“The timestamp…” Lucas muttered. “It says January 2nd, 2015…are these…shipping containers?”
“Yes,” Viktor answered.
“Where did you get access to these?”
Viktor didn’t answer, but Lucas continued clicking through the photos. Suddenly, he glanced up at Viktor with wide eyes and looked him up and down.
“There’s no way. There’s no way you are who I think you are.”
“I am who you think I am,” Viktor said with a smile tugging at his lips.
“Viktor Ivankov?”
His voice sounded so dazed. Viktor nodded in response.
“I can’t believe this,” he muttered. “You, the most elusive person in the country, are sitting right here across from me in my own house.”
“Believe it,” Viktor said. Lucas handed him back the laptop.
“How did you meet Rachel?”
“We kidnapped her and Owen,” Natasha answered flatly.
I began to laugh, as did everyone else.
“Natasha and I saw them in traffic and followed them to the hotel they were staying at. We watched Grey and Briana leave, and we decided to be patient to see if Rachel and Owen would come out of their hotel room. Luckily for us, they walked around the corner to a hot dog stand. We snatched them at the back entrance of the hotel.”
“Thanks for letting me finish my hot dog, by the way,” I teased him sarcastically.
“Sorry you didn’t devour it like Owen did.”
Owen…hearing his name made me want to burst into tears. Speaking of the night before his death brought back so many memories. It was too fresh in my mind, and it was so difficult to accept the truth—that he wasn’t coming back.
“Oh. I’m sorry, Rachel.”
I turned to Viktor, wiping my eyes as they started glistening.
“It’s fine. I—I’m fine,” I stammered.
What a flat out lie. I wasn’t fine. I wasn’t anything close to being fine. Every passing moment I felt like I was falling apart, but externally, I was trying to hold the pieces together.
“We didn’t even know you had these files…” Lucas mumbled.
Viktor’s eyebrows quirked. “I find that kind of hard to believe. Veronica wouldn’t have wanted to catch me so badly if she didn’t know I had proof.”
“You would be surprised at how much we don’t know,” he countered. “We are their worker bees. We do as we are told and collect the Intel. There are things that we aren’t told, believe it or not. I was just beginning to piece together Veronica’s involvement when the bombs went off at the debate. After that, it all became clear to me. Veronica wasn’t the only one behind this. She was given temporary control over the entire CIA by the Commander in Chief himself. Obama is in on this plan, too.”
Oh, how his words made the world seem so bleak. How could we possibly stop their army with an article? I didn’t know for certain, but my dad instilled in me how invaluable the truth was, and I would also keep my promise to Owen—write the story.
“That doesn’t surprise me,” Natasha huffed.
“I walked into work every day feeling like I was drowning,” he said. “I left feeling the exact same way. My hands were tied behind my back. I couldn’t tell my wife, nor my children. I couldn’t tell anyone. The day Owen was arrested in Miami, I stood up to her in front of the control room. I can still hear the clacking of her heels as she walked over to me and then whispered threats into my ear. She threatened my family.”
“She killed the only family I had left,” I spoke up. The words felt like glass as they left my mouth. It was excruciating to say it out loud.
“I know,” Lucas replied with a somber expression. “I’m assuming that’s half the reason you are here.”
I nodded. “The other half is Owen.”
His green eyes locked with my own, and in that moment, I felt the same sensation as when I talked to him on the phone earlier today. He understood. The volatile mix of pain and hatred, he felt it too. I took a deep breath to steady the surge of emotions coursing through me.
“Lucas,” I began slowly. “The most important question I have for you is, how can you get us close enough to Veronica Hall to take her out?”
“Well, that is a very good question. When you and Owen were still on the run, her schedule was regimented. Now, from what a few of my coworkers are saying, she is just popping in here and there. That could be a problem for us.
“Why?” Grey asked. Lucas shot a confused glance back at him.
“Because, that means we would have to follow her outside of the CIA and risk being spotted. Wherever we end up deciding to do this, most likely we will need an ID to get in. My CIA clearance can get me in just about anywhere, but the problem is everything is palm or iris scanner nowadays.”
We stayed quiet. No one responded. He glanced around at all of us as if we were crazy.
“What?”
“Do you think that makes it difficult or something?” Viktor questioned.
“Uh, yeah!” he exclaimed. “One wrong move in a system as sensitive as that and you could get yourself screwed. How you could possibly fool an iris scanner is beyond me.”
“There are ways,” Natasha said with a cocky smirk.
His forehead was still scrunched up in disbelief.
“Do you guys really think you are capable of pulling this off?”
“Of course,” Viktor answered. “I am the muscle. I’m not afraid to do what I have to do.”
I decided to chime in. “You are looking at the best of the best, Lucas. We have two hackers.” I nodded in the direction of Natasha and Grey. “Briana makes fake IDs and documents that can fool even the keenest eye. That is how we have gotten this far unscathed.”
Lucas’s eyes met my own, and there was a seriousness about his demeanor.
“And what about you?”
My jaw clenched as he asked the question, and the answer came to me instantly.
“I’m the one that’s going to pull the trigger.”
“Truth is treason in an empire of lies.”
- 21 -
Today was a teacher workday. That meant a three-day weekend for me. Halloween was Monday, too. I would get to hang out with my friends. All of us agreed it wasn’t cool anymore to dress up, but we still wanted the candy. We were going to skateboard from house to house. We didn’t need costumes. We would just be skaters.
I opened up a new tab on the internet and typed in YouTube. My history auto-filled it, and it went to my channel. I checked it all the time now. I finally had over two thousand subscribers. I could get ad shares from YouTube, where they paid me monthly. I liked the idea of not even being fourteen yet and having more money than my friends. Thank God for the video.
The day I filmed Owen on CNN, I uploaded it onto YouTube. It had been a week and it already had over fifty million views, and it kept going higher every day. I was blown away by all of this. I had no idea it would become so popular. All the kids at school had seen it, and they knew it was me. I felt like a celebrity.
My Dad told me he didn’t think it was a good idea to put it on the internet, but my mom disagreed. She mentioned something about the greater good, and that not putting it out there for everyone to see would be a waste of our first amendment. I was just glad Mom stood up for me. Random people kept trolling in the comments saying that the video was fake. Then there were others who warned to share the video as quickly as possible because the government would take it down. I had watched it so many times in the past week I thought I finally understood why they were warning me to begin with.
If Owen really was innocent, even if he was dead now, they wouldn’t want people finding out. Whoever Veronica was, I was sure she wouldn’t want to be all over the internet. Every time I heard Owen say what he said about the Confinement in the video, the fear it gave me was unimaginable. He said they never meant to let us out to begin with. I didn’t want to go back. Those three months gave me nightmares as it is.
For now, everything would be al
l right. I was going to forget about what Owen said in the video for the first time since it happened. I deserved to enjoy my time off and not worry.
I could smell the chicken tenders cooking downstairs. My mom was making me lunch. My friend Colby was coming over at twelve when he got out of his orthodontist appointment. Maybe he would bring over his new videogame too. That way we could go skateboarding while it was still warm outside and play the videogame in my room after. I scrolled through some more of the comments while I waited for my food to be ready. I kept seeing the word conspiracy written in every other comment.
I opened another tab and Googled Owen Marina Conspiracy. It pulled up millions of results in a fraction of a second. I began clicking on different articles and reading.
They all said the same thing. That not only was Owen innocent—he was framed.
My stomach flopped from the stuff I saw. Why would our government do such a thing? Why would they want to keep us in the Camps? Who knows? I sure didn’t.
I heard the sound of doors closing outside. I stood up and walked over to the blinds and peered through. There were two men in black suits wearing matching sunglasses. I could see nothing but the reflection of the house off of their dark lenses. I wondered if they had the wrong address. Their black GMC Yukon was parked in my driveway. My heart began to race. I ran outside my room and leaned over the railing that looked out on the foyer.
“Mom!” I yelled. No one responded. I heard the sound of the vacuum downstairs. She couldn’t hear me.
“Mom!” I put more energy into it, and the vacuum cut off.
“What, honey?”
“Someone’s here!”
Whoever they were, I didn’t have a good feeling about why they were coming to visit.
Lucas appeared as he made it down the last few steps of the staircase. He rounded the corner with two pizza boxes in hand. When he got closer, I saw how much more pronounced the bags under his eyes were. Maybe what he said last night was true, that every time he went to work he felt like he was drowning.
His wife had brought us down some plates of leftovers around six, but she didn’t say much. She seemed uncomfortable around us. I had been anxiously waiting all day for Lucas’s return. I just hoped he had some information regarding Veronica, because every day that passed, was another day closer to the election.
As difficult as it was for me to handle, I watched the news today. That was when I discovered that Owen had been right. The stunt that cost him his life actually worked. According to what I saw today, the morning Owen barged into the newscast, the Convergence Party polls were twenty-nine percent. Republicans were twenty-one percent while democrats claimed fifty. One week later, the Convergence Party had forty-one percent, equal to the democrats, and the republicans dropped three points.
If only he were here to see it.
Perhaps, after my little stunt, we would be able to give the Convergence Party the push it needed to defeat the democrats in the election. I prayed so, because after everything I have learned I knew the outcome would be deadly if we didn’t.
“I got one cheese and one pepperoni,” Lucas announced. No one got any right away, but Natasha glanced around at all of us before she stood up and grabbed a slice.
“I can never turn down pizza,” she shrugged.
I wasn’t hungry. I probably wouldn’t be until Lucas told us how his day at work was. We were all restless—at least I was. We were cooped up in here all day watching TV and Netflix. Viktor and Grey played his PlayStation 4.
“So,” I began. “How was work?”
A small smirk began to tug at his lips before he spoke. That alone was enough to ease the anxious pit in my gut.
“It went better than I expected.”
“That’s great,” I gasped. “What went on?”
“I went in and began work like usual. I haven’t been there in a week, so I had to be brought up to speed by my colleagues. Interestingly enough, although they still have you on the wanted list, Rachel, you aren’t their primary concern anymore—Viktor is.”
“I should be,” he laughed. “What changed?”
“Veronica is pretty certain the quote on the billboard in Atlanta was your doing, and she wants you gone. I could tell just by her disposition that she was worried that you are still out there.”
“Good. I want her to be worried. Serves her right after what she did to me.”
“Indeed,” Lucas said. “So, after working around Veronica for so long, I already know her routine. She takes her lunch break half an hour earlier than we do. I walked past the hallway where her office is, and she left her door cracked. I went to her desktop and bugged her computer.”
“Nice,” Grey added.
“It gets better,” he continued. “Veronica typically only works for eight hours. I work for twelve. So, whenever she left, I snuck back into her office and retrieved the information I needed. I found something golden.”
“Which was?” Natasha asked, nervously twirling the black strands of hair that fell from her bun.
“An email from the Chairman of the Republican Party, Marc Fleming, reminding her of the meeting Monday morning at ten on the second floor boardroom of the EPA headquarters. It is to debrief on everything that has happened up to this point, and then a brief on what the plan of action will be after the election is won.”
“That’s great!” Viktor exclaimed. “Now we know where she is going to be.”
Lucas’s smile began to fade, and he glanced around at all of us.
“There is one downside, though…”
“What?” I asked.
“My CIA ID can get me into the EPA, no problem, except it will cause attention to whoever is using it. If Veronica is in the building, I am sure security will be tight. What we really need is an EPA ID. It would allow us to slide by unnoticed.”
“How do we get one?” Natasha asked.
“Well, that’s the problem. I just hope the person I have in mind is willing to help. She was actually the person who gave me the information to fax Ian in the first place. It took a little coaxing, but it didn’t take long to get the truth out of her. Veronica had threatened her since Black Monday if she were to tell anyone. She was sworn to secrecy. Veronica gave her sole access to the room where the actual files from the Black Monday cleanup were kept. Her office is also on the second floor, the same floor the meeting is being held.”
“Who is this woman?” Grey asked.
“Her name is Megan Walling—”
Grey began to cough as if he was choking, and Lucas stared at him perplexed before continuing.
“When she finally told the truth, she broke down in tears. She told me she felt guilty about what they were doing to Owen, framing him for a crime he didn’t commit. She said he was her ex, ironically enough.”
My forehead scrunched up and my eyebrows quirked. His ex?
“Wait, are you serious?”
“I am,” Lucas replied. “At least, that is what she told me. She said they were in love.”
Grey finally composed himself enough to speak.
“He’s serious. I met her when they were still in college together.”
Jealousy seethed through my veins. The only thing I recalled him telling me about his ex was the day I met him, when we were driving to Briana’s, before we totaled my car. He said he only had one girlfriend since he was twenty-one. He never told me how long, or that he was in love. I wondered what she looked like. Was she prettier than me?
My thoughts spiraled on.
“It’s perfect,” Briana spoke up, and we all turned to her. “You have to get her in on this, Lucas. I can take her ID and put Rachel’s picture on it. That would get her past reception initially, right?”
“Presumably,” he said.
“Then, if Megan is working the day of the meeting, she can use her own iris, or her own palm to get Rachel into wherever she needs.”
Lucas nodded, and a smile began to emerge.
“You are exactly right,” he sai
d.
I pondered Briana’s suggestion. I knew Owen loved me, as I did him, but the thought that at one point he loved Megan made me cringe. Why would I want to even be in the same room with her? Stop—I told myself. We needed her help to take down Veronica.
“Natasha and I can hack into the EPA’s system,” Grey blurted, looking around at all of us. “Just so we can keep an eye on everything.”
Natasha smiled in reaction to his statement.
“That sounds like a good idea,” she agreed.
“Do you know what would make the payback even sweeter?” Viktor asked Lucas.
“What?”
“If we sent all of my files to Ian from one of the fax machines at the EPA.”
“That will be a blow to their gut,” Natasha chuckled. “Sending the truth from the same agency that helped cover it up.”
“Exactly,” he said, smiling. “After everything they have put me through, I would love more than anything to be the one that pulls the trigger…but I think we all know Rachel deserves to do the honors.”
I pursed my lips and gave them a nod. No words were needed.
“All right then,” Lucas said. “Let’s get to work. First, I have to contact Megan.”
- 22 -
I shoved my hands deeper in my jacket pockets. The wind was blowing against me. It wasn’t even winter yet, and I was already ready for summer. After nearly a decade of living here, the mid-Atlantic winters had worn out their welcome. Everything felt dead. I walked between the tables outside of the restaurant that were normally filled with people in the summer, but now were vacant. I could already see the red glow from the lights inside.
This was one of Megan’s favorite restaurants, apparently. It happened to be one of mine too. I opened the door, and the warmth enveloped me. There were abstract shapes of red, orange, and white placed along the walls. The whole vibe was contemporary. I was bombarded with the intoxicating smells of ginger, curry, and the brininess of soy sauce. A mix of cooked meats wafted through the air along with it. My stomach trembled at the thought, and as I rounded the hostess stand, my stomach trembled at another thought. Would Megan help us?
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