The Significant (33 page)

      
“Of course,” Kailynn snapped, indignant.
“But, she did make me realize that the Elites are not that bad, so I’m worried
about her.”

      
Jak stared at her, clearly not convinced.

      
“Okay, I understand,” he finally said. He
sighed heavily and shook his head. “Well, seems like the Intelligence Agency
has this under control. You can go.”

      
“Oh, uh…right…”

      
Kailynn walked out of the office,
standing in the hallway for several seconds. She finally turned and half-ran to
the elevator to get to the greeting salon.

      
Ignoring the sneers from the other
Significants, she ran outside and pressed the button to hail a taxi. One of the
taxis owned by Companion drove to the front of the building. She got in and
told the automatic computer to go to the charity art auction. After several
failed attempts to get the right location, the taxi asked if she wanted to go
to Anon Convention Center for the Annual Charity Auction, she agreed quickly
and the taxi began its path.

      
She sat in her seat, bouncing her legs
rapidly and fidgeting. She was terrified. She did not know when the auction
would end or when her brother was going to be there to attempt his plan. Being
in the dark worsened her anxiety.

      
She nearly jumped out of her skin when
the car’s automated voice sounded.

      
“Apologies. There appears to be damage
repair,” it said as it slowed and pulled over. “Recalculating route.”

      
Kailynn closed her eyes and let out a
pained breath.

      
Every passing moment was making it more
difficult to breathe.

      
“All routes to Anon Convention Center are
showing one hour delays,” the car explained. “Do you have another destination?”

      
“No,” Kailynn said quickly, inserting her
card into the slot on the dashboard quickly before opening the door and getting
out among the other cars pulled over on the highway, the car warning her about
the dangers of pedestrians on the road.

      
She began running along the side of the
road, ignoring the strange looks that she was sure other automobile passengers
were giving her. At the nearest garage, she darted in and found the elevator,
quickly ascending to the street and running along the deserted walkways between
the buildings, looking up and hoping to spot the Convention Center.

      
When she came across a large, rounded
building with several neon holograms flashing around it, she stopped and caught
her breath, sure that she had found the Convention Center.

      
As she tried to find her way to the front
of the building, glancing around for any sign of Theo or the others of the
Heart of Trid gang, she could feel eyes on her.

      
It was then that she realized how
suspicious she looked to any security detail that was looking for those
plotting against the Golden Elite. She stopped and looked around, trying to
spot guards.

      
A loud clank caused her to jump and turn
to the opening door in the parkway in front of the Convention Center. A car
drove out of the opening and pulled in front of the building. As it slowed,
Kailynn saw several robots and black-clad guards walking toward the car.
Kailynn’s heart was in her throat, choking her.

      
Isa was leaving the Convention Center.

      
The moment she spotted the blonde-haired
woman walking among the guards next to Rayal, she took a step forward and began
to take a breath to yell at Isa, when the ear-piercing sound of a gunshot
sounded.

      
Kailynn watched in horror as Isa’s torso
was pushed backward with the force of the bullet. Rayal stepped in front of her
immediately as the guards and robots closed the area around the Golden Elite,
who was crouching on the ground.

      
Kailynn was barely able to see Isa, her
blue eyes scanning the building across the street, one hand clamped over the
bullet graze on her shoulder. Rayal lifted his wrist to his mouth.

      
“Take any shot you can.”

      
The robots lifted their guns to the area
where the bullet had originated, some firing when they saw movement in the
windows.

      
Kailynn backed away from the area,
ducking around the nearest building and peering out to watch in horror.

      
When she had heard the first shot fired,
her mind went blank. She could not even form the questions of how severely Isa
had been injured, or the state of the Heart of Trid gang in the other building.

      
Bullets were flying in the space between
the two buildings, the shots echoing around the buildings as Kailynn remained
still, watching helplessly. She dared not run to Isa, sure that she would be
shot as well. She could only wait for the chaos to abate.

      
Almost as suddenly as it had begun, it
slowed. The bullets were no longer being fired in rapid succession, but in
short bursts when movement caught the robots censors or when those shooting
from the other building thought they had a clear shot.

      
It felt like hours to Kailynn, but two
minutes after the first shot was fired, the bullets stopped.

      
When Rayal got the clearance from those
in the other building, he stood, as did Isa.

      
Kailynn was relieved to see the minimal
graze on the Golden Elite’s left shoulder. The Golden Elite was holding the
wound to slow the bleeding, but she was clearly not in severe pain. She looked
up at the windows of the other building and told Rayal she wanted to see the
attackers.

      
Rayal ordered the robots and guards to
secure the Golden Elite’s path through the apartment building.

      
Kailynn looked around quickly, watching
the guards disperse and move across the street. She darted down to the parking
garage for the convention center and ran across the empty lanes of the
underground highway. She was sure that the Syndicate had purposely closed off
the area to contain the danger. Because of that, she was able to run across and
find the garage elevator for the apartments across the highway. When she could
not access the elevator, she found the emergency stairs and began climbing them
two at a time.

      
Now that she knew Isa was alright, her
thoughts turned to her brother.

      
She did not know if he was alive or dead.
She did not even know if he was there or if he had sent others of the gang to
shoot the Golden Elite. She had no idea what their punishment would be or if
Isa would find out Kailynn’s connection to the group that tried to kill her.

      
Kailynn poked her head out every door she
came across, listening for the sounds of orders being barked.

      
She felt as though she had been searching
the doors for hours when she finally heard voices in the hallway. She quickly
got out of the stairwell and went toward the noises only to press herself to
the wall when she saw the number of guards around the corner, standing post
around an open door.

      
Kailynn listened, every muscle in her
body tense.

      
“Four dead, seven injured,” Remus’s voice
said. “All Trids.”

      
“Fuck off, Elite scum!” Theo’s voice
bellowed. Kailynn closed her eyes and felt her stomach flip.

      
“What were you trying to accomplish by
killing me?” Isa’s calm voice asked.

      
“You could never understand the pain we
feel! You kill us without reason! You force us to live in filth, hungry and
dying. We can never climb out of Trid because you won’t ever let us!” Sonya’s
voice screeched.

      
“See?” Theo growled. “You can’t even deny
it. You know it’s true.”

      
Kailynn took a deep breath and turned the
corner, fully expecting another commotion when the guards and robots spotted
her. Once she stepped into view, the guns in the hall pointed at her, but, to
her fortune, Rayal was also looking in her direction. He quickly lifted his
wrist to his mouth.

      
“Stand down,” he ordered quietly.

      
The guns lowered and Kailynn started
forward.

      
“I wish you had thought more carefully
about your actions,” Isa’s voice said in the apartment that the Heart of Trid
gang had broken into for the assassination attempt. “It is true, Anon does not
allow for Trids to climb out of poverty. However, you ruined your own chances
of changing that by trying to take my life. Now, Venus will be more convinced
that the Trids are too dangerous to be assimilated into Anon society. There
will be nothing I can do to change her opinion.”

      
“Liar!” Theo bellowed. “Venus does not
even exist! We tried to shut her down! There was nothing in the warehouse!”

      
Isa sighed heavily.

      
“That is because you had the wrong
location,” she said simply. “I knew there was a Trid gang that wanted to shut
down Venus, so I set a trap. And you played into it. Just as you played into
this trap. We knew you would try to kill me today.”

      
“
How
?”
another member demanded.

      
Isa did not respond. Kailynn started forward
when the silence became too heavy, worried. However, Rayal held out his hand
and shook his head, telling her to stay back. She stared at his hand and then
at him, not sure how to respond.

      
“Miss?” one of the Officials that had
helped the Silver Elite storm the apartment asked. “What do you want to do with
them?”

      
“You know the punishment,” Remus said
darkly. “Execution.”

      
The Official raised his gun, along with
three of his comrades, and pointed it at the remaining members of the Heart of
Trid gang.

      
“Wait!” Kailynn cried. Before she had a
chance to think of her actions, she pushed past Rayal and ran forward, standing
between the guns and the kneeling, bound Trids on the floor of the ransacked
living room. Kailynn spread her arms in a sad attempt to shield the Trids and
her eyes frantically met with Isa’s. “Don’t kill them!”

      
“Kailynn?” Isa hissed, blinking in
surprise.

      
“What is she doing here?” Remus asked
coldly.

      
“Miss?” the Official asked, turning to
Isa.

      
“Kailynn?” the disbelieving voice said
behind her. Kailynn chose to ignore it and looked at Isa seriously.

      
“Isa, please, I’m begging you.”

      
“Who do you think you are?” Remus
growled, stalking forward. “This does not concern you!”

      
“Isa!
Please!
Don’t have them killed!” Kailynn cried, backing away from Remus as he
approached. “Please!”

      
“Kailynn, what the hell are you doing?!”
Theo snapped behind her.

      
“You will not interfere in this,” Remus
growled, seizing Kailynn’s arm in a surprising grip and yanking her away from
the group of Trids.

      
“Let go!” Kailynn barked, trying to rip
free, the nails of her other hand scraping at him.

      
“Enough!” Isa ordered, motioning for the
Officials to lower their guns. “Remus, release her.” Remus hesitated only a
split second before letting Kailynn go. Isa turned back to the younger woman.
“You want me to spare their lives?”

      
“Please, Isa…I-I know what they did…”
Kailynn said, her voice choked. “But…
please
,
don’t kill them…”

      
The two shared an intense, silent
conversation before it was broken by Theo.

      
“Are you fucking for real?” he sneered,
glaring. “All the time we spent tearing Trid apart looking for you, and you
were kissing up to the fuckin’ Elites?!”

      
“Theo, please, not now.”

      
“Yes! Fucking
now
!”

      
“You’re a damn traitor!”

      
“We don’t need your help!”

      
“Killing us won’t do anything!” Sonya
bellowed, spitting at Isa. “We’ve got power in Trid you could never imagine.
Soon, we’ll drink and dance on your corpses! We’ll overthrow you! You have no
power over us!”