Revolt

by Tracy Lawson

  When she was finished, Tommy shook his head. “Overkill much?” he shouted.

  She grinned. “I know you’ve got plenty more bullets.”

  He limped over to the elevator and inserted the key. It whirred as the car ascended.

  Atari reached out to Careen. “Don’t leave me here! I’ll die alone.”

  She stayed out of his reach. “How did Jaycee get Linked?”

  He let his hand fall and clutched his shoulder. “No idea. And to be honest, it’s not my biggest concern at the moment.”

  Tommy pulled the emergency stopper to hold the elevator and grabbed their getaway bag. “Come on!” When Careen didn’t move, Tommy gave her a pointed look. “He probably won’t die. It’s just a flesh wound. But so what if he does?”

  Atari groaned. “How would you know? You’re not a doctor.”

  Tommy ignored him. “We can come back for him later.” Then he looked down again. “Just keep pressure on it.”

  “What if you don’t come back?” His fingers came away red with fresh blood. “I’m still bleeding! You have to get me to a hospital.”

  “After you show us how to use the program to find Jaycee.”

  “All right, all right!”

  Tommy put the tablet in his coat pocket, and he and Careen got Atari to his feet, into the elevator, and across the underground garage to one of the marked OCSD vans. Careen sat in the second-row seat and busied herself twisting her hair into a ponytail and pulling on the light brown wig.

  “Are you all right to drive?” she asked.

  “Yeah, I think so. It doesn’t hurt much anymore.” Tommy handed the tablet to her, and she addressed Atari as Tommy started the engine.

  “How does it work?”

  “You can do a search by name or ID number.”

  Careen typed clumsily as the van lumbered up the ramp. “I have a Carraway, Josephine.”

  Tommy asked, “Is that her real name?”

  “I guess.”

  Atari groaned from the passenger seat. “Now choose Locate.”

  Careen touched the button on the screen, and a map of the United States appeared. The view zoomed in to a single flashing red dot among many. It really does work in seconds. “It says she’s at the OCSD building.” She locked eyes with Tommy in the rearview and then poked Atari on the back of his wounded shoulder.

  “Dammit, that hurts! What’s the matter with you?”

  She was unrepentant. “Why is this thing telling us to go to the OCSD? Is this part of the game?”

  “You’re the one who’s using it, not me. It’s telling you that because that’s where she is.”

  “Why would she go there?”

  Tommy braked to a stop inside the automatic gate. “Do you think she’s been arrested?”

  “How am I supposed to know?” Atari said.

  “For all we know, you could have set her up.” He looked over his shoulder at Careen. “It’s up to you whether we go or not. It’s New Year’s Eve, so the building’s probably nearly empty. Madalyn’s got to be at the Capitol for the State of the Union by now. If no one at the OCSD building realizes the Link is live, they might not be watching the scanners. But you’re the one with the most to lose.”

  She pushed down her own panic. “If they’ve caught Jaycee, she’ll be tortured just like I was. We have to try to get her out of there.”

  “Okay. I’m in.” He guided the van onto the road.

  They rode in tense silence down the empty streets as Careen read the navigation directions on the tablet. “We’re two minutes out.”

  Atari stirred. “What time is it?”

  “Almost nine.”

  “Here. If you must.” Atari opened the glove box and pulled out an OCSD ID badge. “All access backstage pass.” Tommy parked the van in the lot and reached for the ID. “No, not here. Park in the back. Get as far away from the building as possible so … they don’t notice me.”

  “I don’t want to have to run all the way across the lot on our way back.” Tommy cut the engine, and Careen slid open the side door, but Atari made no more to get out.

  “I can’t. I feel faint.”

  “Fine. Then just wait here. Remember to keep pressure on it.” Tommy dabbed at the blood on his face before putting on his wig and glasses. He and Careen headed for the employee entrance.

  8:51 PM

  Quadrant DC-001

  Garrick led Madalyn out of the chamber and into the West Hall. One of the security staff met them there, clutching a walkie-talkie. “Sir, the number of protesters on the grounds has doubled in the last hour. We’re working on clearing a secure way out for you. If you could hold here for a few minutes?”

  Garrick had taken Madalyn out of the chamber, partly to remove her influence or fear of her wrath, but also to signal to Congress that she was done for, no matter how they voted. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t dying to find out what would happen next.

  He looked over his shoulder. “I wouldn’t mind hanging around for the vote. We’ll stay out of sight so no one feels pressured or influenced.” Madalyn shot him an angry look, and he grinned in return.

  The guard nodded and left through the double doors to the main hall.

  8:52 PM

  As the applause in the chamber died down, Kevin caught Trina’s eye and gave her a low-key thumbs-up. He strained to hear Mitch’s voice in his ear. It was strange that he hadn’t heard from him, after the way Mitch had micromanaged everything leading up to the moment Trina confronted Madalyn. Kevin intended to follow Garrick, and had threaded his way to the aisle when he changed his mind. If Mitch’s earpiece had malfunctioned, he’d want a play-by-play of what happened inside the chamber. He returned to his seat and focused his attention on the representative who was speaking.

  “We haven’t had any time to discuss this. I object to having to make a decision on the spot.”

  Another who was seated a few rows away from him agreed. “We don’t know what this will mean for our country. Downgrading the OCSD’s power could open us up to a whole new set of problems.”

  There was a murmur of assent, in which Kevin heard the word terrorism, and he suppressed a sigh of frustration.

  “There are programs in place that will be affected if we just cut the OCSD off at the knees like this.”

  “Think of all the OCSD employees who will lose their jobs.”

  “People could have starved to death under the Restrictions if President Wright hadn’t stepped in during the food riots.” Finally, someone who gets it! Kevin waited for someone else to agree.

  “Shouldn’t this require a full investigation before we make a decision?”

  Senator Brandon Renald stood. “We have a plan ready that outlines how to move forward without the OCSD and the Restrictions. It’s simple and straightforward enough that we can all take a minute and look it over. Please keep an open mind. Time is of the essence.” He signaled to several pages at the back of the room, who then began distributing the report prepared by David Honerlaw and Grace Hughes.

  An elderly senator seated two chairs away from Kevin pushed his copy of the report aside without reading it. “Madalyn Davies was the problem. Now that she’ll be stepping down, there’s no reason to discontinue the Cerberean Link program.”

  The vice president, as presiding officer, repeated his instructions to read the report, but the elderly senator didn’t comply. Kevin glanced through his, and sat biting his nails until everyone was done and the vice president called the vote. The members of Congress lined up to use the electronic voting machines located at various points around the room, swiped their key card and then pressed Yay or Nay.

  When the votes were tallied, the vice president announced, “Congress votes not to downgrade the powers of the Office of Civilian Safety and Defense.”

  Kevin made his way out of the chamber, feeling the weight of the stares. He emerged in the main hall just in time to see Garrick and Madalyn about fifty paces ahead of him. As they turned the corner, he heard what soun
ded like a heavy book being dropped flat on a wooden table, followed immediately by another. As he wondered who was dropping books and why, he saw Hoyt Garrick fall and lay, unmoving, on the carpeted floor.

  Kevin’s instinct took over, and he dove across the hall into a coatroom before he fully comprehended what had happened. He heard two men’s voices getting closer as he crouched in the shadows.

  “Shit! That was lucky. Talk about being in the right place at the right time.”

  “Sitting ducks, man.”

  The door opened, and then closed with a click. The two men must have gone inside. He heard another gunshot, and began to shake as he remembered Trina was still inside with the others. He had to get help.

  He held his breath as he listened for sounds of others approaching but heard nothing. He waited another moment before gathering the courage to crawl to the doorway and peer out.

  Garrick lay on the floor, glasses askew, with one arm thrown out to the side. Kevin scrambled to his feet and ran toward him. As he drew near, Madalyn Davies came into view around the corner, a few paces away, where she lay crumpled on her side, eyes open. Blood had turned her navy dress black around the bullet wound in her chest. Her Link wasn’t flashing.

  Fearful of another ambush, Kevin glanced around before kneeling between them and pressing two fingers to Garrick’s neck. His own pulse was thudding so hard he couldn’t tell if Garrick was alive or dead. Then the chief marshal’s eyelids fluttered and he made a wheezing sound.

  Kevin pulled out his phone and dialed 911. “Hang on. I’m getting help,” he said to Garrick as he applied pressure to the wound on his chest. He realized with a jolt that he was going to have to keep a level head—and keep his head down. He was now acting director of the OCSD. He might well be the next target.

  Chapter 31

  9:05 PM

  Quadrant DC-001

  Sheila Roth’s smile trembled as she addressed the camera. “And so it seems there’s a bit of a delay going into President Wright’s final State of the Union address. If you’ve just joined us, the fugitive Trina Jacobs has brazenly attacked OCSD director Madalyn Davies in the House chamber, in front of the entire Congress, the president, and the vice president. Chief QM Hoyt Garrick has escorted Director Davies to safety. No word on whether or not Jacobs is in custody at this time. We’ll take you back to the State of the Union when they’re ready to begin.”

  Pete shook his head as he watched Sheila grasping to fill the on-air time by herself. He turned to the station manager. “That is the most ridiculous fictionalization I’ve heard from her yet! We should be broadcasting the debate and the vote!”

  The manager shook his head. “I’m not sure if we should have let any of that go out.”

  “Hell, yes, we should! This is the beginning of something big. Don’t deny what you just saw. Madalyn Davies was arrested for murdering Lowell Stratford! History is happening tonight.” He pulled out his phone, texted one of the camera operators on the remote team, and told him to make sure he had all his gear in the truck.

  The station manager grabbed his own phone and asked to speak to the floor manager. They both kept one eye on the monitor where Sheila, with nothing to read on the teleprompter, was back from a commercial break and obviously having someone feed her information over her earpiece.

  “Oh … all right. Yes, we’re getting some new information now. It appears President Wright has called for a vote to … oh my goodness! To downgrade the powers of the OCSD?” She turned her face away from the camera, but her microphone was still on. “Are you sure?” When she recovered her dignity, she folded her hands on the desk. “Well, regardless. Though that seems like the last thing that should be done at a time like …. I’m sure everything will be just fine. In just a moment I understand we’ll … oh, okay. Yes, we’ll be taking you back to the Capitol, live, for the vote.”

  Pete clapped the station manager on the shoulder. “PeopleCam is the only news outlet available in this country. We can’t ignore this or be like Sheila and try to cover it up. We should have every available reporter out there. Live feed, no censors. Let everyone in the country see what’s going on.” He headed for the door. “My suspension was complete BS, and I know you did it to appease Madalyn. I’m commandeering a mobile unit, and you’re putting me on lead. I’ll be in front of the Capitol and ready to go in twenty minutes.”

  Pete doubled back and stuck his head into the station manager’s office. “And get Sheila off the air, for crying out loud! She’s an embarrassment.”

  9:10 PM

  Half an hour before, Trina had wanted to pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. She’d confronted Madalyn Davies, just as she’d imagined, and gotten a confession and an apology. Never mind that the apology was less than heartfelt. Madalyn had her limits.

  When she realized Kevin was staying for the discussion and the vote, she sat too, though she couldn’t wait to talk to him. When they’d been at Resistance headquarters together, they’d half-jokingly discussed doing this very thing to Madalyn, and a celebration was definitely in order. Suddenly she grinned. With Madalyn out of the picture, Kevin was the acting director. It really had worked!

  She grew impatient as the discussion went on and on. The OCSD is corrupt and evil. Fact. What else is there to talk about? Evidently, the members of Congress thought there was plenty. She folded her arms on her chest and tried not to roll her eyes. She saw many of them give no more than a cursory glance to the report David and Grace had worked so hard to prepare.

  When the vice president announced the vote to downgrade the OCSD’s powers had failed, she wanted to scream. Kevin would be a much better director than Madalyn, but that wasn’t the point. The Resistance had thrown all their efforts behind getting rid of the OCSD once and for all. Whoever succeeded Kevin someday could be every bit as power-hungry as Stratford and Madalyn had been.

  When she saw Kevin hurry out of the chamber immediately after the vote she stood up to follow, but he was out of sight by the time she walked around the back of the chamber. As she headed for the door, two security guards in dark suits blocked her path.

  “If you’ll have a seat, ma’am.”

  “Oh, I’m not a congresswoman. I’m just on my way out.”

  “There’s been a bit of a security issue in the hall. We need you to stay here.”

  She looked from one to the other. There was no way they were going to let her pass. She turned and took the nearest open seat.

  The senator next to her leaned over and whispered, “Nice speech.”

  She couldn’t help smiling. “Thanks.”

  His gaze was on the two security guards. “What did they say to you?” She started to turn around, but he shook his head. “Don’t look.”

  “There was a security issue in the hall.”

  “They’re not our security. Not QM or Special Forces, either.”

  The vice president stepped down from the podium and made way for the president, who looked out over the room, ready to begin his State of the Union address.

  She murmured, “There are a bunch of stupid people in Congress, present company excluded. How can they actually think that getting rid of Madalyn will be enough? It wasn’t enough when she got rid of Stratford.”

  He was looking over her shoulder again and shushed her. “We’ve got trouble.”

  This time Trina didn’t try to be subtle when she looked around. Everyone was aware of the men in dark suits that rushed through the doors on all sides of the room.

  A shot rang out. The senator shoved her sideways, and she toppled out of her chair and landed sprawling behind the desk. Screams mingled with the crash of chairs that tipped over as their occupants sought similar cover. Trina peeked between the desks at others who had made a run for the exits and now found themselves trapped in a logjam in the aisles. The scene looked so much like the video Atari had created to trick Madalyn that her brain refused to accept it as real.

  A man’s voice boomed out over the disorder and nois
e. “Ladies and gentlemen, if we could have all of you please return to your seats. Place your hands on the desks in front of you. Don’t reach for your phones. We’re going to reopen the discussion about the vote. But this time, we’re going to talk and you’re going to listen.”

  9:15 PM

  Pete, his camera operator, and their producer had to talk their way through a security barricade to pull the mobile news unit close to the Capitol. When he stepped out of the van, Pete felt a rush of adrenaline, like he was headed into battle. And what a battle scene was what it was!

  Protesters filled the plaza in front of the building, waving signs and chanting. Some of the Linked raised their left fists in solidarity and cheered. Others without Links waved signs and showed their bare lefts wrists as they shouted down the Linked.

  Pete stood positioned himself so the protesters were visible in the background. “‘If you don’t want it printed, don’t let it happen.’ The student newspaper at my alma mater adopted that slogan back in the early part of this century. It’s become increasingly clear that we in the media can’t stop things from happening. But neither can we turn our back on the truth. I’m going to be here, bringing you live coverage of the disturbance at the Capitol, for as long as there’s more story to tell. Here’s what we know so far. Madalyn Davies confessed to killing Lowell Stratford with a dose of poison meant for President Wright, and has been placed under arrest. This should lead to Trina Jacobs and Careen Catecher being cleared of the charges against them. The president has called for a vote to downgrade the powers of the OCSD. How this will affect the pending activation of the Cerberean Link is yet to be determined. Stay tuned to PeopleCam for continuing coverage as the events unfold.”

  Pete’s producer was listening on his headset. “You’re clear. They say they’re going back to the feed from the House chamber.” He paused and listened again. “Really? We didn’t see anyone go into the building. We’ll try and find out what’s going on.” He turned to Pete. “The studio received video of armed gunmen invading the House chamber. Then they lost contact.”