The Child Thief 6: Zero Hour

by Forrest, Bella

  I looked back at her intently. I didn’t want to be the person to share the news about Kory with her. Thankfully, we were interrupted again.

  “Guys! So glad to see you all. Have you seen Jace?” Denver said as he approached, Alf close behind him.

  I breathed another sigh of relief. Denver and Alf were on the surveillance team, but they wouldn’t have been in the surveillance room itself, so they had been able to escape. Jace had lost someone very dear to him, but mercifully it looked like that was the only loss he would have to experience. At least for one day.

  “Where’s the hospital?” Rhea asked, staring back at me. Even though she was young, she had been through a lot of loss and trauma in her short life. So she seemed to know instinctively that something was amiss.

  I glanced back down over the city of Brightbirch. One tall white building seemed like an obvious choice. But I couldn’t be sure. Denver and Alf looked like they caught on to my dilemma.

  “Come on, Rhea. We’ll figure it out. Let’s get moving,” Alf said, and they started off together toward the city.

  I started to follow them but then stopped. I knew Jace was hurting, and I wanted to be there to support him, but Jace’s clan was like a family. I didn’t know if it was right to immediately insert myself into their grief. Especially since I knew that Cloyd wouldn’t want me there. Would my presence just be a distraction?

  I decided to let them have some time before I went to see Jace. Denver, Alf, and Rhea didn’t even know that Kory was dead yet. They would need time to come to terms with that fact. And I wanted to be respectful of that. But even if I couldn’t be there for him just now, I promised myself that I would be there for him soon.

  As I watched them run off, I was somewhat comforted knowing that Jace would feel immense relief upon seeing the rest of his tribe alive and well. It was one good thing in the face of a terrible loss.

  I turned back to the group and thought about what Rhea had said about her escape. They had been saved by her coding teacher—Robert. The revelation surprised me. He definitely didn’t seem like the hero type.

  Nathan began to move away from Corona and toward the center of the crowd, and I watched him intently as he walked. It looked like we had all been waiting for this moment, as the crowd hushed and all eyes were drawn to Nathan.

  I had never known a person who was as comfortable and gregarious in front of large crowds, whether in times of celebration or great duress. I had heard Nathan welcome us to parties, comfort us after losses, and rouse our spirits before dangerous missions. Every time, he had spoken so clearly and eloquently that it felt like he had been born to be an orator.

  Which was why watching him walk through the crowd felt so alien to me now. His shoulders were slumped, his eyes jaded. And when he finally spoke, his tone was flat.

  “A Brightbirch delegate will be here to receive you shortly. Please wait for their arrival.”

  I felt like I could hear an audible whoosh as we all sighed in exasperation together. That was it? After everything that we had just been through?

  Then Corona was beside him and they were walking into Brightbirch alone. Many of us were staring after them as they left.

  “Nathan isn’t usually like this, right?” Henry asked timidly.

  I looked back at him and remembered the suspicious look that Nathan had cast him.

  “No,” I said simply. It was all I wanted to say on the matter, at least for the time being.

  Henry seemed to be focusing in on something over my shoulder, so I turned around to look. Silver, the blue-haired young woman on Henry’s maintenance team, was waving him over to their group. Henry waved back.

  “Guess we’re getting into our groups,” Henry said. “I’ll catch up with you guys once we get settled in.”

  Then Henry walked away, leaving just our congregation of Team Hood members left.

  “Do you think he knew about the projection being shut off from inside?” Nelson asked once we knew Henry was out of earshot.

  “I was wondering the same thing,” I replied. “I didn’t want to say anything that Nathan might be trying to keep under wraps.”

  “Do you think Nathan would do that, though?” Jackie interjected. “Wouldn’t you think he’d want us all to know there’s a government agent here so we can watch what we say?”

  “Unless he doesn’t want the agent to know that he knows,” Ant said.

  I wrinkled my nose. That made sense, but would Nathan really think the mole felt undetected here to begin with? Surely they would’ve realized they were making their presence known when they turned off the projection. So why wouldn’t Nathan want us all to know that we needed to watch what we said and who we trusted?

  “Maybe Nathan doesn’t want us to start turning on each other,” Jackie offered.

  Abe laughed sarcastically. “Little late for that,” he said. “I, for one, am going to be looking sideways at pretty much everyone.”

  “It’s not our job to find the mole, anyway,” Ant added. “So it’s not like we’ll need to be questioning people.”

  “After all, how can you ask about a mole if you might be talking to him?” Abe finished darkly. And then, almost imperceptibly, I saw him glance back toward Henry.

  I whipped toward him, my eyes wide.

  “You don’t mean Henry, do you?” I asked, my heart beating wildly in my chest. Nathan’s suspicious stare. Abe’s question. The team’s reticence to say too much. Did they think Henry, my friend and the father of my child, was the mole?

  Abe looked abashed and then looked down at the ground. “No, of course not,” he replied weakly. “I just mean in general.”

  But I didn’t find his response convincing.

  Did they all think Henry was the mole? Even after he had saved us and sacrificed his identity in the process? I had been surprised to see Henry at that truck stop, too, but was it really so miraculous that we had run into him when we needed help most?

  I didn’t have a good answer to that question, though. Because deep down, I wasn’t so sure.

  4

  The sudden sound of a loudspeaker crackling to life startled me, and I turned around to find the source of the noise.

  A tall blond man was standing in front of the crowd now, poised to speak. He raised the speakerphone to his lips.

  “Welcome to Brightbirch, Edgewood teams,” he said in a chipper and youthful voice. “We’ve been expecting you. I’m Luka, the operations team lead here on base.”

  I looked over the man as he spoke. He was young, close to my age or only a few years older, but at that point I was no longer surprised to see young people in leadership roles in Little John. In fact, with the exception of Nathan, Corona, and Piper, the general age of Little John seemed to skew young.

  “We had short notice about your arrival, so your bunks may not be what you’re used to. Please keep in mind that we are working on more permanent lodgings and hope to have those available for you soon,” he continued.

  Beside me, Ant and Abe were exchanging quizzical glances. I knew what they were thinking. Just what kind of bunks were we to expect?

  The crowd was shifting anxiously. We were all ready to make our way into Brightbirch, no matter what they had set up for us. Anything was better than standing aimlessly next to a hangar. We were hungry, tired, and afraid. Any hospitality would go a long way in terms of increasing morale.

  “Follow me,” Luka finally said.

  It was like music to my ears.

  The crowd lurched forward, and soon we were walking down a worn footpath toward Brightbirch.

  I was still struck by the beauty of our surroundings. The birch trees shone in the light of the bright morning sun. Even from a distance I could see ruby-red cardinals flitting about in their thin top branches. The lush grass beneath us was dewy with melting frost. And, to my excitement, I heard the not-so-far-away whinny of a horse. I was liking Brightbirch very much already. It seemed a lot closer to my solitary home in the woods than Edgewood ever had
.

  Ahead of us, Luka was continuing to speak back at our crowd as we walked. “Brightbirch is a fairly small community. As you’ll see, the majority of our base is dedicated to agricultural efforts.”

  As we got closer to the town, the planted fields and stables and greenhouses suddenly started to make a lot more sense. Brightbirch was a farm.

  I sped up and walked around the side of the crowd to get closer to Luka as he spoke, hoping to confirm my theory. The rest of Team Hood followed suit.

  “Can I ask you a question?” I asked once I had reached his side.

  Luka lowered his speakerphone and looked over at me as he walked.

  “Sure,” he said cheerfully.

  “You say it’s an agricultural base. What exactly does that mean?” I asked.

  “We supply Little John bases and scouts with their food and other natural goods,” he replied.

  I looked over Brightbirch again. We were walking down a slope from the hangar and tarmac to reach the lowest point of the valley, where the main buildings were nestled. And although we were close to the red brick road of the city, the angle still gave us a nice overview of the entire base. So this was where we were getting all of that amazing produce from. I wondered then if all of the bases had specific purposes like that.

  “It’s beautiful,” I said after a pause.

  Luka raised the megaphone again to speak to the crowd.

  “You’ll see some family homes to your left. Most of us on base work in the greenhouses or on farming teams. Feel free to introduce yourselves and ask questions when you get the chance. Everyone is friendly,” he said.

  I looked to my left to see several small wood frame homes. A young girl was waving to us from the porch of one of the houses. I waved back.

  “And here’s our main stable,” Luka said as we passed a huge open area surrounded by a wooden fence.

  In the distance I could see a humongous red stable that looked like it could house thousands of animals. Pastures stretched out from the stable, dotted by horses. There were also huge herds of dairy cows and sheep grazing throughout.

  “Our administrative building is here on the right. Our base leader, Fiora, is officed here,” Luka said, gesturing broadly toward a large wooden building. It also looked like a house, albeit larger and more elaborate than the others. Hanging ferns and potted plants crowded its wraparound porch. A stone fountain in its yard gave off the soft, pleasant sound of dancing water.

  “What’s Fiora like?” I asked Luka.

  “Great lady. Has a background in horticulture and animal husbandry,” Luka said. Then, under his breath, he added, “But she has kind of a weird thing for exotic pets.”

  I smiled. Fiora sounded interesting.

  We passed several rows of greenhouses, which Luka made sure to draw our attention to, and I saw the blurry outline of people working through the humidity-fogged glass walls. I could also smell the sweet scent of fruit wafting toward us as we passed.

  “And finally, the hospital,” Luka said as we approached the tall white building I had seen from our vantage point beside the hangar. It was much smaller than Edgewood’s hospital, with only one small wheelchair ramp leading up to its single front door. The building was dotted with rectangular windows in a way that made it look more homey than sterile.

  My heart skipped a beat when I thought about Juno, Jace, and Kory being in there somewhere. Cloyd, Rhea, Denver, and Alf were probably in there now as well. I thought about breaking off from the group to go and check on the rest of our team, but I still wasn’t sure whether they’d had enough time together to process Kory’s loss before the rest of us started visiting. They were undoubtedly grieving deeply, and although the rest of us were also horribly pained by Kory’s death, we hadn’t had the type of connection to him that his other tribesmen had. And Juno was probably still recovering herself.

  It was still hard to walk past the hospital without rushing in to support Jace and check on Juno.

  We continued on until we were faced with an odd sight: a pretty meadow, complete with little bunches of blooming yellow flowers, filled with popped tents.

  Oh. Luka hadn’t been lying about the lodgings.

  “And here is where I leave you,” he said into the megaphone. “Please help yourself to food and feel free to explore the city. But be careful not to wander too far from camp. This is bear country.”

  I looked quickly back at him, and he winked at me, but I didn’t think he was joking about the bears.

  And then he turned on his heel and walked back to the main part of Brightbirch without us.

  I looked around at Team Hood, gauging their reactions to our new temporary housing. We were at the forefront of the large crowd, but it was pretty clear that we didn’t know what we were doing here. Then Ant indicated that he had something on his mind.

  “Did he say food?” he asked.

  At that, our crowd moved toward the tents and started exploring them. Many Edgewood citizens had stopped to claim tents as soon as we started walking into the campground, but I wanted to be farther away from the group. It made the similarity to my old home in the woods even stronger. I walked to a scattering of tents in the back corner, farthest from the road, and the team followed. We passed a few picnic-style tables laid out with breakfast foods on our way. While I was looking at the food, my stomach grumbling, I almost ran into a tall, pale man who was stepping into a tent himself.

  “Rio!” I said excitedly. I was so happy to see that he had made it out of Edgewood okay. But Rio only forced a faint smile in response.

  “Where’s Lux?” Nelson asked behind me.

  Rio shook his head slowly, and I caught my breath. She hadn’t made it. Did that mean that everyone in the hospital had been lost? My heart sank at the thought.

  “Rio, I’m so sorry,” Jackie said. The rest of us nodded in sympathetic agreement.

  Rio was obviously overcome with emotion and in no mood to talk. He nodded, as if to thank us, and then stepped into his tent.

  Team Hood kept going, our gait a little slower and heavier after hearing the news about Lux.

  When we got to the tent in the back corner I peeked my head into one to find that they were surprisingly nice. They were roomy on the inside and seemed like they would house two people comfortably. A pair of rolled-up sleeping bags in each tent confirmed the occupancy.

  “Good thing we’re no strangers to roughing it,” Nelson said.

  “I like it,” I replied honestly. “Feels kind of like camping with all of your friends.”

  “Yeah, and a bunch of hungry mountain bears. Oh, and a traitorous government spy! You’re right, Robin! Totally fun,” Abe added.

  Even though I realized he had meant it as a joke, I also knew that he was right. This wasn’t a casual getaway with friends. We were refugees. And we were probably still in danger.

  “Guess we should pick our new abodes, then,” Abe said. He stepped into a tent and then popped his head back out. “This one work for you, brother?”

  Ant glanced over at Jackie and shifted uncomfortably.

  Suddenly the realization dawned on me that Ant wasn’t as keen on bunking with his brother as he used to be. When Abe realized that as well, his eyes narrowed.

  “I see how it is!” he called out from the tent. “Picked your girlfriend over your brother!”

  “It’s not like that!” Ant replied. “We’ll be in the tent right next to yours!”

  “I had enough living with you for a lifetime back in the womb, anyway,” Abe quipped before retreating back into his tent in defeat.

  Nelson and I laughed at the spectacle before she turned to face me.

  “Guessing you’ll probably want to bunk with Jace. I’ll save a spot for Gabby in my tent,” she said.

  I blushed but nodded appreciatively. Jace was definitely the person I wanted to room with.

  I looked back over the small city of tents. Everywhere around us, people were pairing up and choosing places to sleep. Some of the teams
had even pushed their tents into circles or lines, like little pop-up neighborhoods. Other people were lining up to snag plates of fresh food from the picnic tables. It looked like everyone was making the best of a bad situation together.

  Suddenly I saw movement out in the field beyond our tent city, and braced myself. Was it a bear? But as I focused, I saw that it was just a person dragging a tent out away from the others.

  That was strange.

  Jackie walked up next to me, watching as the unknown person settled their tent fifty feet away.

  “That guy is such a jerk,” she said.

  I looked over at her. “Did you see who it was?” I asked. They had their back turned as they pulled the tent away, so I hadn’t gotten a close look at them.

  “Yeah, I saw him when he started moving the tent. It’s Robert,” Jackie replied.

  Robert. I remembered back to what Rhea had said about him saving all of the schoolchildren. It still seemed so out of character.

  He retreated into his tent as we watched. Jackie turned back to join the rest of the team once Robert was out of sight again, but I stood transfixed. Why would he have gone out of his way to help those kids? He had always been so standoffish and even outright hostile. And from what we had heard back in Edgewood, he’d hated being part of the education team.

  But most importantly, I just couldn’t picture him as a hero. Robert, the guy who had broken Gabby’s heart and then humiliated her at our formal dance. Robert, who had lied about inventing software. Robert, who was always skulking around with a displeased sneer. Robert, who even now was trying to distance himself from the rest of us. Was I supposed to believe that he’d suddenly had a change of heart and become a courageous leader?

  I stared out at his solitary tent for a few more seconds before I turned to rejoin the team. Before I could take a step, Nelson approached me.

  “At least the bears will get to him first,” she said with a wink.

  I half-smiled in return, and Nelson frowned.

  “Is something wrong?” she asked.

  “It just doesn’t make any sense,” I told her. “Rhea said that Robert saved the schoolkids back in Edgewood. Does that seem like something he would do to you?”