Belligerent (Vicara) (14 page)

Delilah took Ryan's comm and rolled it around in her hand. “Give me a few minutes. The others are in the main room if you want to head in there.”

The layout of the villa appeared to be the same as the one that Ryan's team lived in, but with marked differences in the decor. The main room in this villa had a smaller television screen with two sleek, uncomfortable-looking couches facing it. The walls were mostly bare. There wasn't a billiards table set up on one half of the room or a cozy fireplace in one corner with plenty of comfortable seats for everyone to sit around and read together. No game stations or shelves of movies were anywhere to be seen. All there was in the room beside the couches and one television was training equipment and two chess tables.

“Hey, Ryan!” Eloise greeted warmly while running up to hug him. “Everyone, meet Ryan!”

The present members of the team smiled and said hello. It was a completely different atmosphere than the one Ryan was used to experiencing around his villa. While his teammates were friendly with each other, the distance they kept from him here was nearly to the point of being alienating.

“So I assume you guys came up with a plan?” Ryan said and took the seat that he was offered on the couch between Eloise and one of the other girls on her team.

“I'm a strategist. It's what I do,” Stewart replied. “It's not one of the most complex plans, but it should work.”

“Should?”

“It will work. My plans always work.”

Ryan wondered if all strategists were so self-assured. Mackenzie had always seemed just as arrogant about her own plans as well.

“Then what's this flawless plan?” Ryan asked.

“Let's wait for Delilah to get back first,” Stewart suggested.

“How are things going over at Shifter's camp?” A girl still dressed in the uniform of a medical specialist asked him. “My name's Teresa by the way.”

“I'm not sure how to answer that,” Ryan said.

“Well, obviously things aren't going very well, or you wouldn't want to risk everything just to get out of here,” one of the boys spoke up. “I'm Jon, the combat specialist.”

“Maybe things are going fine. Maybe I didn't want to be a Belligerent, that's all.” He may not have been that fond of his own team, but it felt wrong to be criticizing them to someone else.

“Most people don't want to be a Belligerent, but you have to admit that it's better to be a Beta than an Omega. I can't see why you'd want to risk your life just to get out of here.”

“You enjoy being a Belligerent, Kat,” Stewart reminded the girl who had just spoken.

Ryan guessed she was the science specialist since only that position and the informant one were the ones left without attached names. Besides, Leon had mentioned that their informant was a guy. There was one fellow left sitting over by himself with his attention seemingly on his tablet, though if he was anything like Clarisse he was aware of everything happening in the room around him.

“I'm Karl. You can quit staring at me,” the guy said. While his words were harsh, the smile he gave dulled their severity.

Delilah returned then with the comm. “What were you working on, Dee?” Stewart asked as she returned the device to Ryan.

“Just making sure Ryan's comm didn't have its tracking device activated,” she said while taking a seat nearby.

“Oh, right. Well, let's get to work on our plan now that we're all here,” Stewart clapped his hands together and wandered over to a board that took up a large portion of one wall. He waved his hand in front of the board and a map of the campus appeared. “Dee has found a way to temporarily deactivate a band which means we can remove yours.”

Ryan nodded in understanding. “I don't understand why you guys haven't left this place if you know how to escape,” he said.

“I can only deactivate one band without alerting the main system. If one band goes off for only a few seconds then the system reads it as a small glitch in the receptors and doesn't do anything as long as the signal comes back on within a certain amount of time. However, if multiple bands are deactivated then the main system goes into lock down, and everyone gets injected with the sedative until disciplinary squad can determine what's happening,” Delilah explained.

“Plus we're not going to leave unless all of us can leave together. Your team might not be a family, but ours is,” Stewart said.

That envious feeling emerged in Ryan's chest once more, but he forced himself to smile. It wouldn't matter for much longer. He would be with Alex soon enough.

“What happens after my band is deactivated? How long do I have?” he asked.

“I can deactivate it for approximately ninety seconds without it alerting anyone. I'll be able to remove it during that time, and then we can slip it onto a simulation mannequin which Leon will obtain from the medical department. Teresa will adjust the dummy to mimic your body’s temperature, heart rate, blood pressure and such. It should fool the system long enough that you should be able to get off the campus and a decent distance away.”

Stewart drew the attention back to himself and the map. “I've had Karl arrange for your way out of here. He's called in some of his outside sources and is having an alumnus transportation specialist he knows pick you up in this location.” He gestured to a location on the map that appeared to be about five miles off campus. “Eloise is going to help you 'borrow' one of the hover-bikes to get you to where the next transportation specialist will be waiting. She'll then use the distance controls to have it drive itself back onto campus once you're finished with it. Once you get picked up by the transportation specialist, he'll get you to the central hub and from there it's up to you where you go. I suggest you lay low for a while if you don't want to end up back here or worse, end up in an Omega cell somewhere.”

“You really think this plan will work?” Ryan asked. It sounded like a reasonable plot to him, but he figured there was a reason he wasn't a strategy specialist.

“Like I've said before, my plans always work,” Stewart said with no humor in his voice.

“Good. This is good. Thanks so much, all of you,” Ryan said. He couldn't believe it. He was being handed a way out. He could finally get home.

“We're happy to help any friend of Eloise's,” Stewart said. The others voiced their own agreement quickly.

Ryan swallowed to get rid of the choking sensation building in his throat. “When are we going to do this?” he asked.

“This Thursday. You should leave after lunch while the others are in their specialty classes. That will give you a few hours head start.”

“If that's all, I really need to be getting to class. We're scheduled for the obstacle course in twenty minutes.” Leon was already dressed in the retrieval training gear and was edging toward the door. “The rest of you should probably be getting to your classes as well.”

“He's right. We have lessons to attend. A new challenge will be coming up soon enough,” Karl reminded them.

“Then we can consider this meeting adjourned,” Stewart confirmed.

“What should I do in the meantime?” Ryan asked.

“Go to classes, training, or whatever it is you usually do. Don't let them get suspicious.” Karl swung his messenger bag over one shoulder.

“We should get to class then,” Eloise said tugging on Ryan's hand. “I heard that they've got some new parts in for us to play with, and we're not too late to test some of the stuff out.”

Chapter 9

Eloise and Ryan got to their class in time to get a pick of the new parts, but they both decided to stay late in order to actually get in enough time working with those parts on their latest projects. When Ryan did finally return to the villa, it was an hour after classes had ended for the day. Everyone was gathered in the main room. Kenichi and Clarisse were curled together like two kittens on a pallet they had assembled out of over-sized pillows and blankets in front of the roaring fireplace. Aria was sitting next to them reading a book aloud in a soft voice. Mackenzie and Daylan were engaged in a billiards game. Every so often, Kenichi would call out for Daylan to beat Mackenzie already. Eva was playing a chess game against Logan, who seemed to be too distracted by Eva to be doing very well at it.

It seemed too much like a family, and it felt like a punch to the stomach to Ryan, who knew that he wasn't a part of it. He hadn't been accepted since his arrival, and it seemed like he never would be. It was the story of his life. The only person, whoever proved different was Alex. He missed her so completely, that he wanted to run back out of the villa and back to Mystique's team to demand that they go through with the plan that night regardless of the risks. The only thing stopping him was the knowledge that such a risk could mean that he might never get back to Alex.

Patience.

“Welcome back,” Eva said, glancing up from her chess game.

“You should come join us,” Clarisse suggested.

Ryan wasn't sure what she meant by that. There was no way she could mean for him to join her, Kenichi and Aria on the pallet.

“Take a seat at least,” Kenichi said when Ryan took too long to move.

He shuffled over to the nearest chair and sat. He was still a good distance from the others, but he was at least in the room.

“Why are you sitting all the way over…?” Clarisse trailed off when Aria whispered something to her.

They were always whispering, not wanting anyone to hear their precious secrets. He remained the only one to walk into a room and face sudden silence as the current conversation was dropped, and the only one to be banished to working out solo during their training sessions.

“Can we just get this over with?” he asked and waited for the arguing to begin. Mackenzie's grip on her pool stick tightened, but she didn't snap. She merely watched as Daylan knocked the eight ball into the corner pocket.

“Watch your mouth,” Daylan remarked with his usual deadpan tone.

“I don't know why I even bother to try to speak to any of you,” Ryan said, standing up and turning towards the door.

“Sit down!” Clarisse's voice rang out through the main room. She was on her feet and glaring at him.

“Now you?” he asked once he had gotten over his initial shock at Clarisse's losing her temper.

“Sit,” Clarisse ordered once more. “Eva, would you be so kind as to make sure Ryan does not leave this room?”

Ryan lowered himself back down. He knew what Eva was capable of doing, and he had no desire to end up in the infirmary or worse.

“Thank you,” Clarisse said in a much calmer tone. “I want everyone to listen to me. We are all going to sit down and have a calm discussion. There will be no fighting. There will be no running out of the room. At this moment in time, I am in charge. Communication is part of my specialty, and we are all going to communicate in a mature, efficient manner - even if I require Eva break all of your jaws to accomplish it.”

“I'll be more than happy to do that too,” Eva said, though everyone was pretty sure she wouldn't really hurt any of her teammates.

Pretty sure.

In moments, everyone was settled and sitting quietly. Clarisse began their pseudo-meeting with a satisfied nod.

“Ryan, you don't trust us, and none of you really trust him. Right?” Some of them nodded their heads in response, but everyone remained silent. “No one can trust each other if they don't know anything about each other. What reasons could anyone have here for not trusting Ryan?”

“He doesn't want to help us win,” Mackenzie said.

“Didn't you say he had promised you that he would do his best here?” Clarisse asked.

“You know he only meant that because he didn't see another option. If he sees a chance to ditch us, he would in a heartbeat,” Mackenzie said.

“What do you have to say about that, Ryan?”

Ryan's stomach twisted painfully. Did they know about his working with Mystique's team? Was there any way that was possible? Couldn't be.

“I probably would run if I could, but I've learned that's not an option,” he said. “Working with this team is my best option for leaving this place.” Except for working with Mystique's team, but they didn't need to know that. He only needed to keep Shifter’s team from suspecting him until Thursday.

Clarisse tucked a loose strand of currently tricolor hair back behind her ear. New piercings flashed in the light as she did. “See, Mackenzie? Ryan won't bail on the team, so that solves your trust issue. Any more reasons why Ryan shouldn't be trusted? Anything at all?” Clarisse said. “Because I can't personally think of anything. But now is the time to voice your opinions.”

Kenichi glanced over at Ryan. “I've got a few reasons to not trust him,” he said.

“And what reasons would those be?” Clarisse asked.

“He stares at you too much.”

Clarisse laughed. “That's not a good enough reason. You think everyone stares at me too much. Does anyone have any real reasons that we shouldn't trust Ryan?” She waited for only a few moments. “Nothing? Good then.” She turned her attention to Ryan.

“What are your reasons for not trusting us?” It was the first time in the conversation that she had included herself as a part of Shifter's team.