I smile.
It takes a while for us to reach the center of the city where the largest construction is. It is made from similar materials, however, part of the place is made from an existing building. The structure is three stories high, which is clearly taller than any other place in the whole town, and about ten sizes wider than any other dwelling around.
Baxley leads us into8 the building. He is well known in this place. Everyone acknowledges him and steps out of our way as we walk by. After all, Baxley was let out of the city to guard, which doesn’t appear to be common for all the members of this place. We all walk up to a huge wooden desk that sits outside double doors. One of the large doors have Rae written on it. That is all it says, no president, intelligence, nothing but Rae. There is an armed guard on both sides of the doors.
“She does not hold herself any higher than anyone else,” the woman at the desk says at seeing me look at the nameplate. “How may I help you, sir Baxley?” She ignores me and turns her attention to him.
“Yes, I request a meeting with Rae at her earliest.” He says the words diplomatically.
“Very well,” the woman says while sliding a small panel in the wall to the side. “Rae, you have sir Baxley here with…others…to see you.” She says the words others with a slight hint of annoyance.
“Send them in,” a very feminine voice calls out from the hole in the wall.
“Very well, Rae,” the woman at the desk answers back, sliding the panel back afterwards. “Rae is ready to see you now,” she announces.
The guards take the handles of the double doors and swing them open to let us in. When we enter, a very slender woman with long, red hair stands, looking out the window. She is wearing black cargo pants, an olive-green tank, black combat boots, and a black cotton sweater.
“Welcome to Wonder Shield,” she says with a smile on her face. “I’ve been expecting you.”
She doesn’t look at Baxley when she says it, she looks at each one of us, indicating she, in fact, had been waiting on us.
“With all respect ma’am,” Baxley begins, “would you please grant my sister and her friends permission to talk?”
“Your sister?” Rae raises a curious eyebrow. “This is Cara? You thought she was dead.”
“I did, Rae, but she is very much alive.” Baxley smiles. “I thought I saw her die the day I was taken by The Elected, but I was wrong. Jake, Liz, and their family,” he gestures at us, “took her in…made her a part of them.”
“How very exciting.” Rae grins. “I must say it has taken you much longer to get here than I thought it would.” Now she is looking straight at me. “You all have my permission to speak. Where are Leah and Dia?”
“Miss…” I begin.
“Wait a minute.” She holds up a long slender, yet callused hand. “It is not now, nor will ever be miss anything, I am Rae, please call me Rae.”
“I’m sorry, Rae,” I say. “Please explain to us how it is that you came to be expecting us, when we didn’t know that this place existed until a day ago?”
“You see,” she smiles, “I have been getting updates about you all since you were at The Force, and I knew you would be headed this way to get to The Elected headquarters.”
“Updates on us? How?” Eli asks.
Without answering my brother’s question directly, Rae walks over to the panel in the wall and slides it open.
“Monica,” Rae calls out to the woman at the desk. “Could you please send him in?
“Very well,” the woman at the desk we now know as Monica says.
Rae saunters back to her desk, and instead of sitting in the chair, she props herself on top of it.
“I must tell you before he comes in,” she smiles at me I think. “There mustn’t be any physical fighting in Wonder Shield, or your stay will come to an end, do you agree?”
We all state our verbal agreement in one way or another.
As she finishes her statement, the double doors open and in comes a man with the guards on either side of him.
The man accompanied by the guards is none other than Levi, one of our enemies at The Force. I had killed his best friend Malachi when he, Sampson, and Malachi attacked me, the day that we left the compound.
Chapter Thirty-Four
We all stand in disbelief at one of the people who had helped Malachi numerous times try to kill me. We had found out they had belonged to The Elected and were implanted as spies into The Force.
“What are you doing here?” I spit as I walk up to him and punch him square in the nose.
The guards grab me, pulling me away from Levi so I don’t come back for a second hit. He stands there, letting the blood drip from his nose. He doesn’t retaliate or say a word, just calmly stands and waits on one of us to speak first.
“Liz,” Rae begins, “no fighting, remember?” she says with a small smile to her voice.
“Sorry,” I say, shaking the pain out of my hand. “I wasn’t fighting, I was finishing something.” I smile back.
“See to it that you don’t… finish anything else during your stay here,” she says sarcastically. “Unless it is a war, of course. You can finish that.”
“Did you need something, Rae?” Levi asks, now holding his nose.
“Yes.” Rae smiles again. “Levi was not an implant into The Force by The Elected, he was an implant into The Elected by us. We just sent him in, pretending to be a transfer from The Facility, and they took
