The kiss triggered a grin from Hobbs. “Go on, Wichita’s leaving first.”
A radio clipped to Hobbs’s belt squawked, and a voice crackled out of the tinny speaker. “We’ve got company. Four TA armored cars. No sign of air support yet. ETA seven minutes.”
Hobbs grabbed the radio. “Okay, fall back.” He waited for confirmation his instructions had been heard, then said, “Time to go. The TA is about to crash our party.”
Three minutes later, Leah and Alice were sitting in the back of another truck, the site of the skirmish rapidly disappearing into the distance.
15
The TRACE HQ was inside a disused hydroelectric power station situated on a river. The upper levels were abandoned mazes of stained concrete and metal. Huge rusting pipes, big enough that three or four people could have crawled along them together, sprouted from the ground, curving up and into the walls. Dozens of control panels sat beside complicated-looking machines. Everything was covered in dust. Most of the displays were cracked or smashed completely. Water dripped from the ceiling and pooled on the floors. The air was filled with a damp, metallic odor.
Hobbs led them past the machinery to a broad concrete staircase that spiraled down into the depths. Leah peered over the railing. She counted seven floors before the staircase was swallowed up by the darkness.
They descended five of those floors, their footsteps echoing around them, before Hobbs opened a heavy fire door and directed them inside. Beyond the door was a control room filled with more machinery and computers. The equipment was in slightly better condition than that in the upper floors, but most of it clearly hadn’t been used for years.
For the first time, they saw other TRACE soldiers. Two men worked on one of the computer consoles—its front panel removed to expose multiple circuit boards and a thick bundle of multicolored wires. A woman walked purposefully past them on her way toward the staircase.
A cluster of men stood outside another room, talking animatedly. The door was open, and through it, Leah could see four desks with computers on them. A woman sat at one of the desks. There was a silver device attached to the back of her neck, a silver tube running from it to the computer on the desk.
A door on the opposite side of the room opened, and two men marched into the room. A third walked between them. Leah tensed. He was wearing a Transport uniform. She relaxed again when she saw his hands were cuffed behind his back. His face was bruised, and he had a cut on his cheek, blood smeared beneath it.
The men opened a second door and shoved the man roughly through it. Leah sneaked a glance through the doorway before it was closed. A long corridor lit with red LED lights stretched off into the distance.
“Billingham will see you straightaway,” said Hobbs.
“Who’s Billingham?” said Leah.
“He’s a—” started Alice.
“A colonel,” said Hobbs, sternly.
Alice’s lips curved into a sly smile. “He’s in charge of this zone. He’ll want to know everything you do. He can be a bit… abrasive, but don’t let that scare you. You’re not in any danger here.”
“Okay,” said Leah, but Alice’s words did little to reassure her.
* * *
Billingham was a tall, craggy-faced man. He sat behind a huge mahogany desk. Three neat stacks of paper sat on one end, a row of four pens on the other.
He spoke before Alice could introduce Leah. “This is the girl you found?” His voice was gravelly, rough and mildly aggressive.
“Yes, sir, her name’s Leah.”
Billingham looked Leah up and down. There was a dismissive edge to his gaze that made her feel small, insignificant. “You disabled her BICE chip?”
“No, sir,” said Alice. “She… doesn’t have one, never has as far as I can tell.”
Billingham’s dismissiveness grew all the more pronounced. “Ah, so you’re Amish.”
“No, sir. I’m not.”
“Transport wouldn’t allow a girl of… what, twelve?”
“Fifteen.”
“Transport wouldn’t allow a girl of fifteen to go wandering around without the ability for them to find her.”
“I don’t know what to say,” said Leah.
“You could admit you’re Amish,” said the colonel, “but I can understand why you might be ashamed.”
“I’m no—”
“Never mind. I hear you have some information on the bombing in Columbia?”
It took Leah a few seconds to realize he meant the City. “Yes,” she said, hesitantly. She already didn’t like the colonel.
Billingham raised his eyebrows. “Well?”
Leah took a moment to get her story straight before she spoke.
“I was at an inn—well, the remains of one. Some Transport trucks arrived. I hid at first and heard them talking about the bombing.
“There was a woman, I think her name was Katherine. She was bragging about how she’d stopped TRACE from preventing the explosion that destroyed the City. She’d killed someone and got hold of a memory module or something.”
Colonel Billingham’s eyes were nestled inside crinkled folds of flesh, but they locked on to Leah, pinning her in place. Her stomach clenched.
“So she was just sitting there, bragging away, while you just happened to be hiding nearby?”
Leah nodded. She tried to look convincing by focusing on the parts of her story that were true—the memory module, the death of the man in the alley.
Billingham let out a grunt. “You believe the girl, Sergeant?”
“Yes, sir,” said Alice. “I do. It certainly ties in with the intel we received from the Columbia cell before the detonation.”
Billingham nodded slowly, then seemed to come to some sort of decision. “Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Sergeant Williams will show you to the sleeping quarters.”
Leah looked questioningly at Alice. She was frowning.
“Sir?”
“Yes, Sergeant?”
“We’re not going to investigate further?”
“No, we’re not.”
An exasperated look came over Alice’s face. “But the woman may have valuable information regarding the bomb. She might be able to help us prevent another—”
Colonel Billingham cut her off. “Sergeant!” His voice was suddenly astonishingly loud. Leah could imagine the floor shaking beneath her feet.
Billingham waited until Alice had closed her mouth before continuing. “We have a goal here. We can’t afford to get distracted. I’ll pass the information up the chain, and the region commander can decide if he wants to take any action.”
Leah could see Alice wasn’t happy with the colonel’s decision.
“But sir—”
Billingham’s eyes flared wide. “Sergeant, please get this girl settled into the barracks, and then determine how she can be of use to us.”
Alice’s jaw tightened, but she inclined her head slightly. “Yes, sir.”
Billingham lifted a piece of paper from one of the stacks on his desk and began reading it.
Alice stood, eyes blazing, for a few seconds before leading Leah out of the room.
Leah could sense Alice’s anger as they walked back through the control room toward the spiral staircase. She stayed silent, not wanting to stoke that anger any further.
The sleeping quarters were one floor up, on the fourth underground level of the power station. Dozens of rooms had been stripped of equipment and filled with narrow bunk beds. Brown canvas bags, piles of clothes and the occasional photograph or painting marked some of the rooms as occupied. Others were empty.
Alice took Leah to a small room containing a single bed, a closet and a tiny washbasin. The bed’s metal frame creaked when Leah sat on the edge, but the mattress seemed comfortable enough.
Alice opened a closet. Brown khakis and a matching T-shirt and jacket hung from a wooden rail inside. A pair of heavy leather boots and a cap sat on the floor beneath the rail.
“There’s a chang
e of clothes in here. If you want one,” said Alice. Her words were clipped, angry.
“I’m sorry,” said Leah.
Alice’s face softened. “No, I’m not angry with you.” She sighed. “The colonel’s right. We need to stay focused.”
“Focused on what?”
The corner of Alice’s mouth turned up. “I could tell you, but then I’d need to kill you.”
Leah smiled hesitantly.
“I’m joking,” said Alice.
“Oh.”
“Okay,” said Alice, “I’m hungry, so let’s go and see what Nat has rustled up for dinner.”
* * *
It turned he’d made another vegetable stew, and there were freshly baked rolls to go with it. Leah ate with Alice and Hobbs in the third-floor mess hall—a long, narrow room that by the look of the marks on the floors had once been a storage room—but she was distracted. She let their chatter wash over her as she tried to decide what to do.
Leah glanced at Alice. She was talking animatedly to Hobbs and kept punching him playfully on the arm. Alice had been angry when the colonel had refused to go after Katherine. She’d said she’d joined TRACE to get revenge. Maybe if Leah explained why she wanted to find Katherine Alice would help Leah get her revenge.
Leah took another mouthful of the stew. Flavor burst over her tongue as she bit into the chunks of potato and carrot.
Alice laughed at something Hobbs had said, her hand brushing against his arm. She seemed relaxed and happy. It was a far cry from the Alice Leah had seen during the fight with Transport. She was a soldier, though, and soldiers followed orders. There was no way she’d sneak off with Leah to kill a random Transport Authority agent.
No, Leah was on her own. A calmness settled over her. Just deciding that she was going to find Katherine herself rather than rely on other people gave her clarity and a sense of purpose. She was in control of her own destiny.
Her first problem was with Oakdale. She didn’t know where or even what it was. It could be a town or a base or another planet for all she knew. Asking Alice was out of the question. No matter how casually Leah made the inquiry, she’d know Leah was trying to find Katherine straightaway. Hobbs might know, but he’d probably tell Alice she was asking questions.
And of course, assuming she found out where Oakdale was, she still had to get there. It might be hundreds of miles away for all she knew. If she was going to follow Katherine, she needed a vehicle.
Leah had learned to drive using a car her father had borrowed from their trader friend, Marc Derricks. They’d never had anything close to enough money to buy one for themselves, but her father had said it was a useful skill for her to have. Derricks had offered them a motorbike once. He’d called it a scooter and claimed anyone could ride it.
An unexpected pang of sadness settled inside Leah, making her heart ache. Derricks would be dead now, too. He’d been a good man. Her father had called him the last honest man in the City, and he’d helped her get away from Katherine.
Leah swallowed down the lump forming in her throat.
They’d never bought the scooter. Her father had said they were too dangerous. But if they were as easy to drive as Derricks had said, Leah could take one of those. Otherwise she’d have to find a car.
“Leah?”
Leah blinked. Alice was staring at her.
“I said, you look worried,” said Alice.
“What? Oh, no,” said Leah. “I was just thinking about… something.”
Alice gave her a sympathetic look.
A young Asian woman came up to the table and exchanged pleasantries with Alice and Hobbs. It gave Leah a few minutes to compose herself. By the time the woman moved on, Leah was ready to answer any questions Alice and Hobbs might throw at her. But they didn’t ask her anything. They just went back to talking to each other. Relieved but also a little annoyed they were ignoring her, Leah scooped the last of the stew into her mouth.
Dessert was a small strip of dark chocolate. It was bitter and old. Leah grimaced as she swallowed it, and washed it down with a generous mouthful of water.
With the meal finished, most of the TRACE soldiers in the hall left until there were just three groups remaining, all of them ignoring each other. Alice and Hobbs were still talking, but Alice kept looking across at Leah, and it was making her uncomfortable.
“I’m really tired,” said Leah. “I’m going to go back and get some sleep.”
“You know the way?” said Alice
Leah nodded.
“Okay then, you get some sleep. We’ll talk more tomorrow.”
Leah smiled and nodded, wished them both goodnight and left.
As she walked back down the huge concrete staircase to the barracks, she thought of the Transport prisoner she’d seen earlier. He’d probably know where Oakdale was. For a moment, Leah considered trying to find him and ask him. Then she realized how ludicrous the idea of her trying to interrogate a trained soldier was.
As Leah turned onto the fourth floor and set about finding her room, an uncomfortable idea hit her. The Transport prisoner could be the solution to her problem. She could help him get away from TRACE and, in return, ask him to take her to Oakdale. He might even know Katherine.
Excitement mixed with guilt, and trepidation flared inside Leah as she walked into her room. Would she really do that? Could she really betray TRACE?
Leah paced the length of the room, then sat down on the bed. She stood again almost immediately. The more Leah thought about the idea, the more comfortable she became with it. Alice would understand. She knew what it was like to want to get revenge. She’d been angry that Billingham hadn’t agreed to go after Katherine.
Leah’s father had once told her that sometimes things have to be done for “the greater good.” He’d said that occasionally you have to do something bad that affects a few people so that a lot more people can have something good.
Surely this was one of those times? She’d free one prisoner, but he’d help her get revenge for the thousands of people who’d died in the City. Leah caught her bottom lip between her teeth. It was a crazy idea, almost as crazy as her trying to interrogate him, but all she really had to do was get him out. He could take care of the rest of the escape—he’d be trained for that sort of thing.
A cold, empty feeling formed in the pit of Leah’s stomach. She couldn’t. Even if she managed to find the Transport soldier and free him, and even if he agreed, she couldn’t betray Alice and the others. That would make her just as bad as Katherine. She’d have to find another way.
Leah stared at the clothes hanging in the closet. Most of the soldiers in the base wore something similar—khakis and some flavor of jacket. It was the stock attire for TRACE soldiers, not quite a uniform but close. Leah’s normal clothes—jeans and a pale gray shirt—stood out like a beacon in the night. If she was wearing the TRACE “uniform” she could move freely around the base.
Leah pulled the clothes off the hangers and put them on. They were a little too big, the pants in particular, but with her hair pulled up and tucked beneath the cap, she thought she looked the part. Obviously, Alice and Hobbs would recognize her, but the disguise would almost certainly be good enough to convince anyone who didn’t know Leah well. But would it be enough to fool the colonel if she ran into him?
Now that she had her disguise, she needed a plan. How would a TRACE soldier get hold of information on Oakdale or Katherine? Leah’s thoughts briefly drifted back to the idea of freeing the Transport soldier. Her uniform might be enough to get her access. She quickly dismissed the idea—she wasn’t a traitor. There had to be another way to get information, a library or a database of some sort.
Leah closed her eyes and replayed her walk through the power station. There were dozens of computer consoles, and any one of them might give her access to a database. Or they might just control the lights.
There were ordinary computers too. She’d seen them in the room off the control center. If Leah could get access to those,
maybe she could find a map or something that would help her get to Oakdale. There’d been a woman at one of the desks, but she’d been the only person in there. If Leah waited until it was late, the room would probably be empty.
The more she thought about it, the better the plan felt. If she was spotted trying to get into the room, she could just claim she was new and had gotten lost. She’d say she was looking for something to eat. Even Alice might believe that.
Leah smiled. She had her plan.
16
The hours dragged by as Leah waited for the base to quieten down. She was trying to pick the sweet spot where she wasn’t likely to meet someone who knew her but wouldn’t stand out as the only person moving around the base. She kept second-guessing herself, flipping between almost leaving her room and committing to waiting. Finally, the butterflies churning in her stomach forced her out of the room.
She felt sick as she stepped into the corridor, half expecting Alice or Hobbs to come swooping down to accuse her of being a Transport spy. But the corridor was empty, and Leah hurried along it to the spiral staircase. She could hear voices from below—women talking about the Transport attack. Convinced that if she turned back now she’d never have the courage to try again, Leah continued down the stairs. She felt exposed and had to force herself not to run. Confidence, that was the key.
The voices grew louder as she descended, and she realized there were two women standing in front of the door to the control center. A sudden burst of panic hit Leah and turned the blood in her veins to ice. She was going to have to walk past them. What if they were guards, placed there to stop people getting into the control center at night?
One of the women glanced at Leah as she approached. Leah gave a smile, hoping it looked relaxed rather than terrified. The woman ignored Leah and continued her conversation.
Leah slowed.
“Excuse me,” she said.
The two women moved aside, giving Leah just enough room to get past. If they were guards, they certainly didn’t see her as a threat.
The Girl in the Wilderness (Leah King Book 2) Page 8
