Atlantic Island (35 page)

When the men were dressed, Theo lined up with Tony, Wes, and two other men. They put their hands behind their heads. "Are you sure about this?" Tony asked. "We're sitting ducks out there."

"I'm as sure as I'm going to be about anything right now," Theo said. "This is our chance. I think it can work."

Tony sighed, the uncomfortable exhalation of a man making his peace with himself and whatever deity he worshipped. "Okay," he said. "Let's give it the old college try."

Theo laughed before he could catch the laughter and rein it in.
 

"What's so funny?" Tony asked.
 

"Nothing, nothing. It's just…I never got a chance to go to college."

"Rebellion 101, my friend. You're the professor now."

When everyone was in his proper place, Theo gave the order to open the door and proceed.
 

Jason, wearing one of the less damaged Security Force uniforms, stepped to the front. He pulled the door open and stepped forward, weapon drawn to his chest. A battalion of guards popped out from all sides of the hall.
 

"Whoa," Jason called to them, his voice muffled by the helmet, "easy, people. We're coming out with the prisoners."

"How many?" asked one of the guards.
 

"We've got five. Rest of them died in the shooting."
 

"The hell took you so long?" asked the same guard. He must be someone important, Theo thought.
 

"We were checking to make sure they were dead, and securing these prisoners here. Now please, drop your weapons and let us do our thing."

Silence. Theo waited, unsure of what he would do if this became more complicated.

"Stand down," the guard said. The Security Force agents lowered their weapons.
 

Jason turned to the rest of the disguised prisoners. "Let's go."
 

The group of them walked out into the lobby, which still bore a much closer resemblance to a hotel than a prison. They noticed with a degree of relief that there were no security doors erected in the lobby to keep them from the front of the building.
 

Their group moved to the center of the room, and the real Security Force agents came out of hiding, moving closer to them.
 

"Now!" Theo called. The disguised prisoners leveled their weapons at the Security Force. The remaining prisoners with guns came out of the stairwell, keeping the agents in their sights as well.
 

"What the hell is this?" asked the lead guard. Several of the agents began to raise their guns.
 

"Put your weapons down! Now!" Theo shouted. One of the disguised prisoners handed him a rifle and he aimed it carefully. "Drop your weapons to the floor and put your hands up! I'll give you to the count of three and then we start firing. One..two.."

The weapons fell to the floor in a noisy clatter. The Security Force squadron in the lobby had been defeated without anyone firing a shot.

Kylee led her army down the boardwalk. The construction crews had raced to make repairs after the hurricane, and she could see that the work was not of the highest quality, made as it was from repurposed joists and studs from the demolished homes and commercial buildings throughout town. She feared that the SUV would break through the repaired boards and get stuck, but the tires were wide and the vehicle's weight was greatly reduced from its old incarnation.
All of us here have had our weight reduced from our old incarnation,
she thought.
 

Some of the residents of the beach camp knew the women from the safe house. Kylee realized just how quickly people's identities had been redefined. She wanted so badly to create a society where people could decide for themselves how they wanted to be classified.
 

They were not attacked again between the camp and the city limits. Kylee was glad. She knew her soldiers needed the break. Hell, she needed it too.
 

Two blocks before Ventnor became Atlantic City, Bill and Jamie jogged up to her. "How's it going, General?" Bill asked.

"Okay," she said. "It's been an interesting night so far, hasn't it?"

"Yeah," said Bill, a sly smile on his face, "but the good news is soon we'll be reunited with Theo. Trouble never seems to find him."

She laughed. "Well, it will be good to see him."

"Oh, I hear you," said Bill.

"Do you think he's doing okay?" asked Jamie.

"He knows what he's supposed to do," said Kylee. She knew she wasn't giving a straight answer, but she wouldn't know what to say. She didn't want to tell them how much she feared that they would fight all the way into the prison only to find that Theo was dead.

A block inside the city limits, Kylee directed the rebels off the boardwalk and down to the street. This was the point where they were supposed to rendezvous with Menendez and whatever support he had been able to gather together.

"Be on alert," Kylee told her troops. "Watch for my signal. We're expecting to encounter Security Force agents here, and I'm going to find out if they are on our side or not."

She stepped off the boards and tried to focus her vision on the street ahead. The street lamps illuminated the avenue, but she didn't expect the Security Force, good or bad, to be out in the middle of the street.
 
Just then, she saw a hand reaching out from the carport of a building near the intersection.
 

"Kylee!" a voice called. "It's Carlos! I'm in here."

She held a hand up to her army, telling them to stand still. Cautiously, she ventured to the side of the carport. "I'm here, Carlos," she said.

Menendez stepped out and grabbed her in a hug. "Oh, thank God you're okay. And Theo? Do you have any word?"

She shook her head. "He's supposed to be leading the fighting inside the prison. I have no way of knowing what's going on there."

"Then let's go find out." He turned to the carport, put his fingers in his mouth and whistled. "Let's go, boys. Time to join the good fight."

Five men dressed in Security Force uniforms walked out. None of them had the "death mask" helmets. Menendez saw the worried look on Kylee's face. "I'm sorry I couldn't provide more firepower," he said. "Tiberius has more influence than I would have thought."

"That's okay," she said. She pointed to her army. "You'd be amazed what can be done with only a handful of willing participants. Now I think we have a prison break to assist."

She stepped to the front. Menendez, clearly impressed, ordered his men to follow. The growing contingent of rebels trekked on toward the prison, the larger cluster of footfalls mixing with the ever-present squeak of the SUV.
 

The old hotel quickly approached. "That's the prison," said Menendez.
 

"Really?" said Bill. "And yet it seems so quaint."

"Shh… we've got company." Kylee saw Security Force in the distance. She turned to Menendez. "Are you sure you want to do this? You cross this line and there's no chance Tiberius will let you live if he wins."

Menendez smiled. "No worries. He's not going to win."

Kylee's army took positions around the intersection, making sure to avoid being detected in the bright streetlamps. When she was sure everyone was ready, she called out to the enemy combatants up ahead. "You, Security Force agents, drop your weapons or face the consequences."

A small part of her thought she could avoid further fighting. Still, on another level she knew there was no chance she would be allowed to enter the prison. On an even deeper, more frightening level, she secretly hoped the agents would fight back.
 

"Rebel squad, you are under arrest by order of Supreme Leader Tiberius. Submit to us immediately."

"Um… I don't think they are going to surrender," said Ryan.
 

"And so, my friend, we will show them the consequences," said Joseph.

Bill grinned, a dark, devilish fire in his eyes. "God, I love this guy."

Kylee wondered briefly about Andrew, who had moved further and further away as Joseph continued to indulge in the passion of battle. She hoped this wouldn't drive them apart. Nothing to be done about that now. She straightened up and assumed her leadership pose.

"Rebel army," she said to her men and women, "take them down."

The battle outside the prison lasted nearly fifteen minutes. When the Security Force had fallen to Kylee's rebels, she led her troops to the front door. The prison looked surprisingly like the hotel it had been. She worried that the unlocked and unshielded front entrance was hiding yet another wave of Security Force agents. Her people were getting tired from being on their feet so long with their adrenaline pumping. Getting tired meant getting sloppy and that was a risk she couldn't take.
 

Kylee had seven women and one man with injuries. Several were fairly serious. She wanted to get in, get out with Theo and the other prisoners and get her injured people to the hospital. She worried whether the Security Force would consider the hospital a neutral ground. Still, that was a worry for later. Now she had to face yet another unknown on the far side of the prison doors.
 

"I need support on both sides of the door. I'm taking point here. We have no idea if Theo's been able to get the fighting to the lobby. We might be walking into a battle, or we might be walking into a trap. Whatever it is, let's take the fight to them."

Menendez organized the troops in positions along the side of the building. They were prepared to wait for Kylee's signal, whatever she told them to do.
 

"Okay," she said. She took a deep breath. "Let's see what's behind door number one."

Two of Menendez's men pulled the doors open. There was no sound of gunfire. No sounds at all, for that matter. Kylee decided to take a risk. She leaned around the edge of the doorway and looked into the lobby. She pulled away quickly on instinct. Did she really see what she thought she saw? She slowly leaned back in. A motley bunch of men, some of them wounded, appeared to have taken a team of Security Force agents prisoner. Standing in the middle of the group, unharmed, smiling and waving at her, was Theo!

Kylee ran into the building and wrapped her arms around Theo. He lifted her and spun her around. When he put her back on the ground he kissed her passionately.
 

"I guess you didn't need my help," she said.

"Are you kidding?" Theo responded. "We were prepared to stay here all week if we had to. We weren't about to go out the door and fight whatever was waiting out there." He hesitated, then indicated the outside. "Are they…"

"Dead," she said. "Or injured enough that they won't be any problem for us." She looked around the room. "How did you take all of these men prisoner?"

Theo smiled. "Long story. We'll have to swap tales. But now..."

"I know. We're not done fighting."

"No.
 
Tiberius has to know about all this by now, and he's not just going to give up and walk away."
 

"Well, I'll be damned. He lives!" Bill ran across the lobby. Theo put out his hand. Bill shook it and pulled Theo into a hug. The rebels slowly entered the prison. Husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends found each other for the first time in far too long.
 

Jane and Tony walked over to Kylee and Theo.
 

"Thank you both for bringing us back together," Jane said.
 

"What you did for us made all of this possible," said Theo. "Without you giving us a place to live and hide there would be no rebellion."

"That's what this is, isn't it?" asked Tony. "A real, full-on rebellion?"

"That's right," said Kylee.
 

"Well… good. That's damned good."

"Guys," called Ryan, running over, "we've got a problem."

They turned and looked where Ryan was pointing. Brian had collapsed to the ground and Liz was holding his unconscious body, sobbing uncontrollably. The prisoners and the rebels had all experienced some very horrible things the past few hours. Liz's ability to keep all of that inside had reached its limit.
 

Kylee and Theo ran over. Liz's hands were soaked in blood where they moved on Brian's torso. "Oh, God, he was shot," Kylee said. She looked at Theo. "I didn't know…"

"He must not have wanted you to know. Brian has wanted a piece of the action for a long time, and I'm sure he was afraid you'd make him stay back." Theo turned to the group around him. Several of his men were still keeping guns trained on the Security Force agents they had taken prisoner. Others were still standing with loved ones. Everyone had stopped what he or she was doing to watch the scene unfolding as Liz screamed in the middle of the room.
 

"Who else here was shot?" Theo called. "Raise a hand. Now is not the time to be brave." More than a few hands went up. Theo counted. "Nine," he said to Kylee.

"And I've got a few more with the women guarding our prisoners. Couldn't even find the energy to come in here."