“There’s a city outside?” someone cried.
“There are heathens? Where did they come from?!”
“That really wasn’t helpful, Mom.” I climbed up on a table and tried to get everyone’s attention. “Stop!” I yelled. It had no effect. “Please, everyone! Quiet down!”
David climbed up beside me and let out a loud whistle. The room turned to look at him. “Please let her finish,” he told them.
I nodded my thanks. “What my mom was trying to say is that Holt is in the process of building a city, preparing to leave the Dome and…we’re not invited. Crystal’s song was true. He intends to shut off the ventilation system and leave us for dead.” More anxious chatter and I had to raise my voice. “That can’t happen now! We found a way out and we have control of the city. But we’re going to have to be smart about getting out of here. Holt still controls the Dome with nuclear warheads. I have it on good authority that he’d rather blow us all up, himself included, than give up his power.”
“Then let’s get the hell out of here, now,” Reyes said. Murmurs of agreement rose up.
“I agree,” I said. “But we need to be organized. We’re going to need some mining equipment and a crew to stabilize the tunnel. Once that’s done, we can start evacuating level by level.”
Reyes held up his hand. “I’ll go.” More men raised their hands and stepped forward.
“I’ll organize a security detail to watch over the miners in case the militia shows up,” Bron said.
“Are they in the habit of showing up during the night?” I asked.
“Not usually, because of the curfew,” Bron said. “But it’s better to be prepared.”
I looked to David. “How long do you think it will take to brace the tunnel?”
“I haven’t seen it yet,” he said. “But if it’s only a few feet deep and we have enough miners, a couple of hours.”
“You mean, we can start evacuating the Pit in just a few hours?” I asked.
“It’s possible.”
“Where’s the tunnel?” Reyes asked.
There were a lot of expectant faces waiting for me to answer. It made me nervous. This group could easily turn into a mob and start a stampede. “One of us will show the miners.”
Bron gave me a curious look and I let my eyes skim the group. She looked around too, turned back to me and nodded her understanding.
“I think for now, we need to keep the tunnel a secret,” Bron said in a loud voice.
“You mean I can’t report back to my own level?” someone asked.
An argument broke out and I learned that there were two representatives from each level present at every Alliance meeting. It had become much better organized than when Jack and I were here. I’m not sure what I expected to find when I returned, but I was surprised by how far the revolt had progressed.
A young man entered the room and Abby ran toward him. I figured he must be her brother, Angel. I recalled the first time I met Abby on the farm—filling her pockets with apples, telling everyone she had to go home. Why didn’t I realize then? Why did I just assume she was crazy? Yet, I saw the value in finding out later rather than sooner. Until earlier today, I had no idea we were still bound to the Dome for water and food. I would’ve made the mistake of telling everyone to run—run away from the bourge, away from the Dome and find a new life. They would’ve been dead of radiation poisoning within a few years.
The arguing finally subsided and a crew was put together. Since Angel was a miner, Abby volunteered to lead them to the tunnel. Bron turned to go with the other guards, but I jumped down from the table and stopped her.
“Can I have a word?” I asked. We went to a quiet corner. “Do you know where Summer is? Is she still upstairs?”
Bron nodded. “He has her.”
“Do you mind helping me find her in the morning? Once she’s back here, she shouldn’t go back up.” Bron chewed her lower lip. It was a nervous reaction and one I didn’t miss. It scared me. “What are you not telling me?”
“She doesn’t come back here anymore,” she said. A flash of something—guilt?—crossed her features. “She’s with him all the time now. It’s rumored he’s sick and bedridden.”
“Then how are we supposed to get to her?” I demanded. That wasn’t part of the plan. She had to be evacuated with everyone else.
“I don’t know, Sunny.”
“We’re not leaving her,” I said. I just had to think. Think of a way to get to her.
She was on the presidential level, which was heavily guarded. But I had been to that level before, smuggled there by Jack and Leisel. How had they gotten me up there without being noticed? Then I remembered—Leisel was having an affair with the head guard and they had cleared all security from that level to let me pass. Jack had jammed the cameras. So I knew it was possible to get onto that floor…I just needed Leisel’s help.
She really hated me. Wanted me dead. But she did want me. She wanted Jack too. Maybe I could use that.
“How do I get in touch with Leisel?”
Bron’s mouth dropped open. “What? Leisel Holt?!”
My mother wandered over and stood beside us.
“Yes, Bron, Leisel Holt. I’m going to ask to meet with her.”
“Are you crazy?” my mother demanded.
“Just listen to my plan. Leisel has no idea that Jack isn’t inside the Dome. I’ll tell her I’m insane with worry for my best friend Summer and I want her back. I’ll ask for a trade—Jack’s location for Summer. I’ll arrange to meet her at her apartment.”
Bron shook her head. “She’s not going to give up Summer that easily. She’ll just take you into custody and torture Jack’s location out of you.”
“I expect her to double-cross me,” I said. “I also expect her to clear the way for me—cameras will be jammed and security will be cleared in order to let me get to her apartment undetected by her father. Voila. I’m on the presidential floor and can get to the president’s suites.”
“That’s the most insane idea I’ve ever heard,” Bron said.
“It worked to get me into her apartment on her wedding day. It could work again.”
“But you still have to break into the president’s suites. You’ll need to get past Leisel’s apartment and she’ll probably have a couple of Domers in there waiting for you,” Bron pointed out.
“Then hopefully I can talk you into coming with me. I could use the help.”
“You’re not leaving me behind,” my mother said.
“Oh, good Lord, I can’t believe I’m going to do this,” Bron said. “But I think I can help get you into the president’s suites. I owe Summer. Let’s go get her back.”
Chapter Thirty
Bron came up with the idea that we could dress as guards to get into the Dome. Their regular shift change happened after lights out, so we didn’t have much time. A few of the guards accompanying the miners gave my mom and me their uniforms.
Bron, my mom and I were the only ones left in the common room. The crew of miners and their security escort had left twenty minutes ago. Everyone else had gone home. At least the evening curfew would prevent tongues from wagging tonight. Once the news spread, it was going to be impossible to contain everyone. I prayed it wouldn’t take them long to stabilize the tunnel. They planned to start the evacuation as soon as it was possible—maybe even tonight.
The lights went out.
“That’s our cue,” Bron said. We left the common room and headed for the stairs. “Almost every guard down here is Alliance now. I think you’d be surprised by the number of people who hate President Holt.”
“I wonder why it took us all this long to find out we had so much in common,” I said.
“Soci
al inequality,” my mother said. “We’ve been so focused on our differences that we didn’t notice we’re really all the same.”
“Some of us, anyway,” Bron added. She and my mom exchanged a knowing look.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
We reached the stairs and stopped.
“It means you weren’t the first one to think of starting a revolt. You were just the most successful,” Bron said.
“Who was the first?” I asked.
“There’s been a lot of people and a lot of failed attempts,” Bron said.
“And this attempt isn’t over yet,” my mother added.
Why did I get the feeling something was going on between these two?
Guards were coming down the stairs, some of them exiting onto the fourth floor. No one left their post until the new shift was there to replace them. Finally, it was our turn to go up. There were others on the stairs with us so I refrained from asking more questions in case we were overheard.
We left the Pit and entered the lobby area. Some guards took off their helmets, but most left them on. That was good for us, because we couldn’t take ours off.
There was a lineup of white uniforms at the far end of Reception. Bron headed toward it.
“We have to return our weapons before we can go through the doors,” Bron whispered.
A nervous flutter started in the pit of my stomach. I still had the new chip Jack had created for me in the back of my hand. I remembered my first name was Crystal but couldn’t remember my last name—although that was the least of our worries. Mom still had her old chip.
It didn’t take us long to hand in our weapons, and we started toward the big steel doors that protected the Dome. One by one people scanned through and then it was our turn. Bron went first. Then me. It crossed my mind that Leisel may have tracked down the identity of my new chip. The night Jack and I escaped from her apartment, we ditched the identities we had been using and registered new ones. If Leisel were watching the registry she would easily pick up on the coincidence.
I waved my hand over the scanner. It beeped and the green light came on. I moved through the doors. My mother was right behind me. Without turning around, I heard the scanner buzz. I knew it was a red light.
“What’s the problem?” my mom demanded in a gruff tone.
Bron stopped and turned back toward me. “So what are your plans tonight?” she asked conversationally. She was stalling.
I heard a man growl behind me. “I wish they’d replicate us a new scanner,” he grumbled.
“Not much. How about you?” I said back to her.
She looked over my shoulder at my mom and I stole a glance too. A man was checking the scanner, punching buttons.
He gave a hearty laugh. “Says here you’re Lilly O’Donnell, deceased.”
“Get that thing fixed,” my mother said and started to walk away.
“Come here. Try it one more time,” he said.
My mother hesitated but only for a second. She moved her hand over the scanner again. The man looked at the scanner and scratched his head. He motioned to the next guard standing in line. “You try it.”
I felt beads of sweat break out on my upper lip.
The guard stepped up. The scanner worked.
“It’s not the scanner,” he said to my mom. “It’s your chip. I’ll let you go this time, but you need to get it fixed. It’s gotten crossed in the system somehow.”
My mom waved her thanks and walked away. I breathed.
Bron led us down a few different hallways before she stopped at a particular room. It was a crowded stock room. A desk with a computer sitting on top was wedged into a corner. Bron sat down and typed on the keyboard.
“Somewhere in all the Alliance communications is Leisel’s personal address. While I’m finding it, think of what you’re going to say to her,” Bron said.
“Can’t she trace the message back to us here?” Mom asked.
“Yes she can. So we need to keep it short and to the point,” Bron said. “Found it.”
“Are we ready?” I asked. Bron nodded. I dictated as Bron typed.
…
We waited. It took less than a minute.
…
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Malloy. Now I remembered.
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There was a pause.
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Bron shut off the computer. “And we’re out of here, now.”
The three of us vacated the stockroom and joined the general traffic in the halls. Bron took us to her apartment. I was surprised to find out she had a husband. Not that I thought she shouldn’t be married; it’s just that I never thought of her as having a personal life. She was always in the Pit.
“Cam, we need some military uniforms,” she told him.
He jumped up off the sofa at the sight of us. “Who are they?”
“Friends. You going to help us or not?”
“I can’t just lend out my uniform. It’s illegal.”
“It’s a matter of national security. Trust me.”
“I only have one uniform here.”
“Does your boyfriend have one?”
Boyfriend? I thought he was her husband.
“I can ask him.”
“Don’t tell him it’s for me. Just tell him you need an extra one because…you ripped yours or something.”
“What’s this all about?”
“I told you—national security.”
“Right.”
He didn’t question her any further. He left the apartment, I assumed to go find another uniform from his boyfriend. It was all a little confusing.
I took off my helmet. “That’s your husband?” I asked.
“Officially, yes,” Bron said. She disappeared into the bedroom.
“What’s going on between you and Bron?” I asked my mother.
She took off her helmet. “What are you talking about?”
“That whole thing about I’m not the first to start a revolt.”
<
br /> Bron came back into the room. “We’ll talk about it later,” she said.
She handed my mom Cam’s military uniform and told her to get changed. I was getting anxious. We were running out of time. Cam finally returned with another uniform. Bron ducked into the bedroom and changed. Cam didn’t ask any questions. He just sprawled on the sofa and picked up his tablet.
Bron emerged from the other room, dressed in military gear. “If I don’t come back tonight, you didn’t know anything about this,” she said to Cam.
He just waved a hand in the air.
There were two ways to get to the presidential floor—stairs or elevator—and we planned to use both. I was taking the stairs where Desmond and his buddies would inevitably be ready to grab me and take me to Leisel. Bron and my mom would take the elevator and use their military disguise to declare that intelligence reports indicated Sunset O’Donnell was there and they had been ordered to take me into custody.
I hated to be separated from them and go on my own, but I had done this kind of thing before. The nervousness I was experiencing now was nothing compared to what I went through pretending to be Leisel on her wedding day. Still, my steps became a little slower and my legs a little wobblier as I approached the tenth floor.
As I suspected, Domers were waiting for me. Desmond whipped off my helmet. “Sunny O’Donnell,” he sneered.
“I knew I couldn’t trust her!” I ground out between clenched teeth.
He grinned. “Oh, she’s still interested in your trade.”
He grabbed me roughly by my upper arm. I put up a fight. A Domer grabbed my other arm while a third Domer opened the door. They dragged me through while I kicked and tried to twist out of their grasp.
Leisel was in the hallway, nervously watching the door to her father’s suites. “Hurry up!”
They dragged me down the hallway and I continued to struggle. I waited to hear the ding of the elevator.
We got closer to Leisel’s apartment.
Now I really started to struggle. If they were successful in getting me into her apartment, there was no guarantee I was coming back out. My plan was about to fail. I tried to kick at Desmond, but I wasn’t far enough away from him to gain any momentum. I bowed my head and bit his hand as hard as I could. He let go.
Worlds Collide: Sunset Rising, Book Two Page 31