The Variables (36 page)

Grant walked down the hall to escape the congregation and rested against the corner. He pushed his hands in his pockets and looked at the ceiling, hoping that no one would notice him. He didn’t have anywhere to go.

“Ryley isn’t back, sir,” a young man named Jorge said to Mick, rushing up from down the hall, holding his standard-issue rifle across his arm.

“Is that bad?” Blair asked, immediately entering the conversation at full-speed. She tugged on Frank’s collar and pushed on his rump. “Sit, Frank. Sit.” Frank barked.

“I bet he’s just being thorough,” Mick replied, shrugging. He checked his gun and then holstered it.

Nate approached and cleared his throat. “Ready for the announcement, Mick? We should get people up here soon. I have the video from Huck cued and ready to go. Scott’s boxes are in place.”

Mick’s head shot up and he scanned the area quickly. Grant slid further down the hall, hoping he was fully out of sight. Still, their voice carried to him. He felt his heart beat wildly in his chest. Scott’s boxes. He had heard them. Scott had never talked about boxes to him; he had certainly never seen Scott tinker with anything that could be described as a box. He tried to push it away, tried to play it off as something innocuous. He shook his head and mumbled to himself, “It’s nothing,” which he wanted to believe with his whole heart.

“Jesus, Nate,” Mick chastised in a loud whisper. “We have civilians in the hall.”

Their voices died away. Grant peered out again. The guards marched past.

Blair took a step forward after they cleared. “Maybe you should see where Ryley is? Maybe remind him that he’s supposed to be back?” She looked at the boys pleadingly.

“Sure,” Nate replied and he tossed his walkie-talkie to Jorge who caught it and sighed.

“Attention Guard Command Three. Please finish up your sweep and return to the Center for operation King’s Box. I repeat, finish up your sweep and report to the lab to be equipped for operation King’s Box.” Jorge tossed the walkie-talkie back. “Is that better, Blair?”

“Sure,” she shrugged with a smile. “I want this all to go well just as much as you do.”

Grant slid away and sat down again.

The guards marched up and down the hall from the end closest to the elevators to the end closest to the exit from the theater room. Four of them marched together, and they never looked up the hallway to Scott’s lab to see Grant sitting there, waiting for the rest of his Copia compatriots to arrive.
 

Blair walked around the corner with Frank and she jumped a bit. She eyed Grant with suspicion and concern.

“I didn’t see you there,” she said quickly. “How long have you been here?”

Grant shrugged and smiled. “Just waiting,” he said. “Eager.”

She didn’t reply. Frank wandered down toward him and barked once. Reaching out, Grant gave him a small scratch behind the ears and the dog responded by licking his palm in long slurps. It tickled Grant’s hand and he smiled. Mick rounded the corner and looked at Grant.

“You’re everywhere, Grant Trotter,” he said with a hint of annoyance.

“I don’t have anywhere—” Grant started, but he realized that Mick wasn’t listening.
 

“It’s time, Blair. I need to start the call for the Copia residents to arrive for their briefing. You ready?”

She shook her head and looked confused. Looking down at Grant, she handed him Frank’s leash. “Hold this,” she instructed, and she turned back to Mick. “You should let me try,” she said.

“Try what?” Mick asked, distracted.

“Let me try to get Ryley on the radio.” She held out her hand. “Maybe I’ll have better luck getting him back...since his absence here is a clear breach of my father’s protocol.”

“What?” Mick stared at her. “A breach of your father’s...Blair...listen...we’re about to call the Copia residents to the Center.” He looked at Grant and then looked at her. “Time’s up, sweetie. Ryley’s probably off dealing with some Copia-related issue. Maybe he’s taking a dump. Does it even matter? He’ll be back. I’m not wasting time on him. Protocol. Who gave you the right to assume what our protocol should be?”

“My father gave me the right,” Blair answered. “I have the ultimate power and authority here.”

Grant wished he could disappear into the wall. He fiddled with Frank’s leash.

Blair held out her hand. She kept her hand out until Mick put the radio in her palm. He crossed his arms and chewed his gum like cud.

Clicking on the walkie-talkie, Blair cleared her throat, and mustered up her most professional sounding voice. “We are missing Private Ryley. Private Ryley, we are ten minutes away from needing you at the starting point for our operation. Please report to the lab.”

She went to go hand the radio back to Mick, but then she snatched it back at the last minute and added, “This is
Blair
.”

“Good,” Mick sneered. “I’m sure Private Ryley is now busting his ass just for you,
Blair
Truman.”

Nate poked his head around the corner. “You ready, boss?”

Mick jabbed his thumb toward Blair. “We would be if our ultimate power and authority could start thinking of something else besides Ryley’s current whereabouts.”

Nate snickered. A few other guards congregated and watched the spectacle. Grant felt his face flash hot with embarrassment for her. He continued to study the floor and pet Frank’s neck, with the hopes that no one would draw him into the conversation.

“She had to radio him herself,” Mick said and he crossed his arms.

“That’s so warm and fuzzy. Extend a girl a hand and win her heart,” Nate teased. “I bet Ryley’s overjoyed that Blair needs his presence.”

The guys laughed. A man with bright red hair and a cross tattoo on his neck leaned over to another guard and said, “Oh yeah, now that
Blair
needs me, I’ll be sure to make sure I do my job now.”

The laughter died away and Blair’s chest rose and fell with heavy breaths. She spun, looking for a friendly face, and found none; even Grant looked away when she looked down. Hot tears rolled down her cheeks and she tried to wipe them away quickly, but everyone saw that she had let them get to her. She was trapped in the hallway—Scott’s lab on one end and the mocking guards at the other. Grant stood up. He put a hand on her arm.

“What?” she snapped, expecting more vitriol.

“Maybe something
is
wrong,” Grant said in a near-whisper. She hung on to his every word like he could be the one to save her from the mortification. “My roommate Dylan would never go off the grid in a time of great importance.”

“The call for Copia is going out in ten, nine, eight...” someone counted down from down the hall. Mick grumbled and took off, his shoulder hitting Blair as he went. She brought her hand up to her shoulder and kept it there.

“You have no right to be here,” Blair said to Grant with sharp condemnation.

“I’m sorry,” Grant said instantly. “I just—”

Blair raised the radio to her lips once again and said, shakier this time, “Private Ryley. We don’t want to continue without you, but—”

The steady alarm interrupted her.

“All Copia residents please report to The Center for briefing. All Copia residents please report to The Center for a housing briefing.”

Grant still held tightly to Frank as the beeping filled the halls. He realized that he had left his poster back in his apartment. He wondered if he would have time to run and get it, but then he realized that he shouldn’t. A still, small voice told him to stay put and stay vigilant.

“I should get going, I guess,” Grant said loudly and he held the leash out for her to take.

Blair looked at Frank and then at Grant. She wiped away a tear.

“I have to greet people,” she said. “Just for a bit. Maybe...could you...if you don’t mind? Just hang on to Frank for a bit. For me?” She had returned to a more softened demeanor. The Copia residents started to file past the hallway, and she rushed to catch them, and greet them warmly. She called to some of them by name. He could hear the excitement in their voices, and he watched as they filed past with their collection of suitcases and bags.

A family stopped and shook Blair’s hand. A little girl tugged on her skirt.

“My daddy says Copia is amazing,” she said in a chipper voice.

Blair put her hand on the little girl’s head. She closed her eyes and seemed to be holding back a range of emotion. “It is, darling.”

The father pushed the little girl forward with a sibling and he leaned close to Blair. He spoke to her in a mock-whisper, his voice clearly audible above the alarm. “So, is Copia as beautiful as I’ve been telling everyone?” he asked.

Blair nodded. “My father...”

The man wagged a finger in her face, “...is the breaker of promises.”

“He’s tried very hard to—”

“I’ll speak to Gordy next time I need something. And you make sure to pass that message along.” He disappeared into the crowd without another word.

Grant cleared his throat after the first wave passed. “Do you think I should go in?” he asked, extending the leash like an olive branch.

“Just stay,” she said. “I don’t like talking to some of these people...they can be so...”

“Rude?”

She smiled sadly. “I didn’t bargain for this. I’m here so that my dad and brother don’t have to be.”

“How can you be so calm? So friendly to them?”

He watched Noah approach with his family. Despite all his attempts to partner up with Grant through the week, Noah shot Grant a condescending look as he walked by. They were on their way to a new place and the kid had no use for Grant’s friendship anymore.

“Leash holder for the Elektos, Grant?” Noah laughed. He looked around to see who was laughing with him. “Just find someone else to follow around like a lovesick puppy dog. Grant Trotter, the puppy dog.” Noah rolled his eyes and kept walking.
 

Blair winced and then stared off down the hall where more people filed in. “Seems like we’re both targets today,” she said.

“That didn’t even make sense,” Grant added, shaking his head. “That guy is so dumb.”

“I’m not even a member of the Elektos. My own dad didn’t even want me to have any say in anything,” she said and let out a small self-deprecating laugh, and then she looked away from him, back down the hall where the last of the Copia residents entered through the double doors. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but no one really cares what I think about anything.”

Blair’s walkie-talkie squawked and Mick’s voice came on the line. “Ma’am...or...er...
Blair
do you copy?”

She turned to Grant and pointed to her chest with her index finger. “Did he just ask for me?”

Grant nodded.

“I’m here,” Blair answered a bit too eagerly.

“We have activity in a Clearance Level 1 area.”

“Could it be Private Ryley?” She tugged on Frank’s leash. Her eyes flashed with the excitement of being included in this adventure.
 

“Could be. I just wanted you to know. Elevator analysis says someone went to Floor B. We set the elevator shut-down sequence after that, so I have no idea where the person or persons could be now.”

“That’s the King’s and Salvant’s floor? Which pod door was triggered?” She turned to Grant and whispered, “I think he’s telling me this because he finally sees that I was right!” She gave a self-congratulatory squeal.

Mick answered swiftly, “Pod 6, Ma’am.”

“Can you check it out?” Blair asked. She gave a small jump and pushed a piece of blonde hair behind her ear.

“Ms. Truman, ma’am, we’re all set here. All residents of Copia are accounted for in the Center. We’re on time for our operation.”

As if on cue, Grant could hear the Huck video starting down the hall. His big booming voice greeted the Copia residents through the giant speakers. He was thanking them for their patience, and reminding them that they were the most important members of this world.

“But...if it was Ryley,” Blair said to Mick. She was pouting, her lower lip jutting out. Grant now realized that Ryley’s act of kindness in the morning had stirred something larger in Blair. Her worry for him was bred from misplaced loyalty, and he couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.

“We don’t have an extra person to supply you for checking it out. But if you want to look yourself, Ma’am, we have ten minutes before evacuation.”

Blair turned to Grant and raised her eyebrows.

“Should I go?” she asked.

Grant stammered. Why was she asking him? Huck droned on in the background. The Copia residents cheered and clapped for something they had seen on the screen. “Sure, I mean, if it’s important to you?” he said. “I should probably get into the Center anyway...hear what Huck has to say...”

“Oh,” she said. “Ummm...maybe...” Blair looked conflicted, but Grant felt anxious to get into the large gymnasium and hear about his future home. “Maybe just stay here with Frank until I get back?” she asked.

“I guess—”

But she was already skipping down the hallway when she answered Mick back. “I’ll go to Pod 6. I’ll take my dad’s direct elevator. Turn back on the power and I’ll let you know when I’m done.”

“Copy that.”

Grant took a short walk down the hall and dragged Frank with him. He stood next to the corner, close enough to hear the video drone on.

“
We have appreciated your contributions to our world...”

Grant smirked. He had contributed nothing to this world. The people watching that video had given money and years of their lives to a cause that ended the world. The only thing Grant had done was get lucky enough to survive. Somehow he felt like he kept cheating the system.

The video was wrapping up. “
For us, those who are going to live the next five hundred or more years on the Islands, we will look to you – the Copia – as a tale worth telling. You are worth more than you know.
”
 

Grant felt Frank tug at the leash toward the Center, but Grant pulled him back. Undeterred, Frank barked once and then again.
 

“Shut up, Frank,” Grant mumbled toward the dog, giving him a gentle tap on the head.

Down the hall, Grant saw Nate look his way. He stared at Grant and then lifted the walkie-talkie to his mouth, still keeping Grant in his line of sight. Behind him, the other guards moved quickly to shut the doors to the Center, and his heart began to pound. Jorge and one of the other guards brought big boxes out from a room down the hallway. They were metal and hooked to them were long floppy plastic tubes. Working fast, the men tucked the tubes under the door to the Center and then flipped a switch.