“That complicates things.”
I frown. “Why? Why do I feel like there’s something major you’re not telling me?”
“God, I wish your mother was here,” he says, holding a hand to the back of his head. “She always knew exactly how to convey these things.”
“Dad, there’s no right or wrong way. There’s only the truth.”
“I need to start at the beginning.”
I resist the urge to say ‘Duh!’
“Nate—Cal’s dad—and I were inseparable from the time we met. We lived a few doors away from each other, attended the same school, played on the same little league team, and basically did everything together. Joining the military was even a team decision. He was more than my best friend. He was like the brother I never had.” He smiles and I see a wealth of happy memories glistening in his eyes. “He met your mom when he was sixteen. Ordinarily, I would’ve been by his side, but we were on family vacation. I came home a week later, and Nate was head over heels in love.”
“Did Mom love him?” I have to ask.
“Yes, she did. Very much so in those early years.” He sighs and I instinctively lean in closer. “I dated too, but deep down, I always harbored strong feelings for your mom. I tried to deny them—she was the love of Nate’s life—but we all spent so much time together that it was virtually impossible. I never told her how I felt. What was the point? At this stage, she was engaged to Nate, and they were planning their wedding. It was a done deal. I figured I’d get over her in time.” He pauses and his look is brooding.
“When did that change?” I place my elbows on the table. Mom had relayed stories of her and Dad’s courtship, but this is the first time I’m hearing the true version of events, and I’m beyond intrigued. The way my dad looks whenever he says Mom’s name; it’s wow. I never doubted the love they shared, except for those few weeks before our move to Novo when something major went down between them. My sixth sense tingles, and I’m guessing that whatever it was had something to do with Cal’s dad.
“Nate asked me to step in and escort your mom to the ballet one night. We were only a few months shy of graduating from the military, and Commander Calavero had asked him to participate in a special project that was taking up all of his spare time.”
“Wait,” I say, straightening in my chair. “The Commander … he’s the President?”
“Yes. He was our Commanding Officer back then, and a decent man.” The faraway look returns to his eyes. “Anyway, I escorted your mom that night, and one thing led to another and we shared some kisses, and I realized then that she felt the same way about me. Though she continued to deny it to herself for weeks. Eventually, we were on the same page, and we knew we had to break the news to Nate. It was never going to be easy.”
He exhales deeply. “I never meant to take her away from him, and you should know that your mom didn’t plan for it to happen either. It just happened. She fell in love with me, and for a long time, she denied that because she didn’t want to hurt Nate. We had decided to tell him, but he found us kissing and he went berserk. I don’t blame him for that; it was an awful way to learn the truth. And it’s the one thing that I still feel bad about, even now.”
“I can only imagine,” I whisper. And I can’t help feeling guilty because Cal still doesn’t know that I kissed Zane when we were living in the Clementia compound. He’d be so hurt if he found out. My earlier anger slips away, and I vow to find him after this and patch things up.
“Nate never forgave us. I thought in time that perhaps we might be able to salvage some part of our friendship but that was naïve of me. Overnight, I gained the woman of my dreams, but I lost my best friend in the process. It was a strange feeling. To be so elated one moment, and so grief stricken the next. I often thought of him over the years, long after he moved to Philadelphia, but it wasn’t until …”
The door slides open, interrupting us, and I jump in my seat. A beautiful blonde appears in the room. “Sorry to disturb you, Malcolm,” Calista says. “We’re about to start.”
Calista is Chancellor Corr’s estranged wife and part of the leadership of Saoirse, the organization committed to starting the real revolution. When I had first relocated to Earth from Novo, I’d been led to believe that’s what Clementia was. But we discovered that Clementia was only a sham rebel organization created by Calista’s despicable husband in collusion with President Calavero. Thankfully, Calista and the Board of Management had exposed his subterfuge and set up Saoirse.
We only barely managed to get out from under Clementia’s control in time.
Zane’s face floats through my mind, and familiar anguish settles on my chest. We’d had no choice but to leave him behind when we fled to Saoirse’s compound in Florida. I still don’t know what’s happened to him or whether he is even still alive.
After witnessing the bombing of our old home last night, I fear the worst. But I can’t think about that now, so I push the thoughts away before they floor me.
Calista acknowledges me with a nod and a warm smile. “I’m glad you made it here safely, Ariana.”
“Me too.”
“I think Ariana should hear this as well,” she says, her gaze flipping to Dad. He nods in agreement.
“We’ll talk about this again, Ari. For now, stay away from that man as much as you can,” Dad says, bringing me back into the moment.
I nod distractedly. “Sure, Dad.”
My chair makes a loud screeching noise as I rise. I follow Dad and Calista out of Command Center and back along the narrow corridor. We pass through double doors out into a wider hallway and take the elevator to the fourth floor. We step out into a long, narrow corridor and walk to the far end.
I step into the large amphitheater and descend the steps toward the front. Several people sit in the first few rows, and I spot the back of Dan Fielding’s head on the raised podium. Dan is Saoirse’s Chairman and Calista’s right-hand man. He is deep in conversation with my friend Ruby’s dad, Commander De Luca.
Dad follows Calista up onto the stage, and I slide into the second row, plonking down in a seat beside Agent Leena. Her hand closes over mine and she squeezes. I smile at her as Dan clears his throat.
“Thank you all for coming. We’d like to run through a few key items including outlining our strategy going forward. Naturally, time is of the essence, so it’s mission critical that we agree on plans and begin executing them immediately. There’s no doubt that the government is already mobilizing their troops against us, and we must be ready to face them.”
Pivoting around, he hands a small device to Calista and steps back. The screen flickers to life behind her, and she moves to the side as she begins talking. “Our aim is straightforward: To take back control of Earth and Novo from the government. Our strategy for achieving this is anything but simple due to the many variable components we need to take account of.”
A list of bullet points appears behind her. She gestures toward the screen. “The first priority is disabling and removing the Vita chip implants en masse. We have safely removed them from a number of individuals within our compound, and the remaining personnel will have undergone the procedure by the end of today. As you are aware, the government has only been installing the Vitas on Earth over the course of the last few weeks, but our intel confirms that at least thirty percent of the population has already been implanted. So disabling all Vitas in operation is pivotal to our success. Disabling them individually is not an option, so we have a team of IT personnel working around the clock to identify a way of shutting them down en masse.”
Zane should be leading the charge. A wave of sadness engulfs me once again. “Once we’ve achieved that,” she continues, “the priority is sending mobile medical teams out into the field to remove them. We have partnered with local militants in various states, and we will work alongside them on the ground. A special project team has been established within our Medical Facility led by Dr. Taylor Jennings. This team will equip our doctors with the knowle
dge they need to perform these procedures and share this expertise with locals on the ground.”
She subtly nods at Commander De Luca and he steps forward. “Myself and Commander Skyee will assign teams of soldiers to suit various purposes: Providing protection detail for our medics on the ground, targeting government assigned teams tasked with Vita implants, and a couple of specialist units to evacuate other Clementia compounds before they are obliterated.”
Dad speaks next, his voice loud and clear. “Military assignments will be announced in the next couple of days. In the meantime, we advise all cadets and soldiers to spend as much time as possible preparing in the Training Unit.”
“What of our offensive strategy? This all sounds very much defensive,” Commander Remus says from somewhere behind me. I twist around in my seat and spy him sitting beside Cal and Mel two rows back. Cal’s eyes lock on mine but his expression is unreadable. Slowly, I turn and face the front.
“That is a work in progress. For now, the priority is removing the government’s Vita control. Without that, they lose their tracking functionality, and they can’t activate the kill switch. That is the key to winning this war,” Calista coolly replies.
Dad steps forward, his attention focused on Nate. “This war will be fought on three fronts—on the ground, in the air, and via technology. Ultimately, we will have to invade Novo and end the President’s tyranny. But we are in no position to attempt that yet, and we don’t have the numbers. In doing this, we will have a consistent supply of new recruits, and we can begin to train our army,” Dad explains.
“The President is streets ahead with the technology at his disposal, and the government’s manpower and air force is vastly superior to ours. We won’t have time to plan this a step at a time. This requires bold impetus, and I’m not hearing anything even close to it,” Commander Remus says.
“Agreed,” Calista intervenes. “And that’s why the Inner Council would like to talk with you after this meeting to discuss the knowledge you have, and how that can influence our planning.” I turn my head in time to see Commander Remus nod.
“How safe are we here?” I ask, wondering how much Clementia and the government are aware of this facility. “Mr. Fielding mentioned at the start the need to be ready. Does the government know where we are?”
“They are somewhat informed,” Calista confirms.
“Care to elaborate?” I ask, tilting my head to the side.
She smiles warmly at me. “We believe they have access to older plans, formulated around the time NASA started building this facility. They are not aware of the vastness of the underwater Velo network or the exact exit locations. However, it’s prudent to assume they have coordinates of this facility and some of the exit gates. We blew up the line from Florida, so they will be unable to approach from that position, and we have posted teams of guards at all exit points, both here in the States and across Europe. Emergency detonation can be remotely activated if necessary.”
“Won’t we be trapped here then?” Cal speaks up. I don’t like the thought of being enclosed in this underwater shell for the rest of my life, destined for a watery grave.
“No, Cadet Remus. We have a number of multi-purpose stealth-craft housed in our hangar. We have means of transport other than the Velo system, if it comes down to that. We’ve also developed technology—we call it Invincia—which effectively enables us to ‘hide’ here. The Invincia shield acts as an invisibility cloak and a hard barrier against enemy attack. I can assure you that you are well-protected here.”
I still don’t get a warm fuzzy feeling, and given everything I’ve witnessed in the last few weeks, it’s hard to take anyone in authority seriously or to assume their credibility is a given. The only reason I’m giving her and Saoirse the benefit of the doubt is because my father believes in them and he’s actively involved. He’s truly the only one I trust.
The meeting wraps up then and I rise swiftly in my seat. I’m eager to catch Cal before he leaves. I don’t want things festering between us, and I need to make this right, now. Closing the distance, I reach his row just as he steps out. “Hey. Do you have time to talk?”
His face is impressively passive. “Sure,” he replies, shoving his hands deep in his pockets. Stepping aside, he gestures for me to walk in front of him.
As we travel in the elevator to the rooftop observation deck in complete silence, my sense of trepidation accelerates the higher we go.
Once I sit down in front of the glass, a serene calmness wafts over me. Reacquainting myself with my new fishy family, I find the abundance of colors sliding across the glass strangely comforting.
“I’m sorry about earlier,” I admit, twisting around to face him. “I was out of line, and I shouldn’t have said all those things.”
“Do you really mean that?” He shoots a skeptical look my way.
I force my nasty retort back down my throat and mentally start counting to ten. “Yes. The last thing I want is for events of the past to affect us. What happened with our parents isn’t really anything to do with us.” I’m hoping I’ll be able to honor that statement, because I know I’m not in possession of all the facts yet. There is still more that Dad needs to tell me. But I’m determined to deal with it separately so it doesn’t affect my relationship with Cal. I may have already lost Zane, and I don’t want to do anything to risk losing Cal too.
“It’s not that I don’t understand,” he says, moving in closer to me. “I get that you want to defend your parents, and despite the fact that my dad won’t win any Super Dad contests anytime soon, I still feel a natural urge to defend him. Maybe I’m biased, but since he told me what transpired all those years ago, I can’t stop imagining myself in his shoes. That it’s Zane who comes along and sweeps you out from right under my nose.”
Ah, now I’m finally getting it though I shouldn’t be surprised. His lack of confidence in my love isn’t anything new nor is his fear of Zane. He’s no dummy, and he knows that I’m recalling all the details of my previous relationship with him. Understanding this helps me comprehend how and why he got so angry this morning. And I also can’t forget the surge of aggression that still lingers in his tissues, the aftermath of the atrocious violation by the government when they enrolled him in their Super Soldier program without his permission. “We are not our parents. And the situation with Zane is totally different. He was already in my past when I met and fell in love with you.”
Reaching out, I take his hand, and he readily threads his fingers between mine. “I missed you today.” He lifts our conjoined hands and brushes his lips across my skin. I don’t miss the fact that he hasn’t responded to my last comment, but I’m eager to remedy things between us, so I let it go.
“You saw me this morning. It hasn’t been that long,” I remind him.
“Feels like longer. I hate any time spent apart. It reminds me of those weeks I spent alone in Novo, out of my mind with worry. Fearing that I would never see you again. I don’t like willingly being separated.” It’s on the tip of my tongue to remind him that he walked off on me, but we’ll only get into it again. So I’m going to take the moral high ground for a change. I bite my tongue.
“Well, I’m here now,” I say, rising up on my knees. “And I’m going nowhere.”
He tugs me into his chest and kisses me softly. “That’s music to my ears.”
We eat dinner in the cafeteria with Lily, Deacon, Mel, and Ben, and we are escorting my siblings back to their apartment when the sound of arguing reaches my ears. Cal and I trade apprehensive looks as we spot our two fathers getting into it in the corridor.
“Dad!” Cal calls out as we approach. Two heads swivel in our direction and both men instantly cease speaking. Deacon clutches my hand tightly, clearly upset and confused. I purposely ignore both of them as I skim past and enter the apartment. Cal stays outside while I help Deacon prepare for bed.
“What’s going on, Ari?” Lily asks once I have Deacon settled in the top bunk.
“
Nothing for you to worry about,” I whisper, stroking her hair back behind her ear.
“You can’t hide stuff from me anymore, Ari. I’m not a little girl.” There is a wealth of pain and sadness in her eyes as she looks at me and I feel heartsick.
“I know you’re not, and I hate that.” I throw a cursory glance over my shoulder. Deacon is already fast asleep, the exhaustion of the last couple of days still working its way out of his system. “How much did you see on Novo?” I whisper. We haven’t had any opportunity to talk about Mom since it all went down, and I’m worried about my sister. She’s far too young to deal with this crap, but I can’t wipe the recent past as much as I might long for the ability to do so.
“Enough,” Lily says, in a hushed voice.
“Do you want to talk about it?” My eyes search hers.
“Not yet.” She looks at me with such vulnerability that my heart bleeds. “It’s not fair that I got away and she didn’t.” She says this so quietly that I’m not sure at first if I’ve heard her correctly. Then a single tear snakes its way down her face and a sharp pain pierces straight through my heart.
“Mom loved you so much, Lily. She wanted you to be safe.”
“Why did she have to die?” Tears flow freely down her face now.
“I don’t know, Lil. Everything is screwed up right now. But I know Mom wouldn’t want you to feel any guilt over what happened to her, so you have to try. Okay?” Burying her head in my chest, she sobs unashamedly, and I hold her close until eventually she cries herself to sleep.
Stepping into the corridor, I find Dad and Cal eyeing each other warily. My gaze darts between them, trying to read the situation. Dad pushes off the wall and straightens. Cal reaches out and wraps his arms around me. I flinch, unused to PDAs in front of my dad. But he barely notices. His eyes are vacant as he lifts his fingers to his temples. Obvious worry is etched on his face, and I need to understand what else is going on. Wiggling out of Cal’s embrace, I position my hand on Dad’s arm. “We still need to talk.”
Destiny Rising Page 3