Numbers Ignite (36 page)

I nodded. “Absolutely.”

Vance held out an arm, which I took gladly, and we headed for the chopper. Major Murphy led the way and slid the door open for us. It was dark inside. Rather than being lined with benches and equipment like the military chopper I’d ridden in while serving in EPIC, it was cushioned and furnished with ridiculously soft-looking chairs and a desk, which were bolted to the floor. Typical NORA.

A figure leaned against the desk, his back turned to me. His strong shoulders and long torso revealed that this was definitely not the commander. The man wore a generic silver military uniform. I paused in the doorway, ready to bolt.

“I should have known you’d be here,” the voice said softly, “in the center of chaos.” He turned around.

Dresden.

I tried to hide my shock. “What do you mean,
should
have known?” I’d led them here. Accidentally, maybe, but it was my fault all the same. Except this time, it hadn’t cost lives—it had saved them.

Dresden eyed Vance, then bored his gaze into me. “Denoux said you were dead. Buried under thirty feet of desert sand and rocks. And yet, here you are, with your so-called trainer.”

I felt Vance’s grip around my waist tighten. “But then,” I began, “how did you know these people were under attack?”

He let out a long breath and walked around the table. “I didn’t.” He sat down in a chair and put his legs on the table. “Honestly, if I’d known the ECA had chosen today to make their move, we would have come tomorrow. Less mess.”

“Stop acting mysterious and answer the question,” I snapped. “Tell me why you’re here.”

Dresden’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “You’re not the same Treena I knew in NORA, that’s for sure.”

“Running for your life changes a person,” Vance muttered dryly. “What do you want this time? Being emperor of one group of people isn’t enough for you?”

“Watch it, trainer,” Dresden shot back. “We just saved your settlers from a mass execution. You should be scraping the floor about now.”

“You’re not exactly in the habit of saving lives, Dres,” I said. “You ordered the extermination of an entire settlement. We’re talking peaceful, unarmed people hiding underground. Doesn’t exactly make me want to kiss your feet.”

Dresden’s face reddened. “Everything I’ve done was to save lives, despite what you think. We’ve been monitoring some recent developments outside the borders. We intercepted communications that indicated an impending attack, but we couldn’t lock them down to a precise location. When we tracked you to that underground settlement, Denoux thought that might be the enemy’s hidden base.”

I felt my eyes widen. So Denoux’s insistence on leaving no survivors wasn’t because of their location. He’d genuinely thought they were spies. “And instead of gathering evidence to confirm that, he decided to just kill everyone,” I said. “And you didn’t see anything wrong with that.”

Dresden removed his legs from the desk and stood, towering over me. Had he always been that tall? “We’re at war with the outlands, Treena, or have you forgotten? Everything that has threatened our peace has come from outside the border. Besides, you have no idea what trouble you’ve caused.”

I blinked. “By crossing the desert?”

“By
leaving
. Did it occur to you that your departure looked suspicious? You’re the rightful successor, then you disappear and I take your place, and you’re never seen again.” His eyes flashed, but there was something more than anger. He looked genuinely hurt. “Why would you do that to me? Don’t I have enough to worry about right now?”

“Forgive the lack of sympathy,” Vance grumbled. “Must be rough living in a palace and having people wait on you all day.”

“The war with the outlanders was just the beginning,” Dresden shot back. “A lot has happened in the last few weeks.”

“So I keep hearing,” I muttered.

Dresden helplessly threw his hands up. “Then why didn’t you just come back? I don’t get why you left in the first place.”

I just glared back, and he sighed again, letting his shoulders slump. How many times had I leaned my head against that chest, letting him stroke my hair? The old Treena would have rushed to his side the moment he frowned.

That Treena was gone. I rested my head on Vance’s uninjured shoulder, feeling warm and secure against his body. The simple closeness of his hand resting on my shoulder, the electricity his touch sent down my spine, filled something inside me I didn’t know was empty. A moment with Vance was better than a hundred years with Dresden. A thousand years.

“Look,” Dresden said, stepping closer and lowering his voice. “I know why the empress declared stricter laws. It wasn’t just because of the smugglers, Treena. There’s a huge renewal of interest in Old America and their ways. The empress was right to be worried. That, combined with your speeches about the Rating system being flawed and corrupted, has got people talking. And then you disappeared. People are crying foul all over the place.”

“Doesn’t sound like such a bad thing,” I said.

“Yeah, well, that’s just the beginning. The communications we intercepted, planning an attack? They were in Bendihua, a form of Pinghua, which is a rural dialect of Mandarin Chinese. They call themselves the ECA. They’ve been setting up bases in abandoned towns all around us, right under our noses. NORA is surrounded on all sides.”

“But they attacked us, not you,” I said. “What was the point of that?”

“The communications we intercepted said they were going to use this settlement as a base of operations. I think they intended to use the settlers as slaves to build their weapons. I wanted to hit them hard and fast, before they’d fully set up here.” He paused. “Denoux didn’t think we were ready. I probably should have listened to him. Preliminary reports say we lost half our choppers today, and almost 60 percent of our manpower.”

“Fates, Dresden,” I said. “These are people. Don’t call them
manpower.
”

“It makes no sense,” Vance said thoughtfully, missing the exchange. “If the Chinese are trying to take over, why not just bomb us all and get it over with? Why spend so much time positioning troops and setting up bases? It wouldn’t be all that hard to take NORA out.”

“Ju-Long told me that, actually,” I said, trying to remember our conversation in the jail cell. “He said they could conquer NORA within hours it if they wanted. But that makes no sense. They obviously want to, right?”

“I don’t know.” Dresden sighed and plopped down into his chair again.

I left Vance’s side and approached the table. “Dresden, war or not, the settlers are not your enemy. Make an alliance with them. We have to pull together if we’re going to get through this.”

“Your Majesty,” Murphy’s muffled voice came from outside. “We’ve found their commander.”

“Enter,” Dresden said.

The door opened, and a stretcher was brought in. The man’s face was swollen and bloody, but I recognized Ju-Long instantly. His arms and legs were tethered, but the guy looked like he struggled to breathe, let alone plan an escape. His gaze flicked to each of us in turn, but he didn’t speak.

“He’s alive,” Vance said, his voice tight.

“Barely,” Murphy muttered as he stepped back from the stretcher. “We found him at the tunnel entrance. We sealed it with explosives, but it won’t stop them from coming by air again if they decide to.”

“Should’ve held the trigger longer,” Vance muttered.

I gave him a questioning look. “I saw him go after you. I’m glad you were okay.”

“I’m fine,” he said tersely, then looked away. His voice was husky. “My mother is not.”

My breath caught. “No.”

He waved his hand. “I didn’t intend for Ju-Long to live after that, but since he did, let’s see what he has to say for himself.”

Dresden took a moment before questioning Ju-Long. He drew himself together, lifting his shoulders and forcing his usual confidence back into his demeanor. I wondered how much of that was an act and how much was real. The last few months, the two had been synonymous.

“Explain why you’ve come,” he finally said to the figure on the stretcher.

Ju-Long didn’t move, but his eyes flicked to Dresden’s face.

“Tell me,” Dresden demanded. “Do you intend to kill us all?”

A smile graced the corner of Ju-Long’s lips. “You should have…surrendered.”

“What is it you want?” I asked. “Why the attack?”

“The sleeping dragon has awakened,” he said.

I got right in his face. “Don’t be cryptic. What did you come for? Tell me
now.
”

“China is superior in every way,” Ju-Long snapped, his eyes focusing on me for the first time. “Old America’s economy would have fallen 150 years ago if not for us.” He closed his eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath. “We have given billions of American dollars to your fathers, money that was never returned. We did not complain, for we had a larger plan in mind. A wise bank considers all assets, not simply those which are immediately apparent.”

“You want our land,” Dresden said.

“Your land is worthless. The resources are profitable, perhaps, but it is your location that is ideal. The European powers resist us, but when we surround them on two sides, they will be far more willing to listen.”

“If you want control of what was once Old America,” Vance said, “why not just take it? You could have bombed NORA to pieces.”

Ju-Long’s voice had become a whisper. “Unfortunately, there are politics involved. The Nations for Peace convention takes place in a few months, and the eyes of the world are upon us. We must allow them to see what they wish. Simply going in and bombing a weaker nation brings the whole world up in arms. But careful positioning, even if it has the same result, is overlooked.”

“Why are you even telling us this?” Dresden burst out.

Ju-Long’s face twisted in disgust, and his voice seemed to gather strength. “You dare call yourself emperor when you are little more than an impertinent child. I tell you this because you should be afraid. We will conquer your wretched country, and when we do, we will be well positioned for the next step in the president’s plan. At that point, Russia will finally be persuaded to unite with us. The Eastern Continental Alliance will cover the globe. Great nations have bowed to our president. There is nothing you pitiful savages can do to stop us.”

We stood above the Chinese man, staring at each other in shock.

Vance bent down and got right in Ju-Long’s face. “Guess you’ll be surprised, then.” Without a word, he punched Ju-Long flat in the face.

The Chinese man went limp.

Dresden didn’t object to the abrupt end in conversation. Instead, he simply looked at me, his eyes haunted. “You’re right. We can’t afford to waste time fighting the settlers any longer. We’ll need everyone we can get.”

“We?” Vance repeated.

“Treena,” Dresden said, giving me a pleading look. “I know you just got here, but the citizens think of you as a hero, a nobody who fought her way to the crown and exposed injustices or whatever it is you did. When you disappeared, there were protests and even riots in the streets. We can’t afford for our country to be any more divided than it already is. I need you to tell them they can trust me.”

“You’re asking her to go back with you?” Vance said incredulously.