Abandon (22 page)

“Vi,” I said. “Can you read their minds?”

A strangled cry escaped her throat. “I’ve been trying. I can’t find their minds.”

“Maybe . . .” I didn’t finish, because I couldn’t think of a single reason why Vi wouldn’t be able to find and read their minds.

I watched Gunner fly along the perimeter, still attempting to use his voice to coerce the Officers. The seconds ticked by, but a battle raged in my head. Deep inside, I knew I’d never get another chance at this. I’d been working toward this takedown of Freedom for years.

In all my planning, I’d never imagined I’d be fighting clones. It was always Hightower, and he always fell.

Suddenly every Officer-clone stretched out his left arm as if they were one unit. Three of them hit Gunner’s hoverboard. One of them grabbed Gunner. A yell surged from my mouth. Anger pounded through my head.

“He’s controlling them,” I said to no one, really. “Indy, get everyone out of the city. Alert the rescue team that we’ve got two down here. Runners, go warn our tech team. Vi and I will get the maintenance crew.” That would put me at Rise Twelve, and maybe I could get my Insiders out. Maybe this mission wouldn’t be a complete loss.

“Nothing?” I asked Vi, just to make sure.

“I think he programmed them,” she said. “And he’s the only one who can get in their heads. Like he’s got the frequency, and we can’t communicate with them without it.”

In the crowd, each clone completed the same movement. I watched, helpless, as Gunn was shunted toward the entrance of Rise One. His body was limp; his eyes were closed.

“I’m going to try something,” Vi said.

I felt the triumph emitting from Vi. I didn’t know exactly what she might do, but I had a feeling that whatever it was, it would be successful.

And extremely dangerous.

“Don’t,” I said, far too quietly for her to hear with her ears.

She flew in close and stepped onto my board. “Tether my board to yours,” she said, wrapping her arms around my waist. “Don’t drop me.”

She looked right into my face, her teal-turquoise eyes swirling with fear and power and a million other emotions I couldn’t read before she said, “Don’t let me die.”

Her body became deadweight as she closed her eyes. I stumbled to my knees on the hoverboard; Vi’s head lolled to the side.

“Vi?”

She looked dead.

“Vi!” I shook her. Adrenaline rushed through my veins, and I looked around for help. But I’d sent everyone away.

Taser fire erupted on the ground. I ducked, shielding Vi with my body. But none of the techtricity swept by us.

Instead the cries came from the ground. I straightened and watched the scene below me unfold into utter revolution as one of the frontal guards unleashed blast after blast on his unit.

In a matter of seconds the clones became a smoldering heap of bodies. Rancid smoke rose up to meet us.

“Stop!” I cried. “Violet, stop.” I volleyed my gaze back and forth between Vi’s still-limp form, and the very angry guard on the ground. She was inside him, controlling him. And as soon as Hightower found out, the guard Vi possessed would become the target.

When one taser ran out of charge, she simply pried
another from the grip of a fallen clone and kept firing. And firing. And firing.

My stomach clenched in a knot of pride and horror. She was winning. But at what cost? Worry seethed through me as she continued tasing clones.
Will she be able to find her way back to her own mind?

Before, when she’d coerced the scouts into killing themselves, she’d maintained consciousness, probably because she could find their minds. Probably? Who was I kidding? I had no idea about the extent of Vi’s abilities.

Violet Schoenfeld was more than dangerous. More than powerful. More than deadly.

She was a deity.

As the taser fire continued, I stroked Vi’s hair off her forehead, whispering, “Please wake up.”

34
.
Somewhere far away a taser buzzed. The high-pitched whine made my head ache and set my teeth on edge.

It shouldn’t be this dark
, I thought. I hate the dark. It makes me examine things I’d rather not see. It reminds me that I’ll never hold Violet again. Never kiss her or have her look at me like I’m the most wonderful person in the world.

In the dark, I can’t outrun the pain.

And this time the agony existed in my body as well as my mind. My back felt broken. My fingertips tingled with techtricity. I couldn’t move my arms or legs.

Something cool and wet swept over my face. At last the blackness lightened to charcoal, and then gray. And then blue, and finally white.

I opened my eyes, crazy-surprised to find they still functioned. I was even more shocked to find myself staring at a sterling silver ceiling. A fan whirred behind the duct, and voices floated nearby.

I couldn’t understand their meaning. I still couldn’t feel my arms or legs. Blinking seemed to be the only movement in my repertoire.

For the longest time I lay staring at the ceiling. No one came to check on me.

The light faded again, and Director Hightower came into view. “Ah, there you are, Mr. Bower.” He smiled, and his scarred cheeks stretched into wicked curves.

“You’re recovering from a nasty burn,” he said pleasantly, as if we were discussing my homework.

I struggled to move my mouth, but couldn’t.

Director Hightower waved a needle across my line of sight, but I didn’t feel him inject me. “This will help.”

I wasn’t so sure of that, but I wasn’t in a position to argue.

“Now, Zenn, let’s chat, shall we?” The Director pressed a button and the bed brought me to a seated position. I found
myself in a small room, a p-screen broadcasting my prognosis on the wall. A narrow window in the door showed a much larger lab outside my room.

Director Hightower sat across from me, his legs crossed and one hand stroking his beard.

I didn’t remember him having a beard. For some reason it struck me as funny. I laughed, though no sound came out. I didn’t see how I could “chat” while silenced. Director Hightower didn’t seem concerned. In fact, he smiled again. “Here’s how this is going to go,” he said.

*   *   *

I flew toward the beach, because that’s where Saffediene had said she’d wait. I didn’t know how long I’d been unconscious, or how long the “chat” with Director Hightower had lasted. I did know the sun was halfway through the sky, and I did see three jagged lines had been carved into the sand on the beach. If connected, they’d make a
Z
. I believed Saffediene had drawn them. Sure enough, within seconds of landing, she launched herself at me, crying and talking and hugging.

I held on to her, afraid I might collapse if I didn’t. My throat hurt from the silencer. My brain hurt from the talk with Director Hightower.

But nothing hurt when Saffediene formed her mouth to
mine. Nothing at all. For once I didn’t think. I just let my body do what it wanted.

And it wanted to kiss Saffediene Brown.

*   *   *

We arrived at the safe house in Grande to find it empty. It appeared the hideout had been evacuated in a hurry.

“How long was I gone?” I asked.

“A day and a half,” Saffediene said. “I told Thane I’d wait for you. He didn’t say they’d be going anywhere else.” She frowned as she released my hand and moved into the abandoned room. “Why would they leave us behind?”

“Jag doesn’t operate that way. He’s forever forging ahead.” I followed her into the hideout, closing the door behind me. We made our way to the war room, where Saffediene trailed her fingers over the table.

“We lost a lot of people,” she said. “Thane said our rescue teams were annihilated. The maintenance crew met resistance, but Jag managed to get some of the Insiders out of Twelve. The tech team didn’t even make it out of the orchards.”

“Pace?” I asked.

She shook her head, tears falling. “Indy,” she said, her voice shaking. “They didn’t make it out of the city. We don’t know where they are.”

My chest tightened. I swallowed back the emotion, wondering if I had the strength to carry on. To do what needed to be done. Director Hightower’s words rang in my ears:
You have two choices, Zenn.

Pace didn’t have two choices. Not anymore.

“Gunner?” I asked.

Again, Saffediene shook her head. “Not sure.”

“Thane?”

“He made it out. He waited with me the longest. Said he’d do what he could for us.”

Which was nothing. Director Hightower had been clear on his feelings for Thane.
Don’t let him trick you, Zenn. The man hasn’t spoken the truth in a decade.

But I hadn’t either.

“Vi?” I asked next, scared of the answer but needing to know.

“She took control of someone’s body and brought down an entire army before Hightower could retaliate.”

My mouth went dry. “Is she—?”

“She was unconscious last time I saw her, but she was breathing.”

I sighed with relief, even though taking control of someone else’s body was crazy-talented in a crazy-creepy way.

I crashed into a chair and hung my head in my hands.
With my eyes closed, the world felt heavier. Director Hightower’s words looped through my head.
You could be Director, Zenn. Big things are happening here. Are you sure you’re on the right side?

The right side, the right side, the right side.

“Saffediene, what’s the right side?” I asked.

The chair next to me squeaked as she sat down. She didn’t answer immediately, and I didn’t move my head from my hands, but somehow, being with her relaxed me.

“I think the right side is the one that feels like home,” she said. “Like you’d be welcomed back no matter what you’ve done, no matter when you show up.”

I scrubbed my hands through my hair. “Should I let Director Hightower recruit me?”

“I don’t know, Zenn. You said you couldn’t go undercover again.” She sighed. “Besides, what will you do? Live it up in Rise One, eating stacks of toast and waiting for the end?”

I pressed my palms to the tabletop. “It’s better than waiting for the end in a cave, eating rations from a pouch.”

“Is it?” She stood up and paced over to the window. I watched her unbraid her hair and cross her arms. Tension knotted her muscles, and I wanted nothing more than to erase it.

I joined her at the window. “I don’t know what to do,” I whispered.

She turned toward me, her mouth set into an angry line. “That’s not what you told me when you recruited me.”

“Remind me what I said.”

“You said we could win. You said that a functioning government wasn’t necessarily better than living freely. That there was a better way to live than being brainwashed. You said I could choose. Everyone could choose. You said—” Her voice cracked.

I stood there, not sure what to do.

“Saffediene, don’t cry,” I finally said. I reached for her and drew her close. She buried her face in my chest and sobbed.

I did the same thing I’d done when Vi had had her mini-breakdowns. I simply held her and stroked her hair. Words weren’t needed. Only the physical presence of someone who cared.

Saffediene finally composed herself, wrapping her arms around me and holding on tight. Just as I started thinking about kissing her again, a crackling sound emanated behind me. Saffediene and I turned to find the table wavering with light.

Static confused the words coming over the transmission. The entire surface blazed with an image of a man. A fire burned behind him on the right, and smoke obscured everything on the left.

I tapped the table to open the communication portal. “Repeat, please.”

The man in the destroyed city threw a panicked look over his shoulder. He leaned closer and his mouth moved. All that came through the feed was, “. . . demolished . . . Baybridge is in . . . evacuate to . . . Darke.”

“Baybridge,” Saffediene whispered.

“One of our strongest cities,” I said. “Starr was there.” Had I lost another friend?

“I’m checking Castledale,” she said, pressing her fingers to the table. Another of our major cities, with an ultra-sympathetic Director. Had General Darke destroyed it too?

The feed switched from the smoky, chaotic city of Baybridge to the absolute stillness of Castledale. Not a soul moved in the street. No one flew in the skies; the train sat dormant. The buildings were various shades of blue and gray that didn’t seem natural.

“Weird,” Saffediene said. “It’s midafternoon. Where is everyone?”

“Can you rotate the feed? The buildings don’t look right.”

She flipped the image, and we both sucked in a breath.

The shadows on the buildings spelled “RESIST AND DIE.”

35
.
I didn’t leave Vi’s side until she woke up. Even then, she only said three words, “Did we win?” before falling back into unconsciousness.

“Win” was such a relative term. She’d taken out an entire army, but not before they’d hauled Gunn into Rise One. We’d gotten Trek out of Rise Twelve, but our tech team didn’t even make it to the Technology Rise. I’d sent Pace on that route and hadn’t heard from him since.

I didn’t know for sure that Indy was gone, but she hadn’t escaped with us. Over half my people hadn’t made it out of Freedom.

My head hurt. Just thinking that Freedom had claimed another one of my brothers drove me to fury. My throat narrowed, and those cracking tears filled my eyes again.

“Jag,” Starr said from the doorway. She’d flown in from Baybridge last night. She put one hand on my shoulder. “How’s she holding up?”

I didn’t know, so I shrugged. Starr dropped her hand. “I can feel her mind. She’s a fighter. She’ll be awake before you know it.”

I turned and looked at Starr. “Thank you,” I said. “That means—” I cleared my throat. “Thanks.”

Starr waved away my gratitude. “They need you out there. Incoming transmission from Grande. It’s Zenn and Saffediene.”

“Will you get Laurel?” I stroked two fingers over Vi’s cheek, relieved I wouldn’t have to tell her that Zenn was dead. I never wanted to be the one to tell her that, even if I didn’t like the thought of them together. “I don’t want her to wake up alone.”