by Jackie D
Sloan turned on several monitors and pushed a variety of buttons. “Believe it or not, my grandfather built this room, with this very day in mind. I’m not sure if it was wishful thinking or fear, but I’m glad he did.” She glanced at the soldiers on the screen. “Don’t worry, they can’t hear you. This room is enclosed in concrete.”
Macy sat in front of the screen and pulled out the old keyboard. “What are your orders, Phoenix?”
Kaelyn rubbed her stomach to push away the emotion boring a hole there. There was enough adrenaline pumping through her body to power a small car, if someone knew a way to convert that kind of energy. She thought about the other three Phoenixes. Each had their own area of expertise: technology, military, and education. They were picked carefully in the event a new nation would need to be rebuilt, so they would have, at the very least, the basic knowledge. But she was to lead based on the knowledge she had of history and what had worked and not worked in the past. She was their strategist. She flashed back on the research she had done, the theories she had helped to create, the people she had interviewed. Everything at the time had been theoretical, a tool upper levels of leadership could use to help assist in their decision-making process. She helped develop ideas that would produce the most successful results for people and governments. She had taken on the daunting task of proving that through strategy and leadership, everyone could benefit equally. Now, those theories were being put to the test, and she was being asked to prove their faith in her had been well placed. She could ask their opinions, but ultimately, this was on her. The burden was a heavy one, and she felt the weight of it now more than ever before.
She thought of Arrow. She wanted to send all available platoons to her rescue. She wanted her brought back to her. She wanted to build a world around the two of them where the outside couldn’t interfere and they could simply spend time together. Maybe she could have, if Arrow had been born into Kaelyn’s time and a tyrannical force hadn’t held the country she loved hostage. But that wasn’t the world they lived in, and they weren’t normal people. They had both been born into a life of service. They both lived with the understanding that their lives would never really be their own. Their devotion to country was a fundamental piece of who they were as people. There had been thousands like them before. People who had dedicated both their personal and professional lives to an ideal that might never be obtained in its purest form. But those other people weren’t there. It was them, and this was their responsibility. So she did the only thing she could do, the only thing that would let her sleep at night, and what Arrow would want of her.
Kaelyn turned toward Macy. “Send the westward platoons to the Soldier Reserve Base, the southern platoons to the Hand of God Officer Base, and the northern platoon will take the capital with us. Follow the protocol. Anyone who surrenders needs to stay in their homes until the situation is under control. Everyone else should be considered hostile and potentially armed.”
The last order stuck in her throat like a marble. She wasn’t sure if she’d been better off spitting it out or if she should just swallow it. But it was too late for that now. The decision had been made, and whatever Arrow’s fate turned out to be would live in the depths of Kaelyn’s heart for the rest of her life.
Chapter Thirty-eight
There was a dull and painful thrum that reached from the back of Arrow’s head to her eyes. She could taste blood in her mouth, and there was a throbbing in her ribs. She knew her hands were restrained, but she did her best to pull them apart. Unfortunately, she discovered each pull only made the restraints grow tighter.
“Valor?” The room was dark and she couldn’t see anything but knew she’d feel better if he was there with her.
“Yeah, Major?” His voice was dampened, a little disoriented.
“We’re going to be okay.”
The door swung open and light flooded the room. A tall woman cast a shadow in front of her.
“How very sweet of you to reassure him, Major Steele. But I’m afraid you might not be able to keep your promise. It’s been almost six hours since we’ve had you here, and no one has come for you.”
Arrow forced her body to sit up, ignored the spinning room, and did her best to focus on the woman in front of her. Once her eyes had adjusted, she was able to place the voice. Nora MacLeod.
“I always keep my promises.” Arrow spit on the floor, the familiar taste of copper coating her teeth. “I’m not a MacLeod.”
Nora waved to the soldiers who stood on either side of the door. They promptly walked in and hoisted both Arrow and Valor into a set of chairs. Nora turned on the light inside the room, smiling when they both flinched at the sudden change of surrounding.
“Unfortunately for you, that’s true.” She sat on the table, intentionally close to Arrow. “If you were, you wouldn’t be in the position you’re in now.” She ran the back of her finger down the side of Arrow’s jaw.
“I would rather die.” Arrow pushed her chin forward.
Nora smiled at her. “We’re going to do better than that, Major. You killed Adon MacLeod, and you’ll be publicly executed.”
Arrow replayed what she’d seen at the stage. There was no possible way that leg wound would have killed MacLeod. Granted, her intention was to kill him, but the shot had missed.
“I don’t believe you,” Arrow said.
Nora waved her hand at the wall, and a news story that was halfway through its broadcast appeared. There was video footage of what had happened at the stage, MacLeod falling, images of both Arrow and Valor hitting and shooting at the soldiers. Next, the doctor explained the loss of blood had been too much and his heart had given out. Eden was without a MacLeod in the president’s office for the first time in almost seventy years. There were people flooding the streets. Some were screaming for revenge against the Resistance; others remained silent, seemingly stunned.
An uprising had always been the plan, but now the Hand of God had found itself a martyr rather than a villain. They were now in control of the story and able to spin it however they saw fit. If she’d known MacLeod was dead, she would’ve had Kaelyn on every airwave available, explaining their position and the rights of the people. Now they were nothing but cold-blooded extremists in the eyes of the very people they were hoping to join forces with.
“The people will cheer when I put you up on that stage for your execution. Think of it this way, you’ll be bringing peace and order to a devastated society.” Nora picked at a loose thread on her clothes.
“Killing me won’t solve your problem. Deep down, people don’t want to be controlled. It’s not in our nature. And you know that, or you wouldn’t have been poisoning the water all these years.” Arrow’s headache was growing stronger, and her head throbbed at twice the speed.
Nora stood, waving her hand around the room in a circular motion. “Oh, Arrow, how I wish things were different between us. I completely agree with you. My father’s ideas were old and outdated. He might not have lost power in his lifetime, but it would’ve happened. He’s been pushing away the outside countries. Refusing to help them, not wanting to let in people who are dying because of climate destruction, plagues, and rogue military forces. He forced people into servitude, taking away their identities, money, and whatever else he could pry from them in a show of force. That’s not what I want.” She pulled a long pin from her hair, letting the curls fall to her shoulders. “The world is so desperate now, everything is different. If we open our borders, with our advanced technology, sustained infrastructure, and resources, we could control the world. It’s a win for everyone. They’ll have the resources they need to stay alive, for a fee, of course, and we’ll be in charge of those resources, keeping us at the top of the food chain. I have no interest in controlling or dictating their comings and goings. That’s far too much work.”
Arrow’s neck flushed with anger. “You don’t want to help people. You want them to believe you’re here to protect them when really you just want all the power.”
Nora leaned down on the table, bringing her face within inches of Arrow’s. “Your idealism is adorable. Of course I want the power. That is fundamentally who people are. But it is mutually beneficial. People will be happier because they finally have some say in things, and I will be richer than any other person who has ever lived. Entire societies will finally bow to a woman. Isn’t that what you want too?”
Arrow shook her head. “No. I want people to have the opportunity to live their best lives. I want them to be able to decide they want to be an engineer, even though their parents were farmers, and be able to obtain that. I want them to decide who the best leader is for them, based on their needs and not on what the leader wants. I want people to be able to decide they want to make a difference and be able to succeed. You want to rig the system against them. I want to give them the codes to the system. What makes you better than anyone else? Because you were born with the last name of MacLeod? Keeping ninety percent of the power and wealth with the same people and handing out the other ten percent as you see fit, just to give the illusion that people have a chance, isn’t right.”
Nora straightened her jacket and used her fingers to bounce her hair. “Those are strong words coming from someone with the last name of Steele. You didn’t end up where you are without the assistance of your parents and their heritage. You think I’m duping everyone, but I’m creating the balance. If it weren’t me, it would be someone else. For all your idealism, you’re failing to recognize that by nature people are greedy, power hungry, and selfish. You believe that other ten percent you speak so highly of wouldn’t trade places with me in an instant, given the chance? You’ve fooled yourself into believing that people are good by nature and they aren’t. Your precious notions were tried for several hundred years, and they failed. But under me, I’ll restore enough balance that people will follow out of true loyalty rather than forced loyalty because they’ll believe the choice was theirs.”
Arrow closed her eyes, partially to keep from crying and partially because she couldn’t look at her. Was there truth to what she was saying? Were people truly so lost? Her heart railed against it even as her mind wondered. “You’re wrong.”
Nora pulled the door open. “Too bad you won’t be alive to see how right I am. But think of it this way, you’ll be able to die with all your childish ideals intact. They might even hang a picture of you somewhere with a nice little plaque. Ooh, maybe you’ll even get a park bench.” She motioned toward Arrow and Valor. “Bring them to the stage area in three hours. Don’t bother with the blindfolds. I want them to see the people in the crowd cheering for their deaths.”
“You’re forgetting about the Phoenix,” Arrow called out to her. She wanted to instill at least a little doubt in this suffocatingly arrogant woman.
Nora stopped and turned around. “No, I’m not. She just won’t matter. People will gladly abandon their ideals when an easier solution is placed in front of them. People are fickle creatures, prone to selfish whims. Your faith is misplaced.”
Arrow let her body fall limp. The success of this movement was always based on her fundamental belief that people wanted equality. But what if people were okay with just the illusion of equality if it was the path of least resistance? What if everything she believed in truly was an outdated ideal?
Chapter Thirty-nine
Kaelyn paced back and forth in the small room. “We can’t stay in here.”
Macy had just finished adjusting the camera on the stool where Kaelyn would speak in a moment. “We need to get our message out right away. We can’t expect people to be on our side if they don’t know what we stand for.”
Kaelyn had just seen the announcement that Arrow and Valor would be publicly executed in an hour for causing the death of Adon MacLeod. Since that moment, she had felt like a stranger in her own skin. Her thoughts were jumbled together, and she hadn’t been able to find a stable breathing pattern.
She turned on Macy. “How can you be so calm? She’s your daughter.”
Macy put her hands on Kaelyn’s arms. “I’m not, so I’m doing the things within my control. You need to get it together. We won’t be able to help Arrow, Valor, or anyone else unless you focus and be what we all need you to be. It’s not fair and I get that, but it doesn’t matter.”
Kaelyn sat on the stool, letting Macy’s much needed words sink in. “If we can pull this off, will you stay with me? I don’t think I could manage any of this without your input and guidance.”
Macy smiled. “Whatever you need, Kaelyn.”
“And Arrow, can Arrow stay?”
Macy looked as if she might cry at the thought of either her daughter surviving or not surviving, Kaelyn wasn’t sure which. “Let’s just get through this.”
Sloan handed her a glass of water. “You doing okay?”
“Yes,” Kaelyn lied. “Let’s get this started. We have a lot to do, and we need to get out of this room and get to work.”
This seemed to resonate with Sloan, who did a slight hop back to the other side of the room where Macy sat, her finger hovered over the button, ready to send out the broadcast.
“I’ve encrypted the feed as much as I could manage, but you’ll probably only have about thirty-five seconds before they cut you off,” Sloan said.
Kaelyn nodded, indicating she was ready to begin. “People of Eden, you’ve been lied to, robbed, and manipulated. The people of this once great nation were promised something several hundred years ago, and that has been kept from you. You were promised an existence where you could achieve life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. At first, the MacLeods used fear to keep the people in their control. Fear of outsiders, fear of people who thought differently, looked differently, and wanted different things. Once they were able to fill people with fear, they said they were the only ones with a solution. They told us it was okay to turn on each other, to ignore people who valued different things, to harm people who threatened your beliefs. Once they were able to do that, they made their own propaganda machine. They told us all other information was false and they were the only ones who could be trusted. In fact, people began to believe the MacLeods instead of their own eyes and ears. Neighbors, family members, and congregations started to see each other as the enemy. They bought into the tagline that we were a failing society and there was only one antidote. I’m here today to tell you that we had the antidote all along. That need to stand up and cry out for change that you feel bubbling inside you needs to be heard. This country was built by people who were brave enough to seek out a better life for their families. They had the courage to challenge a system that was built to keep them oppressed and then create their own. We were never perfect. We hurt millions of people along the way. We treated entire races and minorities as less than. Our leaders made mistakes. They waged war against lesser countries. They killed indiscriminately in many cases, and at times forced people into servitude. I’m not here to make excuses for any of that.” She leaned forward, closer to the camera, wanting the people to see the truth in her eyes.
“I’m here to tell you that we can do better. We’ve always been able to do better. Our united force is greater than any dictator, any king, and any president. The will of the American people lives inside every one of you. The MacLeods have kept you in a sleep state for almost seventy years. They’ve literally drugged your water to keep you from fighting back. Today is the day we wake up and take our government and our country back. The other three Phoenixes and I don’t want to rule over you. We want to help you rebuild. We want to work with you to create the society we always had the potential to become. The Resistance forces are here not to harm you but to help you. They will only return attack; they will not initiate. For us to succeed, it must be the will of the people. All the people. Stand with us now and we will stand with you always.”
Sloan wiped a tear from her face. “That was incredible.”
The air was full of emotion, but Kaelyn ignored it. “We need to get to the center of town. The Resist
ance forces are waiting on us there.”
Sloan pushed a button under the desk and the door slid open. “Do you think it worked?”
“I don’t know, but we’ll find out soon enough,” Kaelyn said. She knew full well Arrow wasn’t there, but she couldn’t help looking around, just in case, before they left the building.
There were thousands of people in the streets, yelling and marching. As Kaelyn walked through, a few reached to touch her. At first, the contact scared her, then she noticed the emotion on their faces. This was the first time these people were awake, engaged, and present. It had been almost thirty hours since they had blown the reservoirs, and just as Arrow had said, people were coming out of their long sleep. They had lived a life moving from one day to the next, accepting their places, because they didn’t know any different. Now, they had just been offered a different possibility. While there were definitely angry shouts cast their way, those were far fewer than the people who gathered around her, defiant and looking forward. It was a heady feeling.
The square of the capital was flooded with people. Some people were scurrying behind the wall the Resistance soldiers had created with their bodies while others were yelling their disapproval at those same soldiers. The Hand of God’s soldiers made a large wall around the stage where Nora MacLeod would soon emerge with Arrow and Valor. But it didn’t slip past Kaelyn that the Hand of God forces seemed to be diminishing.
Macy stayed next to her but had her hand on her weapon. “I don’t like being out in the open like this. They could have snipers in position. We’re sitting ducks.”
Kaelyn glanced around at the rooftops. “Of course, they have snipers in position, but it won’t do them any good to take us out like this. She needs to keep some semblance of law and order now that MacLeod is dead. And we need to be here with the people. Killing us now would be terrible publicity for them. It could cause more harm than good, and I think Nora is too calculated to take that chance.”