The Child Thief 6: Zero Hour

by Forrest, Bella

  I walked away to a corner of the cave to be alone and gently pulled the ribbon off to reveal a small cardboard box. When I opened it, a tiny electronic device was inside.

  When I got the projector out, a small piece of paper fell out with it. I bent down to pick up the note.

  Watch alone, it read.

  A creeping anxiety was settling over me. What was this about, and who was it from? I turned back to the device and examined it closely, finding a play button.

  I looked around to make sure no one was close by. Jace was looking at me in confusion, but I didn’t call him over. I just nodded to let him know everything was okay. Obviously, I needed to see what was on this message alone.

  I walked a little farther away, until I was far from everyone else. Then I hit the play button.

  A very small projection popped up immediately, showing a woman sitting behind a desk in a bright, official-looking office. I instantly recognized her. It was Mavis Preston, the head of public relations for the regime, and Hope’s adoptive mother. My breath caught in my throat. Staring directly into the camera, Mavis began to speak. It was a short and succinct message.

  “Hello, Robin,” Mavis said. “I know you know who I am. And I know who you are. I also know what you want, but I want something in return.”

  I watched the screen with wide eyes.

  “So here’s our offer: tell us where the traitor Nathan is before he can cause any more death and destruction to his followers and our citizens,” Mavis continued. “Do this, and you will receive a full pardon. Then you can come and get your daughter back and live out your life together in peace.”

  I gasped and almost fell to my knees before Mavis delivered her final lines and the projection cut out.

  “Who is more important to you, Robin? Nathan? Or your daughter? You have one day to decide.”

  33

  “Is everything okay?” Jace asked as I walked back up to Team Hood and Juno.

  I quickly nodded, but I wasn’t feeling so sure. Was everything okay? Even with Mavis’s offer on the line, I knew immediately that I wouldn’t be willing to betray my team and the rest of Little John. But there were other implications that I wasn’t so sure about. Most importantly, getting that gift from Juno meant that someone here at our latest base was working for, or in contact with, the government.

  And that meant the mole had survived another attack and was with us at a new base, after successfully destroying two others.

  We were in imminent danger.

  I knew I needed to tell Nathan immediately, but I wanted to have as much information as possible before I went to him.

  “Juno, can I talk to you for a moment?” I asked. “Alone?”

  Juno looked mildly concerned but smiled and nodded. Then she rose from her seat to stand and walk away from the crowd with me.

  “I know what you’re going to ask,” she said before we had gotten far. “But unfortunately, I didn’t see who gave that to me. I don’t know how or when they did it, but I’m guessing that it was once we got off the airships here, because that was when I was in a thick crowd and being jostled around. I wouldn’t have noticed if someone slipped something into my pocket.”

  “So you didn’t see anyone looking at you suspiciously or getting uncomfortably close?” I asked.

  Juno laughed. “Everyone was uncomfortably close when we were back there in that crowd.”

  I understood. The ledge outside of the armory base looked like it was only large enough for one airship to land on comfortably. We had all been thrust together in a heap after landing three large and very full airships on it. It was easy to imagine someone slipping past and dropping a small box into Juno’s roomy jacket pockets under those circumstances.

  But who?

  “What was it?” Juno asked.

  “A message,” I replied simply.

  There was no time to get into it further. I had to find Nathan.

  I walked right past Team Hood to find him.

  The inside of the cave was separated into what looked like distinct quarters. There was a side on the left when you entered that housed all of the rows of cots; at the back of the cavern were the computers and other electronic devices and monitors, obviously powered by generators out here in the wilderness; on the right was the main armory, including sealed-off areas that looked like they probably housed larger things like ships and vehicles, if the size of the door was any indication; and in the front was an open space that included the tables of rations and other assorted supplies. The staircase in the middle led up to what looked like an office or maybe a surveillance room. That was where he had asked the medic and tech teams to meet him.

  I made my way to the spiral staircase and began to climb to the top. It was an unpleasant event. The stairs were narrow, and because they were held in place with support cords instead of being bolted in, swayed gently as I moved up. I held my breath and tried to get to the office as quickly as possible.

  A small walkway connected the top of the stairs to the office door and the surveillance room. I walked precariously over the suspended walkway and then knocked on the closed office door.

  There was a pause, and then his voice called out from inside.

  “Come in!”

  I turned the doorknob slowly and swung the door open.

  Nathan, Aurora, and Corona were sitting around an expensive-looking desk. I noticed with alarm that Fiora wasn’t with them, but I thought that maybe she was on the ground floor somewhere.

  “I’m happy to see you here and safe, Robin,” Nathan said. “And I assure you we’re about to call a meeting—”

  “No, no,” I interrupted. “For once, that’s not what this is about.”

  Nathan smiled. “Well, what can we do for you, then? Is everything all right?” And then, catching himself, Nathan altered his statement. “Is everything as all right as can be expected?”

  “I . . . I need to show you something,” I stuttered. I pulled the projector out of my pocket and hit play.

  Nathan, Corona, and Aurora were silent as they watched the video message. I was nervous to hear their reactions, especially since it might mean that we’d all need to evacuate again.

  When the video ended, Nathan nodded and looked back up at me.

  “Right,” he said. “Robin, thank you for showing this to us. Can I ask who gave it to you?”

  I shook my head. “Someone slipped it to my mother, but she didn’t see who it was.”

  “Was this here? At the armory?” Nathan asked.

  “Yes,” I replied. “She thinks it happened either on the ship or once we landed.”

  Corona and Aurora suddenly looked fearful while Nathan simply inhaled deeply.

  “I was hoping that the Brightbirch attack may have been related to our journey back from Preston Industries and not the mole. But this seems to disprove that theory,” he went on.

  “How?” I asked. How could Nathan be sure that we hadn’t just been too careless on our return journey from the attack on Preston Industries?

  “Because Brightbirch, as quaint as it may have seemed, had some advanced defenses. The base and many miles around it were being hidden by a radar and GPS scrambler we installed at Fiora’s office,” Nathan replied. “So to get to the base, you had to enter incorrect geographical coordinates.”

  “I don’t understand,” I said, shaking my head.

  “Military tech that Piper and I worked on a long time ago,” Nathan went on. “It’s hard to explain in layman’s terms. But just picture the real coordinates for the base actually leading you some fifty miles to the east. The radar scrambler made it so that you had to use coordinates that measured fifty miles to the west to land at Brightbirch, where there’s nothing. Even if the mole tried to send over our coordinates from base, the government would’ve just arrived at an empty field.”

  “Then how did they figure it out?” I asked.

  “Honestly, I don’t know. Radar didn’t show that we were followed from Brightbirch, but the o
nly living people who knew about the GPS scrambler are in this room right now,” he said.

  “Fiora?” I asked nervously, but I felt like I already knew what had happened to her.

  “Didn’t make it out,” Nathan replied, his eyes downcast.

  “Nathan, this means that the double agent is still here with us,” Corona said in a worried tone. “And our coordinates aren’t being scrambled here.”

  Nathan nodded. “But the mountain base is well hidden and almost impossible to get into unless you have my handprint. Besides, we won’t be here long.”

  “We’re leaving already?” I asked.

  “I’ll explain in the meeting,” he said. “Let’s focus on this video for now.”

  I felt impatient but nodded in agreement. We didn’t have time to argue. But the video didn’t add up to me. Could Mavis actually be so callous as to just give away her adopted daughter? And would they really be willing to grant amnesty for treasonous crimes if it meant getting Nathan? I could think of only one answer.

  “I think Mavis could be setting a trap,” I said.

  “She very well might be,” Nathan replied. “But even if she isn’t, we’ll make it a trap.”

  I furrowed my brow. “I don’t understand.”

  “This might be the perfect chance to get a ground team into Chanley,” Nathan said. “And if we could get inside, we could take out a few key players and focus less on a broad aerial attack.”

  “What are you suggesting?” I asked. I could see how having a ground team would be helpful, but how would we do that?

  “I’m suggesting we give Mavis what she wants,” Nathan said with a smile.

  I shook my head again in confusion, but Nathan simply put his hand up in the air.

  “Give me just a little longer, and I’ll be calling a base meeting,” he said.

  I nodded and turned to leave. But before I made it to the door, I turned back to ask a final question.

  “Nathan,” I said, “I haven’t seen Rio or Pyro since they took the mini-airship to clear a safe passage for us to take off.”

  Nathan stared at me for a few seconds and then slowly, gently shook his head. I took a deep breath and backed out of the office.

  Little John had lost too many good people already.

  Once I got back to Team Hood, I anxiously told them about Mavis’s offer.

  “So . . . what are you going to do?” Ant asked with a tinge of nervousness.

  “Well, obviously, if she was going to cash in on it she wouldn’t be telling us,” Jackie joked. “And we know you’d never do that anyway, Robin.”

  “What did Nathan say?” Nelson asked.

  “He seemed confused, but I think it’s going to play into his final plans,” I replied.

  Jace simply placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. He must’ve known how difficult it had been for me simply to be addressed personally by Mavis.

  I had already hated her because of her involvement with Aurora’s execution and Preston Industries, and now that I knew she was treating her own adopted daughter—my child—like a bartering tool, I felt even more strongly about her. As far as I was concerned, Mavis was pure evil.

  “So that means there is a government agent here?” Juno asked anxiously.

  I nodded. “I don’t see any way around it.”

  We fell silent, and noticed immediately when Nathan’s shoes began to click against the suspended steel staircase.

  Corona and Aurora were walking slowly behind him, and it was obvious that Nathan was about to call a base meeting to order. The cavern grew eerily quiet as people began to watch his descent.

  When he had almost reached the bottom, he stopped and looked out over all of us. He was at least a head above the tallest people in the room, which gave us all an unobstructed view of him as he began to speak.

  “Some of you may think that this battle is over,” he began, his voice clear and strong across the cavernous room. “Some of you might think that now that we’re on the run and two bases are down, with no guarantee of our safety in the future, it is time to disband and do our best to re-assimilate into society.”

  I was feeling anxious. Nothing that Nathan was starting with was making me feel very confident about Little John’s future.

  “And to those people, I’d say you’re mostly right,” he continued.

  A smattering of murmurs rose from the crowd. My anxiety level was steadily rising. Was this it? Had Nathan changed his mind since we spoke in his office just an hour before? I was afraid that he was about to say that moving forward would be too dangerous at this point, which would leave me at a loss in regard to what to do about Hope and Mavis.

  “It is time to disband. It is time for us to live normal lives, earn fair wages, and start to support our families. It’s time to turn away from all of this fear and violence and hiding,” he went on. “And that means it’s time to finish this once and for all.”

  I watched Nathan intently as he spoke. He was starting to look more and more in control and certain as his speech went on.

  “Our last mission will involve an elite team and extensive support from our surviving bases, and all non-mission Little John members will be safe from harm during these proceedings. But that is all I can share here. I’m proud of every one of you. And I am eternally grateful that you chose to put your faith in me. I can only ask that you trust me enough to do it one last time.”

  And with that, the cavern lit up with raucous applause.

  I turned back to look at Team Hood, wondering if they were feeling as nervous as I was. But they looked hopeful and prepared. Jackie was holding Ant’s hand and smiling bravely. Nelson had her arm slung over Gabby’s shoulder. And Cloyd, whom I always thought of as steely and masculine, had been moved to tears. His eyes were glassy even though the rest of his face was stoic. Seeing the team react that way made me feel more confident about this final phase of Little John’s entire existence.

  After his speech, Nathan walked through the crowd and began to shake hands with his constituents. But I noticed that he was also whispering into the ears of a few select team members—and that those members would then go up the spiral staircase behind him.

  He was pinpointing his mission team.

  Nathan walked over to us and spoke aloud. “Team Hood, can I see you in the office upstairs?”

  And that was all he said before he continued on through the crowd. But I was already moving quickly to the suspended staircase to get up to his office. I didn’t want to waste any time. I wanted to get to Chanley and face off with Mavis Preston, and the rest of the regime, as soon as possible.

  We walked up to Nathan’s office and found ourselves in the company of the combat, medic, flight, and tech teams. I also recognized the rest of Pyro’s explosives team, but I was saddened to be reminded of the loss of their leader.

  We sat down around a large conference table, but we didn’t wait long. Nathan, Corona, and Aurora strode back into the room within minutes.

  “As you may have guessed,” Nathan said, “you’re coming with me to Chanley. If you’re all up for it.”

  We began to clap and cheer to prove to him how up for it we were.

  Nathan smiled and continued. “In that case, get ready. Because we’re leaving tonight.”

  The cheers and claps stopped. Tonight?

  Nathan seemed to catch on to our surprise. “The government thinks that they’ve beaten us, and that’s why we have to act now. They’re deeply wounded. Our inside sources tell us that the Preston Industries attack was a death blow for Burchard’s regime,” he went on. “Their investors have deserted them, there is an international spotlight on their crimes, and they’re desperately low on money now that Preston Industries is gone. And no one will be loaning money to Burchard when he’s proven he doesn’t repay his debts.”

  “It was just like we thought,” Corona added. “When the executives were attacked, the investors swooped in and took back whatever money they could.”

  “What ab
out the adoption fees from the CRAS?” Bridge asked.

  “There have been near-constant protests outside of holding centers after our publication started circulating. Even rich people are starting to fear the stigma of adopting children that the nation suddenly considers stolen,” Nathan said. “Adoptions are falling through, and the government was spending money they didn’t have yet. So now they have less than none.”

  “How has it affected them?” I asked. I wanted to know exactly what we were getting into and whom we were fighting.

  “The military has all but disbanded. They were on Preston Industries’ payroll, which didn’t make them particularly loyal to Burchard. The little protection the regime authorities can afford is in Chanley now, with those authorities. And I think we can take them,” Nathan answered. “Unless they can find funding to bring back their military.”

  “So we go in while they’re weak, before they find a solution to bring their full military back,” I clarified.

  “Bingo,” Nathan replied. “And that means leaving tonight.”

  “Then what’s the plan?” Jace asked.

  “A Trojan horse,” Nathan said with a grin. “Robin has given us a unique opportunity to get into the capitol building unharmed. And so Robin and I will be doing that. Alone.”

  All of the eyes in the room turned quickly to me. I felt small and insignificant as people stared at me, like they were all wondering, Why her? I wanted to sink down into my chair to hide from it all.

  What if I messed it up? What if I wasn’t convincing enough to Mavis when I responded, and they decided to just shoot us down as soon as we walked into Chanley? What if Hope was the weakness they knew they could flush me out with?

  And what if I took Nathan down with me because of that weakness?