Cardinal, (Citizen Saga, Book 2)

by Claire, Nicola

  But as tears streamed down her cheeks and her body trembled in my embrace I couldn't do it.

  Not when it meant she had nowhere else to turn to but us. Me.

  I'm not a saint. I'm sure as hell not a model Elite. Lena was exactly where I wanted her.

  Within my reach.

  Chapter 14

  But For One Thing

  Lena

  Drones were everywhere. Clogging up the streets. Rounding up those few Citizens still brave enough to be out and ordering them home. Or simply arresting them if they challenged the Cardinals too strenuously. All it took was a defiant attitude and the drones clamped a hand on their shoulder and demanded to iRec.

  "Shit," Trent muttered from our vantage point overlooking utter devastation disguised as a city street. "This is bad."

  Yes, it was. And I couldn't help feeling it was all because of me. Or at least, us. I watched as mayhem erupted and the drones marched in and quashed the spirits of all those crying out for a better Wánměi, and I knew this war was too big. Too deadly. Too much for a handful of Citizen rebels and just one Elite.

  Despondency is not an emotion I recognise easily, but I felt it there, standing above a city falling into chaos. I felt it deep within my aching heart.

  For long seconds we watched, bearing witness to what could only be called atrocities. Knowing there was nothing, not a thing, we could do to help these people tonight. Praying they obeyed outwardly, and kept the fires burning for liberty hidden away inside.

  "We have to move, Lena," Trent finally urged. "Staying in one place now is not an option."

  "Travelling carries its hazards, too," I countered.

  "Then what do you suggest? It won't take them long to look above the streets and find us. And walking on them is also out. But watching? If we can see them, they can see us."

  He was right. We had to move. But making it all the way back to Little D'awa from here was a big ask. I wasn't sure we could accomplish it, even though it was still dark. The fewer Citizens on the streets now made anyone who walked them stand out. We had to hide.

  "Muhgah Foh," I said, feeling slightly ill at the thought of bringing danger back to Li Xiu Ying, her little sister, and Zhang Jun. Not to mention the other families who lived peacefully in that apartment complex.

  Hadn't I done enough already?

  Trent nodded his head slowly next to me, his agreement couched in understanding. He might have asked multiple questions in the van earlier this evening, mentioning the zebra-lookalikes' ages again and again with disappointment in his tone, but he was also injured, like me. Feeling the effects of the drone's laser beam as the opiate dose it had been laced with moved through our veins.

  And he had a steely look in his eye whenever he glanced at me. A sense of conviction that I couldn't help thinking meant he'd realised something important tonight. Of course, I was sure that it involved me.

  Alan had warned me, when I first arrived in the rebel base at Tehteh, that Trent would always put the rebellion first. I had to hope his goals hadn't shifted, because I wasn't sure if I could handle destroying another person's ideals on top of all those who had decided my image equalled their freedom somehow.

  I'd caused dissension within our society. Not intentionally. But I had.

  "OK," Trent said, taking another brief look down at the street we stood above. "Any idea how we reach it from here?"

  Muhgah Foh was the next suburb over, but that didn't mean Muhgah Foh Road, where Xiu Ying lived, was close. We still had at least three kilometres to cover, thankfully all of those taking us further away from Wáikěiton.

  "We cut through the hospital," I advised, receiving a raised eyebrow from Trent.

  "The hospital where Cardinals will no doubt be swarming hoping to see if we turn up injured?"

  I smiled, it felt a little off.

  "Exactly why we do it."

  "You're crazy. And reckless. You have a death wish and I'm not sure I can prevent it from being fulfilled."

  "But you'll follow me anyway?" I guessed, stalling what was patently going to be a tirade.

  He blinked, stared down at me, and then smiled.

  "I'd follow you anywhere, Zebra."

  I rolled my eyes, listening to him softly chuckle beside me, allowing myself this moment before we ventured out into our fucked-up world.

  "We avoid the Emergency Department," I finally said. "The Ambulance bays," I added. "Around the side of the buildings that are predominantly outpatient clinics and offices."

  "OK," Trent offered simply. "Lead on."

  It was strangely comforting to have him at my back. To know he trusted me, at least in this, enough to let me lead. Trent was used to people following his orders, but he continued to surprise me with his ability to also allow them to use their heads. Maybe he recognised I knew how to hide. Having spent many years stealing into high security buildings and stealing off with high tech prizes, he realised I could get from one side of the city to the other on a curfew night.

  Tonight may not have started out curfew, but there was no denying that it was now. So many drones. Even as we slid unobserved through the shadows between the National Eye Centre and the National Cancer Centre I could hear their distant synchronised beat. The metal of their booted feet marching across concrete, echoing off the walls. With every thud and consequent thrum throughout my body my heartbeat climbed.

  The rain hadn't abated, which was both good and bad. Good, because it added an extra layer of safety; our detection harder in the lowered visibility it provided. Bad, because we almost walked into a stationary drone as we rounded a silent corner on the hospital grounds, having not picked up on his shadow through the downpour. The lush surroundings, planted with beautiful tropical bushes and trees to break up the monotone colouring of the structures, provided excellent cover, though. Even when we had to take it with our heart between our teeth.

  I swallowed thickly as I observed the drone, listening to its ominous buzzing through the leaves of a Heliconia bush. The unusual scent of the orange flowers invaded my nostrils and did nothing to calm my nerves or release the tension in my frame. But despite our near miss, the drone's helmet light did not start flashing.

  Several seconds later we backtracked quietly and took an alternate route through the hospital grounds. By the time we made it out, onto the other side at the Mid Island Motorway, fatigue had set in. Neither of us talking, just breathing deeply, mentally willing ourselves to keep going, to keep watching out, to keep alert.

  Trent had stopped updating Si some time ago, or maybe they'd decided on silence while the streets teemed with so many Cardinals and drones. Both Shiloh and Wang Chao doubtlessly watching the city right now. In any case, Trent's lack of comments or verbal encouragements made the heavy and thick night air seem oppressive. The sooner we were off the streets the better.

  But first we had to cross a six lane highway.

  I sucked in a deep breath of air.

  "Make a run for it? Or find an overpass and risk a spotlight?" I asked quietly.

  Trent seemed to jerk at my words, as though he hadn't expected me to talk at all. I turned slightly to get a better look at him. It was hard to tell if the moisture coating his features was because of the precipitation or sweat. But the paleness to his cheeks let me think mostly the latter.

  He was also favouring one side, not gripping his arm so much, but leaning one shoulder back further than the other, making him appear hunchbacked. I wanted to check his laser injury, but like mine, we just didn't have time to administer first aid.

  "Run for it," he finally said, a choice that I may have agreed with, but meant we'd still spend a good portion of time out in the open. I glanced up at the sky, rain landing in my eyes making me blink, but it didn't matter if the moon and stars were out, the Motorway was well lit.

  With nothing else to do but go forward, I checked the stretch of road, not unusually quiet now that curfew had been effected, and took off at a run. With every pound of my foot on the tarseal I
was sure a cannon was going off. My body jolted as though hit by a bullet, my head thumped along with the rapid beat of my pulse, my teeth clacked together jarring my jaw. Rain fell into my eyes decreasing vision, the lights of the street lamps seemed too bright through the haze, the sound of sirens in the distance way too close.

  I'd chosen a section of the highway between two street-cams, timing our mad dash when the heavens opened up a little harder. It made the going slick and treacherous, especially the median strip with its abundance of bushes and smooth leaved plants. But I was sure something would have been picked up on the Overseers' vid-screens, anyway. Movement like this tonight would raise alarm.

  With that in mind I kept running once we'd made it to the other side, surprisingly still in one piece. I didn't stop until we were well within the maze of multiple identical apartment buildings, their high-rise sides offering a modicum of shelter from the rain. I slumped against a concrete wall, feeling no cooler for the movement. The concrete had simply retained the heat of the day.

  I blinked tired eyes up at Trent, who was just as breathless as me, and then smiled. We were almost there now. The smile vanishing as he sank to his knees, face blanched of all colour, eyes tightly closed as he clung to the wall with one clawed hand.

  I crouched down immediately, my hand coming out and resting automatically on his shoulder and making him let out a sound so wretched that I felt his pain along with him. My fingers sprang back, recoiling at having been the cause of his agony.

  "I'm sorry," I whispered, hearing those sirens getting closer and closer still. I frantically took in our surroundings and then flicked concerned eyes back to Trent.

  We weren't going to make it. Two blocks, that's all there was left. Most of it between apartment buildings and off the city streets. It should have been so easy.

  I scanned the area, my eyes finally alighting on a maintenance door across the way. Rechecking our surroundings, I whispered an, "I'll be back," to Trent and took off in a sprint, sliding the last few feet to the door through a puddle.

  My decoder was out and connected within seconds, despite my fingers shaking and my head wanting to explode from all the stress. There wouldn't be a couch inside with a half eaten packet of biscuits to keep us going. But hopefully there'd be somewhere to hide.

  As the door clicked open and darkness loomed on the other side, I also knew that this could be a huge mistake. The basement under this particular complex may only having one accessway, and should the drones search it, we'd have no way to escape.

  I looked back over my shoulder taking in the slumped and now non-moving form of Trent and knew we didn't have a choice. I propped the door open with a stone and then ran back across the clearing, reaching down to Trent's good side to haul him up off the ground.

  He groaned, and stirred enough to carry some of his own weight. The going was hard and slow, though, much slower than I wanted out in the open like this. Even between two tall apartment buildings, I felt way too exposed. But we made it, Trent more aware as we slipped into the darkness and the door closed with a quiet click at our backs. The last glimpse I had of the outside was of an empty stretch of grass and concrete paths, with no ominous red light flashing through the rain.

  I leaned Trent up against the wall and went in search of a light switch. It took me several minutes to find one. I blinked back white spots as my eyes adjusted to the harsh glare, realising I'd walked some distance away from Trent to locate the toggle.

  It took a second for me to comprehend what I was seeing. To align the image I'd had inside my head of a basement utility space under a residential apartment complex with this. I'd expected the pipes, lagged like they'd been in Xiu Ying's building. I was prepared for the cinder blocks, having felt their roughness under my fingertips as I felt my way to the light switch. I knew concrete had surrounded me, no illumination coming from the outside, just pitch black. I'd told myself we'd be sleeping on it.

  But what I had not expected was a replica of Xiu Ying's hideaway. An almost mirror image of the teenager's base of operations. A table, small packets of food and bottles of water, overstuffed, threadbare armchairs and a dusty, half broken couch.

  All of which could have belonged to the maintenance team. A break room in amongst the pipes they had to tend.

  But for one thing.

  The oversized graffitied image of a black and white zebra, spray painted on the cold grey brick wall.

  Chapter 15

  Sweet Dreams

  Trent

  I felt like shit. Aching, exhausted, sick to my stomach. Halfway between a Serenity high gone wrong and Tyger cigarette withdrawals. I was so fucking sure I would vomit.

  Until I heard Lena suck in a surprised breath of air.

  Out of nowhere I found stamina, hidden reserves still untapped. My feet echoed as I ran toward her gasp, my heart pounding with every torturous step, my back aching as the duffel bag banged down on my laser gun injury, sending shooting stabs of pain right up into my fucking head.

  I gulped bile back down and blinked through the too fucking bright lights in this God-awful place Lena had dragged us into, and then slowly followed her stunned and slightly hypnotised gaze.

  She was staring at graffiti. Graffiti hidden inside this concrete tomb. My eyes scanned the rest of the area quickly identifying where we were. A basement of an apartment complex, somewhere within Muhgah Foh.

  "It's a zebra," she said and I spun my head back to look at the image again, realising, with a jolt of shock, that she was correct.

  "Maybe they like zoo animals," I offered.

  She shook her head, strands of wet hair flapping about her cheeks. She was drenched. My eyes automatically swept down her body, stalling on her soaked t-shirt, on the way the material moulded to her very fine breasts.

  And suddenly I wasn't tired anymore.

  I took a step closer, my gaze locked on the pebbled peaks of her nipples showing through the clinging fabric of her wet top. Hypnotised myself now. Before I realised what I was doing, my finger was hovering over her left breast, reaching toward her straining nipple.

  Her face turned, pale blue eyes opened wide, eyebrows arched.

  "What are you doing?" she asked, her Elite tone echoing off the walls.

  I blinked. Looked at my suspended finger. Frowned. Looked at where it was heading. And leapt back.

  "Ah," I managed, my hands firmly behind my back.

  Lena's turn to step closer, her face tipped up to mine, her lips parted. For a second I thought she was about to kiss me, and my body was so on aboard with that. Then she stared hard into my eyes and her lips thinned.

  "Dilated pupils," she offered.

  "It's bright in here," I countered.

  "So," she said, drawing the word out as though trying to make a point. My eyes darted down to her nipples on that excellent thought. "They should be pinpoint, not dilated," she added, her fingers cupping my jaw and bringing my gaze back up to hers.

  "What?"

  She smiled. It was fucking fantastic. I moved closer.

  She stepped away. I felt my brows furrow.

  "Sit down, Trent," she said, nodding towards the couch. "You've been dosed with an opiate."

  Oh, shit. I scrubbed my hand over my face and sucked in a deep breath. Then shrugged out of the duffel bag, welcoming the pain it caused as it cleared my head.

  "Now what?" I said, still not trusting myself to sit down. If I sat down, I'd flake out. I was sure of that.

  "Now we rest," she offered, taking a seat in one of the armchairs.

  The couch looked too comfortable in my current exhausted and drugged up state, so I reluctantly took the chair beside her, hoping by staying upright I'd not fall asleep.

  I yawned as soon as I felt my body sink into the surprising comfort of the worn seat.

  Lena reached over to a cluttered table I hadn't noticed, and opened a bottle of water, taking a large sip before handing it to me. I followed her example, letting the fatigue seep through my frame, lettin
g the peaceful enclosure cosset me. A breakfast bar appeared in front of my face, unwrapped and ready to go. I consumed it in three mouthfuls. Then washed it down with the rest of the drink.

  The bottle made a hollow sound as it hit the concrete beside my feet. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lena sipping from another, relieved I hadn't finished the last of the water available in here. My eyes locked on her bedraggled, petite frame. I shifted sideways in the chair to better see her.

  I wanted to watch her throat move as she swallowed; watch her lick her lips slowly afterwards. I wanted to see colour suffuse her pale cheeks; stare into those beautiful blue eyes and no longer recognise the tiredness and loss and fear. But my vision was blurring even as I blinked my eyes desperately to keep seeing.

  I wanted to reach out to her, too worried I'd subconsciously stroke her breast instead of her trembling fingers. I wanted to offer encouragement in the form of comforting words, but my tongue was simply too thick.

  I wanted to hold her. To never let her go. To be the man she turned to, like she had on the rooftop of her Wáikěiton home.

  I wanted a lot of things. Everything where this remarkable woman was concerned.

  But when the lights got dimmer, and the pipes began to tick and creak overhead, and Lena's soft exhale of exhaustion floated on the air, I wondered if those desires were mine, or an Overseer created Serenity-like high.

  The last thing I heard was her whispered, "Sweet dreams," and then everything went black before I could reason out an answer.

  Before I could tell if it was her fingers or something else I'd gripped in my hand.

  Before I comprehended the look in her pale blue eyes as she watched me back.