Revelation

nothing, and kept doing what we were supposed to be doing? I didn’t understand the gang mentality. This attack made us no better than Rey, Grudge, or any of the lords we had met this afternoon.

I was just one voice, though. Makara wouldn’t listen to me when everyone else was already behind her.

“You coming in, or what?”

Anna joined me at the railing. She looked into my face, but I just kept staring out.

I turned to look at her. “Do we really have to do this?”

“It’s looking that way.”

“I don’t understand why. That’s what makes it so hard.”

“I don’t understand, either.”

I turned to her. “Then why are you just going along with it?”

“I’m not sure how I feel about it. I can see both sides. When you see both sides, you just go where the momentum leads you.”

“I’m fighting the tide, then.”

Anna nodded. “That was brave. It’s hard to stand up for what you believe in, especially to your friends.”

I shook my head. “I was just saying how I felt, because I feel like this is the wrong choice. I know this is going to bite us in the butt.”

“Maybe it will. At this point, though, we all just have to along with it.”

“I don’t want to be any part of it. This isn’t right.”

Anna was quiet for a moment. “You can’t control everything, Alex. Sometimes…sometimes you have to do things you don’t agree with. That’s the way the world is. It’s messy.”

I was beginning to think Anna was right.

“You can’t control everyone,” she went on. “I’ve made lots of mistakes in my life. Mistakes that have led to men being killed. It’s a lot to put on a seventeen-year-old.”

I laughed bitterly. “Are we really so young?”

Anna said nothing, reaching for my hand. She was smiling.

“It’s not the end of the world,” she said.

I smiled, gesturing out to the Great Blight. “Actually, it kind of is.”

Anna rolled her eyes. “You know what I meant. Come on. Let’s go inside. Makara needs to know that you support her, even if you don’t agree with her.”

I nodded. “Whatever she decides, I’m there, for better or for worse.”

“And Alex…”

I looked at her. She squeezed my hand.

“I’m here for you, too. Alright?”

I smiled. “Alright. I’m not going to let you guys go without helping out. I’m a New Angel, too. Even if we disagree on some things, we always have each other’s backs.”

“Come on, then,” Anna said. “We’re missing out.”

Chapter 13

Over the next hour, we made our plan of attack. We were going to attack by both air and land — Marcus and the Exiles from the south, the Raiders from the north, and Odin from the sky. The ship would fly silently through the night, and drop each group off north and south of the Reds’ HQ under cover of darkness. The HQ, according to Marcus, was a tall office building, maybe fifteen stories high. Once the Exiles and the Raiders were in position, they would open fire, hopefully drawing some Reds into the open. Odin would then fly down from the air and do its work.

It sounded positively bloody.

When the ship was loaded with the attack team, about two dozen Raiders and Exiles, the New Angels’ inner circle were situated in the cockpit, ready to take off. I didn’t feel any better about it, but I was behind my team, even if I felt the team was doing the wrong thing.

I just hoped we wouldn’t lose too many men. Once the attack was over, Odin would rush to the rescue of the Raiders, who would be on the north side of the HQ. They would have a harder time escaping because they would be cut off by the building, meaning that they needed to be picked up first. After the Raiders were extracted, Odin would pick up the Exiles, who would be falling back to the south before the Reds had time to regroup. The Raiders numbered twenty, and the Exiles about ten. Only the best were selected, and the rest were staying behind to hold down the fort.

It sounded like a good plan, in theory.

I was assigned to the Raiders’ group, along with Michael. Everyone else was assigned to the Exiles, who were less numerous. Makara and Anna were to remain on board, providing a steady rain of lead from above.

At last, we lifted off from the overpass. The city and its dark buildings fell away below us. Makara turned the ship toward our goal in the west. We flew over the south wall. Marcus and Michael both pointed us in the general direction we needed to go. I got a sick feeling in my gut that wouldn’t go away, and it only became more intense the closer we got to the west side of town.

It was quiet when the dash lit up red, on and off, with a continuous beep.

“It’s Ashton,” Makara said.

“I’ll answer.” Samuel reached his hand for the transceiver and answered the call. “Ashton. Everything alright?”

“I’ll say. I got my parts out of Bunker Six, but it wasn’t easy. The place was infested with crawlers. Luckily, I found my parts before they found me.” When no one answered him, Ashton spoke again, concern in his voice. “Hello? Anyone there?”

“Sorry, Ashton,” Makara said. “You caught is in the middle of something.”

He paused. “The middle of what? What’s wrong?”

“Look, don’t take this the wrong way but…can we call back later? We’re in the middle of an operation.”

“Humph. You’re dodging my question, Missy. I don’t like it.”

“We’re just…about to attack one of the Vegas gangs. It’s necessary. Don’t ask questions, because it will take too long to explain.”

“Huh. I see.” There was a long pause. “Well, you need to turn your ship around.”

“What?” I asked. “Why?”

I was eager for any excuse to turn away from this attack. Hopefully, Ashton would deliver the goods.

“I know I’ve been out of the loop for a couple days, but what I have to tell you changes everything. I’ve discovered something that needs to addressed immediately.”

“Alright, I’ll bite,” Makara said. “What did you find out that’s more important than making sure our hold on Vegas is secured beyond the shadow of a doubt?”

“Oh, trust me,” Ashton said. “I have you beat. You see, when I got out of Bunker Six, I set up the wavelength monitor, just to test it out once I was up in the air. And in the process, I found out there is another Voice.”

No one said anything for a moment. What Ashton just said didn’t quite register.

“Another…what?” Samuel asked.

“Or at least, what I think is another Voice,” Ashton said. “It has a different wavelength, coming from a different direction. But the pattern is so similar that it can’t be anything else. That means there is more than one Voice controlling the xenovirus. It means we have to take out two of them, instead of one. And the thing is, right now, we have a chance to take out this second one, a chance we might not have ever again.”

“Wait,” Samuel said. “You are there, right now?”

“Yep. And it’s a doozy, let me tell you.”

“Where are you?” Samuel asked.