Champion: A Legend Novel (20 page)

Eden sighs. His little shoulders slump in a way that chokes me up. I close my eyes and force myself to calm down. Crying in front of Eden at a time like this is way too embarrassing. “Too bad everyone in the Republic isn’t a soldier,” he mutters.

I open my eyes.
Too bad everyone in the Republic isn’t a soldier.

And just like that, I know what I need to do. I know how to answer the Chancellor’s blackmail, and how to stall the Colonies. I’m dying, I don’t have many days left—my mind is slowly falling apart, and so is my strength. But I do have enough strength for one thing. I have enough time to take one final step.

“Maybe everyone in the Republic
can
be a soldier,” I reply quietly.

L
AST NIGHT FEELS LIKE A DREAM, EVERY LAST DETAIL
of it. But this morning stands in stark contrast—there is no mistaking the flinch I felt from Day when I touched his arm, the violent shudder that went through him at just a brush of my hand. My heart still hurts as I leave my apartment, headed for a parked jeep that will be waiting for me. A morning spent with the Senate. I try in vain to clear Day from my mind, but it’s impossible. A Senate meeting feels so trivial right now—the Colonies are gradually pushing our country back with the help of strong allies, Antarctica still refuses to help us, and Commander Jameson is at large. And here I’ll sit, talking politics when I could be—
should
be—out in the field, doing what I’m trained to do. What am I going to say to all of them, anyway? Are any of them even going to listen?

What are we going to do?

No. I need to focus. I need to support Anden as he attempts, yet again, to negotiate with the Colonies’ Chancellor and CEOs and generals. We both know that it won’t get us anywhere. . . . The only thing that will make them budge is a cure. And even then, it might not be enough to hold the Colonies back. But still. We have to try. And perhaps he’ll be up for helping the Patriots with their plans, especially if he knows how much Day will be involved in them.

The mere thought of Day brings back memories of last night. My cheeks turn hot, and I know it’s not because of the warm Los Angeles weather.
Stupid timing,
I chide myself, and push last night from my thoughts. All around me, the usually busy streets of Lake are eerily empty, as if we’re preparing for an oncoming storm. I suppose that’s not so inaccurate.

A prickling sensation suddenly travels up my spine. I stop for a moment, then frown. What was that? The streets still look deserted, but a strange premonition makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
Someone is watching me.
Immediately the idea feels too far-fetched, but as I walk, I tighten my jaw and let my hand rest on my gun. Maybe I’m being ridiculous. Perhaps the warning that Day had given me—that the Colonies might use me against him or that they might have me in their sights—is starting to play tricks on my mind. Still, no reason to throw caution to the winds. I lean against the closest building so that my back is protected, and call Anden. The sooner this jeep arrives, the better.

And then I see her. I stop the call.

She wears a good disguise. (Weathered Republic attire that’s supposed to be worn only by first-year soldiers, which means she looks unremarkable and easily missed; a soldier’s cap pulled low over her face, with only a few dark red strands poking out from underneath it.) But even from this distance, I recognize her face—cold and hard.

Commander Jameson.

I look casually away and pretend to dig around in my pockets for something, but inside, my heart pounds at a furious pace. She’s here in Los Angeles, which means she somehow managed to escape the fighting in Denver and avoided the Republic’s clutches. Is it too big a coincidence that she is where I am? Perhaps she is here because she knew that
I
would be here? The Colonies. There must be other eyes here. My hands shake as she passes me by on the other side of the street. She gives no indication of seeing me, but I know that she’s noticed. On such an empty block, I should be impossible to miss—and I’m not in disguise.

When her back is finally turned to me, I cross my arms, tilt my head slightly downward, and call Anden on my earpiece again. “I see her. She’s here. Commander Jameson is in Los Angeles.”

My voice sounds so quiet and mumbled that Anden has trouble making it out. “You see her?” he asks in disbelief. “She’s on the same block as you?”

“Yes,” I whisper. I’m careful to keep an eye on Commander Jameson’s disappearing figure. “She might be here intentionally, looking for where my jeep will take me or perhaps trying to locate you.” As she pulls farther away, an overwhelming desire rises up in me to tag along. For the first time in a long time, my agent skills are calling out to me. Gone are politics; suddenly I’ve been thrust back in the field. When she turns a corner, I immediately abandon my spot and start heading after her. Where is she going? “She’s at Lake and Colorado,” I whisper urgently to Anden. “Turning north. Get some soldiers out here, but don’t let her know you’re following along. I want to see where she’s going.” Before Anden can say anything else, I end the call.

I trail along the side of the buildings, careful to stay in the shadows as much as I can, and take a shortcut through one alley toward the street where I think Commander Jameson had gone. Instead of peering around the corner and potentially giving myself away, I instead huddle in the alley and calculate how much time has passed. If she kept up the same pace, and she stayed on this street, then she should have walked past this alley at least one minute ago. Carefully, I lean out until I can catch a quick glimpse of the street. Sure enough, she’s already walked past me, and I can see the back of her figure hurrying away. This quick glimpse is also enough to tell me something else—she’s talking into her own mike.

I wish Day were with me. He’d know instantly the best way to travel unseen through these streets. For a second I contemplate calling him, but for him to get here in time would be too much of a stretch.

Instead, I follow Commander Jameson. I tail her for a good four blocks, until we enter a strip of Ruby that borders part of Batalla, where two or three pyramid airship bases sit along the street. She makes a turn again. I hurry to turn with her—but by the time I look down the street, she’s gone. Perhaps she knew someone was following her; after all, Commander Jameson is much more experienced in this sort of tracking than I am. I look to the roofs.

Anden’s voice crackles in my earpiece. “We lost her,” he confirms. “I’ve put out a silent alert to the troops there to search for her and report immediately back. She couldn’t have gone far.”

“That’s true,” I agree, but my shoulders sag. She’d disappeared without a trace. Who had she been talking to on her mike? My eyes scan the street, trying to figure out what she must have come here for. Maybe she’s scouting. The thought unnerves me.

“I’m heading back,” I finally whisper into my own mike. “If my suspicions are correct, then we might have—”

A whoosh of air—a blinding spark—something explodes before my eyes. I flinch and throw myself instinctively to the ground behind a nearby trash bin.
What was that?

A bullet.
I look to the wall where it hit. A small chunk of brick is missing. Someone tried to shoot me. My sudden turn to go back the way I came must have been the only thing that saved my life. I start placing another frantic call to Anden. Blood rushes through my ears like a tidal wave of noise, blocking out logic and allowing the panic in. Another bullet sparks against the metal of the trash bin. There’s no question now that I’m under attack.

I click the call off. Where is Commander Jameson shooting from? Are there others with her? Colonies troops? Republic soldiers turned traitorous? I don’t know. I can’t tell. I can’t hear and
I can’t see
—

Through my rising panic, Metias’s voice materializes.
Stay calm, Junebug. Logic will save you. Focus, think, act.

I close my eyes, taking a deep, shuddering breath, and allow myself a second to still my mind, to concentrate on my brother’s voice. This is no time to fall apart. I have never let emotions get the best of me, and I’m
not
about to start now.
Think, June. Don’t be stupid.
After over a year of trauma, after months and months of political bargaining, after days of war and death, I am starting to suspect everything and everyone. This is how the Colonies could tear us apart . . . not with their allies or weapons, but with their propaganda. With fear and desperation.

My panic clears. Logic sweeps back in.

First, I yank my own gun out of its holster. Then I make an exaggerated gesture, like I’m about to dart out from behind the trash bin. Instead, I stay put—but my feint is enough to provoke another bullet.
Spark!
It ricochets off the brick wall that my back is pressed up against. Instantly I glance at the mark it leaves and pinpoint where it might have come from. (Not from the roofs—the angle isn’t wide enough. Four, maybe five floors up. Not the building directly across from me, but the one right next to it.) I look over to the windows lining those floors. Several are open. At first I want to aim right back at those windows—but then I remind myself that I might hit someone unintentionally. Instead, I study the building. It looks like either a broadcast station or a military hall—it’s close enough to the air bases that I wonder whether it’s where the airships are being monitored from.

What is she up to that involves the air bases? Are the Colonies planning a surprise attack here?

I click my mike back on. “Anden,” I whisper after I input his code. “Get me out of here. Use my gun’s tracking.”

But my call has no time to go through. A split second later, another bullet cracks right above my head—this time I flinch and flatten myself underneath the trash bin. When I open my eyes, I find myself staring straight into the cold eyes of Commander Jameson.

She grabs for my wrist.

I bolt out from under the trash bin before she can reach me. I twist around to aim my gun at her, but she’s already darted away. Her own gun’s raised. Right away I can tell that she’s not aiming to kill.
Why?
The question runs through my mind at lightning speed.
Because the Colonies need me alive—because they need me to bargain with.

She fires; I roll on the ground. A bullet misses my leg by inches. I hop onto my feet and aim at her again—this time I fire. I miss her by a hair. She ducks behind the trash bin. At the same time I try to put a call through again. I succeed. “Anden,” I gasp into the mike as I turn tail and run. “Get me out!”

“Already on our way,” Anden replies. I sprint around a corner right as I hear another shot fired behind me. It’s the last one. Right on schedule, a jeep races toward me and screeches to a halt several feet away from me. A pair of soldiers pours out, shielding me while two others run out to the street toward Commander Jameson. I already know it’s too late to catch her, though—she must’ve made a run for it too. It’s all over as quickly as it began. I hop into the jeep with the soldiers’ help, then collapse against the seat as we speed away. Adrenaline washes through me. My entire body trembles uncontrollably.

“Are you all right?” one of the soldiers asks, but his voice sounds far away. All I can think about is what the encounter meant. Commander Jameson had known I would wait at that block for my jeep; she must have lured me out in an attempt to capture me. Her presence at the airship bases was no coincidence. She’s feeding information to the Colonies about our rotations and locations here. There are probably other Colonies soldiers hiding amongst us too—Commander Jameson is a wanted fugitive. She can’t move around this easily without help. And with her experience, she could probably hold off a manhunt for her on these streets long enough for the Colonies to arrive.
For the Colonies to arrive.
They’ve targeted their next city, and it’s going to be us.

Over my earpiece, Anden’s voice comes on again. “I’m on my way,” he says urgently. “Are you all right? The jeep will take you straight to Batalla Hall, and I’ll have a full guard on you—”

“She’s feeding them information about the ports,” I breathe into the mike before he can finish. My voice shakes as I say it. “The Colonies are about to attack Los Angeles.”

I GET THE CALL ABOUT JUNE AS I’M SITTING WITH EDEN.
After a morning of experimentations, he’s finally fallen asleep. Outside, clouds blanket the entire city in a bleak atmosphere. Good. I wouldn’t know how to feel if it were a bright, sunny day, not with this news about Commander Jameson and the fact that she’d tried to shoot June out in the open on the streets. Clouds suit my mood just fine.

While I wait impatiently for June to arrive at the hospital, I spend my time watching Tess through the glass of her room’s window. The lab team still surrounds her, monitoring her vitals like a bunch of goddy vultures on an old nature show. I shake my head. I shouldn’t be so hard on them. Earlier they let me put on a suit, sit inside next to Tess, and hold her hand. She was unconscious, of course, but she could still tighten her fingers around mine. She knows I’m here. That I’m waiting for her cure.

Now the lab team looks like they’re injecting her with some sort of formula mixed from a batch of liquid made from Eden’s blood cells. Hell if I know what’ll happen next. Their faces are hidden behind reflective glass masks, turning them into something alien. Tess’s eyes stay closed, and her skin’s an unhealthy yellow.

She has the virus that the Colonies spread,
I have to remind myself.
No, that the
Republic
spread.
Damn this memory of mine.

Pascao, Baxter, and the other Patriots stay camped out at the hospital too. Where the hell else do they have to go, anyway? As the minutes drag on, Pascao takes a seat next to me and rubs his hands together. “She’s hanging in there,” he mutters, his eyes lingering on Tess. “But there have been reports of some other outbreaks in the city. Came mostly from some refugees. Have you seen the news on the JumboTrons?”

I shake my head. My jaw is tense with rage.
When
is June arriving? They said they were bringing her here over a quarter of an hour ago. “Haven’t gone anywhere except to see my brother and to see Tess.”

Pascao sighs, rubbing a hand across his face. He’s careful not to ask about June. I’d apologize to him about my temper, but I’m too angry to care. “Three quarantine zones set up now in downtown. If you’re still planning to execute your little stunt, we gotta move out within the next day.”

“That’s all the time we’ll need. If the rumors we’re hearing from June and the Elector are true, then this will be our best chance.” The thought of parts of Los Angeles being cordoned off for quarantines sends a dark, uncomfortable nostalgia through me. Everything’s so wrong, and I’m so tired. I’m so tired of worrying about it all, about whether or not the people I care about will make it through the night or survive the day. At the same time, I can’t sleep. Eden’s words from this morning still ring in my thoughts.
Maybe everyone in the Republic can be a soldier.
My fingers run along the paper clip ring adorning my finger. If June had gotten injured this morning, I wonder if the last shreds of my sanity would’ve vanished. I feel like I’m hanging on by a thread. I guess that’s true in a pretty literal sense too—my headaches have been relentless today, and I’ve grown used to the perpetual pain pulsing at the back of my head.
Just a few months,
I think.
Just a few months, like the doctors said, and then maybe the medication will have worked enough to let me get that surgery. Keep hanging on.

At my silence, Pascao turns his pale eyes on me. “It’s gonna be dangerous, what you’ve told me,” he says. He seems like he’s treading carefully. “Some civilians will die. There’s just no way around it.”

“I don’t think we have a choice,” I reply, returning his look. “No matter how warped this country is, it’s still their homeland. We have to call them to action.”

Shouts echo from the hall beyond our own. Pascao and I both stop to listen for a second—and if I didn’t know any better, I’d swear it was the Elector. Weird. I’m not exactly Anden’s biggest fan, but
I’ve
never heard him lose his temper.

The double doors at the end of the hall swing open with a bang—suddenly, the shouts fill the hall. Anden storms in with his usual crowd of soldiers, while June keeps up beside him.
June
. Relief floods through my body. I hop to my feet. Her face lights up as I hurry over to her.

“I’m okay,” she says, waving me off before I can even open my mouth. She sounds impatient about it, like she’s spent the entire day convincing everyone else of the same thing. “They’re being overly cautious, bringing me here—”

I could care less if they’re being overly cautious. I cut her off and pull her into a tight embrace. A weight lifts from my chest, and the rest of my anger comes flooding in. “You’re the Elector,” I snap at Anden. “You’re the damn
Elector of the Republic
. Can’t you make sure your own goddy
Princeps-Elect
isn’t assassinated by a prisoner you guys can’t even seem to keep imprisoned? What kind of bodyguards do you have, anyway—a pack of first-year cadets?”

Anden shoots me a dangerous look, but to my surprise, he stays silent. I pull away from June so I can hold her face in my hands. “You’re okay, right?” I ask urgently. “You’re completely okay?”

June raises an eyebrow at me, then gives me a quick, reassuring kiss. “
Yes.
I’m completely okay.” She casts a glance over at Anden, but he’s too distracted talking to one of his soldiers now.

“Find me the men assigned to retrieve the Princeps-Elect,” he snaps at the soldier. Dark circles line the skin under his eyes, and his face looks both haggard and furious. “If luck hadn’t been on our side, Jameson would have killed her. I’ve half a mind to label them all traitors. There’s plenty of room in the firing squad yard for all of them.” The soldier snaps to attention and rushes off with several others to do as Anden said. My own anger wanes, and a chill runs through me at how familiar his wrath feels. Like I’m looking at his father.

Now he faces me. His voice turns calmer. “The lab team tells me that your brother pulled through his experimentation so far very bravely,” he says. “I wanted to thank you again for—”

“Don’t lay it on too thick,” I interrupt with a raised eyebrow. “This whole thing isn’t over yet.” After more days like today, where Eden’s going to fade even faster from all the experiments, I might not be so polite. I lower my voice, making an effort to sound civil again. It’s half working. “Let’s talk in private. Elector, I have some ideas to run by you. With this recent news from Commander Jameson, we might just have an opportunity to stir up some trouble for the Colonies. You, me, June, and the Patriots.”

Anden’s eyes darken at that, and his mouth tightens in an uncertain frown as he scans his audience. Pascao’s giant, ever-present grin doesn’t seem to improve his mood. After a few seconds, though, he nods at his soldiers. “Get us a conference room,” he says. “I want security cams off.”

His soldiers scramble to do his bidding. As we fall into step behind him, I exchange a long glance with June.
She’s okay, she’s unharmed.
And yet, I’m afraid that she’ll disappear if I’m careless enough to look away. I force myself to hold back on asking her about what happened until we’re all in a private room—and from the look on her face, she’s also waiting for the right moment. My hand aches to hold hers. I keep that to myself too. Our dance around each other always seems like it’s doomed to repeat itself over and over again.

“So,” Anden says once we’ve settled into a room and his patrol has disabled all of the cams. He leans back in one of the chairs and surveys me with a penetrating look. “Perhaps we should start with what happened to our Princeps-Elect this morning.”

June lifts her chin, but her hands shake ever so slightly. “I saw Commander Jameson in Ruby sector. My guess is that she was in the area to scout locations—and she must have known where I would be.” I marvel at how steady June sounds. “I tailed her for a while, until we reached the strip of airship bases that border Ruby and Batalla. She attacked me there.”

Even this short of a summary is enough to make me see red. Anden sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “We suspect that Commander Jameson may have given some locations and schedules to the Colonies about Los Angeles airship bases. She may have also attempted to kidnap Ms. Iparis for bargaining power.”

“Does that mean the Colonies are planning to attack LA?” Pascao asks. I already know his next thought. “But that would mean it’s true, Denver has fallen . . .” He trails off at Anden’s expression.

“We’re receiving some early rumors,” Anden replies. “The word is that the Colonies have a bomb that can level the entire city. The only thing holding them back from using it is an international ban. They wouldn’t want to finally force Antarctica to get involved, now would they?” Since when did Anden become so sarcastic? “At any rate, if they attack now, we will be hard-pressed to have a cure ready to show Antarctica before the Colonies overwhelm us. We can defend against them. We can’t defend against them
and
Africa.”

I hesitate, then bring up the thoughts that have been churning in my mind. “I talked to Eden this morning, during his experimentation. He gave me an idea.”

“And what’s that?” June asks.

I look at her. Still as lovely as ever, but even June is starting to show the stress from this invasion, her shoulders slightly hunched. My eyes turn back to Anden. “Surrender,” I say.

He hadn’t expected
that.
“You want me to raise the white flag to the Colonies?”

“Yes, surrender.” I lower my voice. “Yesterday afternoon, the Colonies’ Chancellor made me an offer. He told me that if I could get the Republic’s people to rise up in support of the Colonies and against the Republic soldiers, he’d make sure that Eden and I are protected once the Colonies win the war. Let’s say that you surrender, and at the same time, I offer to meet the Chancellor to give him the answer to his request, that I’m going to ask the people to embrace the Colonies as their new government. You now have a chance to catch the Colonies off guard. The Chancellor already assumes you’re going to surrender any day now, anyway.”

“Faking a surrender is against international law,” June mumbles to herself, although she studies me carefully. I can tell that she’s not exactly against the idea. “I don’t know whether the Antarcticans will appreciate that, and the whole point of this is to persuade them to help us out, isn’t it?”

I shake my head. “They didn’t seem to care that the Colonies broke the ceasefire without warning us, back when this all erupted.” I glance at Anden. He watches me closely, his chin resting on his hand. “Now you get to return the favor, yeah?”

“What happens when you meet with the Chancellor?” he finally asks. “A false surrender can only last so long before we need to act.”

I lean toward him, my voice urgent. “You know what Eden said to me this morning? ‘Too bad everyone in the Republic can’t be a soldier.’ But they
can.
”

Anden stays silent.

“Let me mark each of the sectors in the Republic, something that will let the people know that they can’t just lie down and let the Colonies take over their homes, something that will ask them to wait for my signal and remind them what we’re all fighting for. Then, when I make the announcement that the Colonies’ Chancellor wants me to make, I won’t call on the people to embrace the Colonies. I’ll call them to action.”

“And what if they don’t respond to your call?” June says.

I shoot her a quick smile. “Have some faith, sweetheart. The people love me.”

In spite of herself, June smiles back.

I turn to Anden. Seriousness replaces my flash of amusement. “The people love the Republic more than you think,” I say. “More than
I
thought. You know the number of times I saw evacuees around here singing patriotic Republic songs? You know how much graffiti I’ve seen over the last few months that support both you and the country?” A note of passion enters my voice. “The people do believe in you. They believe in us. And they will fight back for us if we call on them—they’ll be the ones ripping down Colonies flags, protesting in front of Colonies offices, turning their own homes into traps for invading Colonies soldiers.” I narrow my eyes. “They’ll become a million versions of me.”

Anden and I stare at each other. Finally, he smiles.

“Well,” June says to me, “while you’re busy becoming the Colonies’ most wanted criminal, the Patriots and I can join in your stunts. We’ll pull them on a national level. If Antarctica protests, the Republic can just say they were the actions of a few vigilantes. If the Colonies want to play dirty, then let’s play dirty.”