Prodigy (8 page)

Moments later, Kaede swings inside too. She winces, rubbing at the cast of her still-injured
arm, then shoves me in the chest. “Don’t just stop like that in the middle of a climb,”
she snaps. “Always keep moving. We can’t afford for you to be impulsive.”

“Then don’t give me a reason to be impulsive,” I snap back. “Why didn’t you tell me
Thomas was coming for June?”

“I know your history with that captain,” Kaede replies. She squints into the dark,
then motions for us to start climbing up the chute. “And Razor didn’t think it would
do you any good to worry about it in advance.”

I’m ready to fire back, but Kaede shoots me a warning glance. With effort, I manage
to swallow my anger. I remind myself of why I’m here. This is for Eden. If Razor thinks
June is safest under Thomas’s watch, then so be it. But what are they going to do
with June once they’ve got her? What if something goes wrong, and Congress or the
courts do something that Razor didn’t plan for? How can he be so sure that everything
will go smoothly?

Kaede and I make our way up the chute until we reach the lower levels of the
Dynasty.
We stay hidden behind a stairwell in a lonely back engine room until takeoff, when
the steam pistons flare to life and we feel the pressure of the rising ship push against
our feet as it lifts free from the landing base. I hear giant cables snapping loose
from the ship’s sides and the roar of applause from the base crew cheering another
successful liftoff.

After a half hour passes, when my anger’s finally had time to cool, we emerge from
the stairwell. “Let’s go this way,” Kaede murmurs as we reach a tiny room with two
paths—one leading to the engines and the other leading straight up to the lower floors.
“Sometimes they run surprise inspections on the entrances to the base deck. We might
have fewer problems in the engine rooms.” She pauses, pressing a hand to her ear and
frowning in concentration.

“What is it?”

“Sounds like Razor is in,” she replies.

My leg feels a little sore as we continue, and I find myself walking with a very slight
limp. We head up another stairwell that leads to the engine rooms, bumping into a
couple of soldiers along the way, until we hit a floor marked “6” where the stairs
stop. We wander down this hall for a while before pausing at a narrow door. A sign
reads
TO ENGINE ROOMS A, B, C, D.

A lone guard waits by the door. He glances up, sees us, and straightens from his slouch.
“What do you two want?” he mutters.

We exchange casual salutes. “We were sent here to see someone,” Kaede lies. “Engine
room personnel.”

“Yeah? Who?” He squints at Kaede in disapproval. “You’re a pilot, aren’t you? You
should be on the upper deck. They’re doing inspections.”

Kaede’s ready to protest, but I interrupt her and put on a sheepish face. I say the
only thing I can think of that he probably won’t question. “All right, soldier to
soldier,” I mutter to the guard, sneaking a sideways glance at Kaede. “We, ah . . .
we were hunting for a good place to . . . you know. We figured the engine rooms should
work.” I give him an apologetic wink. “I’ve been trying to get a kiss out of this
girl for weeks. Knee surgery got in the way.” I pause here and demonstrate an exaggerated
version of my limp for him.

The guard suddenly grins and lets out a surprised laugh, as if he’s pleased to have
a role in something naughty. “Ah, I see,” he says, glancing sympathetically at my
leg. “She’s a cute one.” I laugh with him, while Kaede plays along by rolling her
eyes.

“Like you said,” Kaede tells the guard as he unlocks the door for us. “I’m late for
inspections. We’ll be fast—we’re heading up to the top deck in a few minutes.”

“Good luck, you poor bastards,” he calls to us as we head inside. We exchange lazy
salutes with him.

“I had a really good story ready to tell him,” Kaede whispers as we go. “Nice cover
from you, though. You think of that one all by yourself?” She smiles slyly and looks
me over from head to toe. “Too bad I got stuck with such an ugly sidekick.”

I hold both hands up in mock defense. “Too bad I got stuck with such a liar.”

We walk along a cylindrical corridor bathed in a dim, red light. Even down here, flat
screens roll a stream of news and airship updates. They’re displaying a list of where
all the Republic’s active airships are headed, along with their dates and schedules.
Apparently twelve are airborne at the moment. As we pass one of the screens, my eyes
skim down to the RS
Dynasty.

R
EPUBLIC
S
HIP
D
YNASTY
| D
EPARTURE: 0851
O
CEAN
S
TANDARD
T
IME, 01.13 FROM
P
HARAOH
D
OCK,
L
AS
V
EGAS,
NV | A
RRIVAL: 1704
B
ORDER
S
TANDARD
T
IME, 01.13 AT
B
LACKWELL
D
OCK,
L
AMAR,
CO

Lamar. We’re headed for a warfront city up north. One step closer to Eden, I remind
myself. June will be fine. This mission will all be over soon.

The first room we enter is enormous—rows and rows of giant boilers and hissing vents,
with dozens of workers operating each one. Some are checking temperatures, while others
are shoving something like white coal into furnaces. They’re all dressed in the same
outfit Tess had on right before she left us at the Venezia. We hurry along through
one of the rows of boilers until we push through the next door. One more stairwell.
Then we emerge onto the
Dynasty
’s lower deck.

This airship is enormous. I’ve been on board airships before, of course. When I was
thirteen, I snuck onto the flight deck of the RS
Pacifica
and stole fuel from three F-170 fighter jets, then sold it on the black market for
a good price. But I’ve never been inside one of this size. Kaede leads us out the
door of the stairwell and onto a metal walkway that opens up into a view of all the
floors above us. Soldiers are everywhere. We walk with them, careful to keep our faces
expressionless. Here on the lowest floor, several formations of troops run through
drills. Doors line the corridors, and in between every four doors is a flat screen
displaying news. The new Elector’s portrait hangs above each screen. They sure move
fast, don’t they?

Razor’s office is one of a half dozen that line the walls of the fourth deck, with
a silver Republic seal embedded in its door. Kaede knocks twice. When she hears Razor’s
voice calling for us to enter, she ushers us inside, then shuts the door carefully
behind her and snaps to attention. I follow her lead. Our boots click against the
hardwood floor. Something in the room smells faintly like jasmine, and as I take in
the ornate, spherical wall lamps and the Elector’s portrait on the back wall, I realize
how chilly it is in here. Razor stands by his desk with his hands behind his back,
all fancy in his formal commander uniform, talking to a woman dressed in a similar
outfit.

It takes me a second to realize that the woman is Commander Jameson.

Kaede and I both freeze in our tracks. After the shock of seeing Thomas, I’d simply
assumed that if Commander Jameson was anywhere in Vegas, she’d be at the pyramid dock,
monitoring her captain’s progress. I never thought she’d be on the ship. Why is she
going to the warfront?

Razor nods in our direction as both Kaede and I salute him. “At ease,” he says to
us, then turns his attention back to Commander Jameson. Beside me, I can sense Kaede’s
tension. My street instincts kick in. If Kaede’s anxious, that means the Patriots
hadn’t planned on Commander Jameson’s being here. My eyes dart to the door’s lock;
I imagine myself whirling around, flinging the door open, and swinging over the balcony
railings to the deck below. The ship’s layout plays in my thoughts like a three-dimensional
map. I need to be ready to bolt if she recognizes me. Gotta have my escape route ready.

“I’ve been advised to keep my eyes open,” Commander Jameson says to Razor. He seems
completely unfazed—his shoulders are relaxed, and he’s wearing an easy smile. “And
so should you, DeSoto. If you notice anything odd, come to me. I’ll be ready.”

“Of course.” Razor tips his head respectfully at Commander Jameson, even though his
uniform’s insignias indicate that he’s her senior. “All the best to you, and to Los
Angeles.”

They exchange casual salutes. Then Commander Jameson begins walking toward the door.
I force myself to remain still, but every muscle is screaming at me to escape.

Commander Jameson passes me, and I wait quietly as she scans me from head to toe.
From the corner of my eyes, I can see the hard lines of her face and the thin, scarlet
slash of her lips. Behind her expression is an icy nothingness—a complete lack of
emotion that injects both fear and hate into my blood. Then I notice that her hand
is bandaged. Still injured from when she’d held me captive at Batalla Hall, when I’d
bitten it almost down to the bone.

She knows who I am,
I think. A bead of sweat trickles down my back. She must know. Even with this brief
glance, she can see right through my disguise, this dark cropped hair and synthetic
scar and brown contact lenses. I wait for her to raise the alarm. My boots tilt against
the ground, ready to run. My healing leg pulses.

But the split second passes, and Commander Jameson’s gaze swivels away as she reaches
the door. I step back from the cliff. “Your uniform is rumpled, soldier,” she calls
back to me with distaste. “If I were Commander DeSoto, I’d give you a dozen laps as
punishment.”

She steps away, walks through the door, and disappears. Kaede locks the door again—her
shoulders slouch, and I hear her let out a breath. “Nice one,” she says to Razor as
she plops down on the office’s couch. Her voice drips sarcasm.

Razor motions for me to sit as well. “We have you to thank, Kaede,” he says. “For
our young friend’s first-rate disguise.” Kaede beams at his compliment. “I apologize
for the unexpected surprise. Commander Jameson has gotten wind of June’s arrest. She
wanted to board the ship to see if anything else turned up.” He sits down behind his
desk. “She’s taking a plane back to Vegas now.”

I feel weak. As I rest on the couch beside Kaede, I can’t help keeping an eye on the
windows in case Commander Jameson comes back for something. The windows are made of
frosted glass. Can anyone from below see us up here?

Kaede’s already relaxed again, chatting up a storm with Razor about our next steps.
What time we’ll land, when we should regroup in Lamar, whether decoy soldiers at the
capital are in place. But I just sit and think about Commander Jameson’s expression.
Of all the Republic officers I’ve come across, except maybe for Chian, only Commander
Jameson’s eyes can freeze me to my core. I fight down the memory of how she’d ordered
my mother’s death—and John’s execution. If Thomas has June under arrest, what will
Commander Jameson do to her? Can Razor actually keep her protected? I close my eyes
and try to send a silent thought to June.

Stay safe. I want to see you again when all this is done.

I
CAN’T BRING MYSELF TO LOOK AT
D
AY AGAIN BEFORE
leaving him behind. As Razor’s Patriot walks me away from the front entrance of the
Pharaoh pyramid, I keep my face pointed firmly away from him.
It’s for the best,
I tell myself. If the mission goes well, it’ll only be a short separation.

Day’s concerns about my well-being really hit home now. Razor’s plan for me
sounds
good, but something could go wrong. What if, instead of taking me to see the Elector,
I’m shot the instant I’m found? Or they could strap me upside down in an interrogation
room and beat me senseless. I’ve seen it happen plenty of times. I could be dead before
this day is over, long before the Elector learns I’ve been found. A million things
could go wrong.

That’s why I have to focus,
I remind myself. And I can’t do that if I stare into Day’s eyes.

Now the Patriot guides me inside the pyramid and down a narrow walkway running along
one side of a wall. It’s loud and chaotic in here. Hundreds of soldiers are milling
around on the ground level. Razor had told me they would put me in one of the empty
barrack rooms on the first floor, where I would pretend to be hiding before trying
to sneak on board the RS
Dynasty.
When Republic soldiers knock down the door and come for me, I’m supposed to make
a run for it. To give it all I’ve got.

My steps quicken to match my guide’s. Now we reach the end of the walkway, where a
secure door (five feet six wide, ten feet high) leads away from the main floor and
into the hallways of the first floor barracks. The guide swipes a card across the
door. It beeps, then blinks green and slides open.

“Put up a fight when they come for you,” the Patriot tells me in a voice I can barely
hear. His appearance is no different from any of the other soldiers here, with slicked-back
hair and a black uniform. “Make sure they believe you don’t want to be caught. You
were trying to turn yourself in near Denver. Okay?”

I nod.

His attention shifts away from me. He studies the hall, tilting his head up to inspect
the ceiling. A row of security cams lines this corridor, eight in total, one facing
the front of each barrack door. Before we step all the way into the hall, the guide
pulls out a pocketknife and uses it to clip off one of the shiny buttons lining his
jacket. Then he braces himself against the doorway, presses one foot against each
side of the door frame, and leaps up.

I glance back down the hall. There are no other soldiers here at the moment, but what
if one suddenly turns the corner? It’s no surprise if they capture
me
here (that’s our goal, after all), but what about my guide?

He reaches up toward the first security cam, then uses the knife to scrape away some
of the rubber coating protecting the cam’s wires. When a bit of the rubber comes off
and exposes the wires underneath, he wraps his fingers in the length of his sleeve
and presses the metal button against the wires.

A quiet burst of sparks. To my surprise, every security cam along the hall blinks
off.

“How’d you break all of them with just one—?” I start to whisper.

The guide jumps back down to the ground and motions for me to hurry up. “I’m a Hacker,”
he whispers back as we run. “I’ve worked the command centers here before. I rewired
things a little to suit us.” He smiles proudly, showing even white teeth. “But this
is nothing. Just wait till you hear about what we’ve done to Denver’s Capitol Tower.”

Impressive. If Metias joined the Patriots, he’d be a Hacker too.
If he were alive.

We sprint down the hall until he stops us at one of the doors. Barrack 4A. Here he
pulls out a key card and swipes the door’s access panel. It clicks and swings open
a little—inside, eight rows of bunks and lockers sit in the dark.

The Hacker turns to face me. “Razor wants you waiting here to ensure that the right
soldiers capture you. He has a specific patrol in mind.”

Of course, makes perfect sense. It confirms that Razor doesn’t want me beaten to a
pulp by letting just any Republic patrol arrest me. “Who—?” I start to ask.

But he taps the edge of his military cap before I can finish. “We’ll all be watching
your mission from the cams. Good luck,” he whispers. Then he’s gone, hurrying down
the hall until he rounds a corner and I can’t see him anymore.

I take a deep breath. I’m alone. Time to wait for soldiers to arrest me.

I quickly step inside the room and shut the barrack door. It’s pitch-black in here—no
windows, not even a slit of light from under the door. Certainly a believable enough
place for me to be hiding. I don’t bother moving farther into the room; I already
know what the layout is, rows of bunk beds and a communal bathroom. I just flatten
myself against the wall right next to the door. Better to stay here.

I reach out in the darkness and find the doorknob. Using my hands to measure, I gauge
how far the knob is from the ground (three feet six). That’s probably how much space
is between the doorknob and the top of the door frame too. I think back to when we
were still standing out in the corridor, picturing how much space is between the door
frame’s top edge and the ceiling. It must’ve been a little less than two feet.

Okay. Now all my details are in place. I settle back against the wall, close my eyes,
and wait.

Twelve minutes drag by.

Then, farther down the hall outside, I hear a dog’s bark.

My eyes pop open.
Ollie.
I’d recognize that bark anywhere—my dog is still alive.
Alive, by some miracle.
Joy and confusion wash over me. What the hell is he doing here? I press an ear against
the door and listen. Several more seconds of silence. Then, I hear the bark again.

My white shepherd is here.

Now thoughts are racing through my mind. The only reason why Ollie would be here is
because he’s with a patrol—the patrol that’s hunting me down. And there’s only one
soldier who’d think to use my own dog to sniff me out: Thomas. The Hacker’s words
come back to me. Razor wanted “the right soldiers” to capture me. He had a specific
patrol in mind.

Of course the patrol—the
person
—Razor had in mind would be Thomas.

Thomas must’ve been assigned by Commander Jameson to track me down. He’s using Ollie
to help. But of all the patrols I’d prefer to be arrested by, Thomas’s ranks last
on the list. My hands start to shake. I don’t want to see my brother’s murderer again.

Ollie’s barking grows steadily louder. With it come the first sounds of footsteps
and voices. I hear Thomas’s voice out in the corridor, shouting to his soldiers. I
hold my breath and remind myself of the numbers I’d calculated.

They’re right outside the door. Their voices have gone quiet, replaced by clicks (safety
on loaded guns, sounds like some M-series, some standard-issue rifles).

The following seems to happen in slow motion. The door creaks open and light spills
in. Immediately I make a small jump and step one leg up—my foot lands silently on
the doorknob as the door swings toward me. As the soldiers enter the room with their
guns drawn, I reach up and grab the top of the door frame by using the doorknob as
a step. I pull myself up. Without a sound, I perch on top of the open door like a
cat.

They don’t see me. They probably can’t see anything except the darkness in here. I
count them all in a flash. Thomas leads the group with Ollie at his side (to my surprise,
Thomas doesn’t have his gun drawn), and behind him are a cluster of four soldiers.
There are more soldiers outside the room, but I can’t tell how many.

“She’s in here,” one of them says, with a hand pressed to his ear. “She hasn’t had
a chance to board any airships yet. Commander DeSoto just confirmed one of his men
saw her enter.”

Thomas says nothing. I watch him turn to observe the dark room. Then his gaze wanders
up the door.

We lock eyes.

I leap down and knock him to the ground. In a moment of blind rage, I actually want
to break his neck with my bare hands. It’d be so easy.

The other soldiers clamor for their guns, but in the chaos I hear Thomas choke out
an order. “Don’t fire! Don’t fire!” He grabs my arm. I almost manage to break free
and dart through the soldiers and out the doorway, but a second soldier shoves me
down. They’re all on me now, a whirlwind of uniforms seizing my arms and dragging
me to my feet. Thomas keeps shouting at his men to be careful.

Razor was right about Thomas. He’ll want to keep me alive for Commander Jameson.

Finally, they cuff my hands and push me so hard against the floor that I can’t move.
I hear Thomas’s voice overhead. “Good to see you again, Ms. Iparis.” His voice shakes.
“You’re under arrest for assaulting Republic soldiers, for creating a disturbance
in Batalla Hall, and for abandoning your post. You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.” I notice he
doesn’t say anything about assisting a criminal. He still has to pretend the Republic
executed Day.

They pull me to my feet and lead me back down the hall. By the time we’re in the sunlight,
more than a few passing soldiers stop to watch. Thomas’s men shove me unceremoniously
into a waiting patrol jeep’s backseat, chain my hands to the door, and lock my arms
down in metal shackles. Thomas sits next to me and points his gun at my head. Ridiculous.
The jeep ushers us back through the streets. The other two soldiers sitting in the
jeep’s front watch me in the rearview mirror. They act like I’m some sort of untamed
weapon—and in a way, I guess that’s true. The irony of it all makes me want to laugh.
Day is a Republic soldier on board the RS
Dynasty,
and I am the Republic’s most valuable captive. We’ve switched places.

Thomas tries to ignore me as we travel, but my eyes never leave him. He seems tired,
with pale lips and dark circles rimming his eyes. Stubble dots his chin, a surprise
in itself—Thomas would normally never show his face without being perfectly clean
shaven. Commander Jameson must’ve run him ragged for letting me escape from Batalla
Hall. They probably interrogated him for it.

The minutes drag on. None of the soldiers talk. The one who drives us keeps his eyes
firmly on the road, and all we can hear is the drone of the jeep’s engine and the
muffled sounds from the streets outside. I swear the others must be able to hear the
hammering of my heart too. From here I can see the jeep driving ahead of us, and through
its back window I see occasional flashes of white fur that make me feel incredibly
happy. Ollie. I wish he were in the same jeep as me.

Finally, I turn to Thomas. “Thank you for not hurting Ollie.”

I don’t expect him to answer.
Captains don’t speak to criminals,
he’d say. But to my surprise, he meets my gaze. For me, it seems, he’s still willing
to break protocol. “Your dog turned out to be useful.”

He’s Metias’s dog.
My anger starts rising again, but I push it back down. Useless to rage over something
that won’t help my plans. It’s interesting that he kept Ollie alive at all—he could
have tracked me down without him. Ollie’s not a police dog and has no training in
sniffing down targets. He couldn’t have helped when they were trying to track me across
half the country; he’s only useful in very close range. Which means that Thomas kept
him alive for other reasons. Because he cares for me?
Or . . . maybe he still cares for Metias.
The thought startles me. Thomas’s stare flickers away when I don’t reply. Then there’s
another long silence. “Where are you taking me?”

“You’ll be held in the High Desert Penitentiary until after your interrogation, and
then the courts will decide where you’ll go.”

Time to put Razor’s plans to work. “After my interrogation, I can guarantee that the
courts are going to send me to Denver.”

One of the guards sitting up front narrows his eyes at me, but Thomas holds up a hand.
“Let her talk,” he says. “All that matters is that we deliver her unharmed.” Then
he glances at me. He seems gaunter than the last time I saw him too—even his hair,
combed neatly in a side part, is dull and limp. “And why is that?”

“I have information the Elector may be highly interested in.”

Thomas’s mouth twitches—he’s hungry to question me now, to uncover whatever secrets
I might hold. But that’s outside of protocol, and he’s already broken enough rules
by conversing idly with me. He seems to decide against pressing me further. “We’ll
see what we can get out of you.”

Then I realize that it’s a little strange they’re sending me to a Vegas penitentiary
at all. I should be interrogated and tried in my home state. “Why am I being held
here
?” I ask. “Shouldn’t I be on my way to Los Angeles?”

Thomas keeps his eyes forward now. “Quarantine,” he replies.

I frown. “What, it’s spread to Batalla now too?”

His answer sends a chill down my spine. “
Los Angeles
is under quarantine. All of it.”