Isaac grasped the implications immediately. “Oh, no. She’s going to walk right into their trap.”
Alessa broke down as she nodded, tears streaming down her cheeks.
After all this, all they had survived together – the war, the outbreak, life in Paragon, the drama – she was finally going to lose her sister. Alessa couldn’t move, couldn’t think. Anything she did would be futile. She was powerless.
The hope drained from Alessa, left her empty and hollow. She would lose them all, one by one, everyone she cared about. It was only a matter of time before they got Isaac, too. And then what would she have left? What would be the point of any of it? Why should she even bother?
Alessa was no hero, she knew that now. It had been fun, for a time, to put on the rebel’s shoes, to play at subterfuge and revolt, to feel for a moment that she could make a difference. But when it came down to it, she was only just a girl. How could she ever have thought that she could change things?
Isaac clutched Alessa’s hand. “Alessa. Alessa, look at me.”
Alessa sighed heavily, her head slumping towards her chest, her entire body collapsing inward. There was nothing to do now but wait, wait to be caught and put back on another show in another place. This time, she would stay there. Anything was better than here. Maybe they might even kill her, just end it all.
“Alessa!” Isaac shook her violently.
Begrudgingly, Alessa peeked up at him.
In a hushed voice, Isaac continued. “Less, come on, don’t give up on me yet. Maybe we can beat them to the exit, get a warning to Janie.”
Alessa only sighed in response. Now was no time for false hope – it was time to face the truth.
But Isaac was persistent. “Come, we have to keep moving. Where’s the map?”
Without lifting her eyes from the ground, Alessa listlessly withdrew the map from her pocket and held it in Isaac’s direction. She couldn’t even bear to look at it, couldn’t muster the will to hand it to him. Her sister was all but lost, and they would be next.
As Isaac pored over the page, Alessa distractedly ran her hand through her newly cropped hair. It fell to her chin in soft layers that framed her face, the strands at the nape of her neck – only an inch long at most – ending abruptly in her fingers.
Isaac looked up from the map and noticed Alessa nervously toying with the ends of her hair. He ran his fingers through a lock and let it fall back into place, smiling. “I love your hair like this. Do you remember the last time you cut it?”
Alessa thought about how she had felt the last time her hair was this short, a few months after Joe had died when she began working for the rebels in earnest.
At the time, she had told herself it was for convenience – with her late night missions and the constant stress of staying undercover, the last thing she had time to pay attention to was her appearance. But the moment she’d made the first cut, Alessa had realized that it was much more.
She’d been at the precipice of a new stage in her life, and she’d realized in that moment that her new style was symbolic of her transition. The frightened long-haired girl who had stepped through Paragon’s gates clutching her little sister – and the world that girl had come from – was no more. Alessa had decided that she was done being afraid. With each strand that had fallen to the floor around her, Alessa’s resolve had been strengthened. She wasn’t going to be a victim anymore. She was going to fight.
And as Alessa remembered that feeling, her tears subsided and her heart filled with rage. Paragon could take everyone she loved – Joe, Janie, even Isaac – but she would never back down. As long as she had an ounce of life left in her, she would fight them every step of the way.
And Janie wasn’t gone yet. Isaac was right – they needed to find a way to beat the guards there and warn her.
Fortified, her voice rang with tenacity. “Do you have a plan?”
Isaac beamed. He nodded, turning the paper in her direction. “Look – if we go back out and follow the first tunnel, it should lead to a maintenance room that has sewer access. There’s another drain opening not far from where we were supposed to meet Janie. If we hurry, we might be able to make it there in time. But first –” a mischievous grin crept onto his face “– let’s slow them down a bit.”
34. Diversion
Isaac led the way through the shaft back to the utility tunnel they had first entered through. Carefully, he and Alessa worked their way through the long, narrow hall, listening closely for any sign that they’d been followed. Alessa was not about to walk into another ambush.
After a few tense minutes, Isaac looked up from the map. “If I’m reading this correctly, there should be a maintenance closet up ahead with sewer access.” He pointed toward a door 10 yards away where the tunnel ended. “That’s our path to the outside. But before we go, I want to create a diversion to distract the guards while we make our way to Janie.”
Alessa nodded. She wasn’t sure if Janie would even make it that far – after all, they may try to intercept her along her route as well – but she pushed the thought aside. If Janie could make it out, Alessa would be there to receive her.
Isaac reached up and ran his fingers along a set of gray pipes that ran against the ceiling. He knocked against the pipes a bit, testing for something.
“Some of these are carrying water and some are carrying gas, but I’m not exactly sure how to tell which is which… Do you have that knife still?”
“Here.” Alessa drew the knife from her jeans and pointed the handle towards Isaac.
Isaac grasped the knife and looked up at the pipes once more. “Well, one way to find out.”
With a swift swing of his arm, Isaac jabbed the tip of the knife into one of the pipes. Alessa could hear a quiet hiss coming from the hole, and a moment later she smelled the distinct aroma of gas.
“Got it,” Isaac said. “Okay, let’s move.”
Alessa followed Isaac towards the closet, but she still wasn’t entirely sure what he was planning. “Isaac, wait. What’s the plan here?”
Opening the maintenance room door, Isaac headed straight for the manhole cover in the middle of the concrete floor. Grunting as he shifted the heavy round plate to the side, he explained, “I’m going to blow up the shaft.”
“What?!” Alessa fired off questions. “How? Won’t that kill us? What about Janie? She could still be inside!”
Withdrawing his head from the sewer hole, he replied, “These are 12-inch concrete floors, and we’re going to be on the other side of them when the explosion happens.”
“And what about everyone else, the other actors on your set and Janie?”
“If these gas lines were built correctly, there should be safety mechanisms that will keep the explosion relatively isolated, and we’re far enough away from the set now that nothing but smoke should reach the house. As for Janie, we can only assume that she’s still headed toward the original sewer drain, so this area of the tunnel shouldn’t be in her path.”
Alessa was still a little wary, but without any better options, she decided to go along. Even a small explosion would still cause quite a mess for the guards to deal with. Hopefully the diversion would buy enough time for Janie to make it to the meeting point unscathed. “Okay, and how are you planning to ignite the blast?”
“Simple – all we need is a spark.”
Isaac propped the door to the maintenance closet open, giving him a direct line of sight to the pierced pipe. The scent of gas was overwhelming now.
He directed Alessa to descend through the manhole to the safety of the sewer below. She climbed down the ladder and scurried a few yards deeper into the tunnel away from the manhole, bracing herself under one of the overhead supports.
Isaac mounted the ladder and took a few steps down until he was mostly through the hole. Holding the knife gently in his hand, he took aim and whipped the knife toward the section of the wall directly below the open gas pipe.
The end of the handle glanced off the wal
l and the knife skittered across the floor. Isaac cursed.
Dipping his head into the sewer, he took a deep breath and scrambled up the ladder. A moment later he returned, gasping through the manhole, knife in hand once more.
This time his aim was true. With a skillful flick of the wrist, Isaac’s blade hit its mark, glinting off the wall’s metal grating in a shower of sparks. The gas ignited in a tidal wave of flame.
Isaac dropped through the hole and hit the floor hard, covering his head with his arms as debris and smoke raced behind him. Alessa grasped the sewer wall for support as the fiery gas raced through the pipes with a loud boom that shook everything around them.
“Isaac!” she called. “Are you okay?” The sewer was quickly filling with a thick black smoke – she could only barely make out his form.
Isaac coughed and stretched in the direction of her voice. “Alessa? Yeah, I’m all right.”
He coughed more and began crawling towards her. Alessa dropped to her knees where the visibility was better and scrambled over to meet him. She knew he was drained to begin with after the shock of regaining his memory, and she was worried that he might be injured now on top of it.
Reaching him, Alessa was relieved to see that he had suffered no worse than bumps and scratches from the falling debris. He sat up and slumped against the wall.
“I just need a minute, Less. To catch my breath.”
Alessa kneeled next to him, waiting. But every moment they delayed, the tunnel got darker, and the air more difficult to breathe. Finally, she took his hand.
“Isaac, we’ve got to go.”
He nodded and followed her to his feet, but as he put pressure on his right ankle, he let out a small yelp.
“Are you hurt?” Alessa demanded, concerned.
Isaac gingerly put more weight onto the affected foot. He grimaced. “I think it’s just a sprain. Let’s keep moving.”
Limping, he trailed behind Alessa as she made her way through the sewer, ducking to stay below the thick smoke that had filled the upper part of the tunnel. Luckily, there was enough light from the opening up ahead that they managed to avoid the stream of fetid muck that trickled down the center of the tube.
Hand in hand, Isaac and Alessa made their way towards the outside, praying they had given Janie the opportunity she needed to escape.
35. Deliverance
Alessa and Isaac emerged coughing and panting from the sewer drain, a cloud of smoke leaking from the tunnel behind them. In the distance, they could see a thick column of black bellowing into the sky from the direction of the set.
Alessa laughed and flashed an appreciative smile at Isaac. “Well, I think your plan worked.”
Isaac coupled his wide grin with a modest shrug of the shoulders. “I picked up a thing or two in my time with the rebels.”
“No kidding.”
The sewer had ended in a shallow ditch which dumped Isaac and Alessa in the middle of a dark wood. By now the sun had set completely, and a bright full moon had replaced it, illuminating the forest in an eerie crystal blue. Upon climbing from the ditch, Alessa could see that the old growth trees thinned out not far to the west, the orange lights of Paragon glowing in the distance, casting long shadows from the compound’s walls on the snow covered ground. A veil of smoke hovered above the northern section of the complex, blotting out the lights below.
Gazing at the chaos in the distance, Alessa still couldn’t believe they’d pulled it off. But there wasn’t much time for celebration – they still needed to make it to the original meeting place in hopes of finding Janie before the guards did. “Let’s move on.”
Alessa and Isaac carefully picked their way north through the gnarled trees and thick undergrowth of the dark forest in the direction of the drainage pipe where they expected Janie to emerge. The frozen ground was littered with bare shrubs and a smattering of snow leftover from the recent storm.
Alessa shivered. She was still in the same jeans and sweater she’d been wearing when she and Janie had used the wormhole device. She’d at least had the foresight to throw on a couple extra layers, but anything heavier than that risked raising suspicion amongst the producers. And Isaac, who’d had no warning of what was to come, was wearing only his usual light cotton shirt. Alessa prayed that the rebels had left some equipment for them at the rendezvous point – otherwise, they may not even survive the night, let alone the oncoming winter.
As they reached the location of the other sewer drain, Isaac and Alessa slowed their pace and approached quietly, alert for any sign of the guards. All was quiet. Unfortunately, Janie was nowhere in sight.
Searching the area, Alessa spotted two heavy packs stashed among the bushes lining the sewer opening. She exhaled with relief, thankful that the rebels had found an opportunity to equip them for the mission.
They grabbed the packs and settled down in a thicket not far from the sewer to wait. From their vantage point slightly up a hill, they’d have a clear view of any movement from Janie but were still hidden behind enough cover to escape without notice if the guards decided to make an appearance. Alessa unloaded two heavy coats from her backpack. Slipping one over her shoulders, she was pleased to find a set of warm gloves and a winter hat stashed in the pockets.
Isaac, who had donned the second coat, scooted closer to Alessa and put his arm around her shoulders. “So, do you have any idea when Janie’s supposed to show up?”
Alessa shook her head. “She was pretty vague – we didn’t get a chance to talk in detail with the cameras always rolling. All she said was, ‘Be careful,’ and ‘I’ll see you on the other side.’”
Alessa dug into the backpack once more looking for Janie’s coat, thinking she would warm it up against her chest before Janie arrived. When she didn’t find a third coat in the first bag she tried the other one, but was dismayed to find that there was no coat stored there either. She wondered how Regina could have overlooked such a basic piece of gear… and then she understood.
Alessa gasped loudly, an expression of horror on her face. “Oh my God. She’s not coming.”
“What do you mean she’s not coming?”
Alessa buried her head in her hands, muttering quietly to herself. “How could I have been so dense?”
“What? What happened?” Isaac urged.
Alessa dropped her arms in defeat and turned to face Isaac. “I don’t know how I could have forgotten… ‘See you on the other side,’ were my mother’s last words to us as we were separated at the gate. I don’t think Janie ever intended to come with us.”
Alessa couldn’t believe her sister had lied to her. She closed her eyes and shook her head once more, disappointed and disbelieving.
Isaac nodded, his face grim, and took Alessa’s hand. “Well, at least that means the guards aren’t looking for her, right? As long as she stayed in character, she should be safe…”
“Safe from the guards, maybe, but what’s next? Now that they don’t need her for the show anymore, who knows what they might do to her?” Alessa couldn’t bear the thought of leaving her sister behind. With the show over, they were no doubt going to toss her back in one of the cold, lonely cells in Paragon’s prison to await her next assignment, subjecting her to who knows what ghastly tortures in the meantime. And what if the producers figured out who had helped her and Isaac escape? Alessa would never have agreed to this if she’d known.
Still holding Alessa’s hand, Isaac brought her fingers to his lips and kissed them gently through the thick fabric of her gloves. With kindness in his eyes, he tried to reassure her in a soft voice. “It will be okay, Alessa. Regina will keep her safe, and we’ll find her as soon as we get back.”
Alessa wasn’t as optimistic, but she knew there was nothing she could do. She just dropped her eyes to the ground with a heavy sigh.
Isaac released Alessa’s hand and clasped his own together, blowing a long breath onto his numb fingers. “Where did you get those gloves, anyway?”
“They were in my jacket.”<
br />
As Isaac withdrew the gloves from his own pockets, a small piece of paper fell into his lap.
Watching as he unfolded it, Alessa saw that it was a letter.
“It’s from Regina.”
“What does it say?”
Isaac held the paper out and adjusted the angle until he caught the moonlight just right. Then he cleared his throat and read aloud:
Dear Isaac and Alessa,
I’m sure you’ve been through quite the ordeal today, and I hope you are both doing well, at least as well as could be expected under the circumstances. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that what lies ahead for you is going to offer much in the way of respite. We don’t know what to expect beyond Paragon’s walls, but hopefully the supplies we’ve gathered for you will help in some small way to ease your journey.
I doubt I need to remind either of you of the gravity of your mission. The rebel movement will not survive much longer under Paragon’s iron grip; we need a place of our own to regroup and build up the resistance. These past months have been difficult on us all, and we’re counting on you to bring us back some good news.
By now you must have figured out that Janie won’t be joining you. I apologize for our deception, but we knew that Alessa would never willingly leave her sister behind. Janie has become a critical component of our operation in your absence, and she can do more good for the cause here than she could have out there. I’m sure you understand. She sends her love and hopes you will find it in your hearts to forgive her.
As you scour the surrounding area for what I hope will become our next home, please remember that our situation here is dire. If you find anything encouraging to report, do not tarry. Every day that we delay puts the resistance more at risk. Once your plan is ready, return to the place where you found these packs and you will find instructions to contact me. I will expect to hear from you by the end of May, if not sooner.
I wish you a safe and speedy mission. Stay strong and remember your training. The people of Paragon need you.
Stitch (Stitch Trilogy, Book 1) Page 22
