Then she returned to herself and understood that what Raj was about to ask of her was huge, much bigger than anything the Free Thinkers had asked of her yet. If they had gone to such lengths to talk to her, it had to be important. Could she walk away from that? Could she live with the knowledge that when her help had been needed most, she had turned her back, thinking only of herself and her own protection?
“Take my father tonight.”
He shook his head. “We can’t risk it. Either you all go or no one does.”
“All?”
“Letizia too.”
Dara’s blood ran cold. “You can’t ask me to make a decision like this.”
“I’m sorry. You have no idea how sorry I am.” Regret was plain on his face, and she could see the torment in his eyes. “We’ve already talked to both of them, and they’ve agreed that it’s your call.”
The responsibility settled on her like a ton of lead. “Tell me what’s going on.”
Despite that they were surrounded by Free Thinkers, his face tensed and he scanned the area. “We think Magnum is planning to build a dome exclusively for Creators. Everyone else would be left behind in the old domes.”
“What?” The word came out louder than she’d intended, and he grimaced, fear flashing in his eyes. She clamped her mouth shut and joined him in surveying the crowd, but everyone else appeared fixated on the screen.
“Shah told us.”
“Letizia said she wouldn’t talk.”
“Mal forced her.”
“How?”
“He told her he’d give her friend up if she didn’t help. He promised to extract her friend if she did.”
Dara’s stomach churned. She couldn’t process the information Raj had just given her. It was too huge. “You need me to find evidence.”
“You and Letizia.”
“And my father?”
“He’ll have to be lookout.”
“No.”
“Yes,” Joshua hissed, his intensity making Dara jump. She hadn’t known he was listening. “Don’t argue, Dara. This is my decision.”
She turned her fury on Raj, incensed that they had all discussed this plan without her knowledge, without including her, incensed that she saw no way out other than to say yes. “Did you take a page from Magnum’s book about how to trap people?”
“Never forget, I was a Contributor once too,” he said wearily.
Chapter 44
It was unreal. It made no sense that she was sitting in a theater full of Magnum Ballasts and Cores while discussing how to break into Andersen’s apartment, but she was. For almost two years her focus had been on saving her family, on doing whatever it took to protect them, and now she was putting herself and her father right in the middle of the greatest peril imaginable.
Yet she’d wanted this. She had wanted to be a part of the Free Thinkers, had wanted to do something important. This was her chance. How could she say no?
This was about more than her ego, though. She had wanted vengeance against Magnum more than anything else. Heroics hadn’t figured much into her plans, and that hadn’t changed. She wasn’t looking for anyone to laud her, wasn’t trying to garner adulation or praise. But she couldn’t turn her back on this. The implications weren’t yet clear to her, but it was obvious enough that creating new domes solely for the use of the Creators would lead to further stratification of society. The real question was whether she could walk out and condemn countless people to that fate.
She couldn’t, the answer was that simple. Tempting as it was to walk away and pretend she’d done everything she could, there was nothing at the end of that path but the bitter taste of her own self-centeredness. She and Javier were more alike than she had imagined, and if she didn’t try to infiltrate Andersen’s apartment, there would be countless others like the two of them. The responsibility wouldn’t directly be hers, but she would have played a role, and she couldn’t bear that thought.
They had to act fast. The Free Thinkers’ scouts had already spotted transports from not just Magnum, but Zhang, Desai, and others patrolling the wasteland in grids. They had ventured out much farther than they had in decades, and they had geological survey equipment with them. They were searching for a site, one far enough away from the existing domes that the new one could go up without detection. None of the Ballasts or Cores would be aware of what was happening until the Creators moved.
Even so, there was still a tiny part of her that was desperate to believe, and she asked Raj if there were any plans to improve the existing domes.
“Not that we can find,” he whispered. “Our guess is that will factor in somewhere down the line, out of necessity if nothing else. Think about it. It gives the Creators yet one more means of control. If the people in the old domes don’t behave, don’t fall in line, the Creators will be conveniently unable to assist. They’ll sit in their own high-tech dome, safely away from the rabble, and they’ll enjoy their state-of-the-art conditions while everyone else suffers.”
Biting her lip until it bled, she picked at his theory, tried to poke holes in it, but was forced to acknowledge its soundness. The Creators needed the rest of them, but only to a certain extent. If they had their own domes they would be free to focus on themselves. She thought about the schematics Andersen had given her, and she saw the truth of what Raj was saying. The exhaust systems, the water lines, all had been designed to be almost impervious to damage. The innovations were ingenious, and she had been in awe at the thought of the added security, the added peace of mind the domes would bring to their inhabitants. Now she understood that the security and peace of mind was for the Creators alone, wiping out any fear of an uprising.
It made her flash back to something she and Raj had once read, the fragment of a memoir from a Creator who had detailed the gated compound in which the Creators had lived before the Great Famine. History was about to repeat itself. The Creators had already withdrawn once to a safer location, leaving people behind to their fate. They would do it again.
“When do we go in?” she asked, her decision made.
Raj didn’t look any happier. “Two days.”
Two days. So little time. She was glad for it, though. It would be less time for her to think, less time to worry about what might happen, about what probably would happen.
“Javier gave us some information about renovations to Andersen’s apartment, and the data miners were able to find more.” He handed her a tablet. “This is as complete a schematic of the apartment as we can put together. We’re fairly certain this is a safe, and that’s where he would hide whatever information he has. The most the hackers can do is bring down his security grid for ten minutes so you can get to it. ”
“You don’t know for sure that he’s keeping anything at home, do you?”
“We have no real way of knowing,” he said, his voice bitter. He hated the plan, that was obvious. He hated having to be the one to ask her to put herself in such danger. She appreciated his concern, even if she was still angry with him for not including her in the discussions.
As if reading her mind, he said, “I wanted to talk to you about this, Dara. You have no idea how hard it’s been to be cut off from contact with you. I tried everything I could think of.”
There was no doubting the sincerity in his eyes, and she felt her hold on her anger slipping. It wasn’t so much him she was mad at, it was the situation. She was angry it had come to this, angry to witness the destruction of every last illusion she’d ever held about the Creators. In short, she was angry at the world, and she was taking it out on him.
She leaned close to him, breathing words into his ear in an effort to make them inaudible to her father. “Whatever happens, you’ll take care of my mother? And if you can’t get me out, get my father out. Promise me.”
Grasping her hand, his lips brushed her ear as he breathed his response. “I promise.”
Her heart pounded as she drew back and focused on the schematic, trying to commit it to memory. She
had to make the most of her chance to study the information. It wouldn’t be safe for her to have a copy in her possession, and she doubted it would be feasible to meet with Letizia before they were to infiltrate Andersen’s apartment.
Dara pushed away her rising panic, ignored the fear that she would overlook something, that she’d make a mistake, that she’d blow the whole mission. There was a very good chance she would be caught, and her mind filled with terrifying images of what the Authorities would do to her. She didn’t tell Raj, but she resolved that if her capture did seem imminent, she would evade it, no matter what it took. She would rather sacrifice herself than let the Authorities drag her to their underground lair, where they would make her wish to die every second, only granting that wish once they’d taken everything they needed from her. Her dying thoughts would be of all the people she’d compromised, all the other lives she might have cost, and she refused to go out that way.
Chapter 45
The next two days were an exercise in mental torment. Dara was convinced that Andersen knew what she was planning, that the Authorities would drag her and her father away, that she and Letizia would find themselves trapped in Andersen’s apartment. Unable to eat, it was all she could do to conceal the stabbing pain in her stomach. She couldn’t afford to let her mask slip again, a mistake that had caused one of her colleagues to ask her if she needed to go to the medical center. More than ever, she had to be careful to blend into the background.
She combed over the schematics Andersen had given her, searching for every shred of evidence she could find to prove the Free Thinkers’ theory correct. What if they were wrong? Maybe they were barking up the wrong tree. Maybe the intelligence they’d collected from Jasmine Shah was faulty; after all, she’d already proved that she was less than trustworthy.
But she was grasping at straws. The clues were everywhere, now that she knew to look for them. What had seemed like meticulous security measures meant to safeguard the well-being of everyone in the domes now struck her as signs of a group determined to protect itself at all cost. Andersen emanated an aura of invincibility, striding around engineering with supreme confidence, and she finally figured out what his payoff would be. He was on his way to a new life inside the state-of-the-art dome, and he would dispose of her, leaving her behind with everyone else.
Her suspicions had been right. The projects he’d given her, the data he’d allowed her to access, were all meant to distract her, to keep her out of his way. She wondered whether the idea had been his or the Creators’.
What difference did it make? Either way, it was clear the Creators would take care of themselves at the expense of everyone else. Safe in their new domes, they could push the Ballasts and Cores harder, demand more than they ever had before, and people like Dara would be powerless to fight back. It was bad enough they had to depend on the Creators for food, shelter, and work. What would happen when they had to beg for clean water and breathable air?
“Is there anything more I can do for you, sir?” she asked, packing up to go home on the evening she and Letizia were to break into his apartment. Dara had pushed herself to memorize everything she had seen and heard over the past couple of days. With any luck, they would find all the incriminating evidence they needed in Andersen’s apartment, but she wanted to be sure the Free Thinkers would have as much information at their disposal as possible. She ignored the whispered voice that taunted her, telling her she’d never have a chance to share it.
“No. Block out an hour on my calendar tomorrow morning. You and I will meet to discuss your progress, and I have a new project for you.”
“Of course, sir.” She pulled out her tablet and made the change. What a relief it was to know she wouldn’t have to suffer through another meeting with him, pretending to be the clueless dolt he thought she was. An exquisitely delicious sense of lightness flooded her, and she almost smiled.
Then she remembered what she was about to do, and a tide of anxiety swept the lightness away. If she failed, if she got caught, she’d never know what it was like to be safe, to enjoy a life without fear of surveillance and reprisals. A small, selfish part of her rebelled at the thought. Everyone asked too much of her. All she wanted was the life she’d thought she was going to lead, an uncomplicated life that would demand no more of her than that she work her hardest.
And cede all of her freedom, she reminded herself, sacrifice her family and give her work priority above all else. It quieted the rebellious voice in her, the voice that wanted to enjoy the spoils without incurring the risks that went along with fighting to win them.
“Until tomorrow,” Andersen said, dismissing her. She was halfway out the door when he casually added, “What did you think of the movie?”
Every muscle went rigid, every bone in her body stilled, and she struggled to project an image of easiness. She racked her brain, trying to remember if she’d mentioned going to the movies, but she knew she hadn’t. They never talked about anything of a personal nature. She had the disconcerting sensation that her body would snap and break if she forced herself to turn it back to face him, but she had to do it. He must know that she was aware of his surveillance of her, but if she showed any sign of being upset about it, he would assume she had something to hide.
“I thought it was riveting,” she said, staring into his eyes, her expression carefully controlled. Inside, she was rebelling. Inside, she was laughing in his face, telling him he would never get the better of her. Though she was still terrified of what might happen if she and Letizia were caught breaking into his apartment, she felt a steely determination to find whatever she needed to expose both him and the Creators. She was sick to death of doing nothing but gathering information, all the while indirectly helping the Creators work toward their goals. This, at last, was her moment, her chance to see everything for which the Creators had worked so hard shatter to pieces at their feet.
“What in particular struck you as riveting?” he asked, challenging her to provide him with more detail. She knew that smirk, knew what that look in his eyes meant. He was locked on his prey and ready to close in for the kill.
“The heroism in the film. The way people have the capacity to step up and do what needs to be done, no matter the risk to themselves. The thought that there are those so selfless they put the interests of others before their own. None of us would be here without the great sacrifices made on our behalf.”
Disappointment flickered in his eyes and was gone as quickly as it had appeared. “That is quite admirable, isn’t it? You continue to surprise me, Dara. Your commitment and dedication have been most unexpected.”
“Thank you, sir. That’s very kind of you.”
His smirk widened at the word “kind”. “Good night.”
“Good night.”
As she walked out of engineering, she hoped it was the last she’d ever have to see of Andersen’s face.
Chapter 46
Joshua stayed late at headquarters. It was part of the plan he and Dara had devised during hurried, whispered conversations at they walked to and from their shifts, and as they shopped the day before. There wasn’t adequate time to come up with a better plan, and neither of them was very happy with their solution, but it would have to do. They both knew the best they could hope for was to buy themselves a few minutes here, another few minutes there, time enough to allow her and Letizia to get in and out of Andersen’s apartment, and the three of them to the rendezvous point. None of them suffered from any illusions about what they were about to do. The slightest wrench in their plan could throw the whole thing off.
When he arrived home, they would eat dinner, then they would decide to take a walk, his working past shift end their excuse for being out so late. Most first shift Contributors would be sleeping, making it an unusual time for walking, but there was nothing else for it. They could think of no other excuse for being absent from their apartment.
While she waited for her father, she feigned devoting time to her work. It did give he
r a chance to go over everything one last time, but concentrating was out of the question. With each bit of data she double checked, with each bit of editing she did to her reports, she thought of Magnum’s eyes on her. It would seem as though she was being meticulous about her work—no red flags there—but it made her queasy that every action was logged, every change sent through algorithms and scrutinized for inconsistencies. She wondered what kind of analysis they’d make of the data after her disappearance.
Dinner was a strained affair. Maintaining the appearance of normalcy was more than she or her father could take. He looked as if he’d aged a decade overnight. The last time she had seen him look so bad was when her mother had been injured. Mortal fear for his wife had haunted him, and that same fear haunted him again, though this time it was for his daughter.
“It’s so late to go for a walk,” he commented as they cleaned up after dinner. Neither of them had eaten a thing, and her hands shook so violently she was afraid she’d drop a plate and break it, but she managed to get them to the kitchen and into the sanitizer without incident.
“I know, and I’m sure you’re tired, but you’ll feel better after we go for a walk,” she said, injecting the slightest hint of admonishment in her tone. They’d felt it would be a good idea to imply that the walk was taken under some duress. It might otherwise strike someone as suspicious if the two of them were eager to get out and walk rather than sleep.
[Contributor 02] - Infiltrator (2013) Page 18