Revolt

by Tracy Lawson

  Another man who clutched a sign and held his bare left wrist aloft, fist clenched, pushed him aside and spoke to the camera. “No! that’s not freedom, man! The Link is like Big Brother. No Links! No Links!”

  Someone shoved him from behind and the two protest groups spilled into one another. Signs wavered and fell like battle flags as their bearers were swept up in the melee.

  How does Madalyn Davies do it? People are so willing to believe her lies. Maybe it’s because most of them would be too frightened to see the truth, even if we were allowed to show it to them.

  9:42 AM

  Quadrant DC-005

  Careen heard Tommy stir across the darkened room. For days she’d believed he was her assassin; now, her shattered trust had begun to knit, and an unfamiliar feeling stirred inside her. Optimism? Maybe. She let her lips form his name. Even without being able to see him, she knew exactly how he looked when he was asleep. Her face flushed, and she pushed away memories of kisses given and received a lifetime ago, chiding herself for longing for his touch. She’d agreed to pretend everything was great between them to help ferret out Atari’s dark secrets, but she didn’t trust her own judgment when it came to Tommy. She envisioned a short leap from acting like she cared about him to resuming their physical relationship. She didn’t know if she’d ever be ready for that. It hurt too much to love people and then lose them.

  She switched on the lamp. Tommy got up from the pallet he’d made on the floor, dragged one of the blankets around his shoulders, and sat on the edge of the bed.

  “Hungry?”

  “You always, always ask that.”

  “That’s because I’m always, always ready for breakfast.”

  “Yes, you are. Today I am too.”

  “Good. First dibs on the shower.” He tossed the blanket at her playfully, and she couldn’t help casting an admiring glance at his broad shoulders as he headed for the bathroom. She held the still-warm blanket close. His scent lingered in the folds, and she smiled in spite of herself. See? He did that on purpose.

  Steeling herself for another uncomfortable interaction with Atari, she brought the gun from under her pillow, climbed out of bed, and hid it between the folded clothes she planned to wear.

  An hour later, she found herself casting more admiring glances Tommy’s way as she helped him prepare bacon, eggs, and toast. He seemed so at ease, no matter what he was feeling inside, and it was easier than she’d expected to keep playing her part. She let him feed her a bite off his fork, and they were both laughing when Atari poked his head in the door.

  “Don’t you two ever give it a rest?” His clothes were wrinkled and stained, his lank hair greasier than usual, and as he drew near, Careen wrinkled her nose at the odor of stale sweat.

  “What’s up, Atari?” Tommy seemed not to notice the other man’s appearance, and Careen followed his lead.

  “Careen’s back in the headlines.”

  Tommy grabbed Careen by the hand, and they ran past Atari and into Command Central. “I thought you said PeopleCam wasn’t reporting anything about Careen.”

  Atari followed them. “A lot has happened while you were sleeping—or whatever it is you two have been doing. The press—mostly Sheila Roth, she’s the only one who can get away with it—has been pushing to know why Careen’s been out of the limelight. Once Madalyn figured out how to spin the situation to her advantage, she released the hounds.” He made a snarling sound and bared his teeth in a more frightening version of his odd smile. Careen shrank closer to Tommy.

  Atari started the playback of Madalyn’s announcement. “It is with regret that I report that Link spokesperson Careen Catecher vanished without a trace last week. Though she was one of the first recipients of a Link, the system, which is not yet activated, is incapable of locating her. The need to expedite the Linking is clear. The Resistance is responsible for Careen’s disappearance and for the delays that have threatened the security of the people who want to claim it for themselves and their families.”

  Atari snorted as he paused the recording. “They won’t report that shipments of Links have been hijacked or show video of the protesters outside the Distribution Centers.”

  Careen went cold with the realization that she’d been right all along. Her supposed rescue was just part of a larger plan. Her disappearance was being used to prove the need to Link every child.

  “So you brought me here and hid me away so I could be the Link’s martyr figure?”

  Tommy shook his head. “No, that’s not it.”

  “It might as well be.” Atari wiggled his fingers and made a scary face. “They need to frighten everyone into submission, so they’ve turned the spotlight on you again. Poor Careen, she’s been kidnapped by the evil Resistance! When people panic and demand that their children be Linked, they’ll do it because of you.”

  She shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut. “Why are you blaming me when you’re the one who created the Link? You’re trying to trick me and make me say something I shouldn’t.”

  “Oh, Careen. You’re imprisoned and your Link isn’t even activated. The Resistance—”

  Her voice turned accusing. “I don’t believe you’re working for the Resistance. If you were, you wouldn’t let the Link exist. You’re not fighting it. You’re making it happen.”

  “I’m not making anything happen.”

  “I was right all along. You’re going to force Tommy to kill me and dump my body someplace conspicuous, aren’t you?”

  Atari’s temper flared, and he raised his voice. “Dumping bodies is not the Resistance’s modus operandi. That’s more the OCSD’s thing. You still don’t understand who the real enemy is, do you, chickie?” He seized a keyboard. “Let me show you proof.”

  Careen stared, uncomprehending, at the image that appeared on the screen. She saw a tangle of wet, dark seaweed flowing around something pale, with a spreading black pool of sludge beneath it. Tommy swore behind her. Then, through the seaweed, Careen recognized a brown eye that could have been her own, and she swayed on the spot. Black snow clouded her vision, and she gasped for air.

  “Shot and killed while trying to escape from prison?” Atari snorted. “Oh, please. They don’t even try to make it convincing anymore.”

  Chapter 14

  10:00 AM

  Quadrant OP-439

  As soon as the door closed behind Lara, Beth took Jaycee by the arm and led her into the living room. “What did Lara tell you about … everything?”

  “She told me a lot. But I want to hear it from you.”

  “And your father?”

  “My daddy never said much about you, except that you left because you couldn’t handle life in the Resistance.”

  “I see. Well. Some of what I’m going to tell you is still a secret.”

  Jaycee nodded, sighing on the inside. More secrets.

  “Lara wouldn’t want Tom to know that he was nothing more to her than a work assignment. She was investigating him because he was in trouble for speaking out against the government. They wanted assurances that he wasn’t going to start a revolution. Even after all these years, it would wound his ego to know she wasn’t attracted to him at first.” Beth giggled. “Lara actually fostered the relationship between Mitch and Tom, after years of keeping them apart. When she realized Tom wasn’t going to let up in his fight against Lowell Stratford and the OCSD, she decided Mitch could be an important ally. Mitch needed a front man, and Tom needed a stronger faction behind him. Perfect Lara set the whole thing up.”

  “She and my dad are friends.”

  “Your dad doesn’t have actual friends. Lara’s afraid to get on his bad side. Secrets can hurt a marriage. She’s not taking any chances.” She picked up Jaycee’s hand. Jaycee settled closer to her on the sofa. “Sometimes the things we say come back to haunt us. I learned that the hard way.”

  “When I left OP-439 to marry Mitch, Lara was one of the few people who supported me. Things were already starting to change in the more urban quad
rants, and she encouraged me to go have lots of babies and raise my family far away from all the crazy things that were going on.

  “That sounded like a good plan. When the OCSD rose to power, the changes were rapid and frightening. I wanted you to grow up unafraid. I thought we would have a good, simple life running a resort in the mountains.

  “Wes and Danni were in elementary school. Your family was kind to me, and I thought you and your future siblings would have a wonderful life, surrounded by loving grandparents and lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins.

  “Maybe I felt at home there because it was where your father and I fell in love. We loved each other very much, but I was still an outsider in the eyes of many of the locals. One afternoon I had gone into the nearby town to do some shopping. I’d called Lara, because we’d found out we were going to have a girl and I wanted to tell her. I made some joke about you being the latest outlaw in the clan, and said, ‘I’d rather raise an outlaw than someone who kowtows to the OCSD.’ I thought it was romantic and thrilling that his family eschewed the law and that they had, shall we say, a colorful history. Someone overheard me. They reported what I said, and the next day, troops raided the resort, looking for evidence of guns, drugs, and who knows what else.

  “Mitch and I had taken Wes and Danni out on the lake, and we were too far away to be noticed. When we heard gunfire, we hurried back to shore. Mitch left me there with the children and ran home, but it was too late. Of Mitch’s entire family, his mother was the only one present at the raid who survived.”

  Tears streamed down Jaycee’s face. “No one ever told me any of this.”

  “Your father was devastated, and there was a dark cloud over the remaining months of my pregnancy. Your grandmother was slow to recover from the injuries she’d suffered in the raid, and I spent a lot of time being her nurse, while trying to keep an eye on Danni and Wes. Your grandmother insisted on acting as midwife when you were born, and we named you for her. She was so happy to have a granddaughter; she would have loved to watch you grow up, but she died when you were just a few months old. Then he and I were alone with three children. The neighbors stayed away, fearful that a close association with us would bring the law to their own doors. Your dad’s grasp on reality seemed to slip. He became paranoid and angry.

  “He insisted on keeping the children—all that was left of the family—together. Danni was in fifth grade then and Wes in the first. Mitch was still so young—far too young to take on everything the way he did. We tried to keep the resort going, but obviously our professional reputation suffered. We hoped the summer regulars would keep some money coming in, and we hired a few employees, but when the Travel Restrictions went into effect later that year, the rest of the business dried up, and we had to close down.

  “So there we were, with a huge, empty park and a diner—and no income to speak of. He brooded and questioned why his family had been slaughtered for seemingly no reason, until one day I broke down and confessed that something I’d said could have sparked the raid.” She wiped away a tear. “He got so angry. He ordered me to get out, and swore he’d never let me see you again.

  “I didn’t know what else to do but come back home. He raised you children on his own, ran the diner, and apparently planned a revolution in his spare time. I never told my second husband about any of it.”

  Jaycee chewed her bottom lip. “What did Lara think of all this?”

  “Lara’s always had a good poker face.”

  “Why didn’t you tell her what happened? She was your best friend. She would have understood.”

  “Over the years, she pieced a lot of the story together. I thought it was my problem, and my shame to bear. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you when you were younger.” She wrapped her arms around the girl. “I’ve missed out on so much of your life.”

  “There is something you can do for me.” Jaycee reached for her coat and pulled the folded pages out of the pocket. “This is all I need for my future. Right here.”

  Beth glanced through the death benefit forms. “I’ll sign them, but we’ll still have to set up a debit account before you can get the money.”

  “Can’t you just put the money in your debit account and then give it to me?”

  “How, sweetheart? There isn’t physical, touchable money to give you. It’s all done electronically.”

  The girl’s face fell. “Yeah, you’re right.”

  “Give me some time to think about how to take care of it. Will you come back say, Wednesday?”

  She nodded and stepped into her mother’s arms. Beth held her for as long as Jaycee would allow and then watched her leave by the back door.

  Chapter 15

  11:16 AM

  Quadrant DC-005

  “Oh my God, that’s my mom!” Tears sprang up in Careen’s eyes. She covered her face with her hands and turned her back to the screen. Tommy reached out and touched her shoulder, but she sidestepped him and turned a venomous gaze on them both. “It’s all your fault for getting her involved. The Resistance might as well have killed her!” She bolted from the room.

  Tommy advanced on Atari, arms wide in disbelief. “Tell me why that was a good idea.”

  Atari shrugged. “She had a right to know.”

  Tommy slammed his fists into Atari’s stomach and kidneys and finished with a stinging right cross to the jaw. Atari fell back against the desk, protecting himself with his arms.

  “That sums up how I feel about you. You could’ve figured out a better way to tell her.” Tommy pointed a threatening finger as he headed for the door. “We are not finished. Understand?” He turned the corner and ran after Careen, and saw her skid to a stop on the far side of the lobby, jabbing the button to summon the elevator. The gurgle of the fountain masked the sound of his approach, and she jumped when he spoke behind her. “The elevator doesn’t work without the key. It’s too cold to go out without shoes or a coat. Where are you headed?”

  “Anywhere but here. You should have left me with Madalyn. Then none of this would’ve happened.”

  “Why don’t you get it? Leaving you with Madalyn was worse than any of the fallout we’re facing now. You may not even realize what it did to you, but I can tell by your night terrors that there’s a lot of stuff you’re not acknowledging or dealing with.”

  He took a step closer, and she pulled the gun from her waistband. “Get away from me. I meant to fix things with my mom. Now I’ll never get to tell her I was sorry.”

  “It sucks, okay? We didn’t mean for this to happen. She wanted to help you. She knew what she was getting into—”

  She swung the pistol at his head. He ducked, and as he recovered, she gasped in surprise and brought her free hand up to her face. A moment later, her eyes rolled back in her head, and she fell forward into his arms. The gun clattered to the floor as he caught her, and he staggered under the unexpected burden. Atari joined him, clutching a thin bamboo stick, and Tommy’s voice reflected his panic. “What happened? Did she faint?”

  “Dude, she pulled a gun on you! I believe thanks are in order.” Atari cupped Careen’s chin in his hand and plucked something small and feathered that was stuck to her neck just below her ear. He held it up with a grin. “Malaysian poison blow dart. I’m an excellent shot.”

  “What the—poisoned dart? What did you do to her?” He shook her to try and rouse her, and her head lolled from side to side. He put his ear close to her face, and his own heart seemed to restart when he heard her take a breath. “She’s not dead!”

  Atari waved the bamboo stick. “Of course she’s not dead. Her Link is still flashing, see? Chill! As for this, it’s like a glorified peashooter. The dart was tipped with CSD, to calm her down.” He regarded Careen with curiosity. “I see she’s lost her tolerance for Phase Two.”

  “She never took Phase Two at all!”

  “No big deal. She’ll sleep it off, and tomorrow she won’t remember a thing.”

  “Give it.” Tommy shifted Careen so he was cradling her in h
is left arm and held out his hand for the bamboo shoot. Atari surrendered it, and Tommy dropped it on the floor, where he smashed it beneath his heel. “The gun wasn’t even loaded, you idiot. Just quit trying to help when you have no idea what’s going on.” He lifted her into his arms, cradling her against his chest, and carried her out of the lobby.

  Careen came back to a semiconscious state with a sigh, and tears welled up in her eyes when she recognized him. “Tommy. I looked for you everywhere, but I couldn’t find you. Where’s Wes?”

  Tommy bit his lip. “Wes got out the other way.”

  She looked back over his shoulder. “We have to hide. The marshals are everywhere.”

  “We can hide in here.” He set her down in their room and then turned back to lock the door.

  She shook her head slowly, her face reflecting the effort it took to concentrate. “No, wait. That’s wrong. The explosion was a long time ago, wasn’t it? Wes is dead, like my dad. And now my mom, too.”

  “There have been a lot of accidents.”

  “Poor Wes. He kissed me. He asked me to choose him, but I didn’t, because I love you. And he died.”

  She spoke as though she was recalling something she’d been told, and wasn’t sure if it was real or imagined. The effort of dredging up her thoughts seemed to burden her.

  “I lied to protect the Resistance, and that made Madalyn angry. I could hear her shouting in the hall outside my hospital room. The next time I woke up, I wasn’t at the hospital anymore.

  “The people who interrogated me made me stand for hours at a time with a hood over my head. Other times I had to watch news reports about the food riots while they told me the riots and the resulting deaths were my fault. They shouted and hit me a lot. I wasn’t allowed to sleep. They said I was stupid to think you cared about me, and I believed them when no one came to help me. The torture and the humiliation would never end, they said, until I told where to find Trina and Resistance headquarters. After I did, they didn’t hurt me as often.”