“Me?” I asked, bewildered. “I’m really having a hard time not dying of flattery from all the praise you keep heaping on my lowly head.”
Not a friend of sarcasm, Aimes glared at me. “You can cement the truce by giving yourself up.”
“Fat chance of that happening—“
He interrupted me there, holding both hands up in a placative gesture. “Not as a prisoner. You’re worth nothing as that. None of you are. But you are still one of the best bargaining chips in the game. You have the knowledge to work on a cure, or anything else our labs might develop. To be of use, we need your full cooperation, and you will naturally not give that if you don’t feel safe and appreciated.” A few stupid laughs rose, but neither I nor Aimes were deterred by that. “In turn, your people have no reason to doubt the truth if you continue to work with us, because the second we mistreat you, they can waltz right back into action. You see, it’s just a matter of you not being a selfish, spiteful bitch to make all the difference in the world. And you owe it to this world to make that sacrifice.”
I felt like educating him that changes particularly to the spiteful and bitch parts were not going to happen, but bit my tongue. I didn’t want to see his point, but it was a valid one. Provided I could trust a thing he said.
“Still, not quite the message I got at that factory,” I pointed out.
Aimes shook his head, as if I was deliberately acting dumb. “Capt. Hamilton had strict orders to make sure that you survived any possible altercation in suitably good condition. Do I really have to explain the definition of ‘shooting shit’ to you?”
I could feel the hatred come off Torres in waves, but spoke before he could. “When it ends with other women getting locked up and raped, yes. But I get it, you think you’re the good guys, and we’re the assholes. The feeling’s mutual. I still don’t see how we could trust you, even if we’d wanted to.”
Rita didn’t look particularly happy with my phrasing, making me wonder if she’d already offered concessions toward the soldiers in turn for their cooperation, and, more importantly, information. Too bad. Aimes looked less perturbed by my doubts than I’d expected.
“Our intel is sound, and it’s not like we are stupid enough to believe that you just blindly put your faith in us. You don’t even need to trust us to have your back. I’m speaking for all of my people when I say that we’d prefer not to have to fight our own guys.”
“So you thought you’d just walk over here, give us some token information that our own people likely have already obtained, and that’s it?” I hazarded a guess.
“Pretty much,” Aimes said, a relaxed grin on his face. “It’s not like we expect anything in turn. Understandably, you’ll want to watch us until after your operation, ill-fated as it is, is over, so we can’t turn around and inform on you. But once you’ve cut your bloody swath through our people, we will reunite with them, and face the consequences of our actions. I’m not stupid enough to think either side will see reason.”
As much as I wanted to sneer at his dejection, I did my best to appear more levelheaded than I was. “We don’t personally hold a grudge against you, or most of your people. At least not those who don’t actively deserve it. Many scavengers have served in one branch of the armed forces or another. Get inked, don’t be assholes, and you will be welcome in Dispatch or any of the settlements belonging to the trade network.”
Aimes grimaced, perfectly confirming just how bad of a deal everyone knew we’d had to accept. Yet rather than fling that in my face, he shrugged. “Negotiate well, and you might just see your numbers swell.” When he caught the ridiculous expression on my face, he chuckled. “I’d never regretted joining the Army, and when the shit hit the fan I was damn glad that I had someone tell me what to do, where to hunker down, and how to get through the next day. While you waste your time with warmongering speeches, we’ve done a lot to rebuild and secure. But there’s only so much you can do until you start thinking that, maybe, settling down, having a family, doing something else than fight and follow orders would be nice. Maybe something good will come out of this farce of a conflict. Not everyone who didn’t shirk their duty wants to be part of this until they inevitably bite it.”
Now wasn’t that an interesting little tidbit? I wasn’t sure whether it was something to trust, but it wasn’t exactly news to me. From Wilkes’s reaction after I’d reunited with the guys I’d pretty much guessed that the Silo was gearing up to become a neutral middle ground for everyone seeking that. Dispatch was our raucous, loud hub. New Angeles was the information center, and too far out of the game to serve as a base for anyone not wanting to hunker down behind walls, and beacons, and shit. I had no idea what installations the people Aimes insisted he was loyal to held, but there must have been a few. Adding a few more well-defended places where no one was about to be shot on sight might be a neat idea. And likely a deadly utopia, at least judging from the nosedive civilization had done since the shit had hit the fan.
“We’ll see,” I offered, not sure if I’d even wanted to make assurances, not that I intended to keep them. “Until we can verify your intel, it’s a moot point either way.”
Aimes agreed with a nod, a surprise—followed by yet another. “We’ve already dropped a few hints, and I will give you the numbers and positions we know of. But there’s another matter that might end your mission before you’ve even properly launched it. The base is well-defended, not just by soldiers and barricades. They have three herds of the undead patrolling out there, in more or less random patterns. You think the numbers you’ve gathered here are enough to storm the base? You might just be right, but you’ll never get anywhere close enough to test that theory.”
Murmurs rose, quickly drowned out by angry shouting, and I didn’t need to see the shocked look on Rita’s face to realize that this was news to her, too. Part of me wanted to reject the truth of Aimes’s claim, but the nagging voice at the back of my mind made me accept it with a simple, curt nod. Pia would likely be able to verify that, as well, as even her small recon team would come across the devastation a zombie streak left, if they didn’t happen upon the entire mass of bodies themselves.
“Let that be our problem,” I told Aimes with more calm than I felt at the news. “Just give us the numbers and positions.”
Time would tell if I was right—or if I’d single-handedly lead hundreds of people into their messy, violent doom.
Chapter 20
It was late in the evening by the time our group had successfully integrated itself into the campsite and everyone was accounted for, had been given a place to sleep, been fed, and all other measures of coordinating were underway. I’d taken the liberty of jumping into the lake to wash off days of sweat and grime that my ever dwindling supply of baby wipes just hadn’t been able to combat. I’d listened in on no less than three staff meetings, and had had ample time to remember why I couldn’t stand Rita’s guts, even though I likely owed her my life for getting me out of Halsey. Nate had avoided being alone with me like the plague, and I’d made it very easy for him, the feeling mutual. But then all the info Aimes had provided had been discussed, all numbers added up, all further plans made, and there was nothing else to do than turn in for the night. I hadn’t expected that being in charge would come with added benefits besides someone else fetching my dinner while we tried to agree on how many smaller groups we needed to split our force into for the attack, but apparently a tent large enough to leave some room for pacing between the two sleeping bags on the floor and the stack of weapons and ammo in the corner had been a part of it. Yay, not so much.
I could tell that Nate was gearing up for a fight from the moment he kicked his pack into a corner next to his sleeping bag, and I wasn’t disappointed. I’d barely had time to shake out my own excuse for a proper bed when he rounded on me, his face impassive but his eyes blazing.
“Let me guess. You don’t want to talk about that surprising depth of information that you have gathered regarding the dynamics su
rrounding my brother’s death any more than I want you poking a stick at my dishonorable discharge.”
I held his gaze as evenly as possible, trying to keep my body language from screaming “discomfort” at the top of my lungs. “And still we’re going to tear into each other until we’re both seething mad. What a surprise.”
A smirk briefly crossed his face. “We could just this once skip that part and go right to the life-affirming make-up sex.” His voice lost some of its humor. “Might be the last chance we get for that.”
I didn’t much care for that hint of pessimism. “Why, that convinced that either or both of us will die heroically on our quest for vengeance and justice? Oh, please. Even random assholes agree with you on me being spiteful. I couldn’t just drop dead to end our shared misery if I’d wanted to.”
“Where would be the fun in that?” he proposed, but kept his distance. So much for his own suggestion.
Deciding to be—this once—the bigger person, I sighed and tried to cut right to the chase.
“I don’t really know anything. You know that anything that sounds plausible is something that I heard from someone who likely heard it from someone. You of all people know exactly how much I was involved in Raleigh’s death, which is not at all, and circumstantial at best where his work was concerned. Most of it is just me guessing.”
“But not all of it,” Nate prompted, sounding vaguely pissed.
“I might have snatched up a few leads here and there,” I admitted. “Some of it is information that Ethan let slip when I was going just a little insane inside that cozy little tiled cell. The rest are ravings of a madwoman. Literal madwoman.” When he gave me an incredulous look, I shrugged. “When I was in Halsey, trying to stay under the radar while setting things right with Sam, I met a former colleague of mine.” Just thinking back to Kat made anger simmer deep inside of me, laced with betrayal—and not even at the part of her advocating her fancy little organization wiping me out as well. I’d considered her a friend for years, and now it was obvious that she’d only been pretending, to keep an eye on me.
“I can see the hamster wheels spinning in your head, but that’s not giving me anything,” Nate said, annoyance plain on his face.
“Sorry. Got lost in the rodent tracks,” I teased, but forced myself to be serious once more. “Kat had been working with me for, shit, I don’t remember how long. For certain since I got demoted from hot lab duty, but I think even before that she was analyzing some of the stuff I’d been working on. Whatever. It doesn’t matter. She got sick the day you waltzed into my workplace, but she must have left just before that.” I hesitated when I realized that wasn’t quite true. “She saw you and me at the coffee vending machines, talking. Which she still remembered, although the virus fried her brain good.” At Nate’s inquisitive look I made a helpless gesture. “Sam told me some bullshit about all of them there in the town being immune. I didn’t buy it, because it sounded too much like a front to keep them docile. But maybe there is more to that, because she explained that, like her, Kat had gotten infected, but whatever the soldiers that picked them all up that night before the shit hit the fan gave them, stopped the progression of the infection. Sam seemed just like her usual self, but Kat was pretty much gone, reduced to ranting and raving, but with enough lucidity to be dangerous. When she saw me, she recognized me, and she remembered seeing me talking to you. At least I think that’s what she meant. No one else knew about this so they couldn’t make the connection.” I paused, trying to come up with a gentle way of going on, but there was nothing I could do to soften the blow. “She and Thecla apparently belonged to the same organization. Splinter cell, whatever. They killed your brother because he was getting too close to finding a cure for the serum—or perfecting it. Whatever breakthrough he was about to make, they considered it too dangerous to let it happen. I would have been next on that list but Thecla chose to take me out by dosing me with some hallucinogen or other. I think. She—or Kat, or whoever else must have been working with them—likely did away with the other scientists, if what Aimes said is true, and you really didn’t do it.”
Nate had been listening with an impassive expression, but now anger leaked through the cracks in the mask he so loved to don. “Do I really have to tell you that I didn’t do it? What use would there have been for me to murder them? I wouldn’t even have killed Thecla herself. Likely.”
“Likely, huh?” I echoed, but dropped it when he narrowed his eyes at me. “It’s a moot point, anyway. And that’s about as much as I gleaned from what Kat had to offer. Which wasn’t exactly easy to decipher. How all of that fits into the big picture is beyond me. If there is even a big picture. We still don’t know how much of that is speculation, and how much of it is even connected. Does it really matter? Does it change anything that your brother turned into a zombie after he died, long before billions of people suffered the same fate? Sure, part of me is curious because I can’t just wall off the scientist part of me, but I can easily live without having all the answers.” I hesitated before voicing the next part. “Can you?”
That Nate needed some time before he answered made my heart sink. “Concerning Raleigh? No, it doesn’t matter. He’s dead and someone killed him, and that’s all I need to know. It would have been different if it had all been an accident, but I knew ever since I got that transcript that it wasn’t so, and Thecla’s own actions underlined that. But that’s not the part about this that concerns me.”
I couldn’t help but exhale loudly in exasperation. “Really, you of all people are giving me shit now for not divulging all the information the moment I had a chance to? Even ignoring topics you don’t want to talk about, there are still more things you keep a lid on than you’re completely open and honest about.”
Definitely the wrong thing to say, I realized, when he rounded on me, his face darkening with anger. “Has it ever, for a single moment, occurred to you that not everything I do in life is centered on you?”
“No?” I offered, sounding rather small, but he bellowed right over me.
“Want to know what’s been bothering me since the day I found out the truth? Someone betrayed me! Someone I trusted. Someone on my team. Maybe even someone who was with me, in that building, the very day I needed to rely on the people I trusted one hundred percent! Do you think I’m dense? Do you think I didn’t realize that what I thought was my plan to seek the truth and, maybe, get a chance to avenge my brother, was someone else’s attempt to clean up their dirty laundry? That they used me, that I was nothing more than a pawn in their game? Do you have any idea just how fucking stupid that makes me feel?”
Maybe offering up a nonchalant shrug wasn’t the best idea, but no one had ever accused me of being particularly smart in these situations. “How does that saying go about getting a taste of your own medicine?”
“I swear, if you go on like this I will—“ he started, but shut up when I beamed a bright smile at him.
“Hug me and kiss me and cherish me because I’m your loving wife?” His grunt wasn’t exactly agreement, but seeing Nate get a grip on himself made me feel just a little better. “Any idea who betrayed you?”
He shook his head, uttering a derisive sound under his breath as he reached over his head and slapped his back just underneath the X-shaped marks across his neck, where I knew his twin of the tattoo that I had across my lower back was. “All I know is that it wasn’t anyone bearing this.” And my, wasn’t that number dwindling fast.
“Really, none? I hate to break it to you, but the list of people who aren’t your best friends gets longer every time we meet anyone out there. I’m kind of surprised that Rita’s first reaction was to want to jump your bones rather than dissect you.”
Despite his visible frustration, Nate cracked a smile. “I seem to have that effect on people, don’t I?”
“Quite,” I agreed with a satisfied nod.
He thought about it for a minute but shook his head. “People who can’t stand my guts? That list’s endle
ss. People who deservedly hate me? That’s not much shorter.” I didn’t miss the hint of guilt that crossed his face at that admission. “But neither of that yields a list, or even a single name, that I can think of who would do this. Not just to me, but do shit like that in general. I vetted everyone carefully who I included in that mission, and a lot of names came up that, for one reason or another, didn’t make it onto my final list of candidates.”
“Like Burns? Martinez?” I’d always wondered how they’d ended up on the other side, and only luck got their paths crossing in the end.
Nate inclined his head. “Not because I didn’t trust them. You know that I do, else I wouldn’t have let them come with us.”
“Not to mention, setting them on babysitting duty for me,” I pointed out wisely. The chuckle I got for that was balm on my soul.
“Among other things,” he agreed.
Now that sounded too ominous to just let it slide. “Like what?”
“Trust me, you don’t want to know the answer to that,” Nate grumbled. That just increased my curiosity, but for now I chose to drop the point. It had likely become moot once I’d stopped being a nuisance and had learned to hold my own.
“Where exactly does that leave us now?” I asked, hating how dejected I sounded. “I can be gracious for today and not burrow into your past, but a damn lot of people heard what Aimes said.” There it was again, that nasty voice at the back of my mind, making me scoff. “Do I really need to spell it out? You knew that there was a good chance someone would drag that dead cat in and fling it around. That was the real reason why you wanted me to be the tip of the spear, right? That bull about Tanner being right, that my random congeniality was the way to go? That was just that, bullshit.”
He didn’t look chagrined, but had the decency not to deny it. “For so many reasons, you were the logical choice.”
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