by Ford, Lizzy
He received a page over his personal net.
B: We need to talk immediately. -T.
His mood grew worse.
“I may have to go to the comms site,” he said with a frown. “It’s not good when the big guy calls you. I’ll risk a quick communication from here to see what the urgency is.”
“Not a good sign,” Dan agreed. “I’ll arrange the transportation.”
Restless, Brady returned to his suite. Lana was in the kitchenette, drinking water after her day with Elise. Her face was flushed, her eyes sparkling from the exertion. She wore sparring clothing consisting of snug pants and T-shirt that hugged her shape in all the right places. The scent of her musk and sweat made him look longer than he intended to. His resolve to keep his distance wavered as he thought about pulling her into bed with him again.
There was something else in her eyes that made his blood pound harder. She was angry at him. The raw emotion was more of a turn-on than he expected.
If he were smart, he would have turned around and walked out until Benny beat the fire out of his body. Instead, he sat down on the couch and pulled the keypad free from his pocket.
“Wanna tell me what this is?” he asked, pretending he didn’t see the anger on her face.
“I won’t know without my micro,” she replied in a clipped tone.
He pulled her micro free from his cargo pocket and set it on the coffee table beside the keypad. She looked at him hard for a moment before crossing the room to sit on the chair across from him. She was tense, and Brady wondered what happened while he was gone.
Lana flipped on her micro and placed the keypad on top of it. He looked past her into the kitchen to see what she’d been doing. On the kitchenette counter sat her bottle of water—and a micro. It was of fed issue, not army or PMF. Silently, he cursed the blond warrior he suspected gave it to Lana. He should’ve known better than not to warn Dan what Lana could do if she got a hold of a micro, even if it was Elise’s.
“It’s a local energy grid controller,” Lana said. “But it’s damaged. I can’t pull the data off.” She turned off her micro and rose, striding into the bedroom. A few seconds later, he heard the shower.
Leery of the change in her, Brady tucked the two away and crossed to the kitchen. Elise’s micro was locked out. There was no way to see what she’d been doing. Too soon, he found out. His personal net vibrated, indicating someone was trying to contact him. Brady tapped it open.
“You paged me?” Tim asked.
Brady froze. “No. I got a page from you, though.”
“Well, someone … it was her, wasn’t it,” Tim said with a sigh. “I had to get her training in hacking fed systems.”
“Yeah,” Brady agreed, eyes going to Elise’s micro. “Tim, she needs to know. I don’t like lying to her. I don’t think it’s worth trying to snow her anymore. And maybe she’ll tell you what she won’t tell me about what she’s carrying west.”
“Unfortunately, I think you might be right. Bring her to the comms site. I’ll be waiting on this end,” Tim directed in resignation. “I’d hoped to have this conversation with her in person, if at all.”
“Will do. Brady out.”
Brady stared at the door to his bedroom, torn between relief and regret. He hadn’t wanted to lie to her about Guardian or Tim. At the same time, Tim was about to bring the rest of her world crashing down around her. He doubted she’d rush into the arms of the Guardian again. Brady wiped his face, preparing himself for a confrontation. He sat down in a chair, waiting.
Lana emerged at last. She crossed her arms when she saw him and wouldn’t meet his eyes.
“Looks like it’s time for us to talk,” he started.
“I don’t want to talk. I understand what I need to.”
“I don’t think you do.”
“You and Tim are PMF. He sent you to protect me. You were my Guardian.”
Were. The word stung, irritating him.
“I did what I had to,” Brady replied. “I will make no apologies for that.”
“As I said, I understand,” she said. “You lied to me and used me. Both of you.”
“Lana,” Brady said, rising. It was all he could say. He knew this day would come. He’d done the right thing in protecting her, even if the wounded look on her face made him feel both inadequate and frustrated. “We need to go somewhere. Are you ready?”
“Whatever you say,” she said softly.
Brady bit back what he wanted to say and motioned towards the door. His hope that she’d trust the Guardian even if she hadn’t trusted him faded. Her silent treatment and quiet anger lasted through the long helo ride back to the secret comms center. He waved the helo away and led her to the hidden entrance.
Tim was already on the viewer. Lana froze for a moment then started forward jerkily. Brady closed the door behind him, watching. There was an awkward pause, and he saw her reach for a chair with trembling hands. He crossed his arms, unable to quell his sudden desire to wrap his arms around her and promise her he’d find a way to make things right.
Mr. Tim was as Lana remembered him. He looked like he was on vacation rather than facing the end of the world. She’d been trying to reconcile his connection to the PMF since discovering the link between him and Brady earlier that day. Everything—the net call that brought her to the Peak, the encrypted messages she’d read, Brady’s protection—had fallen into place. Brady hadn’t just been lying to her about being the Guardian. She’d been trying to avoid the crushing sense of betrayal building in her breast.
“I imagine I owe you an explanation,” Mr. Tim said.
“Yes, sir,” she said.
“I am third generation PMF, like Brady. Our families have fought side by side for over fifty years. Our purpose isn’t what’s in the government modified documentation; we fight to unify the country and return the rights stolen by the government to the people.”
“You used me.” She couldn’t help the words.
“You were one of the PMF’s best sources. I got you access to as much as I could, and I let you do what you do best. Everything you did for me I sent to the PMF,” Mr. Tim said. “When an attack was imminent, I called Brady and made him swear to take care of you. Then I called you and brought you to the Peak.”
Lana listened. Similar to Brady, there was no remorse in his admittance, and her throat tightened.
“Brady is one of the best and brightest soldiers the PMF has, as well as a personal friend. You’ve been like a daughter to me, Lana, and I placed you in the best hands I could.” His words were gentle.
“I don’t think fathers use their daughters as you did,” she whispered.
“You know better. You were exposed to the upper-class circles long enough to know that even betraying you I’ve been kinder than most. The government is splintering, Lana,” he continued. “Another civil war has started, but we can fix it before things get even worse. I need you to tell me what you found out.”
She shook her head and clenched her hands together, torn between fury and sorrow.
“Lana, you know enough about the PMF to know they’re the only force—perhaps in the world—with the ability to survive the government tearing itself apart. We’ve all but taken over the military and have people in all levels of government. We’re the only ones who can influence the outcome of this.”
What he said made sense—it always did, even when he was lying to people. She knew when he lied; she’d spent twenty years with him. He wasn’t lying.
Right now, she didn’t want the politics. She wanted to know why he’d hurt her. Her throat was too tight for her to ask.
“Lana, I need you to tell me what you know.”
“I need a minute,” she managed.
There was a pause. “Very well. I’ll call back in a few.”
She waited until the viewer flashed off before slumping. She pressed the meat of her palms to her eyes. If someone told her a few months before she’d be here, now, hearing this, she’d have thought t
hem insane!
Yet the worst part was that she knew he was right. The PMF was the only party standing while the government tore itself apart. If anyone had the resources to make things right, the PMF could.
“You want me to leave?” Brady asked.
“You betrayed me, too,” she said without looking at him. She wanted to hate him but couldn’t. The Guardian had been her closest friend. Even knowing who he really was, she wanted her friend back. “You’ve been there for me since this all started. Why couldn’t you tell me?”
“I care more that you’re alive than what you think of me,” he said firmly. “It was safer for you if you didn’t know who I was. It was safer for Tim.”
“I’ve known you were my Guardian for a few days. I didn’t know about all this.” She waved at the screen.
“You knew about me before you slept with me?” he asked.
“Of course. You think I’d sleep with someone I didn’t care about?”
Brady squatted in front of her.
“My heart broke when I thought you’d died!” she said with more emotion than she intended. “And all you’ve done is lie to me. Is any part of you capable of caring for me, or was everything about the Guardian a lie?”
“I am who I am,” Brady said. “You fell for the Guardian. You fell for me. And yes, I do care for you, more than I want to.”
“It didn’t stop you from betraying me. What was your plan?” Tears of anger and hurt spilled down her cheeks. “To let me think the Guardian was dead forever?”
He was quiet for a moment, before saying, “Your Guardian is here with you now.”
“I don’t know what to think. I don’t know him. I don’t know you. I can’t trust anyone.”
“You’re angry,” he countered. “You know you can trust me.”
The viewer beeped, and she wiped her face again.
“I’m ready,” she said, refusing to meet his gaze. “Let’s get this over with.”
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry I hurt you,” Brady said quietly.
Lana blinked back more tears. When she said nothing in response, Brady opened the channel.
Mr. Tim appeared, gaze moving from her to Brady. She saw the considering look he gave Brady before he looked again to her. She straightened in her seat, not sure if she was about to do the right thing or not. With a deep breath, she started speaking.
“I found encrypted correspondence from Greene and your orders to Brady to find me, before the nuke attacks. Greene was in contact with different people in the West Coast Center. Arnie found out about Greene and sent out a few messages to the Peace Command Center to warn people. Greene gassed everyone in the mountain and intended to take over the Peak and use it as a base of operations for his people to use as they took over the eastern half of the US.” She looked down at her hands again.
“What are you trying to take west?” Brady prodded at her silence.
“Are you familiar with the Horsemen?” she asked
Mr. Tim paled. “No one should know about that program.”
“You got me access to everything,” she reminded him with some bitterness. “Greene was pulling in the Horsemen. I don’t know how he did it; he’d have to have people at each of the sites worldwide.”
“What are the Horsemen?” Brady asked.
She gazed at Mr. Tim, waiting for him to explain. He shifted in his seat and rubbed his mouth, a rare sign of his nervousness.
“The Horsemen was the tongue in cheek name given to the government program that placed a series of devices across the world, both in enemy and friendly countries. You could say they were used for leverage if the country trounced too far on our generosity or refused to take into account our national interest when they acted up. The joke in fed circles was that the government could activate the Horsemen at will and bring about the destruction of the planet itself.”
“We were holding the world hostage?” Brady asked.
“We call it diplomacy,” Mr. Tim explained. “The capability was emplaced but never utilized.”
“Until Greene’s allies took out the East Coast,” Lana added. “After the War, the government created seven protected sites around the world with only one person at the site knowing what was there and security measures that were beyond anything the Peak had.”
“Does he have the others?” Mr. Tim prodded.
“He did. I thought something was wrong when Brady’s men stumbled across one of the devices and returned it to the mountain. The device you found was coded as biowarfare, but when I ran it in the system, I found the serials had been switched. One of the Horsemen devices was recoded. It can only be done at the presidential level and was done by one of his staff members.”
Brady’s gaze was riveted to her.
“Arnie Smith had another one,” she continued. “I don’t know what happened with him, if he was really crazy or he found something. I looked at the rest of the keypads in the command center. Only three of us had access to them. Greene, Arnie, and me, as the VP’s representative on the surface. There were infrastructure keypads and a few of the nuke, bio, electromagnetic, and chem keypads for the East Coast weapons systems. When I ran the serials, I found several of them had been recoded,” she continued.
“How many Horsemen does Greene have?” Mr. Tim demanded.
“He’d gathered all twenty at the Peak.”
Mr. Tim uttered a choked curse.
“It’s okay, sir,” Lana said quickly. “I took them all.”
Silence followed her words. Mr. Tim was staring at her in surprise, Brady in intense interest.
“You have the Horsemen?” Mr. Tim repeated.
She nodded.
“That information does not leave this room,” Mr. Tim said resolutely. “Talk about insanity breaking out if anyone knew …”
“I was going to take them to the Peace Command Center,” she said. “I hoped … I don’t know what I hoped. That maybe everything would be all right and someone could disable them.”
“No one will disable them, even if they could,” he said. “Hon, the difference between you and the rest of us is that you see the keypads as a threat. Anyone else with have a grain of ambition would see them as a tool. They’d kill half the planet to obtain the apocalyptic collection you have.”
“I know that now,” Lana said in a hushed tone.
“Brady, I don’t need to tell you how important it is that her vault doesn’t fall into anyone’s hands,” Mr. Tim said. “Take her and the Horsemen to Colorado. I’ll reassign the Appalachia militia temporarily under someone else. Lana, I need all the info you have on Greene and who he was talking to.”
“Roger,” Brady acknowledged.
“Yes, sir,” she said quietly. Though troubled, she felt somewhat relieved at not having to keep the secrets alone anymore.
“Can you still monitor the eastern infrastructure?” Mr. Tim asked.
“Yes. I rerouted the ops to my micro.”
“Don’t mess with anything for a while. You’re safer if Greene thinks you’re dead.”
She nodded.
“I’ll go to those I trust and warn them. With Lana, you’ll have access to all the emerops depots the feds have east of the Mississippi.”
Lana listened, chilled at the coldness and precision of his directions. She knew without a doubt Brady would follow Mr. Tim’s orders.
“Check in again in two days,” Mr. Tim directed. He appeared pensive before speaking again. “Lana, I need to tell you something else.”
I can’t handle anything else, she wanted to shout at him.
“I didn’t train and educate you because your grandfather or someone called me. You’re my daughter by blood. I took you in when your mother died. I intended to make you the companion of some powerful politician at some point, but you showed an incredible aptitude for learning when you were quite young,” he explained. “I decided to use that and keep you close. I told no one the truth, because I feared what that would mean. No one wants my boys. I see the
m once a year at most, but you had access to me and the government’s secrets that would’ve put you in danger had anyone found out.”
She listened. She’d always known she was closer to him than even his companions. That he’d hidden their relationship from her made her angrier at him.
“Someday, maybe I’ll forgive you for all of this,” she managed, hearing the hurt in her voice. “But not today.”
“I understand. Brady, take care of my girl.”
“Done,” Brady said.
Mr. Tim gave her a small smile before the viewer flashed off. Brady motioned her to follow him. She obeyed. He disappeared into a small room off the entrance and returned, PMF grays in his hand.
“These cancel out your thermal signature,” he said, holding them out.
She looked at the grays, the clothing she’d seen for years on the people she thought were the country’s enemies, then back at Brady. He was too hard to offer the type of empathy she wanted, but he was the man who’d been with her since the beginning of the end.
“You’ll have to trust me,” he said. “I’m the only person who can get you and the Horsemen to safety.
“I trusted the Guardian,” she replied, taking the clothes from him.
“I haven’t changed. The circumstances have.”
Lana drew a deep breath. Elise had said to survive, and Lana had no doubt Brady was the only one who could help her. He had the support of his rebel army and now, the feds. They would need it, if Greenie found her. He’d throw everything he had after her.
And Brady would always protect her. She knew it, and it made her angrier at him for betraying her. Even his kisses, his hot touch, felt like lies. She’d truly cared for someone for the first time in her life, and he’d used her.
She ducked into the small room and changed clothes. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, there was no way of knowing who the bad guys were, not with Mr. Tim’s information about the shadow government.
“I’m ready,” she said and returned to the hall.
Brady looked her over and drew a laser gun.