She flipped the image, and we both sucked in a breath.
The shadows on the buildings spelled “RESIST AND DIE.”
Jag
35.
I didn’t leave Vi’s side until she woke up. Even then, she only said three words, “Did we win?” before falling back into unconsciousness.
“Win” was such a relative term. She’d taken out an entire army, but not before they’d hauled Gunn into Rise One. We’d gotten Trek out of Rise Twelve, but our tech team didn’t even make it to the Technology Rise. I’d sent Pace on that route and hadn’t heard from him since.
I didn’t know for sure that Indy was gone, but she hadn’t escaped with us. Over half my people hadn’t made it out of Freedom.
My head hurt. Just thinking that Freedom had claimed another one of my brothers drove me to fury. My throat narrowed, and those cracking tears filled my eyes again.
“Jag,” Starr said from the doorway. She’d flown in from Baybridge last night. She put one hand on my shoulder. “How’s she holding up?”
I didn’t know, so I shrugged. Starr dropped her hand. “I can feel her mind. She’s a fighter. She’ll be awake before you know it.”
I turned and looked at Starr. “Thank you,” I said. “That means—” I cleared my throat. “Thanks.”
Starr waved away my gratitude. “They need you out there. Incoming transmission from Grande. It’s Zenn and Saffediene.”
“Will you get Laurel?” I stroked two fingers over Vi’s cheek, relieved I wouldn’t have to tell her that Zenn was dead. I never wanted to be the one to tell her that, even if I didn’t like the thought of them together. “I don’t want her to wake up alone.”
“Sure.” Starr left, and I felt that familiar itch under my skin. I wasn’t doing enough. I needed to find a hoverboard and visit every Director within three hundred miles.
“I have to go talk to Zenn,” I whispered to Vi. “Your mom is going to sit with you. I love you.” I pressed a kiss to her forehead as Laurel entered the room.
“Thanks.” I stood up. “Where’s Thane?”
She put her hand on my shoulder, and a strange understanding passed between us. “They’re all waiting on you.”
The bunker where we’d crashed had twisty-turny halls that radiated from one large, circular room. We’d converted the smaller rooms into a dining hall, a kitchen, food storage, and sleeping quarters. Any tech we had here we’d taken from our safe house in Grande.
After Vi had incapacitated the Officer-clones, we’d taken as many tasers as we could carry. We had three food-generating cubes, a handful of scramblers, a half dozen teleporter rings, and enough tech to broadcast a transmission over a specific frequency.
Gunner had given his father’s journal to Zenn, and then Zenn had been tased and taken. I’d had to make another hard decision and evacuate the safe house before he’d returned. I hated that Resistance information could’ve fallen into Hightower’s hands, but I couldn’t do anything about it. And now Zenn had returned.
I entered the room to whispered conversations and the sight of Zenn and Saffediene broadcasting onto the wall. Thane stood at the front of the group, talking about Vi and her expected recovery. Zenn visibly relaxed, and some of the tension seeped from his shoulders. Next to Thane, Trek manned the gadgets to keep the transmission open. My chest tightened. Pace should be doing that. Pace was my tech—
“Jag,” Zenn said. He seemed beyond relieved to see me alive. Was I thrilled to see him alive? I’ll admit that I was.
“Hey, bro,” I said. “You look rested.”
He gave a mirthless laugh. “Director Hightower detained me for a little speech.”
“Oh yeah? Did he have anything good to say?”
Zenn’s eyes flickered to Thane and back to me. “He said Thane’s a liar.”
The room erupted in laughter, and I allowed myself a chuckle. “Yeah, well, who isn’t?”
Zenn cracked a rare smile. “Saffediene and I intercepted a transmission from Baybridge. The city’s been destroyed. Sounded like they were evacuating, but we didn’t catch where.” He swallowed and exchanged a glance with Saffediene. I watched his body language, the way he shifted toward her, how she put her hand on his forearm.
Zenn had himself a new girlfriend—and his feelings seemed genuine. Nice.
“Have you heard from Starr?” Zenn asked.
“She’s here,” I said. “Everything in Baybridge was fine when she left. Our people got out.” I saw her hurrying out of the room, probably to check with her contacts about what had gone down in Baybridge.
“We checked Castledale,” Saffediene said. “We found a message there.”
“Well?” I pushed.
“Resist and die,” Zenn said.
“Was the city dormant?” Thane asked from the front of the room. “The people sequestered?”
“Yes,” Saffediene said.
“Let me guess,” Thane said. “The message was in a funky location or as a puzzle. Am I right?”
“As these weird painted ‘shadows’ on the buildings. We only found the message after we rotated the image,” Zenn confirmed.
“Okay, so what?” I asked. “We’ve known for years that Darke wasn’t going to just roll over. Why does this matter now?”
“Did you say Baybridge was burning?” Thane asked. “Or it was already burnt?”
“Burning,” Saffediene said. “Lots of smoke in the projection, and a fire in the building behind the guy.”
“What guy?” I asked. The Insiders in Baybridge had been evacuated with everyone else.
“Probably not an Insider,” Thane said. “Probably just someone trying to get a feed out, searching for help.”
“Where are you guys?” Zenn asked. “Can we fly in?”
“Arrow Falls,” Thane said. “We should be able to get you in tonight.”
Zenn and Saffediene nodded, but I wanted to go back to the burning versus burnt question. “Why does it matter if the city was burning or already burnt?”
Thane angled his body so he was looking at me and at the p-screen. “It lets us know Darke’s timeline. He’s not in Castledale right now; he left the message there and flew to Baybridge, which was
“So we can launch an attack on him when he returns to Castledale,” I said, seeing where Thane was going with his reasoning.
“Exactly. From Baybridge to Castledale, you’re talking a two-day flight. If the feed Zenn saw was in real time, then we’ve got a short window to prepare a second wave.”
I nodded, proud of myself for having a conversation with Thane without wanting to tase him. “Let’s pack up,” I said. “We’re heading to Castledale. Zenn, can you guys meet us there?”
“By morning,” he said.
“Can you check Freedom first?” Raine’s childlike voice piped up. “See if there’s any word on Gunner?”
Trek put his arm around Raine. “See if you can cache Ivory Bills. She’ll be in charge of communication now that I’m gone.”
Zenn nodded, his jaw set. “I’ll find out, Raine. I promise.”
I’d heard Zenn say those words before, but this time was different. This time I believed him.
