by J B Cantwell
My racing heart fell into my stomach.
“But, where did he get them? I assumed they had come from you, or someone like you, high up in the chain of command.”
“They undoubtedly did, though not our particular chain of command.”
I was suddenly panicking.
“I have to get back to the group. I have to warn them. If we’ve been discovered, then it’s only a matter of—”
“You can stay,” he said calmly. “Melanie was not tracked. She spent the money on the cards immediately and disappeared before anyone could catch up with her. However, the use of the cards triggered something to Jonathan’s superiors. They now know there is a group of Volunteers hiding, probably somewhere in Brooklyn, though they don’t know how many or for how long. They weren’t sure, you see, not until the money on those cards came into the system. They had sent others to different locations around the city searching for you. Your body was never recovered after the riots at the burning plants. They know you’re out, and you’re being hunted.”
“But where did the money come from?” I asked.
I’d always wondered what the answer to this question was. It had never made any sense to me how the Volunteers were able to feed themselves when so few of them were chipped, and none of them held regular jobs. But was that true? I had met the man in the jewelry store, then another in the flower shop. Maybe the network was more extensive than I realized.
“I mean, how did the money get to the good guys? To … your side?”
I stood there, so unsure of whom to trust. Jonathan had been an important piece of the puzzle for me, the young man who’d shown me around the Stilts, who’d taught me how to run and not get caught.
And now, here I was, facing down the man who’d taken so long to take me seriously.
“There have been several small benefactors over the years,” he went on. “Greens, mostly, who’ve donated to our cause, who’ve kept the people in the Stilts alive and fed.”
“But why?”
“Why, indeed? Many in the city have very extensive means, and yet they reject the system our government demands. Perhaps they simply don’t like the idea; so many of them are financial criminals. If they were to be caught, it would be straight to the Burn. Or maybe they are followed, and they want to keep their secrets hidden. Money, affairs, lies. Our current benefactors have, sadly, left us. Though, this isn’t quite as severe a problem as it might’ve been. Since most of the Volunteers have been eradicated, there are far fewer mouths to feed.”
Just yesterday I’d been so relieved to learn that Jonathan had turned up with the ration cards. I didn’t know his story, but it hadn’t mattered to me at that point. I’d trusted him, and I had a group of people starving back at our new headquarters. I hadn’t been in much of a place to ask questions.
I finally moved around to the chair and sat down across from Chambers.
“Okay,” I said. “So what is it you want?”
“It’s not so much what I want, at least not right now. It’s more a question of what do you need?”
I frowned.
He went on.
“Something you might consider would be a series of phasings. You could be as powerful as your friend, Alex, and it would only take—”
“Alex? You know about Alex?”
“Of course I do.”
“Where is he? Is he alright? Is he—”
“By all accounts, it seems he is whole and well. However, he has joined with a different faction of the resistance, one that the Volunteers have stayed away from. They call themselves the Champions. They’re based in The Bronx, where it’s easy to hide. The place is full of Orange designates, so they blend right in.
“But the Volunteers have never been a dangerous group; we prefer peaceful means to combat the atrocities that our country participates in and allows.”
“And this other group … they’re not peaceful?”
He shook his head.
“Far from it.”
“Then why is he with them? How do you know? And why have you not tried to break him out?”
He leaned back in his chair, and scowled at me.
“We have had other concerns of late,” he said sternly. “You may recall that our entire collection of headquarters were taken out by government bombers not too long ago. It has not been easy for us to rise from the ashes.”
I was starting to get angry, too. He sat there so calm and resolute while my life seemed to be crumbling around me.
Alex? Alive? Did he still remember me, or did the government take that away, too?
“So who is left, then? Anyone I know?”
“Not many. Kiyah is our main point of contact for the city. There are others scattered around, of course, but they are outsiders and not easily managed.”
“Managed?”
“As a group, I mean. They are more or less only part of the Volunteers on a one-on-one basis, not exactly a team ready to lead a revolution. Tell me, what are your plans as of now?”
Plans? What was my plan, exactly? Truth was, I needed whatever help I could get. Without the original team of Volunteers, pulling off a stunt to take down the lens system was going to be nearly impossible at best.
“Well, I guess it was to find you,” I said. “To reconnect with the Volunteers. To find a way to take down the system, just like before.”
“Good. That’s good.”
But what about Alex? I wondered if I should tell Chambers about my planned meeting with him a few months from now. And I wondered if I really wanted to be part of the Volunteers anymore, based on what he was telling me.
“Listen,” he said. “I chose you for a reason. I remember you coming through the medical assessment on that first day. I let you through, though we both knew that I shouldn’t have. I was doing you a favor. Now, I want you to reciprocate. I want you to lead the Volunteers, at least those of you who’ve survived the Burn. There will be others who will join us soon enough.”
I had known all along that someday I would have a conversation like this with Chambers. That he would want something from me. But the last thing I’d expected was a request to lead a group of rebels.
I shook my head, confused and unbelieving.
“Whether you like it or not,” he went on, “you are merely a piece in a game played only by those operating at the highest levels, the rich of the rich, so they say. They are like gods playing a game of chess. One side for the government, another side against it. The choices that they make determine our next moves.”
“Like the money on the cards,” I said.
“Exactly.”
“So, who was your god before the Stilts fell? Who was it that provided the Volunteers with what they needed? Food. Clothing …”
“Like I said, our main benefactors have gone, and with them, their money. Times are lean. You will have to make do with the little we can offer you, and it isn’t much.”
He placed a small stack of ration cards, each worth one hundred credits, on the table between us. Not enough to get us very far.
I took the cards and flipped through them.
“You may have done me a favor back then,” I said. “I can’t deny that. But your ‘favor’ has had repercussions for me and for my friend. I’ll need something else if you want me to sign on.”
“What is that?”
“I need you to break Alex out.”
“I can’t do that,” he said immediately and without thought.
“And why not?”
“Because we need him there. When the time is right, we will be able to use him to our advantage. When he sees you, once he knows—”
“Knows what?” I snapped. “That I’m not dead after all?” I stood up, ready to fight an opponent that wasn’t there. What was I going to do? Kick him in the teeth? “Does he even know that?”
“I doubt it,” he said. “Though it’s possible. I believe that Jonathan’s capture likely preceded the communication to the Champions that you were still alive. In
any case, even if they do know, they will want to save that piece of information for when they can best use it to their advantage. An Alex Williams pining for a girl might be useless to them. Until it’s not.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that they are playing the same game we are. A third player in our imaginary chess game, if you will. Whoever their benefactor is, he is rich. They are far along with their plans to blow up the server buildings.”
This confused me.
“Isn’t that what we want, too?” I asked.
“No, not exactly. The Volunteers have always tried to take down the system from the inside out. In all, they were really just a large group of hackers. The Champions, however, are a company who will use brute force as their weapon of choice. Not only will they destroy the buildings, but they will systematically find and execute the people responsible for keeping them running.”
“Who, exactly, is that?”
He shook his head.
“Officials, mainly. They are the faces behind the lens system. But the Champions will also find the masterminds behind the system as well. When they are finished, everyone will be dead, and we will be living in a nation of chaos.”
I thought about what Paul had said to us just before we left Canada. That maybe people wouldn’t want to be set free. That there would be repercussions neither Alex nor I would be expecting.
“Why would they want chaos? I mean, what benefit is that to them?”
“Girl,” he said, smiling. “Have you not grasped the heart of the thing yet? The Champions, they want power. They will overthrow the government and make what they please of the pieces. It may sound like a good thing, to release the people from their lens systems, but it won’t last. It won’t be long before the Champions will fool everyone into signing back up for a new, improved system. And no one will remember the rocky times once they’re plugged back in.”
“And then?”
“And then …”
He leaned back in his chair, but this time his hands gripped each other tightly in his lap, and his teeth clenched as he said the final words of the interview.
“Check mate.”
Chapter Seven
I ran.
From the outer door of the hotel, I ran as fast as my legs could take me. I looked back, but nobody was behind me. That might’ve not been true, though. There could be people anywhere, everywhere, eyes watching from every angle. Because if this really was a game, that meant I was an important piece for people to keep track of.
And I was right. Before I knew it, I realized that Kiyah was on my trail. For a few desperate moments, I tried to outrun her. But the reality was that there was no way I could possibly do so. I finally stopped, gasping for air as she caught up with me.
“What do you want?” I asked, panting.
“Just to talk,” she said. “I’m not sure what he told you.”
“Oh, you know, the basics,” I said sarcastically. “That Alex has joined the bad guys, that we’re the good guys, and that basically we have no hope of succeeding in peacefully taking down the lens system.”
“Where are you going now?” she asked.
“You think I’m going to tell you that?”
“Maybe not. I just thought it would be best to have a quiet place where we could talk.”
I considered this. There was no way I was going to lead her back to the group, so I headed in the opposite direction.
“Fine. Let’s go.”
We didn’t talk as we jogged. It was the middle of the night, but we were still careful.
Finally, I made the turn that led us to an old, familiar place. My high school.
The buildings felt small now, walking through the quad. So much had happened since my last days there.
“There won’t be anyone inside. Very few people work here at all. It’s all done through—”
“Through your lenses. I know. I went to a school just like this.”
“You did?” I stared at her, surprised. “I thought you’d been brought up in the Stilts.”
“No. I was recruited. Should we go inside?” She took a few steps forward toward the back entrance to the building.
“We can try,” I said. “But it’s probably locked. I just chose this place because I knew it was out of the way. And I’ve never seen cameras here.”
“Doesn’t mean they don’t exist.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not taking you to our headquarters, so if you want to tell me something, now’s the time.”
“Fine,” she said, crossing her arms. “Alex didn’t join the Champions by choice. He was captured by several of them. They have a few Primes in their group, and they overpowered him.”
“How do you know this?” I asked.
“Jonathan,” she said.
I took a couple steps backward. “I don’t want to get in the middle of all this. I trusted Jonathan, and now Chambers tells me he’s a traitor. I trusted Alex, and now I hear he’s working for the other side. Why should I trust you?”
“I don’t have an answer for that question. But I know about your plans to meet, and I’m here to tell you that it needs to be sooner than September. Much sooner.”
I shook my head. “How can you possibly know this unless you’re working for the other side, too?”
“Jonathan, that’s how. He tried to recruit me before he was captured. He told me details about Alex, but now I realize that he wasn’t trying to recruit me. He was trying to recruit you.”
“That’s ridiculous. I’m a known criminal. What use would I have in their group?”
“If you were to sign on, then Alex would follow you. Right now, he’s kept as a prisoner. He’s refused to come over to their side. Instead, he’s waiting for you.”
This took me aback. A prisoner?
“He’s waiting for me to what? If he’s imprisoned, then I don’t see what good I could possibly be.”
“Oh, it’s not you they want. It’s him and his weapon. Not long after you were both captured, he escaped and stole a van carrying a weapon of some sort. The Champions don’t know what it was, and he’s not telling.” She paused for a moment, then said the words I knew were coming next. “Do you?”
A thrill went through me, and it was all I could manage not to smile.
Escape.
A weapon.
A stolen van.
An EMP?
There was new technology now; a weapon like that could be quite small. Portable.
I snorted, trying to keep my face straight. “No. Was I with him when he escaped? I have no idea what weapon you’re talking about.”
Kiyah’s posture slouched a bit.
“But you have plans to meet with him, right?”
“Well, I did.”
“You still can. Where is your meeting place? I know Jonathan is gone, but I have a little pull with the Champions. My brother, he was a Prime. He became violent by the end of his first year, and he naturally gravitated toward the side that craved that violence.”
“But you’re not one of them?”
“No. I’m considered untrustworthy. And I guess I am. But if I can get you to agree, I think I could convince them to let Alex meet you. He’s a very powerful man, physically. They need more men like him on their side. And, above all, they want that weapon.”
“What do you think it is?” I asked.
“Well, I have my own ideas, but I know that they think it’s something entirely evil, deadly. I can only imagine that they think it’s a nuclear device.”
I frowned. “You really think they would do that?”
“No, not really. But it would be quite a bargaining chip with the government. It could end up being a peaceful takeover in the end.”
“I thought you said they crave violence.”
“Sure they do. But none of them wants to die, themselves. If they threaten the government with a nuke, they can have all the murder they want to eradicate those in power. They can slit all the throats and then ascend to the th
rone, so to speak. All the while having the nuke card in their back pocket.”
“So what do you want with me? And whose side are you on, anyway?”
She smiled. “I’m on my side. I’ve seen how all three groups operate. I’m just trying to make it through all this alive.”
Yes. Alive. That was something I could relate to.
“I just need a time and a place,” she said.
“So that they can capture me.”
“Yes.”
“And Alex will tell them where this weapon is.”
“Yes.”
“And then what? They’ll let us go?”
“I don’t know. Probably not.”
“Then what’s the point?”
“I’m not telling you this so that I can make your decision for you. Maybe you guys could escape together. You could go back to your Volunteers in Brooklyn.”
My eyes widened, and I quickly grew alarmed.
“Yes, I know they’re here with you,” she said.
“How?”
She laughed. “You’re pretty easy to track. You may as well have left footprints on the ground for me to follow.”
I frowned. It hadn’t occurred to me that we were being followed by someone like Kiyah. Once we’d made it into Brooklyn, into that hidden space, I’d thought we were safe.
“So, what? Are you threatening me?”
“No. I’m giving you the truth so that you can make the right decision.”
“And which decision is that?”
She sighed. “I really don’t know. But if you do decide to go, make sure you tell me first. I can get word to Chambers and we can try to protect you, maybe get Alex out, too. And I can tell the Champions that you’re coming. They’ll hold Alex out as bait.”
“When?”
She stood up and turned to leave.
“I’ll find you tomorrow. Until then, stay dry.”
Stay dry. That was an outright command, cryptic for anyone who might’ve been listening, but clear as crystal to me.
I couldn’t go back to our base.
So, I turned, instead, to go home.
