The Child Thief 6: Zero Hour

by Forrest, Bella

  “We need to interrogate!”

  “We should have alibis established and confirmed.”

  “We should split up among the bases.”

  “We’re not safe all together like this!”

  “What if they’ve already ratted out the location of Brightbirch?”

  Corona put up her hand again, but this time it was in vain. People continued to yell out, the pitch of their voices sounding more distraught and confused.

  “We have to evacuate the base before the government shows up!”

  “How are we supposed to survive an aerial attack in tents?”

  “We’re sitting ducks!”

  I looked at Corona anxiously, but it appeared that she had lost her platform completely. Terror had descended over the room.

  “ENOUGH!”

  An angry man’s voice boomed over us and then echoed for long seconds in my ears. It was Nathan. He had stepped from Corona’s side to stand at the forefront of the crowd. But instead of delivering any further words, he looked over at Corona to silently encourage her to continue.

  Nathan might not have been the bastion of support that I needed him to be, but he certainly wasn’t dropping the ball when it came to Corona.

  “Thank you, Nathan,” she said weakly, struggling to find the voice she had used to address us before the outbursts began. She took a deep breath before she went on. “As I said, we do think that the integrity of the organization was compromised from within. And we are taking steps internally to investigate this occurrence. But in the meantime, we have to ask something great of you all.”

  I leaned forward involuntarily as I wondered what she was going to ask of us. What more could we give? We had risked our lives, and some of us had even lost them. We had walked into enemy territory, surrendering ourselves to people who would’ve been glad to see us executed, all in the name of a Little John mission. We had been uprooted from our government-sanctioned lives to become underground agents. And then many of us had left the only home we had known with Little John and trusted Nathan enough to come to a new and unknown place with no guarantee of our safety.

  What did Corona need from us now that we hadn’t already given her?

  “We need you to understand that, due to the circumstances that we find ourselves in, we can’t share classified information with the entire group anymore,” Corona said. “It’s not how we want to proceed, but it’s for the good of us all. And it’s temporary.”

  I knew, from the way that the atmosphere suddenly shifted, that the room would’ve quickly descended into chaos again if Nathan hadn’t just put us all in our place. Corona’s statement was certainly worrisome, to say the least. She was asking us to accept that we couldn’t all be trusted. And while I understood the reason why, it still stung to hear it worded that way.

  It wouldn’t do anything to bring the base closer together in our shared cause. If anything, it was likely to divide us further.

  “How can we know that we’re safe here?” Alexy suddenly asked.

  “I can vouch for that,” Fiora said, stepping forward. “Brightbirch was equipped with certain emergency measures. You’re quite safe here.”

  My mind went back to Henry’s comments about the Edgewood attack. Apparently humongous weapons had been hidden in the ground around Edgewood, so “emergency measures” in Little John bases didn’t seem implausible. But even so, they hadn’t saved Edgewood. So there was no guarantee of safety in Brightbirch either.

  “But . . . we can’t know any details?” a young male medic asked in follow-up.

  Corona nodded gravely. “That information is classified, correct. For the safety of our base.”

  Another hum of displeasure vibrated through the room, and Fiora stepped forward again.

  “I know this isn’t ideal for many of you, but please know that we are thrilled to have you all here with us. And really, there are few better places to be temporarily stranded,” she said with a genuine smile.

  “And temporary is the key word there,” Nathan added. They were some of very few words that he had spoken during our meeting. But it seemed that when he wasn’t being a showman wielding a thousand words, he was using his words only when they really mattered.

  The group idled awkwardly as we awaited some final directives or parting words. But it was starting to become apparent that we would all be left feeling unfulfilled in that regard until Nathan and Corona determined whom they could trust. And so, slowly, people began to stand and make their way toward the door.

  “Please keep your devices nearby for messaging purposes. We will be in touch as soon as we can,” Corona said over the din of the shuffling.

  I kept close to Jace as we passed through the office and back toward the exit. The excited anxiety I had felt before our meeting had disappeared into a cloud of smoke. Like Fiora had said, I felt “stranded.” And to make it worse, even being with the team wasn’t helping that right now.

  With perfect timing, Cloyd brushed past Jace and me to make his way ahead of us in the crowd. He didn’t look back. But Jace seemed to be keenly aware of his presence, and his entire figure tensed up as Cloyd passed.

  It seemed that we were becoming more and more divided—both as an organization and as a team. And I didn’t think that was going to work out well if we found ourselves in danger.

  The government had already succeeded in dividing us. If they attacked us again, I wasn’t sure we’d be strong enough to survive.

  10

  “So Nathan doesn’t trust any of us and we’re all doomed. Great meeting!”

  Abe was probably being a little dramatic as we sat around eating lunch back at the tents, but his summation of our meeting didn’t seem too far off base to me. At least the part about suspicions certainly rang true.

  “Do you think the mole was in that meeting with us?” Jackie asked, sounding unsure.

  The silence that followed spoke more than words ever could. There was absolutely no way to tell, and we didn’t even have a guess. The meeting had contained a good portion of the surviving Edgewood members, which certainly made it a possibility. But all of those present had been away from Edgewood at the time of the attack. So if they hadn’t been in Edgewood to manually turn off the projection, that meant they hadn’t acted alone.

  Could there have been more than one traitor? If so, was it two or three rogues? Or was an entire faction of Little John infiltrated?

  Suddenly Nathan’s deep suspicion and despondency made a lot more sense. If I started thinking about the mole too deeply, it felt like I was being pulled into a dark hole of conspiracy and possibility, and I didn’t like the way that felt.

  It had to have been even worse for Nathan, who had not only spent a huge portion of his life cultivating and managing Little John but had also lost people about whom he cared deeply in the attack itself.

  “No,” Jace finally answered. We all turned to look at him and awaited his explanation. He looked back at each of us in turn. “I don’t have any proof of that, obviously. I just don’t think anyone who risked their lives for Little John in previous missions would suddenly be so willing to tear it all down.”

  “I wish we could know definitively that none of the mission team members are responsible, so we wouldn’t have all these new confidentiality requirements,” Nelson replied. “It makes people feel like they’re not trustworthy, and that’s not good for the organization as a whole.”

  “Having a secret government agent walking among us isn’t good for the organization,” Ant replied. “A little suspicion should be just fine.”

  “I agree with Jace,” I said, trying to sound slightly more sure than I actually felt. “How will we be able to trust each other on future missions if we’re under the impression that any one of our team members might be trying to kill or imprison us? There’s a big difference between caution and outright paranoia.”

  “So we should just blindly trust everyone?” Abe asked, his face screwing up into a look of disbelief.

 
“Isn’t that the same as blindly suspecting everyone?” Nelson interjected.

  “Well, only one of those options could get you killed,” Gabby said softly.

  We all looked at her. She had been uncharacteristically quiet since we arrived in Brightbirch, so hearing about her suspicion was disconcerting. Gabby was such a carefree and bright individual. It was strange to imagine her suddenly having such a dark outlook on the situation. Then again, she’d had a lot to lose back in Edgewood. Maybe more than any of us.

  I looked around uncomfortably, scanning the people nearest to us. I had been doing it since we got back to our little row of tents.

  I started when Jace placed his hand on my knee.

  “Don’t worry. I haven’t seen him in a while,” Jace said quietly.

  I blushed. I hoped that the fact that I was desperate to avoid Cloyd wasn’t as obvious to everyone else as it was to Jace.

  I tried to smile reassuringly at him. I didn’t want him to have to worry about my feelings on top of everything else that he was currently dealing with.

  “Just looking out for bears,” I joked.

  Jace chuckled. It was good to hear him laugh again after the tension of the past day.

  “So,” Jackie started. “What are we supposed to do while we’re just hanging out here?”

  “Alexy said there’s some good hiking,” I said, only half serious.

  Jackie rolled her eyes.

  “We could always just keep going,” Nelson said. We turned to look at her. Keep going? What did she mean? Leave Brightbirch and keep fighting the government alone?

  “You mean, like, go rogue?” Gabby asked timidly.

  Nelson shook her head. “I mean we could do a little investigative work ourselves. Keep our minds busy.”

  Suddenly it clicked in my head.

  “You want to find the mole,” I said.

  A wry smile crept up one side of Nelson’s face, and she nodded.

  “Sounds like something the mole would suggest!” Ant quipped.

  Jackie elbowed him hard in the ribs, but Jace was nodding slowly and then smiling a mischievous smile.

  “Actually, I think that’s a great idea,” he said.

  “You guys can’t be serious. How do you think Nathan would react if he found out we were running our own investigation behind his back?” Abe spat out, his eyes wide.

  I thought about my private meeting with Corona and Nathan. They said they would be talking to a few people individually, myself being one of the unlucky ones. How was their investigation even going? Had they talked to Robert yet? Or Henry? Even if they had, it didn’t seem like they had gotten anywhere, judging by our most recent meeting. Nathan was obviously despondent over the betrayal, and Little John seemed to be stalling until we knew more.

  So could they really blame us for wanting to assist?

  “What Nathan doesn’t know won’t hurt him,” I said suddenly, surprising even myself. I planned on remaining loyal to Little John, and I knew that meant we’d have to be a little patient while the leaders decided on our next steps. But that didn’t mean we had to be completely stagnant. It was our best chance of keeping Little John moving forward. After all, I wasn’t just doing this for the noble cause of saving our country. I was also here for personal reasons.

  I wanted my daughter back. And staying motionless in Brightbirch wasn’t getting me any closer to that goal.

  “We should figure out a plan,” Nelson continued. “I’m thinking—”

  “Of getting everyone into trouble? Sounds about right for you guys,” a voice interrupted. I knew who it was before I turned around, although I was praying I would be wrong.

  But sure enough, Cloyd was standing tall and proud behind us when I looked. I tried not to make eye contact. He obviously wasn’t here for me.

  Denver and Alf were standing at either side of him, their usual goofy smiles plastered on.

  “Cloyd told us all about your super-secret meeting,” Denver said playfully. “Guess we weren’t cool enough to be invited, since we were back in Edgewood patrolling the perimeter and not on a high-priority mission.”

  “Yeah, when do we get to join the rest of you Team Hood cool kids?” Alf jumped in with a smile.

  Jace was staring intently at Cloyd. But his face was so expressionless that I had no idea what he was thinking. When Cloyd’s gaze met Jace’s, it seemed to me like they were wordlessly communicating something to each other. But what was it?

  “Doesn’t matter who gets invited to some meeting,” Jace said, still looking at Cloyd. “We’re all one team.”

  Cloyd’s eyes glistened a bit, as if he was getting emotional.

  “Jace, can I speak to you?” Cloyd asked. His tone was flat. “Alone?”

  Jace’s eyes kept the same emotionless glaze, but his head tilted down in a curt nod. Then he stood. The rest of us were silent and still as Cloyd and Jace walked away from us, back toward the mountains, together. We watched them quietly walk for some time.

  “Don’t worry,” Denver said after a long silence. “They’ll work it out.”

  “Or kill each other,” Alf added with a jester-like smile.

  * * *

  I watched the path back from the mountains as the sun traced the highest part of the sky and began to descend. It had been hours since they left, but there was still no sign of Jace or Cloyd. Alf’s joke was starting to strike me as more and more possible.

  “These new Team Hood missions are flying by,” Jackie said sarcastically. “First lunch and now dinner. Glad we’re doing such important anti-regime work.”

  “At least Jace and Cloyd are making some progress,” Nelson quipped, following my gaze toward the mountains.

  If they were making progress. Who knew what they were out there talking about? I was getting sick of waiting around and wondering, but we didn’t want to start planning our mole investigation without Jace’s involvement.

  I realized then that there was something I could do. Juno. I still hadn’t been able to speak to her to determine her true identity. If I currently couldn’t make headway in Little John missions, I could at least move forward in my own personal one.

  I was standing and walking away before most of the team had time to process what I was doing. When Nelson finally thought to ask me where I was going, I kept my answer short and sweet.

  “Going to the hospital. Back soon!” I called over my shoulder.

  It was a familiar route at this point. I passed the misty greenhouses and several fields of rolling pastures before I reached the white hospital building. It was early evening, and a chill was returning to the air. But suddenly, as I realized just what it meant to be confronting Juno’s identity for the first time, it felt like that same chill was settling into my bones and blood as well.

  My old fears resurfaced. If Juno was awake, and she was my mother . . . What if she didn’t want to see me again? What if she didn’t care much about having lost me? What if it had been a relief to her when they took me away?

  There were two people I had wanted to find so deeply that it bordered on obsession: my mother and my daughter. I might’ve finally found one of them. And that was such a huge step for me that it was hard not to be terrified.

  The same kind nurse greeted me at the reception desk when I arrived.

  “Back again? Do you remember where to find her?”

  I smiled faintly at his recognition and thoughtfulness and nodded. I knew exactly where I was going.

  I took the elevator up to the second floor, involuntarily holding my breath along the way. By the time the elevator doors had opened onto Juno’s wing, my heart felt like it was ready to beat out of my chest. I was here. This was it.

  I walked down the hall to her door and knocked gently with my knuckles.

  A cheerful woman’s voice rang out.

  “Come in!”

  My heart leapt into my throat. Was that Juno? Or a nurse?

  I pushed the door open slowly and peered inside.

  Juno was
sitting up comfortably in her bed, lit with an angelic haze as the setting sun’s orange rays penetrated the room. She struck me as graceful and beautiful, especially given the circumstances of her arrival in Brightbirch. Seeing her sitting up and safe tugged my heart in an unexpected way, and I tried to remind myself not to get too excited. I didn’t even know who this woman was yet.

  But all of that hesitation and doubt melted away when Juno smiled at me and placed one of her thin hands over her heart. With the other hand she began to beckon me forward. But most of all, it was the look in her eyes that suddenly made the entire journey and experience so far in Brightbirch more than worth it.

  She was looking at me with recognition again, just like she had when my mask had disintegrated after the Helping Hands mission. And this time, she was also looking at me with joy and excitement.

  “I’ve been waiting for you to come back,” she said breathlessly, tears beginning to form in the corners of her eyes. “I knew you’d come back someday. My Elyse. My daughter.”

  11

  I stood frozen, unsure of how to proceed.

  Elyse? Had she mistaken me for someone else? She looked so sure and excited to see me, like she knew me then and had always known me somehow. And, while I felt that same inexplicable recognition deep inside of me, it was hard to accept that it was genuine.

  What if I was just setting myself up for failure and disappointment?

  Juno’s arms were still stretched out toward me, and I had to make a decision. So I cautiously stepped forward. But when tears began to spill out over Juno’s cheeks, my reticence melted away. Looking at her, with her eyes so full of love and excitement, finally broke down the wall that I had built up over my heart to protect myself from any further loss. I rushed toward Juno and embraced her, wrapping my arms around her as her child, and accepting for the first time that I had found her.

  I had found my mother.

  We wept together for a while, Juno’s hands stroking my hair and wiping my tears away as the emotion poured out of me. Almost twenty years. That was how long the government had kept us from having this moment together. But no matter how hard they had tried, they could never stop us from fighting to find one another.