The Defiant (10 page)

David looks at me. “I'm telling you exactly what you need to know, but nothing more. And it's not just to protect you. If you get caught along the way and tortured, and you know all the secrets, then you might jeopardize our entire mission.”

“I would never do that.”

“Everyone has a breaking point. Trust me. I'll give you updates when you need them. We'll work together. You'll be on the ground, fighting and strategizing. I'll be here, giving you guidance and advice.”

I sigh, frustrated. “You have to tell me something more. What will happen to me in the Hellgrounds? How will we communicate once I get there? What is my purpose for being sent there?”

“You'll wake up in a farmhouse. I'll make sure there's a communication device hidden nearby. I'll get one of the rebels to sneak in there and plant it. I'll make sure you find it.” He sighs. “And your purpose is going to involve detonating a unique device in an unusual location—I can't say more than that.”

“A bomb?”

“Of sorts.” He just stares at me.

“What if I say no to all of this?”

David stares at me. “That's your choice.” He pauses. “But there's something you should know. I didn't want to tell you, because I thought it might force your hand, or make you feel like I'm trying to manipulate you.” He pauses again for a second. “But Liam is already en route to a work farm in the Hellgrounds, as a captive. It's the near the farmhouse where you will be sent.”

My blood runs cold. “What? How do you know that?”

“After he landed tonight, he was captured by a group of soldiers on the lookout for rebel activity. Right now he's on a truck bound for the Hellgrounds. They'll make him do hard labor there, until they break him. That's what they do with every rebel boy that they catch. Then the experiments begin.”

“How do I know you're telling the truth?” I challenge him. “You've lied to me so many times before that I don't know if I can believe you.”

He smiles. “I knew you'd say that, Alenna. I'd be disappointed if you didn't.” Then his smile fades. “I wish I were lying, but I'm not. In fact, I can show you.” He turns to the wall. I'm confused for a moment, until he says, “Watch.”

Suddenly a light springs forth and shines on the wall, like some kind of small movie projector. It takes me a second to realize where it's coming from.
His eye.
A beam of light is pouring out of it, painting an image on the wall. It must be powered by the same large batteries that power the computers.

I stare at what I see projected in front of me. It's images of Liam being taken by armed soldiers. He's struggling against them, veins throbbing and muscles straining. It takes six men to hold him. They beat him with nightsticks as they drag him toward a waiting vehicle.

I'm glad that he's alive. But all my hopes that he had escaped and would soon meet me are dashed. I have to face the truth. Liam is a hostage, and supposedly he's headed straight to one of the most dangerous places in the UNA.

“Do you want to see more?” David asks.

“No,” I tell him. My mouth is dry. Then I add, “Yes. Keep going.”

More images unspool on the wall. I see Liam being thrown
into the van. He lunges, swinging hard at the soldiers. He knocks one out cold. He kicks with both feet, and he almost makes it back out. But finally he's just overwhelmed by their numbers. He's forced inside the van and the doors are slammed shut and locked. The van quickly speeds away into the night.

The light emanating from David's mechanical eye clicks off. He turns back to face me.

“How did you get that footage?” I ask.

“A rebel filmed it, hiding in the trees. He uploaded it into his computer system and I downloaded it directly into my eye.” He pauses. “So there are some advantages to getting ‘messed up' like I did.” He smiles again, but he looks tortured to me.

“Is there a way to fix you?” I ask him. “I mean to make you normal again? Like, can't they do transplants or something?”

He nods. “Yes. They could have made me almost back to normal. With a few scars, and a lot of stitches. But I wanted this done to me.”

“That's crazy,” I tell him, shocked. “Why would you do that?”

“Because this is my second life. I feel like I died once already.” He places his metallic fingertip on the table. “But I lived, despite my injuries. Remember that I took a vow once to do everything possible to fight the UNA. When the scientists told me that having computers embedded directly inside me was an option, I immediately saw the potential.”

“The scientists suggested this? Was my mom involved in your surgeries?”

“No. In fact, she tried to talk me out of it. But the others were.”

I want to cry again. The sudden feeling just overwhelms me. “David, they tried to make you into some kind of monster. Have you looked in a mirror lately?”

“I don't care what I look like in a mirror, Alenna. None of that stuff matters to me. I'm better than I was before. I have more power.” He smiles again. “Besides, it's going to take monsters to fight the UNA.”

“So what happens now?” I gaze at him. “I'll let myself get captured. I need to find Liam and rescue him.”

He nods. “You spend the night here. Then in the morning you'll be taken into the city, under cover, to meet with a rebel group. The group will be raided by police—because I will tip them off—and you will be arrested and sent to the house in the Hellgrounds. From there, you will receive further instructions on what to do, and how to reach Liam.”

“You really won't tell me more?”

“I can't. It's easier this way.”

“Easier for who?”

“Both of us. They might give you truth serum. I can't risk your knowing things before you need to.” He blinks. “Just trust me that when you get out of the Hellgrounds, you will have a very tight deadline—and the entire success of our takeover of the UNA depends on you.”

“You're sure you won't tell me more about this detonation, whatever it is?”

“If they give you truth serum, you won't be able to keep any secrets. I know that you received torture training on the wheel, and learned how to endure isolation, but the UNA truth serum can break anyone. You already know more than you should.”

“It doesn't feel that way.”

“I know. Just try to get some sleep while you still can,” David says.

“Yeah, as if that's likely,” I retort.

He smiles.

“You need sleep more than I do,” I tell him. “And I know you're going to stay up the whole night, working.”

“We can sleep peacefully only when the UNA has been turned into ashes, right?” he says.

“Right,” I agree.

We hug one more time. He feels so fragile. I am both afraid of him and drawn to him.

I finally turn to leave the room. I glance back once, as he extinguishes the lantern, fading back into darkness.
Have I dreamed this encounter?
It seems so surreal and confusing.

I exit the room and carefully shut the door behind me. I walk down the long, curving flight of stairs, to where Kelley is waiting for me.

“So now you understand,” she says.

“Some of it.”

“Let me take you to your bedroom for the night.”

I nod and follow her. This will be my last night of freedom before I am captured.

But I'm not really thinking about myself. I'm thinking about the fact that David is still alive. He looks so different, but there are flashes of the old David that I remember.

I vow to talk to him more in the morning before I get sent to the rebel cell, and then on to the Hellgrounds. I only now realize how much I've missed David, and I'm grateful for the chance to spend more time with him before I get sent away.

T
HE NEXT MORNING
I wake up in my shabby bedroom. My back hurts from the sagging mattress. It takes me a second to remember that I really am back in the UNA. I stare up at the stained ceiling. Then I shake off the strange feeling, get dressed, and leave the room.

I don't search for Kelley and Shawn. I just go straight upstairs to the door of David's room. I need to talk to him before I leave the safe house. I know he probably won't answer any questions about my journey, but I want to make sure that he's doing okay.

I knock softly on the door. There's no answer. I turn the doorknob, expecting it to be locked, but it turns easily in my hand.

“David?” I ask, surprised.

I push against the door, opening it and stepping inside.

The blinds are open, and gray light floods the room from the large windows. The curtains have been pulled back. The desk is still there, along with the mattress and the computers on the dusty wooden floor. But there is no sign of David. It's like he was never there in the first place.

“David?” I ask hesitantly.

“He's already gone,” a voice says from behind my shoulder.

I turn around. Kelley is watching me.

“When did he leave?” I ask her.

“Last night. When you finally went to sleep.”

“Is he somewhere else in the house?”

“No. He couldn't risk it.”

I nod. I don't need to ask any questions about why. I know why he left. So that if I'm caught and interrogated, I can't give away his location.

“Is he safe?” I ask Kelley.

She nods. “David will be fine. He's a survivor. And he's a key figure in our plans for a revolution.”

“How did he get so much power?” I ask her. “It almost seems like he's running things.”

“He's not, but he's vitally important. Since he was twelve, he was groomed to revolt against the UNA—” She breaks off suddenly. “I shouldn't say more. Ask him yourself if you see him again. You two were close on Island Alpha, right?”

I nod. “Yes.”

She looks at me. “Was there something between the two of you? On the wheel? More than friendship?”

The question comes out of nowhere. I can't believe she just asked me something so personal. “No,” I tell her awkwardly. “Why would you think that?”

“Intuition.” She shrugs. “Guess I was wrong.”

“Did David say something about me?”

She shakes her head. “No. But he left you a note downstairs on the kitchen table.”

I move past her quickly, immediately heading down the stairs to get it.

“I didn't read it,” she calls out behind me. “It's still sealed.”

I get downstairs and head into the kitchen. Shawn is sitting there in a wooden seat, his eyes glued to a digital display.

“They're looking for us already,” he says glumly.

“Of course they are,” I tell him. “What did you expect?”

I see the letter on the table and I snatch it up. As Kelley promised, the seal is unopened.

“You don't have long until men come for you and take you to meet the rebels,” Shawn says.

“I know.”

I get the feeling that David didn't tell Shawn or Kelley that I'm going to be captured on purpose.
That's David's way.
Everyone only knows one piece of the puzzle.

I walk out of the room, holding the letter, and go into the dingy bathroom. I know this is the one place I won't be bothered by anyone for a moment. I sit on the closed toilet and tear open the envelope.

I'm not sure what I'm expecting exactly, but my heart is racing. I slide out a sheet of paper folded in threes.

As I do this, an object falls out of the paper and onto the ratty carpet. I lean over and pick it up. It's a thin metal key on a chain, like the kind that might open a safe-deposit box. I hold it in one hand, as I unfold the piece of paper.

It's blank.

I turn it over. Nothing. I feel disappointed, and a bit insulted. I don't know what I expected. Some kind of message, at the least. But there's only the key. David didn't even leave me a note.

Sighing, I stand up and put the chain around my neck to keep the key safe. I fold up the paper and the envelope and put them in my back pocket.

Typical David,
I think. But then I realize that maybe he didn't
know what to say. I assume the key has something to do with the bomb—or whatever it is—that I have to detonate. I must keep the key safe and make sure it doesn't get taken from me by anyone.

I'm about to leave the room, when I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror. My hair is messy and I pull it back, trying to smooth it down. I see circles under my eyes from tiredness and worry. I look like a stranger. I try not to think about Liam and what he's going through right now. Soon enough I will be joining him in the Hellgrounds.

I hear a voice call my name. It's Kelley.

“They're here!” she says, from outside the bathroom.

“I'll be right there,” I tell her, looking at myself for a final time.

Then I leave the bathroom and step into the hall.

Kelley is standing there. “Someone is waiting for you.”

“Already?”

She nods. “Come this way.”

I follow her through the house and out a side door. I step into the cool air. The sky is gray, but rays of sunlight occasionally poke through the cloud cover.

A flatbed truck is parked in the driveway, carrying a load of large square boxes and straw. Shawn is standing outside talking to the driver, a burly man in a thick jacket and a cap.

“Alenna?” the driver calls out.

“That's me.”

I walk over to him. He sticks out his hand. “It's best if you don't know my name,” he tells me, “but it's an honor to meet you.”

I shake his hand.

“You can call me Tomas if you want, but it's not my real name. Let me show you how we're taking you to meet the other rebels,”
he says. He moves around to the back of the truck. “Look. Right in here.”

I peer into the back. He shoves aside a few boxes to reveal a narrow hiding place beneath the cargo.