“So you’re saying it’s better that I don’t have them.”
“I don’t know. You seem to manage well enough without them.”
“Perhaps.” He sometimes wondered how much his interactions with other people might be hindered by his lack of emotional understanding. So much of human communication was based on facial expressions and emotional body language. He often found it difficult to interpret those signs.
“It’s okay to not be like everyone else,” said Aubreigh. “We’re all different in our own way. That’s what makes us human.”
Revolver nodded. She might have been right, or maybe it was the complete opposite. Perhaps his differences were what made him not human.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Zira, Tripp, and Trinity made their way to a rebel safe house on the northeastern border of the South Pacific Region without any further trouble. Two other men were already stationed there when they arrived, waiting to escort a small group from the North Pacific to the rebels’ main base. They agreed to take Trinity with them. They also helped Tripp dispose of the car, which was no longer safe to drive now that every law enforcement officer on this side of the country was looking for it.
The incident hadn’t been covered by any public news outlet in the four days that had passed since, but Tripp seemed on edge. Lack of sleep darkened the skin under his eyes, and he couldn’t sit still for more than a few minutes at a time. He moved around constantly, fidgeting and restless. The scuffle at Trinity’s house been a close call. They’d almost been caught—could still very well get caught at any moment. They didn’t dare leave the safe house yet, but the longer they stayed, the more likely it seemed that the Project would find their trail and close in on them.
Even if they’d had some idea of where to go, they didn’t have the transportation to get there. Tripp had sent a message to Chase explaining the situation and asking for any help or information he could provide, but so far, there had been no response. The rebels at the safe house had a van, but it was already going to be overcrowded with the other group, and that wasn’t even including Trinity. Getting her safely to the rebel base was their top priority. She was the only one the authorities could identify, which meant she was in much more danger than Tripp or Zira were. Even just having her around put them at greater risk.
The group from the North Pacific Region arrived a few days later. There were five of them—two women, a man, a teenage girl, and a little boy who couldn’t have been more than seven. Chronic hunger was prominent in their gaunt cheeks, too-slender limbs, and hollow eyes. Apparently, the food shortage in that region hadn’t improved much in the ten months that had passed since Zira left Grayridge. They ate the woefully small supper Tripp, Zira, and the other rebels prepared for them like it was a king’s feast.
Late that night, everyone but Tripp and Zira got in the van to begin their journey to the base. Trinity left the house last. “I guess I’ll see you again sometime?” she said to the two of them.
“I hope so,” Tripp replied as he shook her hand.
“Take care,” she said to Zira. “And thank you. I hate to think of what might have happened if you hadn’t shown up.”
She took a step forward and, without asking or waiting for permission, gave Zira a hug. Zira recoiled at first, then relaxed and patted the other woman’s back. She wasn’t so bad. Her genuine warmth and enthusiasm for the rebels’ work made her easy to get along with, and over the past few days, Zira had even grown rather fond of her. She wouldn’t mind it if someday they crossed paths again.
Trinity gave each of them one last, bright smile and went outside with the others. When the sound of the van’s engine had faded away, Zira turned to Tripp. “Now what?”
“Now we get some sleep. I’ll turn the computer on again in the morning and see if we have any messages from Chase.”
When Zira woke up the next morning, though, Tripp sat in the same spot she’d left him in, on a stool near the front door so he could hear anyone passing by on the road outside. His body slumped to one side so that his head and left shoulder pressed up against the wall, and he was snoring. Zira put a hand on his arm and he bolted up, then looked around in a panic until his gaze fell on her.
She frowned. “You really need to sleep. You know, lying down.”
He rubbed his eyes. “I tried.”
He didn’t feel safe. He was being a little paranoid, but after sixteen years of hypervigilance and constant fear for his life, she supposed a little paranoia was justified. She’d never seen him this bad, though. They needed to get away from here. The sooner, the better. “Let’s see if there’s any word from Chase.”
Tripp nodded and stumbled over to his bag in the corner. He pulled out the computer and turned it on, then tapped the green icon that blinked in the corner of the display. Zira read the message over his shoulder. It had been sent at three o’clock in the morning.
Tripp,
I apologize for the delay. I’ve been working with Seth, but we haven’t been able to find out much. All we know is that after you three escaped, Ryku sent someone out there to collect evidence. He had it brought back to the compound for analysis. Seth is still looking into it.
In the meantime, we’ve arranged a solution to your current predicament. Aubreigh will come by to pick you up later this afternoon. She’s driving to your location under the pretense of investigating reports about a third child. She found you a car and even managed to get you some more food. I know your supplies must be running low if they aren’t completely gone already. Aubreigh will take you to the car, and you can go wherever you like after that. I’ve attached a list with a few suggestions, but you know what’s out there better than I do, so go wherever you think is best.
You should also know that I didn’t tell Aubreigh about Zira being alive. I wanted her to be able to focus while she made all the necessary preparations. I expect she’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Stay safe out there.
—C
Zira couldn’t withhold her smile. This was a huge risk for Aubreigh, and Zira still didn’t like the idea of her becoming more involved in the rebels’ plans. Even so, she couldn’t help the warm, bubbly feeling that rose through her worry. The fact that she’d allowed Aubreigh to think she was dead was her biggest regret about leaving the Project, and as selfish as it was, she couldn’t wait for the reunion.
* * *
Aubreigh glanced at the map on the car’s autopilot display for what must have been the hundredth time. It had been a long drive. She’d been impatient to reach her destination at first, but now that she was almost there, apprehension began to snake its way into her chest. All Seth had told her was that two other rebels were trapped in a safe house somewhere and needed her help. Together, they’d made a plan and all the necessary arrangements to extricate them, but Aubreigh didn’t know anything about the people she was about to meet. It was stupid, but all she could think about were the caricatured radicals she’d grown up learning about in the PEACE Project—dangerous, irrational, and lawless individuals who lived on the fringes of civilized society.
She shook her head at the absurdity of the thought and the image it conjured up in her mind. Surely they couldn’t be that bad. After all, she was a radical herself now.
The car turned onto a long driveway, tires crunching softly on the gravel as they rolled up to the small, ramshackle house. Aubreigh shut off the engine and got out of the vehicle, then walked up to the front door. She stood tall and straight and took a deep breath before knocking.
It opened just a few moments later to reveal a lanky man with short blond hair and a kind face. He smiled and ushered her inside the dim entryway. “You’re Aubreigh?”
“Yes.”
“I’m Tripp.” They shook hands, and she was about to tell him it was nice to meet him when someone else came around the corner.
Aubreigh’s voice hitched in her throat. She stood frozen as, for the second time, her best friend came back from the dead. It shouldn’t have b
een possible. Jared had told her there was proof this last time, that they had her body. But there she was, walking towards Aubreigh with that familiar, confident stride that always made her seem a little taller than she actually was.
“Hi, Aubreigh,” Zira said. She took a step closer, then stopped and clasped her hands together in front of her like she wasn’t sure what to do next.
Aubreigh didn’t know what to do either. She reached out to Zira, intending to embrace her, but changed her mind halfway there and shoved her instead. Hard. Zira took a step back to regain her balance. “You can’t keep doing this to me!” Aubreigh said. Her eyes prickled, and she scowled in an attempt to hold the tears back. “I thought you were dead. Again.”
“I know,” said Zira.
“No one told me. Did Seth know? Does Jared know?”
“Yeah.”
“So you told them you were out here, alive and well, but you couldn’t tell me?”
“I’m sorry. I wanted to. I can explain everything.”
Her expression seemed so scared and contrite then that Aubreigh laughed. It wasn’t funny, really. She shouldn’t be laughing. She covered her face with her hands, and the laughter turned into soft, gentle sobs. Zira put her arms around Aubreigh’s shoulders and she gradually stopped crying, then wiped her face with the back of her hand. “Look at me,” she said. “I’m a wreck.”
“I’m sorry,” Zira said again.
“Oh, stop apologizing already. It’s fine. This was just…unexpected. But I’m happy to see you. Really.”
“Yeah. Me too.”
Tripp put a hand on Zira’s shoulder. “I hate to break up the reunion, kid, but we really should go.”
“Of course,” said Aubreigh. “Let me help you get your things.”
“That’s all right,” said Zira. “We don’t have much.” She followed Tripp to the living room to retrieve their belongings, then they all went out to the car.
Zira took the front seat next to Aubreigh while Tripp slid into the back with their bags. “You’re sure this thing doesn’t have a camera or a microphone or anything?” he asked.
“Not one that works,” Aubreigh replied.
“And what about the navigation?”
“It’s all worked out. Seth falsified a report about a few families using this house to hide third children. I took the case and came to look into things. Now we head back to the compound, but I’ll stop for food in this little town a couple hours from the compound. There’s a car waiting for you a few blocks from the store, so you guys can get out, go get it, and take off. I’ll just go home and file a report saying I couldn’t find evidence of any third children here.”
Tripp nodded. “You’ve got it all figured out. Impressive.”
“It wasn’t a big deal,” said Aubreigh. “We won’t be able to use this as a safe house anymore, but Chase already knows that.”
Zira raised her eyebrows. “We?”
Aubreigh shrugged. “We. The rebels, or whatever we call ourselves. I’m still trying to figure it all out.”
“I hate that they talked you into joining them.”
So Zira had known Seth and Chase were recruiting her, and still she hadn’t told Aubreigh she was alive. Aubreigh tried to reserve judgment and not let that hurt her. After all, she didn’t know Zira’s side of the story yet. “It didn’t take much convincing,” she said.
“I didn’t think it would.” Her voice held a slightly bitter tone.
Aubreigh started the car and put the compound’s location into the autopilot system. “You don’t sound very happy about it.”
“It’s my fault. I should have thought it through better. Tripp and I were the ones who needed your help with that couple we were transporting back in October. Grant and Natalie Steele.”
“We didn’t have much choice,” Tripp said. “It was an emergency.”
Zira frowned. “It was, but I didn’t realize they were going to pull you deeper into all this.”
“I’m glad they did,” said Aubreigh. “I want to do this.”
“You don’t understand.”
Aubreigh rolled her eyes. “Oh, please, Zira. Spare me the lecture. I haven’t been through what you have and maybe I don’t know everything, but I’ve seen plenty out here—enough to know the Project isn’t doing people any favors. Now that Ryku’s in charge, things are getting worse. We’ve arrested and fined more people this month alone than we have in the past year. Too many kids have lost their parents, and too many parents have lost their kids. If the rebels have a plan to fix that, then I’m in.”
“It’s dangerous.”
“Of course it’s dangerous. And if it makes you feel any better, I have a very healthy level of fear about the whole thing. But it’s pretty hypocritical of you to tell me I shouldn’t be doing this when you just took off and left the Project to join this rebellion.”
“I didn’t leave so I could join the rebellion.”
“Well then why? Why did you leave without telling me anything? You told Jared, and you obviously told Seth, which I still can’t get over given how much you seemed to hate him.”
“I didn’t tell Seth or Jared anything,” said Zira. “Seth was the one who came to me. He told me I needed to leave because Ryku was planning to kill me.”
“What?”
Zira backed up, starting with her assignment in Grayridge and how she’d met Tripp there. She told Aubreigh about the desperate conditions she’d seen in the North Pacific Region, how she hadn’t been able to readjust to her old life once she got back to the compound, how she’d intentionally failed to kill her target on her next assignment, and how Seth had found out Ryku was planning to have her executed. When she got to the worst part—the part where Jared had nearly killed her on Ryku’s orders—she looked out the window and rushed through it like she just wanted to get the story over with.
Aubreigh glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Tripp listening with the same rapt attention as she was. He didn’t say anything, but his eyes were sad and understanding. When Zira finished, Aubreigh just sat there for a few moments, taking it all in. “I’m sorry about Jared,” she said at last. “I can’t imagine how awful that must have been.”
Zira turned to look out the window again. “Yeah,” she said.
The short, impassive response was her way of discouraging further conversation about the topic, and Aubreigh didn’t press her. “And everything else,” she said. “I had no idea you were going through all of that. I mean, I knew you were struggling, but I never imagined it was that bad.”
“I didn’t want you to know,” said Zira. “I didn’t want anyone to know. I was ashamed and confused. And then when I left, it all just happened so fast. I wanted to tell you, but I didn’t want to put you in danger.”
“I just wish I could have helped you.”
“You’re helping us now.”
“You are,” said Tripp. “Thank you.” He let out an enormous yawn and stretched his long limbs as best he could with the limited legroom. “I think I’m going to try to get some sleep and let you two catch up. Wake me up when we get there.” He leaned his head against the window and closed his eyes.
“How are things at the compound?” Zira asked after they’d gone a few more miles.
“You mean now that Ryku has taken over?” said Aubreigh. She lowered her voice, even though they were hundreds of miles away from home. “Not great, but probably not as bad as they could be. He’s harsh. He’s already started cracking down on people for the smallest things. He has this idea about making America safer by forcing people to follow the rules.”
“But it’s just making everyone afraid,” said Zira.
“Right. And it’s going to get worse unless someone stands up to him.”
“Someone like the rebels?” She sounded cynical.
“I have to believe they can make a difference. Don’t you?”
Zira shrugged. “I hope so.”
Aubreigh glanced back at Tripp, now breathing heavily as he slept.
“What’s his story?”
“I don’t know much. He doesn’t talk about it. He left the Project sixteen years ago and has been running from them ever since.”
“He was in the Project? And he just left?”
“Yeah, unit A. I think it had something to do with Ryku. They used to be friends.”
“I can’t really picture Ryku having any friends.”
“Not ones he can’t use,” said Zira.
“He’s okay though, right? He’s not unstable or a creep or anything?”
“Tripp? Yeah, he’s fine. I wouldn’t have known how to survive out here without him. He’s overly cautious, maybe, but I can’t blame him for that. This whole incident had him really shaken up.”
“It must have been scary—for all of you. Ryku sent someone out there, you know.”
“Chase mentioned that. An assassin?”
“Yeah, but no one you would know. He’s been acting as Ryku’s bodyguard since the other chairmen were killed. I’m just glad you weren’t there when he showed up. It could have been a lot worse.”
“I can take care of myself,” Zira reassured her.
Aubreigh shook her head. “Not if Revolver is involved.”
“What kind of a name is that?”
“It’s just what they call him. His real name is a bunch of numbers or something. Unit A made him, but they kept him in their facility for nineteen years. Apparently he was genetically modified to be some kind of superhuman.”
Zira’s eyes widened, but only for a moment. “That sounds like exactly the sort of person Ryku would find useful.”
Aubreigh nodded. “Yeah. I almost feel bad for him, though. He’s…different. Everyone’s afraid of him. Except Ryku, who’s just using him. But he’s not so bad once you talk to him. He doesn’t know how to interact with people very well, but he’s nice.” She reconsidered. Nice was probably too strong a word. “Well, pleasant, at least.”
“Why would you even talk to him if you think he’s so dangerous?”
“It’s not like he was on a mission for Ryku while he was eating dinner in the cafeteria,” said Aubreigh. “He just works so closely with the chairman, and I thought I might be able to get some information.”
Renegades of PEACE (Secrets of PEACE Book 2) Page 9
