Numbers Ignite (37 page)

“Look,” Dresden said, ignoring Vance’s comment. “I know I’ve made some mistakes. But I can’t lead NORA to war if they unseat me. Come back. We’ll drop the charges against you. Help me get the country back on its feet, and I’ll give you anything you want.”

“No offense, Dres, but you obviously don’t know what I want.”

Dresden’s shoulders sagged. “Fine. Stay here and let our country destroy itself. I may not understand you anymore, but I think you’re still a good person. You’d never let people suffer if you could do something about it. Or has that changed too?”

“Treena,” Vance said in a warning tone. “He’s trying to manipulate you. Think long and hard about this.”

I didn’t have to. Dresden’s words sank deep into my soul. He was using words as weapons, but it didn’t make the words any less true. Dresden wore the crown, but he was as limited as anyone else in which laws he could alter. As long as the council limited his power, nothing would ever change. What we needed was someone who was above the laws, someone they couldn’t touch.

Ruby had said leadership was in my blood. I’d sworn that, since a Peak had established the Rating system, a Peak would take it down.
I
would. But instead, I had run away, just like my mother always did.

Ruby was right. I’d been on the wrong journey all along. But it hadn’t been a complete waste. It had taken an entire settlement to teach me who I was much more than one thing. I could be both girl and warrior. Loving and fierce. Destroyer and defender.

“NORA is in danger,” I finally said. “We need to fix what’s broken on the inside before we can defend it from the outside. That’s why you need me, Dresden. I’ll come, but with three conditions.”

Dresden nodded. “Name them.”

“First, I come unrated. My implant gets removed permanently. No techband, either.”

“But your Rating is high,” Dresden said. “Why in the fates would you hide it? Besides, I need you to help me unite everyone, not divide them further. Things are precarious enough without undermining the one thing that makes our country strong.”

“That’s just the first condition,” I said firmly. “Second, I want the freedom to come and go as I please. When I decide to leave NORA, nobody stops me. If I want to travel somewhere within the borders, I get a transport for my personal use.”

Dresden stared at me, his expression unreadable. “You really have changed.”

“Third, I want Denoux unseated.” I paused. “No, actually he can keep his seat. I want a new position created for me: Councilwoman of Foreign Affairs.”

Dresden’s face turned red. I could see his fists clench, but he finally spoke through gritted teeth. “The council will throw a fit.”

“Let them. You’re emperor, remember?”

Vance watched me with a guarded look. “What exactly do you intend to do with that position, Treena?”

“Think about it. The only thing Ju-Long was afraid of was Nations for Peace. Send me to the convention, Dres. I’ll convince them that China is using us to position for war. If I succeed, they’ll fight for us. I know it. We just have to last that long.”

I didn’t voice the second part of my plan. I refused to come home with my head hung in defeat. If the other nations refused to join us, there was only one course left—I would confront the Chinese president, plead our cause, and convince him to leave us alone.

And if that didn’t work, I’d kill him.

Dresden and Vance looked at each other, a silent exchange passing between them. I could tell Vance didn’t like the idea, but this wasn’t his decision to make.

“It’s worth a try,” Dresden finally said. “
If
we can hang on until then.”

The sun had nearly finished its descent as we stepped out of the chopper. I saw shadows, figures moving about with stretchers. It would take a long time to recover from this day.

“Where did that Nations for Peace idea come from?” Vance asked, threading his fingers through mine. “They don’t talk about international news in NORA schools.”

I grinned. “Would you believe I learned it from a young girl?”

Vance chuckled, then pulled away to face me. “Even if the NP agrees to help, we’ll need to gather all the settlers together in one place for their own safety. They won’t like the idea of siding with NORA to fight. There are strong prejudices on both sides. It’s not something that just goes away.”

I sighed. “You’ve survived worse than a bunch of grumpy settlers. If anyone can handle all that, it’s you.”

Vance pulled me close against his chest. I breathed deeply. He smelled of pine trees and blood, an odd combination. Life and death. He rested his chin on my head and sighed. “I can’t believe you just agreed to leave again.”

“Me either,” I moaned.

He leaned down, his lips found mine, and he kissed me deeply, slowly. It felt like a new beginning, not a good-bye. Heat bubbled up inside and then shot to my fingers and toes as I pushed up against him, feeling the warmth of his body against mine. I’d never met anyone like Vance, who could leave me both weak and powerful at his touch.

A few minutes later he pulled away. “I’m sending someone with you,” he said, his voice a little hoarse. He cleared his throat. “She can keep an eye on things and report to me if Bike Boy goes back on his promises. We’ll use Mills’s old feed to communicate until you come back.”

“Sounds good. Who do you have in mind?”

I saw his smile in the darkness. “Oh, just a childhood friend.”

ONE WEEK LATER

The morning light settled on the western rim, setting the brush ablaze in reds and oranges. I could see for a hundred miles from up here. The view hadn’t changed much since I’d arrived in chains, but somehow everything else had.

The city below had just started to awaken and begin their morning work. Everyone had a job now. The higher citizens had taken in the lower ones, and the land near the lake was covered in busy construction. First the muddy, mosquito-infested areas would be drained and fresh water pumped in from an outside lake. Mills’s narrow, dark tunnels weren’t very usable for living space, but they were perfect for transporting water.

Once that was finished, wooden homes would be built. Structures with actual floors and furniture, and windows for ventilation.

Most of our crops had been trampled by soldiers and hiding settlers, but the scouts I’d sent out days before had good news. The soil in the mountain range around us was decent. Now that we weren’t hiding anymore, we could expand and start a summer crop. Something told me we’d need it for the winter ahead.

The tip of the Asian aircraft was still visible in the shadowed lake below. Scientists, mostly from Treena’s desert settlers, had already set to work testing the water for contaminants. Divers had extracted what they could from the aircraft, including weapons and several tons of worthless electronics. Coltrane’s strange device had completely disabled all of it.

Mills’s funeral had taken place privately five days earlier, attended only by me, Edyn, Coltrane, and the underground settlers’ leader, an elderly woman named Ruby. She gave a brief eulogy and then embraced Coltrane. They stood there like that for a long time as the fire died down.

The rest of the bodies, including my mother’s, had been burned the next day after an emotional memorial service. I had refused to combine Mills’s service with theirs. The people had agreed on that count. I was still surprised by how easily they’d accepted me in Mills’s place. I wanted more than anything for my mother to see it.

It had taken me twelve hours to locate my twin sisters. Mom had hidden them with a friend, a woman who’d lost her own son to the fire two years ago. She insisted that she didn’t mind raising them, but I knew that wasn’t what my parents would have wanted. The Hawking family was battered and torn, but as long as some part of it remained, we could never separate again.

I looked across the rim at the desert stretching before me. My clan had seen a terrible battle and survived, but war tended to take far more than lives. Now we had to pick up the pieces.

“Hawk to Wildflower,” I said into the radio again. We’d never been able to get Mills’s system to work, but this radio did on occasion, as long as I stood right here and used it at certain times of the day. My heart still hadn’t accepted the fact that Treena had come and then left again.

The radio emitted nothing but static. I rubbed my bearded jaw and waited longer than I should have.

I was about to give up and try again later when the static stopped. “Hawk, huh? Nice touch.”

“Yeah, I figured why not?”

“I don’t know. If you’re trying to hide your identity, it may not be very effective.” I could hear the smile in her voice. “How is Ruby doing?”

“She’s doing great, walking around again. Asked about you again last night.”

“What did you tell her?”

“That you’re out there saving the world.”

She paused. “I like the sound of that.” There was fumbling, then soft voices in the background. Then she came back. “Dresden wants to know what you did with all the Chinese soldiers.”

I frowned. Of course Dresden was with her. They were living together in the palace. In separate rooms, she had assured me over and over, but it still bothered me. “We put them to work. They’re excellent builders. If the ECA ever wants to negotiate, we have thirty-one surviving soldiers to trade.”

We weren’t sure how they had managed to survive the electrocution from their own stunners. Perhaps they hadn’t had a good grip on their weapons. Ju-Long was survivor number thirty-two, although I suspected his recovery was because he had built up a little resistance to the weapons in training. It would take more volts to hurt him than it would his soldiers. Anyone else would have run tests to find out how much he could take. But I had simply tossed the man into my old jail cell. There had been enough death here.

“Sounds good.” More fumbling, and then she spoke more quietly. “What about Coltrane?”

“He’s heading up the new science lab. Last I checked, he was working on a larger model of his disabler. He says he can’t wait to take on the entire Chinese army by himself.”

She laughed softly.

“What about you?” I asked. “Did Bike Boy keep his promise, or did he slap a techband on you the moment you set foot in NORA?”

“He’s kept to our agreement,” she said, and I heard a smile in her voice. “My implant was removed the day I arrived, and nobody’s tried to shove it back in since. I miss you.”

“Miss you too. Let’s conquer these guys so you can come home.”

“So that’s my home, is it?”

“Only if you want it to be,” I said.

Dresden groaned dramatically in the background, and she chuckled. “I have to go. Hopefully I’ll talk to you again soon. Keep them all safe, Vance.”

“I will,” I said. “I promise.”

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