Ash (32 page)

“What’s going on?” he asked.

I told him everything—about Bastin, the group Dax knew who lived off of the grid, their plan to rescue Link. He listened intently, not interrupting me once.

“It sounds dangerous,” he said, when I finished talking.

“I have to do it. My clearance is really
Dax’s
clearance. How can I not help her save her brother?”

“Then you’ll probably need some backup,” he said. “I’m coming too.”

“No, Sol, I couldn’t let you do that.”

“You’re not
letting
me do anything. I want to. Look, I trust Dax, but we don’t know these friends of hers. You need at least one person you know is on your side. I’d go in your place if I could. I know the UV building inside and out, and how the security works. I just can’t hack the eye scanners. What I
can
do is help you pull this off and make sure you don’t get caught.”

“But Sol—”

“No buts. If you’re in, I’m in, okay?”

I couldn’t help it. I reached out and squeezed his hand. Just for a second. “Thanks,” I said. His hand was warm and steady.

“Don’t mention it,” he said, squeezing back.

M
y tracker glowed up at me softly: 7:25. I rubbed my sweating palms over the cloth of my pant legs and glanced over at Oena and Thom whispering beside me. Clouds blocked what little light the crescent moon overhead could muster. A good omen, I thought, doing my best to stay calm and focused.

The three of us knelt in the shadows outside of the back entrance of the UV Building. The plans had been drawn and my inner monologue was doing its best to stay positive.
Nothing will go wrong tonight. We’ll get in and out with no one the wiser. This is going to work. It had to work.
Oena, Thom, me…
and Madden
… were the only thing standing between my brother’s execution. He was scheduled to be removed in a little over twelve hours.

7:26. I adjusted my cap, making sure my blonde hair was securely tucked underneath. I then shoved the dark-rimmed glasses I was wearing further up my nose. They were my mother’s reading glasses, though I’d popped the actual glass out so I could see. It wasn’t much of a disguise, but anything more might have been noticeable. We were all dressed as maintenance workers from Slate. Oena had brought the clothing. “Just don’t do anything to cause a second look,” she’d warned. “I doubt it will stand up to scrutiny.” I didn’t plan to test her theory.

7:28. “Two minutes,” Thom murmured.

Oena tapped into her tracker. “Stationary cameras are looping,” she replied, then turned to me. “You ready?”

I nodded. I didn’t trust myself to speak.

She gave me a knowing look back. “You’ll do great. Just keep your head down, no matter what. The main cameras are taken care of, but the hovercams are impossible to loop. We shouldn’t run into any of them as long as we stick to the schedule.”

At 7:29 we walked across the pavement toward the UV. I kept my gaze down, focusing on following Oena’s footsteps. Adrenaline poured through me, and I balled my fists to keep my hands from shaking with nervous energy. Sweat dripped down my back. In one minute I would be an official criminal. I ticked my offenses off in my head as we approached the door. Forcing my way into the UV building. Subduing a minister. Impersonating a Slate. Breaking out convicted criminals.

There was less than a minute until Madden had to do her part. If she backed out, Link was dead. When I had gone over the details of the plan with her this morning, she looked like she was going to be sick. She held it together, but the uncertainty in her expression was clear. It had me worried she’d chicken out, but I tried to push those feelings away. I had to trust Madden would come through.

After the UV closed its public doors, the only way in was either through the guarded main entrance or by using one of the high-clearance entryways. Those could only be opened from the inside or through an eye scanner. Very few had access, but Madden did. Her part was simple. She just needed to open two doors for us. It was the rest of us that had to do the impossible.

Relief flooded through me as a crack of light spilled onto the pavement. Madden stood at the door, blinking into the night, right on schedule. She moved to one side as Oena, Thom and I slipped inside. Sol waited right behind her. I wondered once again at their relationship of late. It made no sense that she’d confide in him about our plan. The future minister was proving to be continuously full of surprises. It made me think about Theron. He’d been asking about Link and if there was anything else he could do. If I had told him about the plan would he have wanted to come? I let the thought go just as quickly. There were enough people in my life who were in danger. There was no way I would have risked him too.

We all followed Madden down the hallway to a second steel door. “Let’s get this over with,” she said. Her voice sounded strained.

“Hold a moment,” Oena said. She tapped her fingers over what looked like a modified plexi. Sol glanced at it and whistled. “Is that a Holo Extreme display? How’d you get that?” he asked.

She made several adjustments to the sheet then nodded. “We have our ways,” she replied. She turned her attention back to Thom and me. “I’ve added our locations to the map, you’ll find it on your trackers. We’ll be able to see where everyone is if we somehow get separated. Dax, stay close behind me. Thom, you bring up the rear.” She addressed Madden. “You’re up.”

Madden pressed her eye to the scanner and tapped her tracker to the pad next to the door. It slid open to reveal an empty hallway.

“Here we go,” Oena said, stepping through the door. “Remember, we just have to get to the East Wing. From there it’s a few doors to unlock and we’re in. Let’s cuff them and be on the way.” She looked at Madden and Sol, her voice all business. “Thank you for your help. We’ll make sure this doesn’t come back on you.”

I pulled the cuffs from my backpack and held them up. Madden looked like she was going to pass out. This had to be hard for her; it went against everything she believed in. I found myself feeling just a little guilty. “I won’t make them too tight, don’t worry,” I told her.

“Wait,” she said in a small voice. “Did you say you were going in through the East Wing?”

Oena glanced at her tracker. “Yes, and we have to hurry to beat the hovercams. Their next loop is in three minutes.”

Madden muttered something under her breath softly enough that I couldn’t make out the words. “Stop,” she said. “You can’t go that way.”

“Of course we can,” Thom rumbled back. “The West Wing is crawling with PAE. We’ve got handprint holographs for the security checkpoints, and there won’t be guards manning this route.”

Madden looked like she was about to panic. “They just tightened security.” She glanced at me. “Ever since that driver interrupted Laira’s destiny they’ve been taking extra precautions. I heard my dad talking about it. They’ve installed retina scans at the unmanned entrances.”

I felt my stomach turning inside out. Next to me, Oena groaned softly.

“I could redirect the guards from the West Wing,” Sol offered. “Hopefully that would clear enough out of there that you can get through.”

“Too risky,” Thom replied. “An alarm will put everyone on high alert throughout the building. The only way it works is if it’s done quietly.”

“Then I guess that settles it,” Madden said. “I’ll have to come with you.”

I had to hand it to her. Gone were the nerves. She was back to cool and collected. Of course that was where the resemblance to the Madden I knew ended. I couldn’t believe she was willing to take this much of a risk. I knew she cared about my brother, I just never realized just how much.

“I suppose this means you’re coming too?” Oena asked Sol, as he moved to be by Madden’s side.

“I am,” he answered.

“Let’s go then,” Oena said. “Quietly. And quickly. We’re behind schedule. The two of you stay behind Dax,” she instructed Madden and Sol

Before I followed Oena out, I quickly turned to Madden. “Thank you. You didn’t have to do this, but you did. I owe you.”

“I hope you remember that,” she whispered. There was a certain gravity to her response that made me pause.

“Of course I will.” Although I wondered what I could possibly do for Madden Sumner that would be of value. But now wasn’t the time to think of payback. I rushed after Oena, with the others right behind.

Thick carpet muted our footfall as we flew down several purple-walled hallways. I held onto my cap as we ran, covering the route Oena had planned with no problems. I found myself starting to breath a little bit easier when she stopped, holding up a hand and waving at us to wait.

A man’s voice drifted from around the corner. Fear lurched through the pit of my stomach. We’d made it this far. We couldn’t be caught. Thom inched closer toward the hallway, his giant hands curled into fists. I tensed, ready to charge if the guard rounded the corner. Instead I heard him laugh at something and his voice fade as he walked away from us. A moment later Oena motioned us to follow and we resumed our sprint.

Another left took us to the first locked door. It was a nondescript shining steel, marked with a simple placard that read “East Wing.” In addition to a palm and tracker pad at the door, there was a retina scanner as well. Madden had been right. She got us through the door in seconds.

We went down a flight of stairs, and soon after reached a second door, this one marked “Holding Cells, Monday through Saturday, 8am-6pm; Sunday, 11am-5pm.” We were well after visiting hours. I hoped Oena had been right and there was no one inside. Once again Madden held her palm, tracker and eye to the door. It slid open to reveal the empty waiting room. I let out a breath. There was no officer behind the desk. Oena had timed this part of the plan to correspond with the guard’s scheduled break. The one good thing about the system was that everyone took time very seriously. The downside meant that the guard would be back on time too. We had fifteen minutes max.

“That’s as far as I can get you,” Madden said. She was slightly winded as she spoke. “Only a sanctioned officer can get into the cells themselves.”

“It won’t be a problem,” Oena said, once again pulling out her plexi. “I’ll need someone to stay out here as lookout.” She met Sol’s eyes, and he nodded. “Let us know immediately if you hear anyone coming.”

He held his tracker to her plexi and tapped in some commands. “You’ll all have an alert in seconds,” he said and headed back toward the door we’d entered through.

“I’ll go with him,” Madden said.

“You can’t,” I said. “If the guards come, it needs to look like we have you hostage and are forcing Sol to do what we say. It’s the only way to keep both of your covers.”

Oena frowned, but she didn’t contradict me. If Madden was going out on a limb for us, the least we could do was keep her from getting arrested. From beside me, Thom was pulling out various supplies from his pack. Most noticeably were the three laser wands we’d use to cut through the glass and the discs we’d detonate it with. As he was unloading the gear, Oena approached the final door leading into the actual cells cautiously.

“Dax, I need your help over here,” she continued.

I quickly joined her. Link and the others were behind this door. We’d almost done it. “Keep Madden quiet when we get in,” she said in a low voice. “Her sympathy won’t stretch past your brother, and we can’t have her jeopardizing anything.”

“Of course,” I replied. A shudder of excitement passed through me as she turned a series of bolts, then gripped her palm around a small ball she took out of her pocket. It rippled and transformed around her hand, creating an almost glove-like effect. “It’s a palm simulator,” she explained. “We pulled one of the officer’s prints from a pole on the light rail a few days ago, then recalibrated it for this.” She pressed her encased palm against the pad while she punched in a string of numbers into the keypad next to us. The door slid open to fluorescent lights and a long gray corridor.