“You meet at this time?” Elf asks. “This early?”
“Usually a bit earlier. Though it changes. And I always get there first—for safety.” I cringe at the lie. Last time, I was late. But Elf doesn’t need to know that. I need to reassure him.
Elf and I grab our knives, then go to the fire, tell Esther and Corin that we’re going foraging.
Esther and Corin nod. They look tired; huge bags hang under their eyes.
Elf and I walk away. My stomach rumbles, but I don’t feel hungry; I’ve always found it hard to eat first thing in the morning, and I can only really face it once I’ve been up for an hour or two.
We walk briskly. We can go at a faster speed when the air’s cooler, like it is now, but we still walk for a good hour, heading across the mountainous terrain. I pick my way carefully but confidently. That’s what my father always said: be careful but confident, in whatever you do.
I smile the whole time, can’t stop smiling. Everything inside me calls to Red, drawing me closer and closer to him. Once, I nearly stumble on the rock because I’m not paying attention to my feet, instead dreaming about seeing Red. And he’ll be there, I know he will.
We get to the meeting place, and I shade my eyes from the sun as I look at the giant rocks to the left. They look like ancient creatures, silhouetted against the skyline.
Elf frowns and moves to the right, closer to the plateau’s edge. “Red’s not here.”
“No,” I say. “I always get here first. And I leave last. That way he doesn’t know where the village is. Can’t follow me.”
Not that he would.
Elf makes a sound deep in his throat, but I can’t tell whether he sounds convinced.
He looks out at the view from the rocky shelf. “Hey, is that Mila?”
“What?”
“Down there.”
I move forward. Only when I’m very near the end of the rocky plateau, can I see the figure down there, far away on a lower flat area near the base of the mountain. Even from this distance, I can see the person’s fairly tall, lithely built, and seems to be looking at the plants. I think I see a basket on the ground next to her.
“Hell,” I say, narrowing my eyes, trying to get a better look. “It is her. Thought you said she was playing? At Nbutai, with Kayden?”
Elf’s eyes widen. “That’s what I thought she said.”
“She said at Nbutai?” I narrow my eyes, looking for her usual football. I can’t see it. So she is gathering plants? It’s definitely just her there. No sign of Kayden.
Elf frowns, looks at me quickly. “Is she going to be safe here, when Red turns up?”
I nod. “Of course. This is Red we’re talking about—Five’s wrong about him being Enhanced. Anyway, Bea saw him before, and she was fine. Obviously.”
“What?”
I explain the second note as quickly as I can. The whole time, Elf doesn’t look happy.
“Why didn’t either of you tell me?”
I wave his question away.
“Do we call her up here?” he asks after a moment.
I shrug. “She’s collecting stuff, isn’t she? Copying Bea? Maybe she’s trying to surprise her. We’ll keep an eye on her.” She’s crouching down in the vegetation, looking at something intently. “Best not to disturb her yet. Though she knows the rules about leaving the village.”
“I’ll have strong words with her later,” Elf says.
I nod, and we move back away from the edge and sit on the sand, our backs against a rock. I rearrange the food in my bag. Some dried, salted meat and a ring-pull tin of semolina pudding that we got on the last raid. Corin and Kayden found a whole crate of the tins and were able to load it into the red L200 without getting caught.
Sometimes, I think raiding is too easy.
Elf grabs the tin of semolina pudding.
“It’s too sweet,” he says after a moment. “Far too much sugar in this.”
“Don’t complain.” I point at a clump of vegetation near us. “We’re supposed to be foraging. We’ll need to bring stuff back.”
“Mila’s getting stuff though.”
“One basket between three of us? Not convincing.”
Elf mumbles something in agreement, and I stare across at the plants. I’m not good at identifying them—even now, after years of living here—and to me they all look the same. They look like plants. Well, some have big leaves—ones that are almost fleshy. And some of the other leaves are thinner, but that’s about as much as I can distinguish the types.
Bea on the other hand is amazing at identifying the plants.
After a while, Elf yawns. He stands up. “How long do we wait?”
I look up at the sun. Red’s normally here by now. Then again, I’m not sure whether I can say normally. We’ve only met out here four times.
“He’ll be here soon.”
I settle back down. He’s just running late. But the smallest seed of unease plants itself in me. I try to shrug it off. Because he is going to come, isn’t he? Being interrupted by Elf and Five last time, that won’t have scared him off, made him abandon our plan to meet today?
“He might be watching and wondering why you’re here,” I say to Elf after a moment—mainly to reassure myself—and stand up.
I walk around a little, looking down the mountainside for any sign of Red. He’s a big man, not the type who can easily hide. Part of me wants to shout his name, but that would be stupid.
After a while, Elf walks down to see Mila. I watch as the two of them talk, and then they both wave at me. I wave back and then look around. Again. Still no sign of Red.
“You sure it was today you were meeting here? You absolutely sure?” Elf asks as he rejoins me half an hour later.
Mila remains farther down, still collecting. She’s moved onto a small ledge now, about fifty feet below us. I can hear her singing, the sounds travel up.
“Yes.” I shake my head. “Something’s wrong, isn’t it? He’s been caught.”
I run a hand through my hair. It feels sticky with sweat. Time for a rescue mission? But there’s only me, Elf, Bea, and Five who know about Red. Four for a rescue mission isn’t ideal—and Bea and Five haven’t been on them before. They might freeze up. You should only take those who are confident on the rescues. So what do I do? Tell others who I think won’t tell Rahn? Bring Corin and Seven in on the secret?
“We don’t know anything’s wrong,” Elf says slowly, but I detect the worry in his tone. “Maybe he’s not coming. He’d have been pretty shaken up, being interrupted last time.”
“No, he’d come to see me.” My heart beats a little faster, and I start to feel sick. We slept together. Of course he’s going to come back for me.
But unease takes hold, and I recall his retreating figure, how he ran so fast. What if that was the last time I’ll ever see him? I didn’t even say goodbye.
Just like I didn’t say goodbye to my parents. When they decided upon code one, it was like they disappeared. Were snatched from us. No hugs and kisses, no goodbyes.
I take my knife out of my pocket, unfold it, and head around the huge rocky outcrop in front of me, then tread softly toward the edge of the rocky plateau. The knife’s my old one, not my new Swiss army model.
“Are you always armed when you meet him?” Elf calls after me.
I nod, keeping my eyes in front of me. High in the sky, a bird calls. I always have a knife. Always.
Movement—down and to my left.
I turn, catch the flash of a mirror, and—
I scream as I see the men heading toward Mila’s ledge.
Enhanced men.
Something hits me from behind, and I fall, smack my head against the stone, feel weight on top of me. Momentary pain grabs me, then the fighting instincts kick in. I throw my attacker off me and—
“Elf?” I stare at him.
“Be quiet!” His eyes are wide, and he moves back toward me, scrabbling on the dusty rock, but keeping low. “You screamed, Keelie. That’
s the one thing we don’t do.” He swears, and then he’s holding me down against the stone—the side of my face against the rough surface—while he lifts his own up higher and looks. “I don’t think they heard you. They’re all around Mila.”
My heart squeezes, and I fight against him to lift my head up. Mila… She’s down there. With the Enhanced. How many men are there? Four? Five? I can’t remember.
“We’ve got to do something!” I hiss.
I feel sick. She was visible on the lower ledge. And we’re not, because of the angle… We’re higher up here on our plateau, with plenty of boulders to cover us, only visible if we’re right at the edge… Shit. Why didn’t I get Mila to come up here too? Why did I think she’d be safe? They’d have seen her from wherever they were hiding, crept toward her, and….
And why didn’t I realize? Why didn’t I see them?
Mila shrieks.
Quick as a flash, I shove Elf away, lift myself up, look over the edge, and—
They’ve got her. The Enhanced have their hands on her, but she’s fighting. That’s good. She’s one of us, the same blood as me, and I’m a good fighter, and—
She’s outnumbered. Five against one.
But five against three is doable.
“Come on!” I yell at Elf. “They don’t know we’re here, right? We can surprise them.”
I look down, make the calculations fast. The ledge they’re on is fifty feet below us. If I jump and land on one of the Enhanced, my fall will be broken. It’ll hurt the Enhanced—and probably me too—but I’ll be able to help Mila. Just got to jump at the right moment.
And I can do it. I know I can. Adrenaline pulses through me.
I glance at Elf.
“No,” he says, his eyes wide. “Keelie—no.”
“Got to,” I say, and I get ready to jump.
Elf grabs me and hauls me back the moment I’m about to launch myself off the ledge. My momentum throws me into him instead, and we both fall. Pain bruises against my thigh.
“We need a plan,” Elf hisses, then he swears. “And that doesn’t include you throwing yourself down there! If you miss, hit your head or something, then you’re dead, Keelie. Dead.” He shakes his head, his body trembling. “At the moment we’ve got the advantage. They don’t know we’re here. We need a proper plan. Got it?”
“We haven’t got time!” I yell a little too loudly. “Mila’s down there! Shit. Have they got the augmenters out yet?” I try to lift myself up, to look over the edge again, but Elf’s strong, and he holds me back.
I fight him, cursing. Then I get free a little and look.
The Enhanced Ones are talking to Mila. She’s stopped struggling. She’s just standing there. My eyes narrow, and I think I pick out an augmenter by an Enhanced man’s side; the light catches the vial. I feel sick.
The augmenter… It’s too close.
“They’re going to convert her!” I go to lunge forward again.
“No! I’m not losing you as well—”
“We haven’t lost Mila yet! They’ll do the proper conversion at their compound. That’s how they do it. You know that. But….”
But one augmenter is enough to start the addiction.
“We can’t stop first taste,” Elf says. “We can’t. We show ourselves, we’ll get first taste too.”
I curse under my breath. He’s right. Need to be rational. Need to think. Need to think. “Intercept,” I say.
“What?”
“I’ll run back to Nbutai. I’ll get a truck, and we’ll set off. A group of us. These Enhanced are on foot, right? There was no car…or there might be later…farther on? Hell, I don’t know. But we can get to New Kimearo first, intercept, and—what are the co-ordinates here?”
“Co-ordinates?” He looks blank.
“I need to know which direction they’ll come from to get to New Kimearo—I can’t think—but we need to intercept them.” New Kimearo isn’t in sight from here. Adrenaline fires through me. “I’ve got to go now. Elf, stay with Mila. Follow them. But hidden. At a distance. Keep her in sight. And then we’ll be there with a truck and weapons, and we’ll get her back, and you and—”
“But what if you don’t get to Nbutai and get a truck in time? Or you don’t intercept it—you might be in the wrong place….”
I shake my head. “It won’t happen. We’re going to save her. We always save our people. Always.”
Do you?
Before he can say another word, I turn and run, descending the shallower side of the mountain, the same route Elf took earlier when going to see Mila. I know I’m on full view to anyone on this side of the mountain, and I hope there aren’t any more Enhanced about.
My momentum builds, and I get faster, faster. My body buzzes with energy as I leap down from ledge to ledge, jump over rocks, and weave between boulders. I skid on small stones as the land levels out a little. Energy and adrenaline race through me. I can do it.
I know I can.
The sun is hot on my neck, and each slam of my feet on the ground resounds through my body. The soles of my shoes are thin, and I feel the stones bruising my feet.
I pump my arms, force myself to go faster, my mind a haze of thoughts. My feet send loose shingle flying, and sand sprays up over me. Dust, against my face. My eyes sting with the sweat that drips into them.
Faster!
More pain in my chest. Shit. A stitch.
I clasp my hand over my heart, but keep going. Have to keep going. I flex my fingers and—hell! I was holding my old knife when Elf tackled me to the ground. Must’ve dropped it, didn’t look for it. Why the hell didn’t I look for the knife? I’m unarmed. If one of them sees me, comes for me….
Keep looking around!
I turn, breathing hard—too fast, my vision’s blurring—and I try to look. Can’t see any Enhanced. The rocky ridges are behind me: I see Elf, on the edge of the plateau, looking down. Can’t see Mila from here. Or the Enhanced Ones around her. I’m at the wrong angle for that.
I run faster. My vision blurs, and the land and sky ahead look hazy. Hazy with steam? It’s hot now. Sweat pours off me.
Just keep running. Got to keep running.
I look ahead, trying to see Nbutai, but the contours of the Titian Mountains hide it. The perfect hiding place.
As I run, I twist my head around again, looking for the Enhanced, trying to see if any are watching me. I can’t lead them to Nbutai—that’s the worst thing we can do.
But I can’t see any.
It’s just me.
Just me.
But, suddenly, Red fills my mind. I picture his face. His mirror eyes.
Anger rises in me.
He’s been caught and betrayed me. Sold me out. Sent those Enhanced to our meeting place.
And now…now he’ll have been converted?
And this….
It’s my fault.
I told Elf and Five about Red…and Red made it perfectly clear how dangerous that was. Somehow, the Enhanced have found out.
It’s my fault they’ve got Mila.
Yet Elf and Five, they didn’t say anything. None of us went to New Kimearo!
But, however the Enhanced Ones have found out about Red, they’ve still got Mila.
I run as fast as I can. Every time my legs start burning, I force the pain away. I have to keep going. Have to. I have to make sure there’s a truck ready to intercept the Enhanced and Mila—and not too near New Kimearo either, else the Enhanced Ones will have backup out there in minutes. Seconds even.
You can do it. I tell myself the words because then it makes them true.
I can do it.
I will do it.
“Mila, I promise!”
I get to Nbutai, sweaty, panting, and shaking. I don’t know how long it’s taken me—too long?
Finn stops as he steps out from a hut, sees me, and stares. “Keelie?”
“Get Rahn! Need…keys…” I pant, trying to point to the trucks. “Need….”
Rahn ap
pears from his hut, and then more of the villagers start to follow suit and crowd around me.
“They’ve got her!” I shout. Corin yells something at Rahn, and I can’t make out his words over the humming in my ears. “The Enhanced have…got her… We need to go!”
“What? But you were foraging?” Esther says, then she frowns. “The Enhanced Ones were there?”
“Who’ve they got?” That’s Seven, her eyes wide. I see her standing near the back of the group.
“Mila! But we can get to…New Kimearo before they do and….”
Nico suddenly steps forward, keys in his hand. Keys for a pickup. “Where’s Elf?” he asks. “They got him too?”
I shake my head. “Not when I left… He stayed there…will follow them, they’re going to take her back…but we can get to them before they get to the compound and—and I told him to follow them.”
Rahn’s face is like thunder. “Where’s that damn Seer?”
“You mean my mother?” Seven’s eyes flash, and there’s something about her tone that seems to startle Rahn, and it surprises me. Seven never normally speaks like that. She’s quiet.
“Yes, of course I bloody well mean her—she’s the only Seer we’ve got. And a useless one at that. She should’ve seen the Enhanced Ones closing in.”
“Seers don’t see everything,” Esther says.
“No, they don’t.” Corin’s voice is hard.
“My mother’s out,” Seven says. “Gathering.”
“Well go and get her then.”
But Seven doesn’t make a move to leave. She looks worried.
“Which area?” I ask, breathless.
Seven points. “Toward the old creek. Is that where the Enhanced are?”
I shake my head. “No… Opposite direction. Katya will be fine.” She’d get warning. She’s a Seer. It’s Mila who needs our help.
Then I see Five stepping closer to me; for a moment, I freeze, silently begging her not to say anything about Red, about this being proof she was right—when she wasn’t! It’s proof that telling anyone about the undercover operation is dangerous.
“Come on!” I yell. “We need to intercept. There’re only five of them. We can take them down, get Mila back—”
“Mila?”
A Dangerous Game Page 17