze past Allentown, a city devoted to improving air quality. No walls, no barriers, and no Insider support. Not that Jag hadn’t tried. He’d been in every city, met with every Director. Some of his escapes required more skill than others, and it was no wonder why everyone in the Association knew him on-sight.