by Harper North
“I know what you are,” I spit back at him. “I want to know where Elias and Lacy are.”
Talen sits there blank, silent. Barely human—a machine. The perfect EHC weapon. I choke back a sob, remembering the streak of electricity and the loud thud of Elias’ body hitting the ground.
He leans forward.
“You were undermining EHC progress.”
“You mean the Leeches? Yeah, I am. You would, too, if you weren’t brainwashed into believing everything.”
No reaction. Not even a blink. My words are wasted on him.
“We’re aware of six active resistance fighters remaining,” Talen says. “We know the names of those involved and their modifications.”
I squeeze my eyes shut, wishing I could shut my ears too.
“Emma Nejem and several of her guards are a party to this. The remaining members in her settlement camp now hide in nearby caves.”
I open my eyes. “Don’t you dare go near those people. They’ve done nothing to you.”
Talen locks eyes with me. “Modification kit, serial number B-2920, stolen underground, used for enhancement to Noble status," he says as if he's reading from a list of our recent activity. "Aggressive fighting near the settlement camp, destruction of a resistance camp near seismic center—”
“Okay, stop,” I demand.
Talen lays his hands on the table. “We also know your current plan is to reach the Telhix communication tower.”
“That doesn’t take a genius,” I snarl. “You electrocuted me and my friends on our way up to the tower.”
“Nothing you do is unknown.”
“Got it.” My chin slumps to my chest. This was our last chance, and now it’s gone. When I raise my head again, anger’s bubbling up in me. “You Leeches are the scum of this planet. You’re pathetic!”
Talen cocks his head and blinks. I throw my head back and groan, staring at the ceiling.
“You asked about your friends.”
My gaze zips back to him. “Where are they?”
“Elias is near.”
My heart jumps into my throat. “Alive?”
Talen leans further back into his chair. “Waiting for interrogation.”
I swallow. How he survived that fall is beyond me, and now an interrogation?
I take a deep breath, remembering who he is. No one will break Elias.
“And the others?” I demand.
The room is silent—dead silent. Is Talen even breathing?
Finally, he opens his mouth. “Would you like to know about your friend, Sky?”
I try to swallow. “Sky?”
Talen pauses and my stomach twists. I’m going to be sick all over the chair at this rate.
“Sky Breslin is alive and being held at a nearby operative outpost.”
“Oh,” I breathe out. Tears slip past my cheeks and down my chin. I try to mop up my face with my shoulder, but it’s no use and I don’t care. “He’s okay?”
He studies my face as if crying is some sort of spectacle he’s never witnessed before. “You care about him?”
“He’s my friend,” I say. “Now what about Lacy?”
Talen slowly stands. He turns away for a moment and runs his hand through his hair. When he returns, he's composed again, but something about this is bothering him. “Lacy has been sent for Aura testing.”
Pain forms at the base of my skull and works its way up. “Testing?” I ask, trying to process. I imagine her strapped to a chair like me. “Forced experimentation?”
Talen lays his hands on the back of the metal chair, lowering his gaze. “She has an aptitude for nano implementation.”
So he’s not a machine. Talen has a weakness. I tilt my head and lean in as close as my binding will allow, which isn’t much at all. “Did you have the same aptitude?”
He stares back at me blank-faced, as if the question doesn’t register.
“I mean, how are you alright with yourself? With what you do?”
Talen’s brow wrinkles. His eyes shift back and forth. “I’m required to follow orders.”
“To kill innocent people?”
“No.” He tightens his grip on the back of the chair, knuckles turning white. “I’m only given orders.”
This is working. “You must not have one ounce of regret then?”
Talen’s face turns red. He pushes away from the chair, marching to the back of the room. What just happened?
A few moments later, he returns. His face flat and lifeless again. “Lacy is adaptable for this next step in humanity, just as I was. Once the nanos are activated, she will fully understand her place.”
My shoulders drop as I realize he’s not going to be brought back around any time soon.
“Her place? You mean her place with the EHC, not her place in the world.”
“Same thing,” he says. “Her world is the EHC now.”
“That will never happen,” I argue. “You don’t know Lacy. She’ll fight you.”
Talen frowns. “I’m afraid you don’t know your friend very well.”
“I know her,” I spit back. “I know she won’t betray us. I know she won’t give up. I know—”
“If you want to leave this room,” Talen says, matter-of-factly, “you’ll need to reveal everything about your rebellion.”
“I thought you already knew everything,” I sneer, clamping my mouth shut. I won’t let him take what little I have left, even if at this point that’s basically nothing.
“You’ll talk,” he says.
I shake my head. No amount of pain could make me help the EHC fill in the gaps to destroy the few remaining members of the Dwellers and Emma’s people.
Suddenly, a rumble shakes the whole room. I spread my feet wide to steady myself as the light overhead shifts off center. Talen, somehow, stays upright.
“What was that?” I demand.
“An explosion,” he says and hurries out the door.
I smile, knowing the battle is far from over.
CHAPTER 17
I try again to twist my hands free. The straps loosen, but not enough. The blasts outside the room continue to shake the walls, sending dust to the ground.
“Help!” I yell, squirming to release myself again. “He—”
The door flies open, cutting me off as Elias rushes inside.
“Get me out of these!”
He bolts across the room, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a set of keys.
“I don’t even want to know how you got those.”
“It wasn’t easy.” He jabs one into the wrist cuffs. It doesn’t work. He tries another, and a moment later the cuffs fall to the floor.
“They’ve got Lacy,” I tell him. “That Aura op, Talen, will be back here any second.”
I massage the red marks on my arms while he flips through the other keys and tries one on the restraint around my shoulders. When it doesn’t work, he frantically tries another, and then another. Then the straps loosen, and I shove them off and jump up.
“How’d you escape?” I ask, my eyes searching his.
Elias grabs my hand and leads me back toward the exit. “Long story, but let’s just say there are a few less operatives alive now.”
We dash through the sliding door and down a long corridor. Everything here is metal—cold and dark.
“Where are we?” I ask as we come to where the corridor splits into two directions.
“Inside the power station,” Elias says, scanning one way, then the other.
My mind flashes to Telhix and how badly we need to get back there and try again. “What about taking over the communications tower?”
Elias pulls back. “We’ll be lucky to get out of here alive.”
I swallow, not wanting to give up on announcing our message to the world, but Elias is right. “What about this way?”
Elias stops me. “Wait.”
At the end of the corridor, a door slides open. Several ops rush through, their boots pounding over the tile in echoing
thuds. We dart back down the hallway we came from until we come to a door and press ourselves as flat as we can against the frame. The operatives rush past.
“Century class,” Elias whispers. “They’re more than prepared for battle.”
“So are we,” I say, stepping back into the corridor once the coast is clear. “We have to find Lacy. Talen said she was being prepared for further enhancement.”
The sound of boots pounding over the ground returns. Elias grabs hold of my hand again. “They’re coming back.”
“I’m not hiding,” I say. “There’s three of them. We can handle it.”
There’s doubt in Elias’ eyes, but he follows me down the corridor. The sound of running feet comes closer, and just as they’re about to turn the corner, Elias steps into their path and clocks the first operative right beneath the chin. The guard falls back like a rock.
Rage has been building in me for too long. I think about Sky, the Dwellers who were killed in the cave, all of Emma’s people killed near the settlement, and Mason’s fighters. I rush the second guard, kicking him hard in the gut. The man stumbles, but regains his balance. I attack again, round-housing a kick to his chest. This time the man grunts and falls to his knees.
Another guard raises his weapon to me, but in a flash, I grip his arm and bend it at the wrist, snapping it. The man screams in agony as I spin and elbow him in the head. He goes down, out cold, and Elias wastes no time in taking the man’s blaster.
Reaching down, I take the second guard’s weapon. The first guard I fought is still conscious, scuttling backward. His fingers stretch out to grab his blaster, lying a foot away from him, but I kick it away. Part of me wants to hurt him like they hurt me, but I quickly suppress the impulse.
Elias waves for me to follow. I pick up the man’s weapon and tuck it into my belt, then deliver one more swift kick to the side of his head, knocking him unconscious.
“They’ll be more here any minute,” Elias says.
I stand firm. “I’m not leaving without Lacy.”
“I already looked for her,” Elias growls. “Right after I escaped, I hacked into the building systems. A hovercraft left with her an hour ago.”
“Where?” I demand, stomach sinking.
“It was classified,” Elias says. “Maybe I could figure out where with more time, but that’s not something we have right now.”
I swallow back the lump forming in my throat.
The whites of Elias’ eyes are lined with red and full of worry. “Right now, we have to save ourselves. If we don’t, we can’t do anything for her.”
The door at the opposite end of the corridor slides open. “Stop there!” a guard calls out.
Without hesitation, I raise my blaster and fire off a shot. Immediately, they return fire. Plasma currents zip past us. I feel the charge ricochet off the wall and pressure skims my leg.
“Come on,” Elias urges, dragging me away from the fight. Up ahead is another door, and we make a run for it.
Please, let there be no ops behind it.
“It leads outside,” Elias shouts back to me.
“I know,” I say, envisioning the buildings up ahead.
The door slides open and again we’re standing in the blazing hot sun. No ops. Flames erupt from several surrounding buildings and billowing black smoke plumes from windows and rooftops. Several ops dart back and forth, ignoring us.
I spin around, taking it all in. “What is going on?”
“Jase and Knuckles,” he laughs. “Apparently they’ve been busy.”
“I’d say.” Gunfire erupts from just beyond the area’s perimeter. We move between the buildings, careful to avoid detection. Up ahead, the gates are blocked by several operatives firing off rounds into the hillside. We pause, crouching and keeping out of sight.
“How are we going to get out of here without them seeing us?”
Elias sighs. “There’s just one gate. We’d have to climb our way out to not be seen.”
“I’m good with climbing,” I say, tucking the second blaster into the back of my waistband.
“Right, okay.” Elias slowly stands. “Our best bet is to try for the south wall.” He points in the general direction, and before he can say anything else, I take off in a fast sprint. It’s an easy climb, as long as no operatives get in our way or no snipers take us out.
Elias’ right behind me. We dart between several buildings and crawl over a few small divider walls until we finally reach an alley. On the other side is the nine-foot wall. I holster my gun and leap up to grab hold of the top, but miss.
“Let me give you a boost,” Elias huffs out. He cups his hands and I place my boot there.
“You can stop there, or I can force you to!” a woman’s voice calls out.
The female Aura op and Talen have us penned in. The woman wears a sleek grey uniform that matches Talen’s. She stands at least six-foot tall, with bright red hair and steely eyes.
My breath hitches and I ease myself down, reaching for my hidden weapon.
“Don’t bother with that.” She holds up her hand and suddenly my body is pressed against the wall. My pulse races and bright spots form in my vision.
Talen lowers the woman’s hand and I fall to the ground. Elias scrambles over to help me to my feet. When I look up, the woman is staring hard at Talen.
“Move,” Elias says in my ear.
I don’t need to be told twice. I take off, hiding behind a low divider wall only a few feet from the perimeter and reaching for my blaster. Elias does the same.
The two of us fire off several rounds. The female Aura raises her hand again in my direction. I take aim and blast her. The electricity pulses through her body, causing her to go rigid, but it’s hardly enough. A second later, she’s back up and marching toward us.
Talen follows. His green eyes are dull again, back in robot mode. Elias and I fire at him, but both operatives continue to march forward until an explosion rips through a wall to their right, knocking both of them to the ground and covering them with rubble until nothing but a hand sticks out.
I slowly stand, eyes wide. The whole side of the building is gone, smoke billowing out from the giant hole in the side of the building, electrical wires sparking where they dangle. Computer equipment lays mangled in every direction.
I cough, waving away the dust as it settles down over us. “What was that?”
Elias turns his gaze toward the hills. “Our lucky break. Come on, we need to leave. We’re not going to get that lucky a second time.”
“Wait.” I block him from heading back toward the wall. “What if we take one of them?”
“An Aura operative?” he asks, shaking his head. “Are you crazy?”
I climb onto the rubble and move aside some of the smaller pieces. “Talen knows where they took Sky and Lacy. We can get information out of him. Come on, help me.”
Elias hesitates for a moment, then slides his blaster into his boot and climbs up beside me. Together, we toss rubble aside until Talen’s arm and head are exposed.
“How are we going to lift this guy over a wall?” Elias says. “There’s no way.”
“You’ll have to go first. Get Jase and Knuckles.”
Elias stares at me, dumbfounded. “Fin, there are operatives all over this place. It’s too dangerous.”
I throw off another heavy piece of metal. “We have to do it.”
Elias must know how serious I am. He opens his mouth to argue with me, but then stops and shakes his head. “I’ll be back. Don’t disappear.”
Elias runs back to the wall and scales it. He rushes uphill, through the brush and vegetation, then disappears.
Sweat pours off me as I fight to unearth Talen. It’s no easy task. I work until I’ve got most of the rubble off him, wondering where the female operative is buried. She must be dead by now. Even Aura operatives have to breathe, and there isn’t a chance of her getting any oxygen, crushed under all this.
I slide my hands beneath Talen’s arms and
heave with all my strength until his body shifts and slides out of the debris. I don’t want him conscious right now, but I bend down and press an ear against his chest to see if he’s breathing. There’s something there… a faint pulse as his chest slowly rises and falls. Knowing the Aura’s strength, I figure he’ll be back to full working order any minute, looking back to the wall.
Maybe this is a terrible idea. The ops will be back any second. How long should I wait for Elias?
A leg pops over the wall ahead of me as Elias pulls himself over. My shoulders relax. Right behind him is Knuckles and Jase.
“Hurry,” I say, as if I’d never changed my mind. They leap to the ground and rush to the pile of rubble.
“Nice take down,” Jase says to me.
“I wish I could take the credit.” I gesture to the shredded building beside us. “Wasn’t my doing.”
“It was mine,” Knuckles says, grabbing ahold of Talen’s feet. It takes all four of us to get him back to the wall. Knuckles and I climb to the top as Jase and Elias heave him up. None of us care as Talen’s limp body tumbles over the side and lands with a thud on the hard ground. A few seconds later, Jase and Elias are over, too.
My muscles strain with every step as we work our way back up the hill toward the transporter. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth, and all I can think about is lying beneath the shade with a cold drink of water.
“Keep moving!” Jase yells.
My arms ache from Talen’s weight, and I plan to take it out on him later when we interrogate him. It gives my legs the strength to push his dead weight up the hill.
At the top, Emma and her guards are standing in a small cluster. She waits, hands on her hips and mouth wide, with Drape at her side.
We push the last few feet together, then all at once drop Talen at Emma’s feet. Her guards step back.
“An Aura operative?” Emma asks, shaking her head. “What are you thinking?”
“That guy’s gonna wake up and zap us all with his brain,” Drape gasps.
I march up to one of Emma’s guards and take his water pouch, then collapse to the ground. I uncap the water and take in a long drink. “We’re going to get this disaster back on track,” I say, pointing the pouch in Talen’s direction, “and that op is going to help us.”
