State of Alliance (21 page)

We leave the lobby, following the hallway until we come to the stairwell. Omega troops that cross our path wind up dead. To confront us is to invite an instant death sentence.

It is both scary and impressive how deadly we are.

“Harry should be here somewhere,” Chris says. “We’ll search every level, kill every officer we see. Spare no one.” He looks angry as he says the next few words: “We’re a kill team, now.”

We climb the stairs. The beautiful antiquity of the building is quickly becoming ravaged. The second floor is on fire. Hot, suffocating smoke fills the hallways. Omega soldiers stumble around in the dim lighting. Uriah pops a few rounds into the halls and brings them down. We search the rooms. There are two officers. Uriah and Chris put an end to them immediately.

I turn away, pausing at the door.

Harry will be up high
, I think.
He’d want a good view of the harbor and the fight in the parking lot. He’d enjoy the show
.

“He’s on the top floor,” I say.

I look at Chris.

He doesn’t ask me to elaborate. He knows. He understands.

We
both
do.

We leave this level and clear every floor until we hit the top. I get a light, fluttering feeling in my stomach. Anxiety? Nervous energy? I don’t know.
Maybe it’s a premonition. Maybe I understand, deep down, that what’s about to happen will change me dramatically.

I can’t put the feeling into words. It simply
is
.

As I step onto the top floor, time seems to slow down. There is a long hallway and rows of doors. I know, somehow, that Harry is in the room on the end. The one that overlooks the parking lot, the pond and the harbor in the distance. Harry Lydell, the man with the flair for the dramatic.

He would want a front row seat for the Battle of Monterey.

Uriah, Chris, Andrew and Vera go ahead of me and check the rooms. There are no more officers up here. The floor is empty. I walk forward, gripping my rifle. I stand in front of the last door on the row. At the end of the hall is the emergency exit and access point for the roof.

I kick in the last hotel door. My team is with me, moving into the room in formation. I’m first, Vera is second, Chris is third, Manny is fourth and Uriah and Andrew follow. We pour into the room, prepared for a fight. But there is nothing. Nothing but a wide open
suite with a bed, a desk, and big windows overlooking the school property and the distant Pacific Ocean.

The corner window has been shattered with a gunshot.

We search the room. My heart sinks. I was so sure that Harry would be up here. I mean…he could be in another building…but most of them have already been searched. Did Harry leave Monterey? Did he know what was going to happen? Did he have a feeling that the militias would win this fight?

No. He was sure Omega was going to wrap this thing up
.

I turn and run, hurrying into the hall, pushing open the door to the roof. I climb a few narrow stairs and emerge into the night. The air is cold. It feels good against my hot, sticky skin.

And there, on the edge of the roof, is Harry.

He is standing with his hands clasped behind his back, a serene expression on his face. He looks satisfied, expectant. He turns from the scene on the school property, away from the billowing smoke. Some of the trees around the pond have caught fire. From here, I can see the bursts of light from the south and north sides of the city, where Anita Vega and
Marshal Sullivan are engaging Omega with their militias.

“Harry,” I say.

My voice is dry, raspy.

A cruel smile twists his lips.

“Cassidy,” he says. “You’ve killed my snipers.”

Dead Omega snipers lay strewn across the roof, weapons loaded in their hands.

“You lose,” I say. “It’s over.”

Harry doesn’t respond to that. He simply looks at Chris.

“Commander Young,” he continues. “How nice for you to grace us with your glorious presence. If I’d had my way, you’d have been executed long ago in Los Angeles.”

“Sorry I screwed up your plans,” I say.

But of course, I’m not sorry at all.

“Harry,” Manny states. “You’re every bit as scrawny as they said you’d be.”

I remember that Manny has never seen Harry in person – only heard about him. Harry ducks Manny’s insult and surveys the six of us.

“If I’m going to die,” Harry says, “you’re going to die with me. It’s only fitting that we all make the ultimate sacrifice for what we believe in.”

“You’re the only one who’s going to die today,” Chris says.

He raises his rifle, aims it at Harry’s skull.

I remember Chris’s promise,
The next time you and I meet, I’m going to kill you
.

Those were words uttered before a devastating battle not more than a month ago, before Chris was taken as a prisoner of war, tortured and interrogated by Harry for weeks.

I look over the edge of the rooftop.

The battle is winding down below us. Our forces have taken the school, and I know that the National Guard and Army troops that have been taken prisoner are being set free. They are adding to our numbers.

The United States Air Force should be here any moment, setting fire to the four empty Omega warships that are floating off the coast of the bay.

It hits me.

“Chris,” I say. “He’s got something planned.”

Harry looks at me, sly amusement dancing across his features.

“Do I?” he asks.

“Believe me,” I say.

You’re going to die with me
, Harry said.

He was so calm when he said it.

“Kill him,” Uriah tells Chris. His voice is dark, his face tight with anger. Vera and Andrew are glaring at Harry. He is, after all, the epitome of what it means to be a traitor…the physical embodiment of Omega.

“You’ll kill me,” Harry says, leaning against the roof railing. “And then what? Omega will continue to grow. You think that by pushing us out of Monterey – temporarily, I might add – you’re going to stop the invasion? The Pacific Northwest Alliance will not save you. Nothing can save you. You are doomed to failure and destruction. We will lay waste to this country you so dearly love, and we will rebuild. The New Order will reign supreme, and parasitic rebellious scum such as yourselves will be extinguished.”

Chris’s eyes are glazed over with fury.

Here stands Harry Lydell, the man that has caused him more pain than Omega itself in many ways. I can tell that it’s taking everything in him to restrain himself from pulling the trigger.

“What the
hell
is that supposed to mean?” Vera demands. “What’s the New Order?”

“It is Omega. Omega is the Order.” Harry smiles sickly. “We are one and the same, unstoppable. Destroying our armies and killing our leaders will do you no good. Omega is a seed, an infection. It affects every level of society on earth. There is nothing you can do to stop us.”

His words send an arrow of fear into my heart.

Is he telling the truth? Or is he just trying to intimidate us?

“You’re lying,” Andrew says. “That’s impossible.”

“Impossible?” Harry laughs. “Really? Do you really think that the EMP was a direct result of an attack from a nation like Iran or Syria? Omega is more deadly than any foreign enemy, because we attack from the inside. We are like a finely organized, brilliant and deadly parasite. We require a host, and as we poison their body, we rebuild on their remains.” He sees the fear in my eyes – the horror – and he flashes his teeth. “Yes. You should be afraid. You cannot run from us. We are inside you. All around you.”

I take a sudden breath.

The traitors in the ranks. The assassinations. The forces that betrayed us during the Battle of the Grapevine. The mysterious betrayal of my location on the
Golden Shark
. Jonas, a seemingly random fisherman, handing me over to my mortal enemy.

And in an instant, it all comes together like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Still slightly fragmented, but the picture is clearer than it has ever been before.

“So the EMP was an inside job,” I breathe. “We were attacked by our own people.”

“Very good, Cassidy,” Harry applauds. “Omega’s had its sticky little fingers in every level of society for centuries. Our time has finally come. We’ve rallied our forces. This is the end of the world for you – and the beginning of the world for us.”

I look at Chris. He has not moved, but I can tell by the look in his eyes that he is stricken. It makes sense to him, as well. And all this time we had hoped that Omega was purely a coalition of foreign enemies…we had lied to ourselves, told ourselves that Omega was not something that arose from among us.

We were wrong. We knew it.

And now Harry is confirming it.

There is a noise behind me. I whirl around, instincts still sharp even in the midst of shock. Sophia! I breathe a sigh of relief.

“Thank God,” I say. “What happened?”

Sophia looks horrified. She has no weapon in her hand. It’s gone. A bit of wiring is sticking out of her pocket. She looks at Harry. He looks at her. She skirts around the edge of our group.

“Sophia?” I whisper.

“Sometimes your greatest friend can be your greatest enemy,” Harry purrs, looking directly at me. I stare at him. And then what he’s saying hits home, and for the first time in hours…I lower my rifle.

“Sophia,” I say. This time it is not a question. It is a demand.

She takes a few steps backward, tears shining in her eyes. She is trembling, standing a few yards away from Harry.

“I’m sorry,” she says quietly. “Harry makes so much sense.”

“You…you sold out?”

She says nothing.

It all dawns on me. In an instant, everything makes sense.

“The laser designator in Sacramento,” I say. “That was you.”

She looks at me with baleful, hollow eyes.

“The assassinations,” I reply. “You helped coordinate those, too. The poison. And you gave my location to Omega when I was on the
Golden Shark
.”

She denies nothing.

A deep feeling of crushing hurt comes down on me. It is overwhelming. I kneel down, my head in my hands. Even Chris looks horrified. Vera is staring. Andrew is frozen.

“A lot of good people died because of what you did,” Manny says. His voice is not remotely playful or sarcastic. It is feral, angry. “You’re a traitorous dog. You’ll hang for this.”

“
Hang
is not the right word,” Andrew snaps. “I can think of a few other ways to get rid of spineless garbage like this.”

“Spare me the theatrics,” Harry drawls. “That’s
my
talent, not yours.”

And then Sophia pulls a handgun out of the inside pocket of her jacket and fires off a round. It hits Andrew. He stumbles backward, slamming into Vera. Vera screams and catches him as he falls. I
instinctively fire, nailing Sophia in the shoulder. She stumbles. I tuck my head, ramming the entire blunt force of my body into Sophia.

I collide with her and we both tumble to the ground.

Pure, unbridled fury takes control of my mind. All of the frustration, the stress and the horror of the past weeks combine to create the perfect storm. I pin Sophia down with my legs, throwing my fist into her face. She blocks me, throws me off. Sophia is every bit of a fighter as I am.

I kick her ankles and she tumbles to the ground just as she makes a move to run. She claws at my eyes. I jam the heel of my boot into the side of her face with all the power I can muster. Her head smacks against the pavement. She screams with pain. Blood runs from the side of her mouth.

“How could you
do
this?” I demand. “What’s
wrong
with you?”

She blocks my fist, twists my arm around. I yell, pained, and shove my knee into her groin. I hear something crack and she lets go, grimacing and groaning. I grab her neck and slam her down on her back, my knee on her chest. I punch her again, holding
back nothing. Her face is a bloody, misshapen mess. I am shaking, tears are running down my face.

Betrayed. Betrayed. Betrayed.

I have been betrayed by my best friend.

“How could you
do
this?” I yell again.

And then Chris is grabbing me, hauling me away from Sophia. I fight him, pushing away, screaming at him.

“CASSIDY, STOP!” Chris bellows. He takes me by the shoulders and shakes me. “You’ll never forgive yourself if you kill Sophia.”

That last sentence is quiet. Low.

I blink a few times, cold acceptance creeping into my chest. I nod weakly.

I look at Sophia. She’s lying on the ground, rivers of blood dripping down her neck, pooling on the ground. She’s staring at the sky, crying. Uriah has an arm around Harry’s waist and a knife at his throat. Vera is screaming Andrew’s name, kneeling at his unmoving form on the roof. Manny’s face is sorrowful.

“You can let go,” I whisper. “I’m okay now.”

Such a lie. But Chris understands what I mean.

He lets go. I turn and sink to my knees near Sophia’s head. She opens her mouth, coughing. She
chokes for a moment, moving her eyes toward me. “You’ve…” she says, taking a deep, labored breath. “The roof is rigged…to blow. You’ve got to…leave.” Tears fall from her eyes, streaming down her cheeks, mingling with her blood. “I’m…sorry…Cassie.”

I start sobbing.

Nothing can fix this. Ever.

“We’ve got to go,” Chris says, touching my shoulder. “She’s right. This whole place is wired with explosives.”

I shake my head. So. Harry planned to lure us all here and kill us in a suicidal blaze of glory. How poetic. How…utterly Harry Lydell.

I touch Sophia’s shoulder.

My anger is gone. All that is left is empty, throbbing pain.

“I forgive you,” I say.

Sophia stares at me, but she is too beaten to speak. I stand up, looking at her still body. I remember a girl who took my hand in the back of a semi-truck stuffed with human cattle. I remember a girl who constantly reminded me that we were going to be okay, that we were going to survive, and that Omega would fall.
Victory would be ours. We were friends forever, she said.