Abandon (6 page)

And if the Enforcement Officers wanted me, the smartest thing to do was to separate myself from the others. That way no one would get hurt because of me.

I’d been separating myself for years.

Living in isolation had saved me countless times. Drawing on that independence forced me to learn how to survive.

Don’t think about how Irv went missing.
Where could he be?

Don’t think about what the Greenies will do now that you won’t wear the implant.
What would they try next?

Don’t think about seeing Mom and Dad die.
Why did I beg to go to the market with them?

Don’t think about Blaze alone in the alley in Freedom.
How could I have sent him on that mission?

Don’t think about enduring the endless flames of that dark capsule.

I shuddered, hot dread settling in my stomach. I would never feel a release from that heat. Never find a way to tell Vi about it.

Stop
, I told myself in my most commanding voice. I definitely couldn’t think about where I’d been while Vi was in Freedom. It was why I hadn’t slept well in weeks.

Every time I shut my eyes, I was transported inside that capsule again. So I didn’t sleep very much.

I aimed my board toward the ground at a way-too-steep angle. The Enforcement Officers coming my way didn’t slow or change direction. And why would they? They didn’t have independent thought. They’d been told to take me out, and they wouldn’t stop until they did.

I didn’t want to draw further attention to myself, so I buried my voice and pulled my hood over my head. I could take these guys with just a hoverboard.

I wove through them, bumping off a body here and a helmet there. They couldn’t change direction as fast as I could, and I’d swooped past them before they realized I was even there.

Rise One loomed in front of me, but I cut a wide arc to the north, setting my sights on Rise Twelve. I wondered who was in charge now that Thane was gone. I wondered how much damage he’d done to the system I’d established years ago.

Could I have asked Zenn? Sure, but I didn’t trust him the way I used to.

Could I have asked Indy? Maybe if she wasn’t so busy punching my lights out.

I’d never trusted Thane as Director of Rise Twelve. Everything he’d done since I met him screamed
Informant!

Then when I became the leader of the Resistance—and my brother Blaze died in the alley so close to Rise Twelve—I wasn’t sure I could ever believe Thane again.

Yet here I was, risking everything to save him.

I told myself it was because he held Resistance secrets the Association couldn’t have. With a determination I hadn’t felt in a long time, I descended to the roof of Rise Twelve.

I had exactly two seconds to breathe and only one foot on the ground when a group of people leapt up from behind a flower bed.

“Who are you?”

“What do you want?”

“Kick the board over here.”

I flipped my hood down. “Relax. I’m Jag Barque,” I said in my most authoritative voice.

They all stopped talking. One guy actually relaxed against a bench.

A girl a few years older than me recovered first. “That’s some voice you’ve got there.” She spoke in a cool tone that gave nothing away.

I shrugged. “Like I said, I’m Jag Barque.”

“
The
Jag Barque?” she asked. “Prove it.”

She wanted me to prove it? “Jump up on the wall there,” I said, and every person within hearing distance hopped onto the shallow wall that edged the roof. “Walk toward me.”

Their mechanical movements made me wince. “Okay, okay. Get down.”

They thumped to the safety of the roof. Slowly they came to their senses, watching me with curiosity burning in their eyes.

“I’m Jag Barque,” I repeated. “Leader of the Resistance. Do you need additional proof?”

“No,” the girl said, exchanging a nervous glance with the man next to her. She stepped forward. “I’m River.”

“What’s the status here?” I asked. “Who’s in charge of Twelve?”

“My father, Mason Isaacs, with Starr Messenger as his second.”

I frowned. “Thane said Starr would be in charge if something happened to him.”

“She’s still a student,” River said. “Director Hightower appointed my father when Assistant Director Myers went missing. Starr is still second.”

I knew the Isaacs family. Blaze had smuggled them out of Northepointe several months before he’d died. “Is your dad around?”

“He’s at Rise One with the other building Directors. Word is there’s a threat to Associational security.” River gave me the up-down. A slow smile stretched across her face. “I guess they were right.”

“I have friends out there. What’s the word on your safe houses?”

Before she could answer, an explosion tilted the sky. I fell to my knees, my arms automatically covering my head.

As I regained my feet, River moved to the edge of the roof and faced north. “That was our last hideout,” she said. “I hope your friends weren’t heading to Block Twenty-Four.”

Somehow I thought that’s exactly where they’d be going.

“Send a rescue team,” I said, joining her at the wall. I gripped the edge until my finger bones hurt.

I couldn’t lose Vi. Not in an explosion I hadn’t seen coming. Not in the dead of night while I lingered on a rooftop and couldn’t help.

“Who should we be looking for out there?” River asked. I got the impression it wasn’t the first time. I couldn’t tear my eyes from the plume of smoke spreading into the sky.

“Jag, who—”

“Violet Schoenfeld,” I said. “Or Zenn Bower. Or Gunner Jameson.”

“If they were in that building—”

“Go,” I said. “Just go.”

8
.
Block Twenty-Four had been compromised. The four of us stood on the fringes, staring at the smoke still wafting from the hideout.

One look at Gunner, and I knew not everyone had made it out. “What can you feel?” I asked, hoping it wasn’t as bad as the smell of ash and plastic and wet, hot metal. I wondered if Trek had been inside. Or Starr. I swallowed hard.

He closed his eyes and shook his head. “Too much.”

“We’ll wait here,” Saffediene declared. “We’re not that far from Rise Twelve, and the danger seems to have dissipated for now.”

My arms felt dissipated from my body. My legs too. My head. All of it—the EOs swarming in the streets, the spyware in the silver paint, the alarm, the darkness, the destruction of the Insider hideout—was just too much.

“We can’t wait here,” Vi said, glancing around. “Something doesn’t feel right.”

I snapped back to attention. “What doesn’t feel right?”

She and Gunn turned. Vi cried out in surprise; Gunn shouted. I spun around and immediately raised both hands in a placating gesture.

A handful of people stood in front of us, their clothes nonstandard, their eyes watchful. One held a taser, obviously an older model he’d scrounged from somewhere—or taken off a dead body. The other four wielded “weapons” of rubbish bin lids or pieces of the blown-up building, as if we were the ones responsible for the detonation of their hideout.

“Wait, wait, wait,” I said, my voice power employing without a second thought.

“Calm down,” Gunn said, his voice on high too. “We’re friends here.”

The people exchanged glances. “Who are you?” a man asked.

“I’m Zenn Bower,” I said. “And this is Saffediene, and . . .” Could I give Vi’s name?

“Violet,” Vi said, making the choice for me. “I’m Violet Schoenfeld.”

Weapons were lowered and glances exchanged. “It’s them.” The one with the taser stowed it in his jacket pocket.

“Them?” I asked.

“How do you know who we are?” Saffediene asked, showing her strength by speaking without so much as a waver in her voice.

“Jag sent us,” the man said. “I’m Newton.” He named the others, but I got hung up on River Isaacs.

“River,” I said. “I know you. How do I know you?” I studied her tangle of brown hair. Her nose sat too small in the middle of her face. Her eyes, round and alive, reminded me of someone. She had a few years on me, but I had to look down on her. She carried strength in her body, and I knew she was no lightweight.

She gripped my hand in a crazy-firm handshake. “Zenn Bower. You saved my family a couple years back.”

All eyes focused on me, but none felt heavier than Vi’s.

“I—I—” I didn’t know what to say. I remembered now. Mason Isaacs. His wife had been taken and coerced. He needed passage to Freedom, and Blaze and I had provided the service. River looked like she’d aged ten years instead of three.

“How’s your dad?” I finally asked.

“Director of Rise Twelve,” River answered. She cast her
eyes around the wreckage behind us. “Come on, we’re not safe here.”

She and her band of rebels faded into the shadowy alley. Saffediene moved with them, easily hiding herself among the darkness. The girl had mad sneaking skills.

Gunn and Vi stood deathly still, gaping at me.

“What?” I asked, stuffing my hands in my pockets in an attempt at nonchalance.

“Interesting,” Vi said. She made to follow the others without removing her laser gaze from my face. “Very interesting.”

“What does that mean?” I asked Gunn, who’d hopefully picked up on Vi’s feelings.

“I think,” he said, “it means she’s sad she doesn’t know everything about you.”

“What the—”

“I lived with you, and you’re still a complete mystery to me. Don’t worry, Zenn, it’s part of your charm.” Gunn flashed one of his rare smiles before leaving me alone with my despicable self.

*   *   *

Upon arriving at Rise Twelve, Jag immediately put everyone to work. Leave it to him to show up unannounced and take over. He was a natural-born leader. Some say it’s his charisma. And by “some,” I mean “girls.”

I say it’s because of his crazy-powerful voice talent.

No matter what it is, everyone obeyed him. Not that he really commanded. But he spoke with authority, and as much as I hated to admit it, his ideas usually had merit.

“Got that, Zenn?”

“Hmm? Oh, yeah.” I tried to focus on the convo, but we’d been over it before: use my voice if I had to, stay close to Vi, blah blah blah.

Jag didn’t buy it for a second. “You weren’t even listening.”

I looked at the midnight horizon over his shoulder. “Was too.”

“Gunn.” Jag glanced at him.

“He wasn’t listening.” The traitor ratted me out.

“How do you know?” I asked. I’d been burying my emotions for years. I didn’t want them exposed for anyone to feel.

“You don’t argue when you’re right,” he said.

“Whatever,” I mumbled. At least he couldn’t smell my guilt.

A few minutes later Jag sent Pace and Saffediene back across the ocean sporting backpacks filled with supplies, which only left me, Gunn, and Vi to bust Thane out of Rise One.

“We’ll attract less attention with a smaller group,” Jag said. “River doesn’t have more fake IDs anyway.”

“Who’s going to tether the boards?” I asked.

“Yeah, that,” Jag said, and I knew I wouldn’t like whatever
came next. “Pace took your board. He left his for you—with the tethered boards.”

I glared at the ocean, as if it was to blame for this.

“Your board was the only one not voice activated,” Jag continued. “I had no other choice.”

Right. Or it was just another clever way for Jag to stick it to me.

*   *   *

Ten a.m. found me changing into standard-issue clothes and clipping a fake ID to my collar. I descended to the lobby, where the rest of the rescue team waited.

“Nice,” Jag said, examining us in Freedom’s finest. “We look official enough.”

We took to the streets with River’s team of three at ten thirty a.m. The few people out walked in straight lines, black suits glinting in the weak March sunlight. I was used to the silence that permeated the streets of Freedom. If people spoke, they used their cache.

Insider Tip #3: Follow the rules of the city you’re in. If you don’t know the rules, keep your mouth shut.

I glared at Jag, hoping he wouldn’t speak out loud. He must’ve gotten the message, because he kept quiet the whole way to Rise One. We walked right up to it and past a huddle of Enforcement Officers. River held the door open,
and we filed toward the ascenders in the back of the lobby.

I couldn’t believe how easy everything was going. Adrenaline surged through me, making my nerves jump.

I swallowed hard when we arrived on the seventh floor. The air felt charged, yet eerily abandoned, as if the whole operation had been moved somewhere else since we’d been gone. Lab seven, though the largest, certainly wasn’t the only place in Freedom where heinous acts went down. Maybe we were in the wrong room.

But the two doctors standing guard at the end of the hall suggested differently. They’d already drawn their weapons and aimed them in our direction.

Gunn and Jag sprinted toward them while Vi squeezed her eyes shut. Even though my mind control wasn’t very developed, I knew she was keeping the guards frozen and silent.

Then Gunn and Jag said in tandem, “Release the weapons. Open this door.”

The guards put down their tasers, punched in the codes to open the door. Vi and I joined Gunn and Jag, and we took a collective breath as the glass slid sideways.

Inside the lab Raine already had her hand cemented to Thane’s. The walls blared with color that almost formed images.

“Damn,” I said.

9
.
This is a trap
circled through my mind. Everything felt too easy, despite the fact that Raine’s hand was already glued to Thane’s. A sense of unease skittered over my skin.

“Zenn, Gunn,” I said so softly I wasn’t sure they heard me, but they both sprang into action.

“Release her,” Zenn commanded the lone technician in the room. He didn’t move. Zenn’s fingers curled into fists. “Release her. Now.”

The technician held his ground, his dark eyes glinting with defiance. He thrust out his jaw. “I won’t. You can’t brainwash me.”

Zenn cocked his fist back and punched the technician in the face. He crumpled to the floor, leaving Zenn’s path to the counter of supplies unobstructed. I heard Gunn talking somewhere nearby. I heard metallic clangs and a shout. I heard a girl scream.