caught me watching him, and I half smiled. He seemed to understand what I was thinking and lowered his head slightly.
After Pace finished his update, Vi stood up and began assigning every member of Indy’s team to one of our existing crew. I imagined how I must look, gazing at Vi the same way Pace had looked at Ty all those years ago. I couldn’t help it.
“Someone to show them around, help them on watch, you know, orient them to our life here,” she said.
After Vi sat, Saffediene got to her feet. “Gunner and I have assembled new two-person traveling teams for assignments in the Midwestern Region. You’ll leave tonight.” She listed off partnerships, and I glanced at her when she read my name with Gunn’s.
Another trip to another unknown city. Half of me rejoiced. The other half died a bit more.
Before Saffediene finished her assignments, Jag burst into the cavern with Gunn two steps behind him.
“Cancel everything,” Jag commanded. “Hightower has Thane, and we need to rescue him before eleven tomorrow morning.”
Jag
5.
“I need you with Vi,” I said for the third time. The meeting had broken up, and I’d gone from room to room giving assignments. Zenn had followed me back here to my quarters, breathing reasons he couldn’t go to Freedom.
“You’ve been assigned to protect Vi,” I said again. “You should be happy about that.”
Zenn stood in front of me, his mouth a thin line of disapproval. I didn’t get his hating-me thing. It’s not my fault he defected, left Vi alone so she had to break rules to meet him, or that she got thrown into my prison cell.
I could’ve done without Zenn defecting. Everyone could have. But I’ve never been sorry for Vi’s rule breaking or that I had to “endure” jail time with her.
“We have an appointment in Harvest,” Zenn said—for the third time.
“Stop trying to get out of going on this mission,” I said, fighting back my voice power. “You want to play the hero, just admit it. Right now I need my hero in Freedom, to rescue Thane.” I stripped off my filthy shirt and replaced it with a less filthy one.
“This has nothing to do with heroics.”
“And,” I continued, almost yelling, “everyone knows you’re in love with Vi, and I’m assigning you to protect her.”
His jaw tightened; his fists flexed. A bolt of satisfaction sang at the back of my throat. “It’s what we both want,” I said, stepping closer. He blocked the doorway of my bedroom, and I had forty thousand things to get ready for the mission.
“I can’t go back there,” Zenn said, his gaze dropping to the floor. The muscles worked in his neck. “You don’t know what Director Hightower’s like.”
“Trust me,” I said, “I do.” Zenn had no idea what my life was like. Where I’d been for those eight months while he and Vi fell in love all over again. No one did.
That’s how I liked it. Removing myself from everyone and everything helped me keep people out. That way I could do what needed to be done for the Resistance.
“Except for Vi.” Zenn didn’t have to say it, but he did. The pain in his voice was poorly masked. He hadn’t even tried. Sure, he was in my head, which annoyed me, but he was acknowledging something he’d rather ignore.
The fight went out of me. “Except for Vi,” I conceded. “I’d change things if I could, Zenn. So many things.”
I felt rather than heard or saw his defeated acceptance. An understanding passed between us.
“You might still make your appointment,” I said. “We’ll get Thane out, and you and Gunner can fly all night.”
“Fine. But you get to tell Vi she’s riding in the backseat on this one,” he said. “She’s gonna be mad as hell.”
“Fair enough.” I followed him into the hall, already dreading the argument I would have with Vi. “And Zenn, you are strong enough to resist this time.”
I found Vi in her room, her face already closed to any discussion. I smothered a sigh and sat next to her on the cot. We both studied the floor. “So, we’re going into Freedom.”
“So I heard,” she said. What she meant was,
“You’ve been assigned to Zenn. You guys will fly mid-pack and stay out of trouble.” What I meant was,
The silence in the room said it all. Her anger. Her defiance. Vi didn’t like being told what to do.
“Do I have your permission to speak?” she snapped.
“Oh, brother,” I said. “Say whatever the hell you want. It’s not going to change my decision.”
“I hate how you boss me around,” she said.
I stood up. “I hate how you doubt all my decisions,” I fired back. “I’m the cracking leader of the cracking Resistance.”
She shot to her feet too. “I’m more than just another one of your Insiders. I’m your girlfriend.”
My stomach clenched. Didn’t she get it? That was exactly why she had to fly mid-pack and stay out of trouble. Sometimes her stubbornness amazed me. I glared at her a moment longer before heading toward the door.
“Stay with Zenn. Mid-pack.” I left her simmering—okay, boiling—in her room. Zenn had been right—Vi was mad as hell. But you know what? I’d do what it took to keep her safe. Losing her was a risk I wasn’t willing to take.
Gunner spent the afternoon detailing the layout of Freedom for the group. We didn’t have customizable p- screens underground. So Gunn painted a picture of Freedom with words. He spoke in that way that commanded people to listen, using a Thinker’s voice but not its brainwashing ability.
People listened to Gunner because of his quiet steadiness. I’d felt his determination and strength the first time I met him, even though I’d been strapped to a bed at the time. Now I could also feel the myriad of emotions teeming beneath his calm exterior. Because the girl he loved, Raine Hightower, was still trapped inside Freedom.
More than once he’d voiced to me that Raine’s father wasn’t afraid to do horrific things to his own daughter. Gunn never cried, but his desperation to get her out, protect her, never faded. I’d felt an immediate connection to him, because I felt the same way about Vi.
Neither of us could protect the people we loved, and it was killing us.
I listened to him talk about how Freedom was designed on a grid, and how navigating toward the tallest building shouldn’t be too troublesome. Indy and Vi seemed the most interested. The rest of us knew the general layout. Gunn waved his hand, talking about Rise One situated in the middle of the Rise-canyons.
He paused, and I wanted to get up and clap him on the shoulder. Tell him to escape and have a good cry over Raine. Tell him to be honest with himself for a change. Instead I simply watched as he composed himself and
