Rebellion (28 page)

“I’ll show you,” Beechy says. His voice sounds different; short and clipped.

His fingers move expertly over the table touch screen. He brings up Kiel’s surface and zooms in until the mountain range takes up the whole table. He zooms in farther, making one mountain bigger than the rest.

“The Alliance is based in an old facility once occupied by members of KIMO, the Kiel Intelligence Military Operative,” he says.

Fred lets a hiss of air escape through his teeth.

“Early tomorrow,” Beechy continues, “Clementine and I will fly here with a squadron of patrolmen. We’re going to break in, capture everyone inside, and destroy the facility.”

When I swallow, there’s a sick taste in my mouth. I don’t want to do any of that.

Cadet Waller cuts in: “Commander, sir, forgive me, but do you really trust these two enough to send them on this mission?”

“Yes,” Charlie says. “And they will be accompanied by Lieutenant Sam and several capable soldiers, should the mission face any challenges. I trust they’ll get it done. Do you disagree with my judgment?”

She presses her lips together. “No, sir.”

If I had control of my hands, I’d be digging my nails into the fabric of my seat. Sam is coming with us.

I can’t help wondering if this is a trick, if really Charlie is sending me and Beechy away so we can help Sam and the other soldiers break into the facility, and then they’ll kill the two of us and everyone inside.

Even if that’s the truth, I can’t do a thing to stop him. My actions are not my own anymore.

Commander Charlie turns off the mountain hologram. “More detailed instructions for those of you involved with either mission will be given tomorrow, through the supervising officers. Are there any more immediate questions?

The silence lingers.

“Good. You’re all dismissed.” Charlie pushes his chair back and rises. “Clementine, come with me.”

I rise before I even process his order. I don’t know where we’re going.

But he walks out of the room, and I follow.

26

He takes me to Cell Block A, a corridor of doors with no handles or windows. The guard who escorts us down the block presses his palm against a small blue panel on one of the cell doors, and the door slides open.

I know now why we’re here: Charlie said he was going to interrogate Skylar after the meeting. I don’t know why he brought me along, but he must have a reason. I doubt it will make me happy.

Charlie pauses outside the door and removes the gun from his holster. It’s a copper, but sleeker than the model I’ve used before. He holds it out to me with his gloved hand.

“Hold this for me,” he says.

I take it without a word. But I don’t trust myself with a gun, not when he’s controlling my hands. Not when he’s about to interrogate Skylar, and he might make me use this gun to force her to give us information.

I won’t use the gun. I won’t shoot her. I will resist with all my strength.

The guard pushes the cell door open, and Charlie walks inside. I follow him.

If only I could lift the gun and point it at him. If only I could squeeze the trigger.

He steps to my left, and I see Skylar sitting in the corner of the cell, her head leaning against the wall. Her eyes are closed, and the skin around her right one is horribly bruised, black and blue. There’s a cut on her lower lip and a deeper one on her bare left arm, which is chained with her other arm above her head. She’s not wearing an official’s uniform anymore; she’s wearing a tunic with ripped sleeves and pants that are too long for her, and there are no shoes on her feet.

She always seemed so strong and ruthless in my head, the kind of person who could overpower anyone who tried to break her. If she’s broken, I don’t know what that makes me.

Commander Charlie fixes his gloves as he walks slowly up to her. He pauses, observing her with a distasteful expression.

His boot comes down hard on her ankle.

Skylar wakes with a start. Her face twists in pain, but she recovers quickly, taking in both of us.

“How was your nap?” Charlie asks.

She barely looks at him. “Clementine,” she chokes.

“Yes, I believe you’ve met.”

I try to force my lips apart to say something—
I’m sorry. He made me come. I won’t let him hurt you.
—but what my lips do instead is smile. The fake, happy smile I’d like to rip off my face forever.

“What did you do to her?” Skylar asks.

Charlie waves her concern away with a hand. “I gave her a little shot, that’s all.”

“Of course. That’s how you deal with everyone.”

“It’s how I deal with people who don’t understand the importance of loyalty.” Charlie clasps his hands behind his back and turns to me. “Clementine, do you know the definition of the word ‘loyalty’?”

“It means supporting someone, no matter what,” I say immediately. “Remaining faithful to them. Fighting for them.”

Skylar drops her eyes and narrows them.

“Very good,” Charlie says. “And what are some words that mean the opposite of that?”

“Treachery. A disloyal person is a traitor.”

“Yes, ‘traitor.’ That’s the word I was aiming for.”

“I’m
not
a traitor,” Skylar says through her teeth. She lifts her head again, focusing her stern gaze on Charlie. “I’ve been nothing but loyal to you. I went through all of this for you!”

I frown. I expected her to lie, but not like this.

“Tell me what you went through, exactly,” Charlie says. “Because Lieutenant Sam gave me a different impression. Be specific.”

Skylar looks like she’s fighting speaking, but not because she doesn’t want to tell Charlie. It’s because she doesn’t want me to hear what she’s going to say.

“You told me your suspicions about a Core insurrectionist group a month before you launched the bomb,” she says, her voice a bit strained. “You told me to learn what I could, and make the members trust me. I’ve always been friends with Beechy and your daughter, so it wasn’t hard to make them think I’d changed my mind about you. But they didn’t tell me their plan to invade Karum or attack you the day of the bomb, not until it was happening. And when it seemed like they might actually win, you told me to go with them. So I went to their headquarters. A couple Alliance members had been stationed there for a while. The place was well secured, and I tried hacking into the main system to find some way to contact you, to tell you where we were. But I couldn’t make it work.”

Skylar pauses. I stare at her, not understanding a word of this. I can’t tell if she’s lying or telling the truth.

She keeps going. She tells Charlie about the week we spent there sending out recon pilots and waiting for them to return, and how she used her time wisely, befriending as many rebels as she could and gaining their trust. How she gained my trust.

“When the scouts returned with the news about you transferring everyone off the Surface,” she says, “naturally Beechy jumped on that and put a whole plan together. We’d sneak onto the transports, get to the lower sectors, and wreak as much havoc as we could. In a systematic way, of course. I helped him and Sandy plot out the parameters. I thought if I could get all the rebels to the lower sectors, I’d be able to contact you and hand them over. But I had to make sure nothing went wrong on our way to the Surface city; I had to make sure the rebels couldn’t change their minds once they left. So I leaked half our fuel supply the morning we were supposed to leave and started a small fire. Blamed it on someone else. It was easy enough.”

She laughs a short, mirthless laugh that makes my jaw harden in anger. She leaked the fuel; she caused the fire. She must’ve done it right before I ran into her early that morning. But when she blamed it on Buck, we all believed her.

Commander Charlie is watching me, I realize. He’s watching my face to see if I will react to this, but my face feels as calm as ever. Inside, I want to scream.

“Let’s skip to what happened in Crust,” he says, turning back to Skylar with a rueful smile. “Why didn’t you contact me as soon as you arrived?”

“I tried, I swear I did. But I couldn’t get into the comm rooms—not without proper ID. I was afraid someone would recognize me. You had my name on all the rebel lists; you had people looking for me. Look what happened when they caught me.”

“So you decided to blow up the quarantine building in the meantime?” Charlie asks calmly.

“I had
nothing
to do with that,” Skylar says, pulling against her chains in her anger.

“Beechy said you were supposed to take over as the rebel leader once you realized he’d been captured.”

“I did take over, at the beginning. I told everyone it was best if we stayed low for a few days, since I was hoping to make contact with you before they did something. But I was subordinated by Cadet Mal.”

No, no, no.

Commander Charlie looks surprised. “The cadet currently assisting Sam with the rebel investigation?”

“The very same.”

Now Charlie is the one searching for the lie in Skylar’s face. “Cadet Malcolm transferred from the Surface security hub, where he’s been stationed for the past two years. To my knowledge, there’s no record of him leaving his post.”

“With all due respect, sir, he’s an expert hacker. He could’ve easily wiped his records clean.”

“It’s possible…,” Charlie says. He turns to me. “Do you know a Cadet Mal?”

I swear my heart is pounding, but when I focus on my real one, I count seventy-two beats in a minute. A perfectly normal rate.

“Yes, sir,” I say. “He helped transport me into the Crust camp.”

Charlie’s lips form a thin line. “I see. I’ll send word for an investigation about him to begin right away. Thank you both for the tip.”

Just like that, I’ve given someone up.

“I can help you find more of them,” Skylar says. “If you let me free and you send me back there, I swear I’ll help Sam bring them all in.”

There’s subtle desperation in her voice, but I can tell she’s being truthful. She didn’t get a chance to turn me in—I turned myself in first—but she would have. I wondered if Mal was the one on Charlie’s side, but I was wrong. It was her all along.

With a sigh, Charlie turns away from both of us, walking slowly to the wall before turning around. “I would like to trust you, Skylar,” he says. “But I know how you like to spin stories. I’m afraid you may have left some things out.”

“I didn’t,” she says immediately. “I swear. Commander, please—”

“You aren’t useful to me anymore, if I can’t trust you,” Charlie says. “Clementine, do you trust her?”

“No,” I say, and I’m surprised there’s real venom in Other Me’s voice. “No, I don’t.”

Before I realize what I’m doing, I’ve taken three steps forward. I’ve lifted the gun Charlie gave me, and I’m aiming it at Skylar. He didn’t tell me to do this, but I know in my deepest core this is what he hoped I would do.

Panic races through me like wildfire.
What am I doing?
I’m angry with her, but I don’t want her dead. I don’t want to shoot her.

She’s staring at me with wide, cautious eyes. She’s frightened, but she doesn’t think I’ll do it. She doesn’t realize how my hands have turned against me, making me a weapon for Charlie.

Charlie has a look on his face that tells me he’s reveling in his control over me.

But is this really him in control? I’m afraid it might be me too, even if it’s only a small part of me. I spoke the truth—I don’t trust Skylar. She isn’t my friend, like I thought she was. She’s my enemy, like Joe was my enemy.

And I hurt Joe. I had to, so he couldn’t hurt me.

“Clementine,” Skylar whispers, her eyes almost watering. She’s realized I’m not faking this. “I shouldn’t have lied to you. I’m sorry. But please, don’t do this.”

A hand falls on my shoulder. Charlie’s hand. “Do what feels right,” he says.

Do what feels right.

I take another step and push the barrel against Skylar’s forehead.Her iron shackles clink as she moves her hands a little. She blinks fast, and a single tear rolls down her cheek.

My index finger brushes over the trigger.

“Please,” she says.

I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to kill her.

Charlie didn’t give me a direct order, so he’s testing my instincts. He wants to see whether I’ll make the right decision.

Why would he want me to kill her?

To prove I will do what he says. To prove I will be a mindless soldier, fighting for him.

But Skylar would be more useful to him alive. And I’ve already proved I’m a mindless soldier, haven’t I? I’ve proved it by pressing this barrel against her forehead, by brushing my hand over the trigger. The real me would not have done this. I don’t need to go all the way through with it, not this time.

Skylar isn’t Charlie’s enemy—she’s mine. But I don’t want to kill her.

My jaw is still set; my finger is still on the trigger. Slowly, I slide my finger away. I remove the barrel from her forehead and turn to Charlie and hold out the gun.

“She gave us Cadet Mal,” I say. “She’ll give you the other rebels too. She might be the only one who can. I don’t think it’s wise to kill her yet.”

Charlie doesn’t answer for a long time, his blank face giving me no sign of what he’s thinking. Finally, he says, “A smart decision,” and takes the gun from my hand.

I wonder if he means it.

He tucks the copper into his holster and tells Skylar he’ll have the guards bring her some food. Her shoulders slump in relief.

“Come,” he says to me, and I follow him out of the cell.

“Tomorrow morning,” he says, once we’re in the hallway. “I need you to report to the health ward, room fourteen, ten minutes before eleven o’ clock. I’ll be there to oversee the readministration of your injection. I’m sure you’ll have no trouble with it, but I care about your safety, so I want to make sure you don’t make any mistakes.”

What he means is, he cares about making me easy to control.

“I won’t be late,” I say.

“Come ready to depart, as I’ll be escorting you to your mission transport immediately afterwards.”

We round a corner and reach an elevator I can take to leave Restricted Division. Charlie presses the button for me, then turns and sets a hand on my shoulder. His eyes bore into mine, like a black hole trying to suck me in. But when he speaks, his voice is kind.