Rites of Passage (38 page)

“Look at me,” Evers snarls. His fingers are tight on my jaw. “This is it. This is where your choices have led you.” His tongue snakes out and wets his lips.

Without thinking, I spit in his face, angry that he thinks he can make me beg. Angry that this is happening at all. Terrified of how far they'll go but knowing I'll never give into them.

Matthews spins me around to face him, grabbing the rope that Evers has already cut and securing it quickly. “Let's get this over with,” he says. It's fraying where he cut it, just one little coil still in place. It won't take much weight to make it give and send me plummeting into the water.

“Hold her there. I'm going to get a rock, make sure she sinks.”

“It has to look natural. Don't go off-book like you did with the rubber bullet, Evers.” Matthews sounds annoyed.

“The waterfall is fifty feet. She's bound to hit a rock or two on the way down. Who's gonna know if we knock her out before she goes over?” Evers takes a few steps into the darkness.

“You can still make this right, Matthews,” I plead. “Let me go. Right now. This can be the end of it.”

He shakes his head. “You think you know so much. Like you're better than me. My father is the head of the Pandora Society. You can't touch me, bitch.”

“But I did, right? I mean, I'm the one who got you stripped of your rank.”

The back of his hand smacks into my cheek before I even know he's moved. My face is on fire, tears blurring my vision.

“Hurry the hell up, Evers!” he shouts into the night, pushing me back a step.

My boot slides when it leaves the dirt and lands on a rock. I plant the foot that's on land and refuse to move. He'll have to throw me over.

But he doesn't. His head snaps around at the sound of someone crying out. “What the fuck?” Matthews takes a step to the side, his grip on my arm loosening just slightly. “Evers!” But he's too far away to see in the darkness and it's hard to hear anything over the roar of the water. “What the hell happened now?” Matthews's voice is worried, no longer so sure of himself.

“We happened, Matthews.” Drill flicks on a flashlight, his face shadowed in army paint.

My heart stops.

Matthews releases me and he turns, his hands balling into fists as he steps closer to Drill.

I stare at the light wavering through my tears, determined to focus despite the pain. I crouch where I am, ready to drive my shoulder into someone's stomach, ready for a fight when it's time.

Drill keeps the light focused on him. “It's over. Let her go.”

“You want to take me on, Stamm?”

“Let McKenna go, then you'll get your chance with me.”

Laughing, Matthews takes a step toward Drill. “You're crazier than I thought.”

“Come on. Man to man. Let's go.”

Matthews hesitates and I know he's scanning the darkness, waiting to see if anyone else is going to come. “What the hell!” He steps forward into the clearing.

Drill drops the flashlight on the ground, highlighting a space he steps into, muscles tense and ready. Just waiting for Matthews to make a move. They circle slowly, sizing each other up.

“Evers is down, Stamm!” Jonathan's voice slides through the trees.

Jonathan!
I want to cry out, but before I can another hand clamps over my mouth. “Don't yell, Mac, it's us. You're safe.” Kelly releases his hand and I turn to see for sure. “We've got to move. Now.”

I shake my head. “Not yet. Let's just wait—make sure Drill and Jonathan—”

“We've got orders, Mac. We have to get you out of here.” Kelly's voice is full of urgency.

“You ready to rappel?” Nix whispers, his eyes on my gear.

I shake my head. “They cut it. It's ruined. They were going to make me . . .” But I let the words trail off. If I say it, then it's real, and I'll freak.

“Here. Use mine.” Kelly's moving fast, taking his harness off as Nix helps me untangle from mine.

Drill lands a punch to Matthews's stomach, then charges when he's bent over, carrying them both to the ground in a whirlwind of limbs.

“Where's Jonathan?” I'm doing what Kelly says, trying to pull up his harness while my eyes scan the darkness for any sign of my brother.

“Hurry,” Kelly whispers, pulling his harness up around my waist and tightening it. Nix secures the rope they used to climb up the falls. “You remember Hell Week, right?” Kelly says, checking the ropes once more. “Easy as pie. Ritchie's down below.”

I want to say thank you, to hug him and tell him I'm sorry for everything that's happened.

“Go, Mac. You've got to get out of here. We're right behind you.”

I close my eyes, take a deep breath, and step off the ledge. Pushing back, I let the rope slide through my fingers. It only takes two jumps to get down.

At the bottom, Ritchie unhooks me, my hands shaking too hard to be useful. “Let's go.” He gives my arm a tug but I can't stop looking up.

“What about—”

“Kelly and Nix are coming. The colonel and Drill have it under control. Now, hurry,” he says. “The guys we took out aren't going to stay down for long. Jax intercepted an email. The rest of the Society found out what Matthews and Evers were planning. They're on their way out here right now. We've got to get out of the woods.”

We start running along the trail by the river, a much easier way to go.

“The phone worked great. We've got their whole conversation on tape. Matthews and Evers are going down. The
Society
's going down.”

“What about Jonathan? How—”

“Jax finally hacked into Matthews's dad's email tonight. Kelly was right. It was all there—how he'd ordered Matthews to pressure Jonathan all year to get you to quit. How they kept him from sleeping like they did Kelly, how they threatened to hurt you if he wouldn't get you to leave. Drill called him and Colonel McKenna demanded to be part of this. He hadn't even left town yet.”

“You guys are amazing.” The relief makes it easier to run. Jonathan never really turned his back on me at all.

Ritchie shrugs. “We'll be even more amazing if you pick it up and we finish the Worm Challenge.”

Kelly and Nix catch up, giving each other celebratory high fives as they run. Kelly grabs my hand and doesn't let go, pulling me on even though my legs are dead and all I want to do is sink down on the ground and curl up into a ball.

The static of a walkie-talkie breaks the silence. “Mission complete,” Drill says through the buzz. “I repeat, mission complete. Get back to campus, you four. All hell's going to break loose.”

“Ready, Mac?” We're out of the trees now, the last two miles a road run to campus. The clouds are gone, and a hint of sun glows on the edge of the horizon. Kelly's green eyes sparkle and both dimples shadow his face.

“For what?”

“To finish the Worm Challenge!” He squeezes my hand. Ritchie grabs the other and we run onto campus together, Nix leading the way. When we round the turn for the last climb up to the obstacle course, the guys back off. I glance at my watch: 0645. It'll be close, if we make it at all.

“Where's the rest of Alpha?” I huff, muscles straining as we climb the hill.

“Look around.”

From the trees that line the side of the trail, one by one, the rest of the company—minus Wilson, the only Alpha recruit the Society has left—comes out. They'd waited for me.

Kelly starts a cadence as we all fall into step, climbing the hill to the last obstacle course together.

Falling into formation, my recruit buddies let me go first, though none of them are far behind, over the walls, through the tunnels. I hesitate for only a second at the rope, the cheers from the guys behind me urging me on. The rope bites into my skin, but I use the memory of Amos to fuel me.

I'm going to win this battle for him.

Back at the bottom of the rope, I wait. The rest of the obstacles we can do as a team and I'm not going to go off on my own. I've blazed enough trails this year. Together, Alpha Company crosses the finish line with two minutes and three seconds to spare. We did it.

The cheer is enormous and even through the exhaustion, I give myself a second to smile. Arms grab me and pull me into a hug. I know this hug. “Jonathan,” I get out, before he squeezes me again.

“God, Sammy.” He shakes his head and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Are you okay?”

“I'm fine. You came. Nothing else matters.”

He nods, fighting the tears that he won't let fall. McKenna men don't cry. “I'm sorry I was a dick. I didn't want them to know I was onto them. That you'd given me proof. Getting Matthews demoted was all I could do without doing more harm than good. I didn't mean any of it.” He looks me in the eyes. “
None
of it, Sammy.”

Drill runs through the recruits, giving congratulations, but his face is anything but happy. He leans his head between us, talking just loud enough for me to hear. “We need to go. Now.”

FORTY-TWO

THE KITCHEN IS PACKED—DRILL, JONATHAN, AND TIM
pace like caged animals. Jax sits on the counter and Kelly fidgets. “I can't stop shivering,” I say, my words sounding loud in the silent kitchen. When I got here I changed into a pair of Drill's sweats, but even they can't warm me up.

Kelly goes to Tim's cabinets and starts opening them. When he finds what he wants, he pours the coffee grounds into the filter and sets the pot to brew. Then he sits next to me at the table, his eyes scanning me from head to toe to head again.

“Stop staring at me like that. I'm fine.” I wish I wasn't shaking so he might believe me.

Drill walks to a basket on the kitchen counter. He grabs an apple and slices it, opens the pantry, and pulls out some peanut butter. He plops them on the table in front of me. “Eat.”

I pick up a slice and chomp down. “Happy?” I ask around the fruit.

“Something needs to happen to those bastards,” Kelly growls. Even though he isn't part of the Society anymore he hasn't stopped apologizing.

“They'll pay, believe me.” Drill uses his dangerous voice again.

“So the million-dollar question is how? What do we do with the names? The information?” I chomp down on another bite of apple.

“We don't have to rush into this,” Jax says.

Drill lets out a snarl. “No one expects you to do anything right now. Just rest.”

“I can't, okay?” If I stop even for a second, everything will come flooding back: the waterfall, the knife, the cut rope. The fact that they were actually trying to kill me. I know I'm going to have to deal with it. I just can't right now. “I need to do something. Anything. If Jax thinks we can take them down, we do it.” I turn to Jonathan. “So, Colonel? What's the plan of attack?”

“They're lying low. Going to the local cops is pointless—half of them are on the Society's payroll anyway. We've got to go to the board of directors and hope things haven't changed too quickly, that the Society hasn't had time to put more people in place.”

Drill nods. “Forget about jumping the chain of command. If we make the list of cadet members public, the board of directors will have to make sure something is done.”

“So we go to the board.” My voice is breathy and my head is light, like I'm about to pass out. I look at Jax. “We'll do it.” I swallow hard. “You've got the evidence?”

“Right here,” she says, pulling a flash drive out of her pocket. It had taken some doing, but Jax's hacker skills paid off. She'd gotten photos of all the DMA cadets with their Pandora Society tattoos, the emails proving Evers shot me, the photos from Matthews's kicking incident, and the recording from the Worm Challenge. We'll hold General Matthews's emails back. We need to make sure something gets done at the DMA before we take our chances releasing the bigger list. If this works next year the DMA will be Pandora-free.

“That's it. It's decided,” Tim says, his voice commanding.

“Okay,” I say. “But I need to make a call before we do anything.”

Tim stands up. “The phone's right there. Your dad's number is next to it. He's expecting you.” How Tim knew what I was going to do, I don't know. But then I think of Amos. Dad was the first person he always went to when he was in trouble. Of course he would know it's what I want.

Once they're in the living room, the television on, machine guns firing, I grab the phone and the number. My heart pounds so loud as I sit at the table, I'm scared I won't hear if anyone picks up.

“Colonel McKenna.” His voice is brusque and serious on the phone. No extra syllables to spare. But I shatter all the same.

Tears spill down my face and my throat swells up. I'm not even sure I can talk. “Daddy?”

 

“It'll be okay,” Rev says two days later, standing next to me on the steps of the admin building. “I'll be there with you.”

The building is tall and imposing and I'm afraid I'll lose my nerve. I still can't stop shaking so I busy my hand tugging at the collar of my dress blues. Drill, Tim, Jonathan, and Kelly stand with us.

Tim's cell phone beeps and he pulls it out of his pocket. “Jax wishes you luck. Actually, she told you to kick some ass, but . . .”

I'm too terrified to laugh though. In the last two days, three helicopters had hovered above campus, chopping their way to the landing pad next to the football field. Helicopters that could only be bigwig military officers—the people who had summoned me here after Jonathan requested a meeting.

Tim's phone chirps again. “Jax again. The commandant's out,” he whispers, like he's scared someone will overhear us. “The board of directors just sent a press release.”

“The first casualty of the war,” Jonathan says.

Drill shrugs, clearly not upset over the “loss of life.” “He should have stood up to them. He got manipulated like all the rest.” He keeps his eyes on me, avoiding a look at my brother that will just start another argument between them. It's been nonstop for two days.