One look at Luke told me he’d seen it too.
Reeve’s eyes shifted between the two of us. ‘Something wrong?’
‘No,’ said Luke.
‘All right. Sure,’ said Reeve, clearly not buying it. Then he smiled. ‘Your dad says hi.’
My head jerked up and I felt the tears pricking my eyes again. ‘Is he okay? What’s –?’
‘He’s fine. Miller spoke to him. He sends his love to you and your mum and your sister. He – he says he knows he can count on you to keep them safe.’
I crashed into Reeve, hugging him, like for a minute Dad was right there in front of me. ‘Right,’ he said, patting me on the back, and I realised he was on the verge of tears too. ‘I’ll make sure Miller passes that on to him.’
I pulled away, smiling weakly, wiping my eyes dry again. ‘Thanks. What about your family? Have you heard anything?’
‘Yeah,’ Reeve sniffed, determinedly pulling himself together. ‘Miller keeps me posted. They’re keeping their heads down. Doing as well as anyone. And Katie knows I’m alive now, so that’s… That’s something.’
Luke gave us a minute to gather ourselves, and then said, ‘So, what’s the news? How’s the revolution going?’
‘Slowly,’ Reeve admitted. ‘The boys are all scared. Everyone’s waiting for someone else to move first.’
‘But you’ve already made the first move,’ I said. ‘I mean, you have some of the guards onboard, right?’
‘We’ve made a start,’ said Reeve. ‘But it’s only a start. There are seventy-eight security staff in Phoenix, not including those who are out of action.’
‘And how many are on our side?’ Luke asked.
‘Hard to say.’ Reeve laced his fingers together behind his head. ‘I reckon there’s only about a third of them that are actually loyal to the Co-operative. But, like I said before, most of the rest are like Hamilton. Too scared of crossing Shackleton to commit to anything.’
‘All right,’ I said, ‘so where does that leave us? How many could we actually count on in a fight?’
Reeve chewed the inside of his cheek. ‘Four.’
‘Four?’
‘Like I said, it’s going slowly. Miller, Lazarro, Ford and Kirke are all solid. There are others who could go either way when the moment comes, but it’s not much to mount a mission on. The guards get six hours a day to sleep, but otherwise they’re on duty. Take out the guys posted to other parts of town, and you’re still left with something like forty guards awake and on duty in the Shackleton Building at any given time.’
‘Yeah,’ I said grimly. We’d come up with a similar number from the surveillance feeds. ‘So we’ll just have to sneak in again, right? Just a couple of us. Get up there and find Tobias. I mean, we’ve only got ten days left. That’s our first priority.’
‘No,’ said Reeve, suddenly grave. ‘It can’t be.’
‘Reeve –’
‘Think about it, Jordan. What if you succeed?’
I shook my head. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘Let’s say it works,’ Reeve pushed on. ‘Let’s say, somehow, you get in and out of there in one piece. You get Tobias to the release station. You stop Tabitha. What happens next? What do you think Shackleton’s going to do with those two thousand prisoners he suddenly doesn’t need anymore?’
Reeve leant against the rock, letting the answer to that question sink in. Letting my mind fill with images of security officers mowing down the crowd with their rifles, transforming the town hall from a concentration camp to a mass grave.
Luke let out a heavy breath, his expression just as bleak as ours. ‘What are we supposed to do, then?’
‘We need to get to the cafeteria,’ I said. ‘That loyalty room or whatever you guys call it. If we take away the danger to the guards’ families, we take away their loyalty to Shackleton.’
‘Exactly what we’re thinking,’ said Reeve, digging a hand into his pocket. ‘Which brings me to the next piece of good news I have for you kids. Miller’s done some digging. Managed to get his hands on this.’ He pulled out a scrap of paper with five numbers scrawled on it.
‘What’s that?’ asked Luke.
‘This,’ Reeve grinned, ‘is our way into the armoury. What do you say we go get what we need to end this nightmare?’
Chapter 11
MONDAY, AUGUST 3
10 DAYS
I rolled over in the bed, eyes shut, trying to find a position where the mattress springs didn’t dig into me so much. It was late now, probably around midnight. I’d been drifting in and out for a couple of hours now, too preoccupied to rest properly.
Finally, we were getting somewhere. After weeks of just treading water, we finally had a solid direction to head in, something that could make a real difference in the fight against Shackleton. Reeve had a couple more meetings up on the surface, and then he and Tank were coming down here tomorrow afternoon to figure out a plan. An actual plan, with a beginning, middle and end, which was kind of new territory for us.
I pulled a scratchy blanket over my shoulder, listening to the gentle rhythm of Luke’s breathing from the bed next to mine. He finally seemed to have fallen asleep.
Mike, meanwhile, still hadn’t come in from the surveillance room. It wasn’t like him to sit in there pining for his family. He barely even spoke about them, as though the only way he could cope was to shut them out of his mind altogether. Mostly he sat in the bedroom, drawing in his sketchbook, but even that was a frustration now with his injured hand. The floor under his bed was littered with scrunched-up paper.
I tried not to think about it. But after several minutes of turning it over in my head, I realised I was never going to get to sleep until I’d seen what he was really doing out there.
I sat up, grunting as one of the mattress springs jarred the newly-acquired bruise on my shoulder. I’d picked it up earlier tonight when I’d gone to see Bill and take him some food. Like Luke had predicted, he wasn’t interested in talking.
I’d asked him about Tobias. He’d shot me a disdainful look and said that ‘wasn’t his concern’. I’d tried to push the issue, but all I’d got was more indecipherable shouting and another computer monitor thrown at me. Phoenix’s healing powers would take care of the bruise soon enough, but right now it was just one more little hassle.
And for what? The one person down here who might give us a chance of finding Tobias, and he was too busy smashing at walls to help us.
I froze in the bedroom doorway, hesitant to let Luke out of my sight. Let him sleep, said the rational part of my brain. You’ll be ten metres away.
I started towards the surveillance room, but then something made me change course and I found myself heading for the other bedroom instead. I eased the door open and peered inside. Georgia was murmuring in her sleep, curled up next to Mum. I thought of Dad, sleeping at gunpoint on a chair in the town hall. Counting on me to keep them safe.
I knew he’d only said it to be encouraging. He wasn’t trying to burden me with anything. But he didn’t need to. I’d already been carrying that around with me since day one.
‘You too?’ said a voice in the darkness.
I whirled around, heart pounding, then breathed again as I realised who’d spoken. Amy was sitting up in her bunk, staring into space again.
‘Sorry,’ I whispered. ‘Did I wake you?’
She waved the question away. ‘No. I was awake.’
Her voice was more controlled than I’d heard it in weeks, almost none of the speeding and slowing that had haunted it since the fallout took hold.
‘Are you doing okay?’ I asked. ‘You seem like you’ve been a bit out of it lately.’
Amy smiled. She’d turned to look at me, but it was like she was staring straight through my head and out the other side. I shivered, bringing a hand up to my face to remind myself that I was still here.
‘It’s funny.’ She crossed her legs under the blanket, dark hair tumbling over her shoulders. ‘This thing –
whatever’s happening to me – you know, I was always so obsessive at school. About everything. My classes, my gymnastics, my music. Just obsessed with achieving. And there was never enough time for it. I was like this constant battle, trying to be better, smarter, faster.’
‘Faster.’
‘I know. Be careful what you wish for, right? But that’s the thing. It’s like the fallout gave me exactly what I wanted, but now none of those things even matter anymore. And not just because the school’s abandoned and the teachers have been captured by terrorists. This speed thing – you all think of it as me being fast. But to me, it’s not like that. It’s like the whole universe has slowed down. Like my life has finally slowed down enough for me to stop and pay attention to the important stuff.’
‘And what’s the important stuff?’ I asked.
‘I don’t know,’ said Amy, smiling again. ‘Still working on that one.’ She tilted her head, sending ripples through her hair. ‘Anyway, don’t you want to go check on her?’
‘Check on who?’
‘Cathryn. She left ten minutes ago. Usually she’ll talk to me, but – anyway, I thought that was why you were here.’
My eyes shot to her empty bed. ‘Wonderful.’
Amy started to apologise, but I was already out in the corridor.
Mike and Cathryn, both out of bed. That couldn’t be good news. But they’d barely even spoken to each other for over a week, so why the sudden change?
I ducked into the surveillance room. There was Mike, over in a corner, deep in a whispered conversation with Soren. But no Cathryn.
‘What do you want?’ said Soren, spotting me.
‘Where’s Cathryn?’
‘How should we know?’ said Mike.
‘But – crap,’ I said, realising where she must have gone. I darted back out, racing down the corridor towards Peter’s room. Part of me wondered whether I should stay back to figure out what Mike and Soren were up to but, no, Cathryn and Peter were the more immediate problem right now, and unfortunately I couldn’t be in two places at once. Not on purpose, anyway.
It wasn’t long before I heard voices booming up the passageway. ‘How many times do you need me to say it, Cat? I can’t.’
‘Yes you can,’ said Cathryn. ‘You can get up right now and walk out of this room. We’ll go together.’
‘No,’ said Peter.
I slowed down, just around the corner from Peter’s doorway.
‘Why are you doing this? Why are you letting them treat you like an animal?’ Cathryn’s voice was thick with tears. ‘Come on, Pete. Please. Come with me.’
‘No. Not like this. I’m not leaving her.’
My fist clenched against the wall.
‘Oh, honestly,’ spat Cathryn, ‘you think Jordan cares about you? You think she’s keeping you locked up in here because she wants you or something?’
‘As if you would have any idea what –’
‘Have you seen her and Luke together?’
A surge of heat swelled in my stomach. I strode around the corner, breaking in before this went completely to pieces. ‘Peter? What’s going on?’
They were sitting together on the bed. Cathryn was a wreck. As soon as Peter saw me, he leapt away from her, holding out his hands like he was trying to fend her off. ‘Get out.’
Cathryn spluttered and stood up. ‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry, okay? I’m trying to help –’
‘Get out of here!’
‘Look at him!’ she screamed, turning on me. ‘Look what you’re doing to him!’
‘Cathryn…’ I caught her arm as she pushed past, lowering my voice to a whisper. ‘Not now. Please. I’ll talk to you –’
‘Don’t bother,’ she said, shoving past me.
Peter watched her go, waiting until her footsteps faded out. ‘She wanted me to run away,’ he said. ‘She wanted me to break out, but I didn’t. I stayed.’
He sat back down, and I was so tempted to just walk out and shut the door on him. So sick of these blatant attempts to score points with me. But that was always the choice, wasn’t it? Stick around and validate it or walk away and risk infuriating him even more.
‘Thanks,’ I said, letting go of the door.
Peter stretched out a hand as I came over. ‘I won’t leave you, Jordan. I’ll find a way to bring down the cameras again. I will. And then we’ll go out there and get our parents back.’
‘Yeah,’ I said, ignoring the hand. ‘You keep trying.’ More and more, it seemed like a pointless exercise, but at least it gave him something to do. ‘Anyway. I should get back to bed.’
‘Wait.’ Peter stood up. He took a steadying breath, like he had something important to say, then rested his hands heavily on my arms. ‘I’m sorry. For all of it. All this – Whatever’s happening to me. I know I keep stuffing up. I get it. But I’m trying, Jordan. You know that, right? You have to let me keep trying. Because if you give up on me…’ He swallowed hard, eyes boring into me. ‘I need you, Jordan. I can’t do it on my own.’
He snaked his hands around my waist. I returned the hug, just for a second, then leant back to release him. Peter leant with me, moving us around. I took a backwards step, felt the cold steel of the bed frame behind my knees, and a second later I was down on the mattress with Peter on top of me.
I twisted under him. ‘Peter –!’
His mouth came down against mine.
I grabbed him by the shirt, trying to push him away, but he held on, lips working furiously, one hand rubbing up and down my arm and the other moving to my face. His body pressed against me, a writhing, paralysing weight.
Peter’s eyes stayed closed, either not noticing or not wanting to notice me fighting to shove him off. I parted my lips to yell at him again, and he took the opportunity to force his tongue into my mouth.
I hesitated just a second and then bit down hard.
Peter screamed into my mouth. He scrambled off me, spitting blood onto the concrete. ‘What was that for?’
‘Don’t,’ I said, getting up, shaking with anger, backing out of the room as he approached me again. ‘Don’t touch me.’
‘Wait! Jordan, no, please –’
I slammed the door on him, leaning against it while I dragged the first barricade over with my foot. I shoved it into the brackets, grabbed the second one, and stood up to find Peter’s face filling the gap in the door.
‘I’m sorry!’ he said. ‘I thought we were –’
‘Go to bed, Peter.’
I smashed the barricade down across the door and walked away.
Chapter 12
TUESDAY, AUGUST 4
9 DAYS
‘All right,’ said Reeve, sticking the cap on the whiteboard marker in his hand. ‘That’s about it. What do you think?’
We were standing around a cracked marble table down in some old back room of the research module, listening to Reeve outline our way into the armoury. All of us except Mum and Georgia, who were up the other end of the Complex, probably reading some of the ‘picture books’ the two of them had been making in PowerPoint on one of the laptops.
I could tell Mum was torn about it – she wanted to be in on the planning as much as anyone – but the last thing Georgia needed to hear was more talk about guards and guns.
Reeve had been drawing on the table as he went, sketching out a diagram of the armoury. I looked it over again, taking it all in.
Two storeys. Weapons on the ground floor, vehicles on top, with a ramp running up the outside to let them in and out. Four guards on duty at any given time; two inside and two guarding the perimeter.
We were going to break in, grab what we needed, then load it into a few skids (the fire-fighting units Calvin’s men used out in the bush), and make a break for it down the second-floor ramp.
‘It’s a good plan,’ I said, looking up again. ‘Good as we’re going to get it, anyway.’
There were nods from around the table.
‘Okay, great,’ Reeve said. ‘So. Numbers. We’ve got
Kara, Jack and myself as our designated drivers, plus Amy as runner. Luke, Jordan, I’m assuming you guys are in? That gives us six.’
‘I’m coming,’ said Soren, speaking up for the first time since we’d started. ‘And so is Michael.’
Mike’s head jerked in surprise, but he didn’t argue.
‘Yeah,’ said Tank, ‘me too, boss.’
Reeve held up a hand. ‘No. Too many. Sorry guys, but we can’t afford to get slowed down by a crowd.’
‘Screw that!’ said Mike. ‘If Soren wants to go, he’s –’
‘Oi!’ Tank barked, glaring at him. ‘You shut up and do what he says.’
Mike raised his crippled hand to give Tank the finger, and Tank’s anger evaporated. Mike stared at his missing digits, realising what he’d done. He jerked the hand away, looking sick.
‘He’s coming,’ I said, breaking the uncomfortable silence that followed. ‘Soren’s with us.’
Luke looked at me like I’d gone insane.
‘Trust me,’ I breathed. I didn’t want Soren to come with us, but something told me leaving him and Mike down here together was an even worse idea. Better to split them up. ‘Soren’s coming. But Mike stays.’
‘Fine,’ said Soren, stifling the argument halfway out of Mike’s mouth.
‘What about me, boss?’ Tank asked Reeve.
‘Stay here,’ I said, before Reeve could answer. I walked around to his side of the table. ‘Keep an eye on my mum and my sister. And keep an eye on them,’ I said, pointing at Mike and Cathryn. ‘Make sure no-one goes in to see Peter. And if anyone comes to the entrance, if anyone figures out we’re here, you run, down into the panic room, and you hide my family until we get back.’
‘Boss?’ Tank asked.
Reeve nodded. ‘Do it.’
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