Captives (46 page)

The distant substation was a tangle of gray metal on a field of black maybe three hundred yards out. The four gleaming spotlights that towered over the station didn’t cast their glow far.

“Nowhere to hide,” Zane said.

“We won’t be here long enough to need to hide.” Levi jumped down onto the roadway and crossed to the inner wall. It came up to his waist. He lifted the strap of his rifle over his head, set the rifle on the wall, and crouched to look through the scope, turning the zoom until the substation glowed in the lens. After locating the row of transformers, he tried to figure out which way they ran. If he could hit the first transformer in the series, everything else would go out.

Levi pulled back the bolt and loaded a round into the chamber. “Keep an eye on the studio’s location, and let me know if it goes dark.” He flipped off the safety and took aim at the transformer on the far left. One deep breath, and he pulled the trigger.

The shot cracked around them, echoing off the concrete walls of the dam. Through the scope, Levi saw no sparks or evidence that he’d hit anything. He glanced up at Zane.

“Prospector apartments went dark,” Zane said. “All the way to … Wow, that’s weird. The power went out in the Highlands all along the edge of the Highland–Midland wall.”

“It’s an arch.” The first one must be the other end then. Levi chambered another round and aimed for the transformer on the right end. Just as he pulled the trigger, Zane spoke.

“Someone’s coming.”

The shot rang out, but Levi knew he’d missed. He cocked the gun and straightened, looking where Zane was pointing. Two sets of headlights were heading their way from the other side of the inner wall. They’d just passed the other Highland substation.

Levi crouched and aimed for the transformer again. “Don’t talk.” He took in a deep breath and held it, then fired. He straightened to glance toward the city below.

Zane yelled, “You got it!”

Levi tucked the rifle strap over his head. “All I needed to hear. Let’s go.”

As they sprinted across the road, the headlights from the approaching enforcer vehicle lit their way. Levi boosted Zane up onto the roadway wall, then Zane pulled up Levi.

“Stop!” an enforcer yelled.

Levi followed Zane along the wall to the ledge that separated the powerhouse, over the railing, and into the fish ladder. Zane flipped on a flashlight, and they splashed down through the fish ladder as carefully as they could. A door on the powerhouse above opened, but Levi didn’t look back.

“They went downriver!” a man yelled.

Zane tripped on the last step of the fish ladder and fell into the canal. Levi jumped over the last two steps and pulled Zane to his feet. They splashed downstream, staying against the inner wall. Above, enforcers’ flashlights roamed the water.

Gunfire pelted water around them, urging them to move faster. Zane stopped in front of the storm drain and shone the light into the tunnel, waving at Levi to hurry.

“Don’t wait for me!” Levi yelled.

Zane hoisted himself into the tunnel and soon cried out and dropped his flashlight, which slid out of the pipe and plopped into the canal, dimly illuminating the brown water from below.

Levi lunged up into the tunnel, took hold of Zane’s waist, and pulled him into the drain.

Zane’s voice was a whisper. “I think I cut my leg.”

“Hold on.” Levi helped Zane sit, then skidded back out the drain. He squatted down for the glowing beam of the submerged flashlight, grabbed it, and crawled back into the pipe. Zane was slumped along the curve of the tunnel, his waist submerged in the flow of water, his legs elevated on the other side. Levi shone the light on Zane’s face, turned the beam to his legs, and then to the water, which ran red from Zane’s legs and past Levi’s boots.

Levi looked up to Zane’s welling eyes. “It’s no cut. They shot you.”

O
nly lights I see are headlights.” Charlz’s voice came from the darkness across the room, his form a black shadow before the pale outline of the window. “Power’s out everywhere.”

Omar shifted on Charlz’s couch. Before the power had gone out, they’d been watching Lonn’s liberation and listening to Charlz’s enforcer scanner.

The scanner crackled and a male voice said, “B46, 11–99. Highland Substation Beta, 11–99. Shots fired.”

“Rebels, I bet,” Skottie said from Omar’s right. “They’re all worked up about this Lonn thing.”

“That makes sense,” Omar said. “Think they’re trying to free him from liberation?”

“Nah, the guy’s old,” Skottie said. “It’s the way of things.”

Mad lot of sense that made. “Lonn’s a rebel. What if he doesn’t agree with liberation?”

“Why would anyone disagree?” Skottie asked. “Liberation is the highest honor.”

The radio buzzed again, and this time a woman spoke. “B46,

11–99. Highland Substation Beta, 11–99. Shots fired. All wall units respond. Code 3.”

“Too bad I’m not out there,” Charlz said. “I’d pop those prudes with my stunner and watch them twitch.” Charlz drew an imaginary gun and pretended to shoot it.

“You’d miss,” Skottie said. “And Otley would use you for the next target practice.”

“Shut it,” Charlz said, shooting Skottie with his nonexistent stunner.

A fizzle of static. The female voice again. “Units responding to wall, suspects are two white males, wearing gray Department of Public Tasks uniforms, last seen near the powerhouse.”

Omar slid to the edge of the couch.

“It
would
be the cleaners,” Charlz said. “Hey, Omar, maybe it’s your outsider brother. He’s mad ‘cause you broke his nose, and he wants payback.”

“Why wouldn’t he come shoot up Omar’s apartment, then?” Skottie asked.

The radio crackled, and Omar yelled, “Quiet!”

The female voice. “Units responding to wall, suspects entered a storm drain, pursue with caution.”

Omar’s thoughts tumbled together, recalling Levi’s two Xs, his promise to free their people, and how he’d entered the Safe Lands through the storm drains. He stood up. “We need to find a DPT radio. Now.”

“Why?” Charlz asked.

“Because I’d bet you my PV that my brother is using them to make trouble. And I think I know how to locate him.”

It took longer than Omar had liked to find a maintenance worker. None seemed to be working at this hour. Thankfully Skottie remembered that his friend Nash tasked for the DPT, so they went to Nash’s
Mountaineer apartment and borrowed his radio. Not that they moved much faster once they got to Nash; Charlz kept complaining they were missing the rest of the liberation.

“It’s not on anyway. The power is still out,” Omar said.

“Still, we could be doing something better than chasing after your hunch. You’re not even in enforcement anymore, remember?”

“At least I’m doing something.”

When they were back inside the car, Skottie asked, “Where to?”

“Just wait a minute.” In the back seat, Omar flipped through the channels on the radio, listening. One: nothing. Two: some guy at a malfunctioning fire hydrant. Three: nothing. Then he hit station four.

“—to stop the blood flow. Then get moving. Over.”

“10–4, Eagle Eyes,” Levi said. “Meet in the dead-end alley behind the Mountaineer.”

“Negative,” the other voice said. “I’ve got to fill the ark and deliver the cargo. You’re on your own, Jackrabbit, so hurry. Over and out.”

“Copy, Eagle Eyes,” Levi said. “Over and out.”

Channel four went dead.
Sweet mercy.
“They’re coming here,” Omar said.

“Who’s coming here?” Charlz asked from the passenger’s seat. “And what’s a Jackrabbit?”

“A code name for my brother. We’ve got to stop them.” This was it: Omar’s chance to get back in with the task director general and Otley.

“What’s that mean,
cargo?
” Charlz asked.

“It means they’re stealing something,” Omar said. “You guys got your weapons? They took mine.”

“I’ve got stunners at home,” Charlz said. “Been collecting them a while.”

“Not enough time for a trip to your place,” Omar said.

Skottie reached across the car and opened the glove compartment. “We’ve got one,” he said, removing a stunner.

“One will have to do,” Omar said. “Now let’s find that alley.”

S
haylinn kept everyone in the downstairs sitting room watching Lonn’s liberation, so that when the power went out, they’d be close to the kitchen and the stairs to the garage. Seeing her mother’s face on the screen with the other women of Glenrock almost made Shaylinn too frightened to lead the escape. But by the time the lights blacked out, her fear had turned to anger.

They were getting out of here tonight. No more of this friendly imprisonment.

They reached the garage without incident. Shaylinn saw a transport parked in the alley where Mason was supposed to be. She just needed to make sure. She lifted the two-way radio to her mouth. “Eagle Eyes, give me your signal. Over.”

The lights on the transport flashed on and off.

Shaylinn waved Naomi forward. “Go, go!”

The transport had steps. Mason came down to help Naomi up the first one.

Naomi hugged him. “Thank you, Mason.”

Eliza hugged Mason as well. Aunt Mary pinched his cheeks. Chipeta, his aunt, wrung his hands and kissed his cheeks.

And then there was Shaylinn.

“Only five of you?” Mason asked.

“Jemma is still in the RC. Mia went to watch the liberation with Rand at some fancy party. She said we were
dim
for trying to escape again and that she didn’t want an X. And Jennifer refused to leave without Mia.” Shaylinn still couldn’t believe she’d considered Mia a friend, even for a brief time.

“Get in,” Mason said. “We have to keep moving.”

Shaylinn climbed up the steps and sat in the first row of seats across from Aunt Mary. Mason got into the driver’s seat and started the transport.

“So Mia wants to stay here?” Mason said. “Really?”

“Oh!” Shaylinn clapped her hand over her mouth. She’d forgotten Mia and Mason were supposed to get married.

“I’m sorry, Mason,” Chipeta said. “We couldn’t keep hold of her. The draw of so much glamour … She never looked back.”

“Mia chooses the gilded cage,” Mason mumbled. “Fascinating.” He steered out onto the main road, and the transport started to pick up speed. Shaylinn looked out the window and could barely see the harem shrinking away in the moonlight. Good riddance.

“What about the children?” Eliza asked.

“We can’t leave the children here,” Aunt Mary said.

“What happened to Kendall?” Shaylinn asked. “Where is the RC? Are we going to rescue Jemma?”

“I’m taking you to meet Jordan, who’ll lead you to a safe location,” Mason said. “Levi will meet us there, and you’ll all make plans to free the children.” He swerved over the yellow line and back. “Sorry. I’m not the best driver.”

“What about you?” Naomi asked. “You’re not coming with us?”

“I’m going to stay in the Highlands, so I can have access to the children.”

Shaylinn looked at Mason with a new appreciation; she hoped his bravery wouldn’t be a mistake. “But won’t they know you helped us?”

“Not as long as we hurry so I can get back,” Mason said.

“Bless you, Mason,” Chipeta said. “You’re a good boy.”

Mason drove over to the Grand Lodge and parked beside a large truck. “I’ve got to do a little surgery on each of you before we go farther.” He got up, turned on a flashlight, and removed a first aid kit from under the dashboard.

“Surgery for what?” Eliza said.

“SimTags. The computer chips they put in your hands. Scoot over, Shaylinn.”

Shaylinn obeyed, and Mason sat beside her on her seat.

“I won’t lie to you. It’s going to hurt. I’ll be as careful as I can, but I also need to be quick. We don’t know how long the power will be out.” He held up his flashlight. “Can someone hold this?”

“I will.” Chipeta grabbed the light and held it aloft.

Mason took Shaylinn’s right hand and set it on his lap. He tore open a little package and rubbed something cool over the side of her hand. Her heart skipped a little as he removed the lid from what looked like a pen but turned out to be a little knife. He wiped the blade off and looked into Shaylinn’s eyes.

“Ready?” he asked.

She nodded. Mason twisted her arm so that the side of her hand faced up, which felt awkward. He squeezed and pressed the knife into her flesh. Shaylinn gasped at the sting and jerked her hand, but Mason held tight while she looked away and gritted her teeth.

“Got it,” Mason said. “Can you hold this?”

Shaylinn looked back. Mason held up his finger, and on the top sat a tiny metal tube, covered in blood. Shaylinn pinched it off his finger, then Mason bandaged her hand.

“Don’t lose that,” he said. “Who’s next?”

Mason worked fast, and soon had removed the SimTags from each of them.

“Don’t tell Jordan I cut you,” he said to Naomi; she smiled.

Mason collected all five SimTags in his hand and took them out of the transport. Then they were off again, moving through the dark city. He had to slow at intersections, as the cars that were out were having
trouble deciding who would go first. In some places, enforcers waved traffic through, and each time their vehicle passed, Shaylinn found it hard to breathe.