Jared pulled the lever, and the harsh, mechanical sputter became a smooth rumble as the gate slid open.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
A cheer fanned out through the rebel ranks as the compound gate finally opened, but Zira and the rest of Alma’s squad had no time to celebrate. “Let’s go!” Alma shouted. She broke into a sprint for the entrance. The others followed as Chase ordered his own squad to cover them.
They hurtled past the robots surrounding Tripp’s team and through the gate. Before they could even get their bearings and start looking for Ryku, someone pointed to the guardhouse door. “Look—it’s Jared!”
Zira stopped mid-stride and whirled around. Jared stood in the open doorway, a rifle across his chest. Their eyes met. His were sunken and hollow, but he managed a faint smile when he saw her.
Cassidy raised her gun and aimed at him.
“No!” Zira lunged for the weapon and disarmed her with ease. She screamed at Jared. “Run!”
Someone else fired a shot. The bullet went wide and hit the wall behind him. “Run!” Zira shouted again. “They’ll kill you.” Without even a moment’s hesitation, she spun around and turned her rifle on her own squad.
It took the others a few moments to realize what was going on. Jared was faster. He ran out the gate and towards the rebel army outside. Several of Zira’s squad mates began firing at him. “Stop!” she said, but she doubted it would do any good.
She knew how this looked. Jared had been free and armed. Zira had no idea how that had happened, but after seeing Warren get shot by Project members and watching him bleed to death in front of her, it was understandable that Cassidy wanted to shoot first and ask questions after. Zira could only imagine what they all thought of her, turning on them to help Jared escape like that. She’d made herself look like a traitor, and she wouldn’t be surprised if some began to suspect that she’d been a spy for the Project this whole time.
“Stop shooting!” Alma ordered. “You’ll hit one of ours.” She hadn’t fired her own weapon, but held it ready against her shoulder as her eyes darted between Zira and Jared. She glanced back to Chase still perched in his Humvee, but he was too busy sending the rest of the rebels and platoons of soldier-bots into the compound to notice what had happened.
Everything was motion and clamor and chaos, allowing Jared to make his way through their ranks without incident. He limped as he ran, but he was halfway across the parking lot now and no one had shot him or even so much as looked twice at him. Zira silently urged him on. Keep going—just a little farther.
Alma shook her head and spat out an angry, rapid stream of Spanish. “Take her,” she said and nodded at Zira. The rest of the squad closed in. Zira surrendered her weapon without a fight and they pinned her down on her stomach. Cassidy seemed to take special pleasure in shoving her face into the ground.
Moments later, she heard Tripp’s voice and twisted her head around to see what was going on. Her cheek scraped against the rough concrete. Tripp argued with Alma as he tried to force his way through to her. “You’re making a mistake,” he said. “Let her go.”
“Lo siento, pero sabes que no puedo. We’ll have to sort it out with Chase later.” She turned to Cassidy and another man in their squad. “You two, stay with her. The rest of you, let’s go. We still need to find the chairman.”
Zira glared at them as they left; she had so wanted to be there when Ryku was arrested. Cassidy and the man hauled her to her feet and dragged her back to stand against the wall. She watched the rest of the attack play out from there.
Tripp had disappeared somewhere, but the rest of the rebel forces poured through the gate like a flood. Their footsteps thundered throughout the compound as shots continued to ring out from every direction. The air smelled of smoke and gunpowder.
Zira couldn’t see much of the actual fighting from where she stood. The guardhouse partially blocked her view, and judging from the sound, the conflict seemed to have moved farther inside. She could, however, see Seth, Trinity, and most of the communications team set up near the front gate. Trinity continued to report the situation as drones captured footage from above. Occasionally, Zira heard snatches of reports coming in from other parts of the country. It was enough to piece together what was happening. The rebels had succeeded in taking over most of the major Project-operated sites they had targeted. Some of those wins had come at a heavy cost, but they were wins nonetheless.
They were actually going to pull this off.
The fighting inside the compound continued. Pent-up energy coursed through Zira’s veins as she stood there and listened, unable to do anything to release it. Her captors seemed just as tense as she was, pacing back and forth and glaring over their shoulders at her, as if it were her fault they were stuck here babysitting instead of carrying out the task they’d been training for all this time. Zira made no apology. If they all would have just listened to her about Jared no longer being a threat, none of them would be in this situation.
Two armed men with blue armbands ran past on their way to the open gate, attempting to flee the compound. Cassidy raised her rifle and gunned them down in seconds. Zira recognized one of them, though she didn’t know his name. They were just trying to save themselves. How many more would be killed—on both sides—before the fighting stopped?
A few minutes later, another man ran for the gate. His green armband had slipped down his arm to hang limp around his wrist. Cassidy trained her rifle on him, and he skidded to a stop and raised his hands over his head. “No, no—please! Don’t shoot. I surrender.” He threw his pistol at her feet and knelt on the ground with his fingers interlaced behind his head.
Cassidy scowled at the E-1 officer as a group of four other rebels ran forward to surround him. They patted him down and hoisted him to his feet, then two of them escorted him away. One of the rebels turned to Cassidy. “If you catch any more, bring them over to the east wall. We’re taking all the captives there.”
Cassidy exchanged a look with her companion, then took Zira by the arm and marched her towards the east wall. Project members knelt together in groups of ten while pairs of soldier-bots stood watch over them. Cassidy handed Zira off to the nearest bot, then took off at a jog deeper into the compound, presumably to find Alma and the others.
Zira watched and waited. The sheer number of rebels was proving to be overwhelming, and members of the Project were surrendering in droves now. Cecilia joined the group of captives next to Zira’s just a few minutes later. An ugly gash cut down the side of her face from her temple to her jawline, and her bottom lip was split. She spit out a mouthful of blood and grinned wolfishly at Zira. “Well look at this—the little lost lamb returns to the flock.”
Zira ignored her, but Cecilia, ever persistent in finding ways to torment her, refused to take the hint. “It’s a shame about Aubreigh. She always did have a little more backbone than you. I’d say I’m sorry for your loss, but you killed Lucas. And Owen, and Misty.” She shrugged. “Eye for an eye.”
Zira clenched her fists and contemplated lunging at Cecilia, but didn’t. There wasn’t much she could do in this position anyway, and she’d already pushed her luck with the rebels as far as she dared. Besides, Cecilia was powerless except for her words, and Zira didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of thinking she’d succeeded in getting under her skin.
She tuned out her old enemy’s voice as the rebels continued to gather their prisoners. Revolver was brought out in handcuffs, escorted by three rebels and four robots. She had no idea how they’d managed to capture him alive, but he seemed fully cooperative. Maybe he’d surrendered. Why, though, she couldn’t even begin to imagine.
The rebels were gathering other things, too. They put out the flames and salvaged whatever they could find among the ashes. Some of the Project’s files hadn’t made it to the fire yet, and there seemed to be an endless amount of technology and research equipment coming out of the unit A facility. The only thing that seemed to be growing faster than files an
d data was the number of bodies being lined up in the compound’s amphitheater, or the wounded being carried out on makeshift stretchers and trucks with red crosses painted on their sides. For every body that bore a PEACE Project armband, there were at least two dead rebels and another three seriously injured. They may have won this battle, but the victory hadn’t come cheap.
As the last of the fighting died down, Alma, Tripp, and Chase gathered under the shade of a tree some distance away. Zira couldn’t hear what they were saying, but judging by the way they kept looking at her, she was the subject of their conversation. They were probably trying to decide what to do with her. After a few minutes, Alma approached her, but Tripp stayed behind with Chase. He looked upset.
“Get up,” Alma said to Zira. “You’ll have to come with me.” Streaks of dirt and sweat ran down her cheeks, and strands of her curly hair had sprung loose from her ponytail to fly around her face. She looked exhausted.
“Did you capture Ryku?” Zira asked. She stood, and Alma motioned for her to walk towards the gate.
“Yes. And we could have used your help, but you just had to go and do something stupid.”
Zira ignored the other woman’s frustration. She had a right to be upset. “Where are you taking me?”
“For now, you’re under arrest with everyone else. We haven’t quite figured out what to do with you, but that stunt you pulled with Jared has a lot of people wondering whose side you’re really on.”
Footsteps pounded the concrete behind them as Tripp ran after them. He fell into stride on Zira’s left side. “This is insane,” he said. “I tried to tell Chase, but he’s too worried about appearances to listen. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Zira said.
“Of course he has to worry about appearances,” Alma hissed. “We won today, but it won’t matter unless we get the public on our side. You’re the one who’s been saying that this whole time. How are we supposed to do that if our own people start questioning his decisions?”
“It was all just a big misunderstanding,” said Tripp. “You know that. You should have vouched for her.”
“I did vouch for her. I have, several times now. ¿Y para qué?” She turned to Zira. “No offense, but you have a bad habit of getting into trouble and pissing people off.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t apologize,” Tripp said. “You’ve done nothing but help these people for the past year, and now they’re going to lock you up like you’re some criminal.”
Alma sighed and shook her head. They walked out the gate to a waiting car. Alma opened the door, but before Zira could get in, she heard some kind of commotion behind them. They all turned to see what was happening.
Chase led Chairman Ryku out of the compound in handcuffs. Seth marched slightly behind and to Ryku’s other side. As much ill-will as Zira had harbored towards Seth in the past, it seemed fitting, somehow, to see him there. He’d been one of the first people she knew to suspect the Project’s wrongdoings, and after such a lengthy, personal crusade to set things right, she knew what this moment must mean to him. To all of them.
Ryku left the compound with as much dignity as was possible for a man in handcuffs. He maintained a stone-cold expression until his eyes met Zira’s, then he gave her a thin smile and said something to Chase. The rebel leader hesitated, then gave a small nod. They left Seth behind and started walking towards Zira, Tripp, and Alma. Zira clenched her fists. Surely Chase was smart enough not to force them to ride in the same car.
“He’s shorter than I remember,” Tripp said to Zira. Despite his attempt at humor, the pitch of his voice was a little higher than normal, and all the color had drained from his face. “Of course, it’s been sixteen years, so maybe I’ve just grown.”
Chase and Ryku stopped in front of them. Zira took a small step forward, protectively placing herself between Tripp and Ryku. Just being so close to him made her bristle, but she didn’t want to let him see that. “Say whatever it is you have to say and let’s go,” Chase said to the former chairman.
He nodded and leaned in a little closer to Zira. “You choose your friends as poorly as you choose your enemies, I see.”
“You wouldn’t know anything about having friends,” Zira said. “And my only enemy is standing in front of me on his way to a cell.”
Ryku let out a short, quiet laugh. “If you think this is going to change anything, you’re even more naïve than I thought you were. Even if the people of this country support this revolt and I spend the rest of my days behind bars, you’ll spend the rest of yours looking over your shoulder waiting for me to find you.”
Zira shook her head. “Make all the threats you want. I’m not afraid of you anymore.”
“Then you’re making a mistake.” Ryku nodded to Tripp. “Ask Judah. He knows what it’s like to sleep with one eye open.”
“That’s enough,” Chase barked. “Let’s go.” He tugged on Ryku’s handcuffs and led him away to another car.
Tripp let out a low whistle as they left. “I know he was mostly bluffing, but I’ll definitely sleep a lot better at night once he’s dead.”
“Come on,” Alma said. “It’s time for you to go.” She nudged Zira into the car and shut the door.
A man got into the front seat to take her wherever it was she was going to be held. As he turned the car on, Tripp tapped on Zira’s window. “Don’t worry, kid,” he said, his voice muffled through the glass. “I’ll get this all sorted out—I promise.”
Zira smiled at him as the car pulled away. Through the rear window, the walls of the compound slowly faded from view for what she hoped would be the last time.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Zira smoothed out the wrinkles in her neon orange jumpsuit and examined her reflection in the dirty sheet of metal that passed as a mirror. She wet her fingers in the sink and combed them through her hair, then pulled it back into a ponytail. Oil and dirt coated every strand, and she had to rinse her hands again when she was done. The prison’s food situation, at least, had improved in the last few months, and her cheeks were no longer as gaunt as before. That was good; she didn’t want Chase to see how much this was taking a toll on her.
She’d been angry about being locked up at first. She’d done what she believed was right in protecting Jared, but the rebels only saw it as a betrayal that had allowed a dangerous criminal to escape justice. If the case had gone to trial, she wouldn’t have had a chance of winning. She took the plea bargain because she didn’t have any other viable options, but now, after having so much time to reflect on her situation, she figured she was lucky. She doubted a jury who didn’t understand her motives would have been so kind, and that was before they dragged up her past as an E-2 operative.
A guard came to escort her to a private visiting room at exactly three o’clock. Chase sat at an empty table with his back to her when she walked in. This wasn’t the first time they’d met like this, but it had been a while. The guard sat her down and attached her handcuffs to a metal loop on the rim of the table. “You again?” she said to Chase. “I was hoping to see a friendlier face.”
Chase smiled. “I think of you as a friend.”
“Right. I forgot that essential part of every friendship where one person sentences the other to a year in prison.”
He ignored the jab. “I promised you I’d talk to the authorities here about your visitation rights.”
“And?” Zira’s voice came out a little more eager than she’d intended. She hadn’t been allowed to have visitors, calls, or even letters since she’d arrived here six months ago. Because of her background, the prison authorities seemed to believe she posed too much of a flight risk. Chase had been her only connection to the outside world, and he was only allowed to visit because of his status as the provisional leader of the country. For now, anyway—until things were stable enough to allow national elections. He only ever came to ask her the same, tired questions. Beyond that, he wasn’t a great source of information.
He leaned forward in his chair. “It seems you’ve been a model inmate, aside from that little incident with your cell mate when you first arrived.”
She shrugged. Her cell mate had been a big, mean woman with gang tattoos covering her entire body. She’d made the mistake of assuming she could pick on the smaller, younger girl. Zira had put her in her place with a bloody nose and a broken rib, which had landed her in solitary confinement for two weeks, but she hadn’t encountered any problems with the other inmates since.
“It took some convincing, but they’re going to let you have visitors now,” Chase said. “They all have to be approved individually, but I made sure Tripp was on the list. You can add whoever else you want. I promised the warden there wouldn’t be any trouble from this, so don’t make a liar out of me.”
“I just want to finish my time and get out of here,” Zira said. She drummed her fingers against the table, acutely aware of the expectant look on his face. “Look, I appreciate you going out of your way to do that for me, but it doesn’t change anything.”
Chase sighed. “I figured as much.”
“So why bother coming?”
“There was an incident at the facility where Revolver was being held.”
“I didn’t realize he was being held anywhere.”
Chase nodded. “We turned him over to a medical research team on the west coast. They were doing experiments and running tests—all very humane, of course.”
“But he was still a prisoner.”
“Well, yes. He was put on trial for his crimes, just like the rest. He never actually killed anyone, so he got off pretty easy. But until we knew more about him, we couldn’t risk releasing him into the general population.”
Renegades of PEACE (Secrets of PEACE Book 2) Page 26
