Secrets of PEACE

by T. A. Hernandez

  “Not quite.” She held a folder in one hand and tapped the edge against her other palm. “You know what this is?”

  “A mission report.”

  “Not just any mission report.” She and Lucas exchanged a smirk. “We just got back from the North Pacific Region. A little town called Grayridge. You’ve probably heard of it.”

  Zira crossed her arms and took a step back from Cecilia. “Yes.”

  “Our target was the guy who started the riots. Man by the name of Murphy, I think.”

  Zira’s nails dug into her arm. Murphy was the last name of the girl who had died because of the food shortage.

  “You know him or something?” Lucas said.

  She didn’t answer, and Cecilia took a step towards her. “This guy had a kid. A boy, maybe thirteen or fourteen years old. He came at me with a kitchen knife.” She made a gun with her fingers and aimed it at Zira, then shrugged. “You know how it is—self-defense. I just thought you should know, since you loved that place so much.” She held the file out to Zira. “You want to take a look? Pay your respects? Maybe they were friends of yours.”

  Once, Cecilia’s abuse might have rolled off Zira’s back with ease. Now, she’d heard enough. Her temper snapped. She threw herself at Cecilia and pulled her to the ground. Pages from the file scattered as Zira straddled the older girl and slammed a fist into her jaw. Cecilia cackled, exposing teeth stained red with blood.

  Lucas came at Zira from behind. He yanked her off Cecilia and tried to grab her wrists, but she slipped away. He came at her again. Zira’s foot connected with his ribcage and he doubled over.

  Cecilia was on Zira before she could turn and wrenched her head back by the hair. Zira thrashed to break free, screaming like some kind of wild animal. Lucas kicked the breath out of her chest while Cecilia used her free hand to punch Zira in the face.

  Stunned, it took Zira a moment to compose herself and let her training kick in. She reached for the pocketknife in her boot and slashed behind her, catching Cecilia off guard. She used the distraction to scramble away, then whirled to face the pair. Both were armed with their own blades now, and all three of them were surrounded by a small crowd that had gathered to watch. Lucas took a step towards Zira. She braced herself for the attack.

  Someone pulled her back and pinned her arms at her side. She twisted her head around and was enraged to see that the new assailant was Jared. She struggled to break free, but he held her tight. “Let go!”

  Jared paid no attention to her. “Get out of here,” he said to Cecilia and Lucas.

  “But—” Lucas began.

  “Now!” Jared barked. “You know fighting isn’t allowed. Go, before any of the chairmen see this.” He turned to the spectators, raising an authoritative voice. “That means all of you!”

  Zira continued to strain against Jared’s grasp as the audience dispersed. “Let me go!” She cursed at Cecilia’s retreating figure. “Murderer! Coward!”

  “Look at yourself!” Jared said. “You’re acting insane. What’s your problem?”

  “What’s your problem?” she retorted, turning her rage on him.

  He released her. “I just saved you from ruining everything you’ve worked for.” His eyes were cold and hard. “Fighting with people in your own unit, right here in the compound for everyone to see? What were you thinking?”

  “She killed an innocent kid. She told me all about it, like she was proud of it.”

  “So you attacked her?”

  “I couldn’t just let it go.”

  “Yes, you could have. We all do what we have to do. It isn't always pretty, but somebody has to do this job. You know that. Or you used to.” He sighed and ran a hand over his face. “What happened to you?”

  “We’re supposed to be working for peace. Killing some defenseless kid doesn’t accomplish that.”

  Jared shook his head. “You don’t get it anymore, do you? We are killers. You can’t just ignore that and hope it will go away. We kill so that other people don’t have to die, because it’s for the greater good. No matter the cost—do you remember that? No matter the cost.”

  “That doesn’t apply to taking innocent lives.”

  “It applies to everything.”

  “How can you justify it like that?” She couldn’t believe what he was saying. How could he see things that way? In a renewed surge of anger, she said, “You’re just as bad as any of our targets.”

  Jared’s patience evaporated in an instant. “Screw you,” he said. His voice was low and thick with venom. “Screw you and your self-righteous attitude. Stop trying to pretend that everyone else is the villain and get you act together.”

  He turned his back and walked away from her. She knew he was furious—knew that this could be the breaking point in their relationship—but she didn’t care about that right now. She felt betrayed. He was supposed to understand her, but he wasn’t even hearing anything she was trying to tell him. She returned to her apartment to be alone, struggling to contain the heat that still boiled inside her.

  At lunch that afternoon, Aubreigh hurried to Zira’s side as soon as she walked in the door. “Are you all right? Everyone’s been talking about your fight. Oh—your eye!” She covered her mouth with her hand as she examined the bruise that covered most of the left side of Zira’s face.

  “I’m okay,” Zira muttered, glancing across the room as people stared at her and whispered. Cecilia and Lucas sat in the far corner with a group of friends. Cecilia winked and blew her a kiss. Zira bristled, but she knew better than to start another fight. She kept her head down and tried not to look around as she and Aubreigh went through the food line.

  “So what happened exactly?” Aubreigh asked after they sat down.

  Zira hunched over her tray and picked at her food. “Same old Cecilia. Still gets a kick out of other people’s problems.”

  Aubreigh frowned. “You know she just likes to provoke you.”

  Zira shook her head. It was more complicated than that, but she couldn’t tell Aubreigh the real reason the fight had started. “I know, but—it just happened.”

  “It looks like they got you pretty good.”

  “It probably would have been worse if Jared hadn’t stepped in.” She hated to admit that, but it was true. Cecilia and Lucas were both more experienced than she was and just as well-trained. Taking both of them on at once had been stupid.

  “Where is he, anyway?”

  “I don’t know. We had a fight. I think we might be done.” It hurt to say it out loud. This was exactly what she’d been afraid of when they started this relationship. This was why she hadn’t wanted to push things any further than friendship. Jared was one of just a few people who really understood and cared about her, and she didn’t want to lose that. With the way things were going now, though, she might have lost it anyway.

  “I’m really sorry, Zira,” Aubreigh said. “Is everything all right with you? I mean, besides Cecilia and this thing with Jared. You’ve just seemed different since you got back.”

  “Honestly?” Zira gave up on her food and pushed the tray aside. “No—everything is not all right. Everything is really screwed up right now, actually.” She took a breath, knowing that Aubreigh was going to react badly to what she had to say next. “I don’t belong here anymore. I’m going to ask for a transfer.”

  Aubreigh looked confused. Zira couldn’t blame her; transferring out of the compound was almost unheard of and only allowed under special circumstances. “How? Where?”

  “I don’t know. Anywhere. Ryku has all these informants on the outside, people who pass him useful intel. Maybe I could do that. A lot of them are damaged goods anyway, so I at least have the leg for the job.”

  Aubreigh didn’t seem to find her joke amusing. “You don’t have to leave. There has to be a way to fix whatever it is that’s wrong.”

  “I’ve been trying,” Zira said. “I’ve tried to get back to how it all was before. I’ve tried to understand. I just can’t do it anymo
re. I have to get out of here.”

  Aubreigh’s brows drew together. “If that’s what you really think is best,” she said quietly. “I don’t understand, but I know you’ve got to do what you think is right.”

  “We’ll still see each other. I promise.” It was a promise she didn’t know if she could keep, but if there was any possible way to keep Aubreigh in her life after this had all settled down, she’d find it.

  Aubreigh nodded and put on a brave smile, but her eyes were wet as she glanced around the cafeteria, looking at everything besides Zira. Zira felt bad for dropping this on her so suddenly, and she was going to miss her best friend. But like Aubreigh had said, she needed to do what she thought was right.

  As she left the cafeteria, a gentle vibration from her CL alerted her to a new message. It was from Jared. Her heart turned to ice in her chest as she opened it.

  Something’s come up. I have to leave for a couple days. When I get back, we need to talk.

  I’m really trying to understand. I still love you. I’m sorry.

  Zira closed the message, too dispirited to write back right now. It was for the best that he was gone. They both needed some time apart to clear their heads, and things were going to change if Zira left the compound to become an informant. She didn’t know what all those changes would be yet, but her mind was made up. As soon as she got back to her apartment, she sent a message to Chairman Ryku with her request.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Zira heard nothing from Ryku that day or the next. She saw two of the other chairmen walking around the compound that afternoon, though, and assumed they all must have come back together. Between the fight she’d had with Cecilia and Lucas, her failure to kill Randolph, and her request to be transferred, she and Ryku had a lot to talk about. She wasn’t sure what was taking him so long, but she wasn’t about to go hunting him down to instigate the conversation.

  She ate dinner alone that night since Jared was still gone and Aubreigh was stuck in her office finishing up some work. As she went to return her tray, Seth spotted her across the room and came to meet her. “We need to talk,” he said. “Now.”

  “We’ve already talked. I have nothing else to say to you.”

  She started to walk away, but he grabbed her arm. “Zira, please. You need to hear me out.”

  The way he lowered his voice and the almost desperate look in his eyes caught her attention. “Fine. What is it?”

  “Not here.”

  She grumbled, but followed him outside anyway. They went to a shaded area between the cafeteria and another building. Seth kept looking around suspiciously even though no one was anywhere near them. “What is it?” Zira asked.

  “You’re not safe here.”

  “What makes you think that?”

  He tapped a few buttons on his CyberLink and projected some sort of document. “This.”

  She glanced at it but didn’t bother trying to read the whole thing. “What is it?”

  “Ryku sent it to us this morning. It’s a security block; we’re supposed to cut off your access to everything. The Net, vehicles, the compound gate. You’re on lockdown.”

  Zira looked at the document closer. It was exactly as Seth said, and Ryku’s signature was scrawled across the bottom. She gnawed at her lip as Seth withdrew the projection. “I asked for a transfer,” she said. “I wanted to work on the outside. It’s probably just something to do with that.”

  “If you were going to transfer, you’d have to be able to get out of the compound. You can’t do that if your gate access has been cut off.” He paused and leveled his gaze at her. “Zira, you’re a threat. He’s going to eliminate you. He did the same thing to Tripp just before he left the Project.”

  Zira tried to conceal the shiver that ran up her spine at the mention of that name. For a moment, she considered that this might be some kind of trap. If she admitted to knowing Tripp and not telling Ryku about it, she’d be guilty of treason and slated for execution. On the other hand, if what Seth was saying was true, she’d already been sentenced. She had always considered him an enemy, but now, he might be the only person in these walls she could trust. “You know Tripp?”

  “I’ve been in contact with a rebel group for several years now, passing them whatever information I could. I’ve never met Tripp personally, but he asked me to keep an eye on you when you got back here. He wanted me to find out if you told Ryku that you’d seen him. I tried to get you to talk to me about it a few times, but you didn’t want to.”

  Zira remembered how persistent Seth had been in trying to talk to her about Grayridge ever since she’d come back. He’d even mentioned that they were on the same side and that he was suspicious of some of the things going on in the Project, but she’d been too angry to even consider that he might be an ally. “Why are you telling me all this? I could run straight to Ryku and tell him everything. Maybe if I just proved my loyalty, he’d give me another chance.”

  Seth gave her a thin smile. “You’re not going to do that. You have no loyalty—not anymore. And even if you did, do you honestly think Ryku wouldn’t kill you anyway? You’re a threat, Zira, and all threats must be eliminated.”

  Zira’s mind began to run in a hundred different directions at once. She had tried so hard to make this work. It didn’t matter; of course Ryku wasn’t going to give her another chance. She should have been more careful. Now she was a target, and she was trapped. Another operative could be coming to kill her right now.

  She had to fight to keep her breath steady; panicking now was only going to make things worse. “What do I do?”

  “I know how to get you out of the compound,” Seth said, and he handed her a folded scrap of paper. Zira glanced at the writing inside. It was an address in the North Central Region. “That’s where Tripp is. You’ll have to get there yourself, which might be difficult since you won’t be able to use any of the usual methods of transportation. Once you’re gone, Ryku won’t waste any time sending someone after you.”

  She’d spend the rest of her life looking over her shoulder, waiting for Project assassins to catch up with her. It was a daunting prospect, but better than dying—though that could very well be in her near future if she wasn’t careful. Still, Tripp had survived fifteen years in the same position. She could survive, too, especially with his help. “Tell me how to get out of here.”

  “There’s a food delivery scheduled for four A.M. tomorrow. You’ll have to sneak onto one of the trucks before they leave. I don’t think I need to tell you how unwise it would be to talk to anyone about this.”

  Aubreigh. She wouldn’t get a chance to say goodbye. And what would Jared think when he found out she’d betrayed her unit and run away? She wouldn’t even have a chance to explain things to him. He’d hate her. Seth was right, though. Telling her friends was a bad idea, and dragging them into the middle of this could put them in danger, too. “I understand,” she said.

  “Good.”

  He started to walk away. “Seth,” Zira said, and he stopped. He had risked a lot by even telling her all of this and had nothing to gain from helping her. She had misjudged him. “Thank you.”

  He looked over his shoulder at her and nodded. “Watch your back.”

  “You too.”

  Once Seth had gone, Zira returned to her apartment. She tried not to walk any faster than normal, but every time she passed someone with a black armband, her entire body tensed. She was sweating by the time she closed her door behind her and had to check every possible hiding spot in her apartment before her heartrate returned to normal. She pulled a backpack out of her closet and began shoving things inside as fast as she could. She only took two extra sets of clothing and some other basic necessities, not wanting to be slowed down. Every weapon she owned also went into the pack. It wasn’t much—a few knives, a handgun, and a single 50-round box of hollow-points. Most of the weapons she used on assignments belonged to the unit, and she doubted she could just waltz into the training center and request to bo
rrow weapons and ammo right now.

  She glanced at her CL; it was only eight o’ clock. She had a long night ahead of her and didn’t dare fall asleep. Instead, she pulled a chair to face the door and sat with her gun on her knee to wait out the long, dark hours ahead.

  Every noise made her skin prickle. Somewhere around midnight, her CL beeped with an incoming message and she nearly jumped out of her chair. It was from Jared.

  I’ll be home tomorrow.

  Zira’s throat tightened. He still wanted to talk. She hated to leave like this without giving him any sort of warning, but really, what could she say? Even an apology seemed inadequate at this point. She didn’t even think she was sorry anymore. Why should she be? The Project had betrayed her first. She closed the message without responding and settled back into her chair.

  At 3:55 A.M., Zira removed her CyberLink and placed it on her bed. She cracked open her apartment door. No movement in sight. She put the gun in the deep pocket of her jacket, slung her backpack over her shoulder, and walked outside. Two delivery trucks rolled into view, heading for the back of the cafeteria where they would be unloaded. Zira followed them, moving quickly but trying not to act suspicious.

  She stopped in the same narrow space between two buildings where she’d conversed with Seth just hours before and peered around the corner. The cafeteria cooks and their bots unloaded boxes one by one. The truck appeared to be automated; Zira didn’t see a driver. When the final box was unloaded, the back of the truck began to slide shut. Zira crept forward, keeping one eye on the man carrying the last box inside. Once he’d shut the kitchen door, she bolted for the truck and just managed to slip through the narrowing gap. The door closed, leaving her in total darkness.

  Zira fumbled her way to the back corner of the cargo area as the truck began to move. She sat on the floor and braced herself against the wall, her gun pointed at the door. A few minutes later, the truck stopped again. Over its engine, Zira could hear the mechanical sound of the compound gate opening. She held a breath and checked the safety on her pistol.