by Anne Tibbets
I sincerely doubted that. “That’s why we’re here. To tell you about Flora’s plans. There’s no need to trade for it.”
“How about your last name? How about we start with that?” he teased. “I’ll tell you your last name, and you’ll tell me in which of these buildings you met Premier. How about we start there?”
He clicked his fingers together and a guard at the door approached, holding a tablet. Etienne took it from him, tapped on the screen and then slid it across the table toward me.
I didn’t touch it, but I leaned over to see. It was a map of Flora—an incomplete one, from the looks of it. I leaned back in my chair, thinking.
What was wrong with him?
If I’d just learned that my corporate territory was about to be destroyed, why would I want to know where the premier of the other territory was?
To attack. Etienne wasn’t planning on peace. He was building battle plans.
What an idiot. I fought the urge to cross the room and slap him. He was an even bigger moron than I had thought. “I’m not going to tell you that,” I said.
“Why not?” Etienne asked, a fake pout on his rubbery lips. “Don’t you want to know your real name?”
“Who I was before doesn’t matter anymore, and I don’t think you fully understand the gravity of your position.”
“Certainly I do,” he argued. “But let’s exchange information first. Shall we? You don’t even know your last name. Surely you want one.”
“It’s Bennett,” Ric injected. “Her name is Naya Bennett.”
My eyes shot wide.
Had he just asked me to marry him?
I looked over my shoulder at Ric. Our eyes met. He blushed to his ears, but our moment was cut short.
Chairman Etienne laughed at us. “Oh, how adorable. Guard, go get us some champagne, will you?” When the guard moved toward the door, Etienne waved his hand at him dismissively. “Stay where you are, that was sarcasm.”
I reached my hand out to Ric’s and squeezed his with my fingers, then turned back to Etienne. This conversation was about to take a turn and it needed my full attention.
“Chairman, I didn’t come here to barter information,” I said. “I came here to give you some.”
“Forgive me, Mrs. Bennett, but I don’t trust information if it’s given freely,” Etienne said, and I believed him.
“Oh, I’m not giving you free information. There will be a price. But not for me. I’ve come to negotiate the terms of Auberge’s surrender.”
Etienne’s eyebrows rose in surprise, as did the others’ seated at the table. The chairman sat forward in his chair to rest his elbows on the edge. “I beg your pardon?”
“Flora has a controlled warhead aimed at Auberge. They plan to destroy it, every scrap, every citizen, every man, woman, child—and you, Chairman, in two days. There is no invasion. It’s a decimation. Your only weapon, the only reason they hadn’t destroyed you yet, was the bio-toxin. And that’s been destroyed. Soon it won’t matter anyway, as Flora has obtained a living blood sample of the inoculation and is currently circulating it throughout their population.”
Etienne’s face went ashen.
I saw the old woman at the table exchange looks with the young man in the glasses again. At least I knew they were paying attention.
“Chairman,” I continued, “You have no recourse. You have no means of stopping Flora from destroying you. Your only choice is to surrender.”
“Chairman Etienne,” the old woman interjected. “We should convene in private chambers to discuss this development.”
He ignored her, turning paler by the second. His palm slapped down on the table with such force, the skinny blonde jumped. “Why are you telling me this?” His pale face flushed with heat and anger. “If this was true, if Auberge is to be leveled, then you wouldn’t be here, in the center of the target zone.”
“Chairman,” the old woman said again. “I ask that we excuse the prisoners to the hallway so we may discuss this in privacy.”
“What is there to discuss?” the chairman barked at her. “She’s lying!”
“I’m not lying. I am here to rescue my children. But I don’t intend to do only that. I intend to save all of you.”
Etienne narrowed his eyes and peered through me as if I was glass. “This is preposterous!”
“You can hook me up to any machine you want,” I offered. “I’m telling the truth.”
“But by all means,” Ric said. “Sit there and deny it. See what happens in two days.”
“Chairman!” snapped the old woman, trying to get his attention.
Etienne gripped the sides of the table, his knuckles turning white as ice. “You have destroyed us!” he exclaimed. “You have murdered us all!”
“I have?” I burst. “I have come here at the risk of my own life, and the lives of my children, in hopes that the Chairman of Auberge has enough sense to surrender and save the lives of twenty million citizens. I’m not the cause of this. You are!”
I could see he was panicking. His eyes darted back and forth between me and Ric. “You gave them your blood— Without the bio-toxin, we have no means to negotiate.”
“You never should have concocted the bio-toxin to begin with. This is on you. If you’re looking for someone to blame, then look at yourself.”
“Sound the alert!” he bellowed to the guard behind him. “Notify security. We start the invasion now—immediately. We have two days to destroy their missile systems.”
“Delay that order,” the old woman said and stood.
“Director Naumann, how dare you?” the chairman demanded.
The old woman did not flinch. “We’ve lost.”
Etienne gawked at her. “That’s treason!” He turned toward the guards again. “Take her into custody. Take them all.” He waved his hand around the conference room, indicating everybody present. The guards hesitated, vacillating between following orders and following reason.
The young man with the glasses shook his head in disappointment and touched a black module in his ear canal. “Call an emergency board of directors meeting. We’ve gone critical.”
“There’s no need for an emergency meeting!” the chairman shouted.
“The premier,” Director Naumann said to me, turning her attention away from the erupting chairman, “you spoke with her yourself?”
I eyed her with trepidation but saw no point in lying. “Yes.”
“In her office?” she clarified, squinting at me.
“Yes.”
“There is no point to this line of questioning,” the chairman blurted. “She’s a spy and a liar. This interview ends now. We’re wasting time. Guards! I demand you remove them from this room.”
The guards didn’t move, and the chairman tossed his hands in the air in frustration.
The old woman, Director Naumann, shot a glance at the young man with the glasses standing beside her, and I watched as an unspoken conversation occurred on their faces.
“She told you about the missile attack,” the woman said after turning her gaze back to me. “Why?”
“To show me there was no point in retrieving my children from inside Auberge. She was trying to convince me to stay.”
The young man pushed his glasses up his nose and frowned. “Then why not get them and leave? Why blow up the bio-toxin storage facility? If they already have the inoculation, the bio-toxin is useless.”
“To give you no other choice but to surrender,” I explained. “If you used the bio-toxin, there are still those within Auberge who haven’t been inoculated. I was attempting to save lives.”
Director Naumann and the man looked at each other again.
The chairman scoffed and waved his hands at the guards. “I told you this was a waste of time. I demand you end
this now!”
“And their technology?” the man with the glasses asked.
“They have lasers, and thirteen million more people,” Ric said. “You saw our equipment from when we were captured? That’s only the tip of the iceberg.”
Director Naumann held her lips tightly together. “What color is the sofa in Premier’s office?”
“The sofa?” Ric balked.
“Yellow,” I answered her.
Naumann’s face fell. She turned to Etienne, who stood fuming at his place at the head of the table. “It’s over. Auberge is lost. The only question now is whether or not it’s also destroyed.”
“Traitor!” he bellowed, grabbing his hair and screaming like a man without senses. “Take her!” He pointed crazily at me. “Take her now! Execute her! Kill them all!”
The guards on either side of the chairman stepped forward and took out their rifles.
I couldn’t believe it.
After everything we’d been through. All the danger we’d survived. Everything wasted, because that son of a bitch was too stupid to realize he’d lost.
My babies will die.
“No! You must listen,” I pleaded.
Ric stepped in front of me. My heart thumped in my chest, pressing against my ribs. The walls spun around my eyes. “No! We only have two days. You won’t reach the missiles in time. Director Naumann, please!”
Ric grabbed my arm, pushing me farther behind him. I stepped forward, standing by his side.
To my surprise, the guards pivoted on their heels and pointed their rifles at Chairman Etienne.
“What the devil...?” he blustered.
With one shot from each guard, Etienne was struck in the chest and head. His body seized and hit the floor like a bag of rotten melons.
I was too shocked to speak.
Ric turned on his heel and took me in a protective embrace, but my gaze never left Etienne’s body.
Director Naumann nodded at the man with the glasses, and he pressed the black piece in his ear. “Convene an emergency board of directors meeting in Chairman Naumann’s office.”
“Congratulations,” said the skinny blonde woman to her.
Chairman Naumann smiled broadly. “Why, thank you, dear.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
As we rode the elevator in silence, Ric squeezed my hand. I had a feeling he was thinking the same as me.
What the hell just happened?
I trembled. Shaken to my bones.
When the door opened, Chairman Naumann and a young man exited. They waited for us in the hall. The guards and the other two people from the conference room urged us on from behind.
Limping down a hallway, we arrived at a large office of glass. An enormous black wooden desk stood in the back with black leather sofas and small glass tables beside it. Outside the window was the whole of Central.
There were approximately ten people in the room, including those who’d just arrived. All of them looked stern but professional. They gazed at us expectantly when we entered. The guards escorted us to two chairs.
Chairman Naumann took position behind the desk, and the remainder of the people sat on the black chairs and sofas. “Call the meeting to order,” she said.
The man with the glasses was the first to speak. “We now call to order the board of directors meeting one-five-seven-two point seventy. Residing Chairman Naumann is present. Now,” he said, turning to look at me. “I suppose you have questions.”
I swallowed.
Chairman Naumann grinned at me. “Auberge is now under new management, thanks to you.”
“You’re welcome?”
“As we sit here, the former members of the old board of directors are being arrested and taken into custody. It has been the goal of this subcommittee for a while to expedite the end of the Auberge corporation’s rule. Now that we know Flora is open to negotiations, thanks to your confirmation, our plans can proceed.”
“What confirmation?”
“The sofa,” said Naumann, looking impressed. “Now we know that you have indeed been in contact with Premier, we can send a delegation to initiate our terms of surrender. We’ve been looking forward to their takeover for quite some time.”
“How do you know I didn’t just pull a color of the sofa out of thin air? What if I guessed?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Did you?”
“No.”
“Well, then...” She turned to the young man. “Mr. Cain, release the coconspirators from the detention block and see that they’re a part of the negotiations, as well.”
“They’re more apt to be forgiving that way,” said someone else.
“Agreed.”
I cleared my throat. “Excuse me.” All eyes turned to me. “Could someone please explain to me what’s going on? What delegation? What coconspirators?”
Chairman Naumann answered, “We’re sending you and Dr. Bennett back to Flora to negotiate the terms of our surrender. We have in holding two coconspirators who have knowledge that will assist with the process. They will accompany you.”
“Who?”
“Cat Yalda and Charle Bennett.”
I involuntarily grimaced. It was a relief to hear Cat had survived her part in the HQ attack, but the mention of Ric’s brother made my skin crawl.
“C-Charle’s alive?” Ric stammered.
“Yes.”
“But I don’t understand. Why send us?” I asked. “You’re the new ruling party, shouldn’t you be doing this?”
Chairman Naumann eyed me seriously. “Do you think that Flora will want to negotiate with members of the Auberge board of directors? No, of course not. If we send citizens familiar to them, the terms of our surrender will be more apt to be met with an even hand. We trust that between you, Mr. and Dr. Bennett, and Ms. Yalda, the terms of the takeover will be satisfactory to the people of Auberge—and who best to see to the people’s safe surrender than one of their own and the woman responsible for providing the very weapon they needed to instigate this transaction?”
I couldn’t believe my ears. “You’d trust us to do that? Me?”
Chairman Naumann raised her eyebrows again. “Of course. My dear girl, you’ve seen the worst of Auberge, the very depths of our treachery, and somehow you found it in yourself to risk everything to come back and save us. Personally, I think you’re the only choice. Now, as preparations are made for your transport back to Flora, I’m sure you’d like to have a few questions answered. I’m not one to trade like my predecessor.”
“Free of charge?”
Naumann turned her head to one side and her expression softened. “There are a great many mysteries in your life. Wouldn’t you like to end that? I think you’ve earned it.”
“It’s not saved yet,” snarked the man with thick glasses. “There’s still the negotiations.”
“Good point,” the chairman said. “But regardless, she deserves to know now. Would you?”
“I— Yes.”
She smiled. “Excellent.” Pulling a tablet off the desk and tapping the screen, Chairman Naumann pulled it toward her and flicked her finger a few times across the top.
I took Ric’s hand.
“How about we start with the location of your birth family?” she asked.
* * *
Clea rose to the tips of her chubby toes and reached with her fingers toward the tablet in my lap.
“Mama mine,” she said. “Mama. Mine.”
As her tiny digits smeared fingerprints across the screen, I grasped beside me on the sofa and produced her favorite dolly. It was an old one of Anj’s, worn in places and missing a few buttons on her dress, but Clea loved the doll more than anything, except perhaps her sister.
“Here,” I said. “Take Dolly.
”
Clea’s eyes sparkled. “Mama! Mine!” She extended her hand and clasped at the air, reaching for the toy.
I gave her the doll, and Clea plopped on her rump and scooted backward toward Adena, who was stacking blocks with Shirel a few feet away.
I found it a little alarming how Clea refused to walk and instead scuttled across the floors like a bug, but Shirel assured me she’d get to her feet soon enough.
“She won’t be scooting on her ass by the time she’s old enough to start school,” Shirel had said. “Trust me.”
And I did.
I used the edge of my sleeve to rub the fingerprints off my tablet and finished reading the article.
They’d finished the reconstruction of Central, and Chairman Naumann and Premier were pictured together, shaking hands and holding up a silly-looking giant key. As if Naumann was handing Premier a key to Central. As if she hadn’t taken Auberge without one.
It made me smile. Premier. How she loved the press. How she loved to spin a story.
It’d been months since the invasion, or the ‘takeover,’ as it was called. Ric, Charle, Cat and I had ridden the train back to East and then driven straight out the wall toward Flora.
It was awkward at first.
Tense.
Charle, after over a year of being in Auberge’s detention block, was too thin, too angry and too disheveled to function properly. It was only after Ric had gotten him a change of clothes, a shaving kit and a haircut that Charle seemed to feel more like himself. He still had a smile that took up half his face, although we didn’t see it as often.
After his release, Charle had greeted me with all the warmth of a blizzard, but I’d expected nothing less. It was enough for me to know he and Ric had found each other again. A reunion such as it was.
For all of Charle’s part in my life’s conspiracy, he turned out to be a crucial part of the peace negotiations. He settled the terms of the currency transfers between the corporations, got the redistribution of wealth within Auberge planned and executed, orchestrated the allocation of industries, and revamped and retooled to Flora’s standards.
