“And by the way,” he says, turning to me, “why did this require us to look like a couple?”
Vogue eyes me curiously. I hope my eyes send her the message of ‘I’ll tell you later.’
I sigh and rub my forehead. “I just needed it to look like I had been waiting there for you. It doesn’t matter. I’m sorry if I startled you.”
“No, it’s fine.”
I drop my head back and say to the ceiling, “Is there anything else we need to go over tonight?”
“We aren’t back into the system yet,” Frey says, “but with the route we’re taking, this time when we do get in, we won’t just have access, we’ll own it. We’ll be able to lock the Establishment out.”
“Great.” I turn to Jase. “Are you good?”
“I guess so.” His lips curl down into a thin frown. “I’m the only one who didn’t get the memo ahead of time about tonight?”
“Yes,” Vogue growls.
Jase’s gaze drops. “Well, I’m sorry. And thank you for getting me out of it.”
“Don’t mention it.” I give him a sharp look. As in, don’t mention that I kissed you.
He grins. “All right. I’m sure we’ll talk soon. We may not have many of these comfortable gatherings in our living rooms left.”
Jase and Krisalyn take their leave. I turn to Vogue and our remaining guests. “I’ve had about enough excitement for one day, so if you’ll excuse me.”
On my way out, Vogue says, “Goodnight. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” Her narrowed eyes tell me she’ll remember my mental message that I have a story for her.
The guys wave me off, muttering, “goodnight,” and I go to my bedroom. I wrap my arms around my pillow and wonder how many more nights I’ll have here.
Chapter Thirty-Six
BRAM
Pacing doesn’t make time go by any faster. A glance at the clock tells me this last-minute meeting of the council has been two and a half hours already. I don’t suppose it’s a coincidence that Martel wanted to meet with them two days after the train fiasco. Not good. A knock on the door makes me jump. I open it, and Vogue swoops in.
“Sophos asked me to come,” she says. “Where is he?”
“In a council meeting. If he sent you a message, hopefully, he’ll be back any minute.”
“All right.” She takes a seat across from Sophos’ desk. “I completed the homework you gave us.”
“What homework?” I lean on the back of the chair next to her, too anxious to sit.
“Finding ways to hide weapons in our clothing. I was sewing hidden pockets all day yesterday.”
“Good. For Serenity too?”
“Of course.”
“I don’t like giving you weapons you don’t know how to use, but…”
“Dixon is going to train us. His adventures in product development have included firearms. He knows his way around them.”
“Great.” At least one of them isn’t helpless. I straighten up when Sophos enters the office and goes straight to his desk.
“Bram, you had complained about a drought of activity,” he says. “Well, when it rains, it pours. Thank you for coming, Vogue.”
“What’s happening?” I ask.
“Oh, where to begin. Of course, they know there was tampering with the train control system.”
“How?” Vogue asks. “I know we left no record in the system of the train’s activity.”
“That’s true because they don’t know what the train did. Regardless, you and the team can only make attempts to get back in from within this building. If you get in remotely, you’ll trigger an alarm.”
“Understood.” She nods once, looking more focused and businesslike than I’ve seen her before.
“Based on what they are telling us, they have only noticed suspicious activity here, so the islands won’t have any increase in security at this point, thank goodness. They reviewed the evacuation plan to remove the council to Leavenworth in case of an emergency.”
“Serenity’s parents too?” Vogue asks.
“Yes,” Sophos replies. “Anton was at this meeting. Serenity was right; Agnar told him and Grace about the islands over the weekend.”
“And they’re just going along with everything?” She stares wide-eyed at him.
“Enough to plan on evacuating with the council if it comes to it,” Sophos says.
Of course they are. The Wards are about as close to royalty as Kaycie has. Why would they want to disrupt the status quo? And to think, I actually thought about recruiting them like Serenity asked.
Vogue huffs. “As far as they know, you are too.”
“I only know what he said in front of the council,” Sophos says.
She purses her lips in defiance.
“Anything else?” I ask.
He takes a deep breath. “They seized a young man leaving the train station Friday night. He didn’t give them any information, but he was still in custody when he received messages from an untraceable source telling him plans for Saturday night were canceled.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stand up. “Jase. And messages from you.”
“Yes. Kemp opted to see if Jase could lead them to anyone involved. They wiped his memory of the day and sedated him until the evening when it was time for him to go.”
Watt Kemp is the last person we need keeping tabs on any of us. He’s been asking the governor to ramp up his department for years. This will be perfect evidence to support his case.
Vogue drops her gaze and twiddles her fingers.
“Then, they watched to see where he would go since he didn’t remember those messages.” Sophos takes a deep breath before he finishes. “And they saw a young lady intercept him outside of the train station.”
My stomach drops, and my jaw clenches. I gift-wrapped Serenity and handed her over to the Establishment. I lean onto the back of the empty chair again as Vogue buries her face in her hands.
Tonight, I’ll picture my own face on the punching bag. I should have been the last one out of the door to see that everyone got away safely. Instead, I took the underground passageway to Marshal Headquarters when I left. It seemed more cautious at the time, but now…
“Have they arrested her already?” My voice is low but empty of emotion despite my heart trying to escape my chest.
“No, and they won’t at this point. They want Security to observe her and Jase. Agnar doesn’t believe them to be dangerous, just pieces in a game. Kemp wants to find out who they are working with.”
Perfect. The Lieutenant Governor and the Director of Security keeping tabs on Serenity. “Can we hide her?” I ask.
“Absolutely not. That would increase suspicion. We cannot have any contact with her aside from our regular Friday meetings. Both she and Jase need to go on with business as usual. We weren’t given their names at the meeting. I figured it out the same way you did, so only a handful of people know of their involvement. I have to treat her as if I don’t know anything is different, and her father won’t know she is the one being investigated.”
“Serenity’s involvement can’t be good for him,” I say.
“He has nothing to hide, so he’s in far less danger than I am.” Sophos turns his palms up as if this is just an inconvenient fact.
“You should be hidden away with her!” My knuckles turn white as I grip the back of the chair. “You have a link with her, and who else could have told her about the islands?”
“She is well connected.” Sophos glances at Vogue and back to me. “There are a great many ways she could have found out about the islands. Agnar’s grandson, perhaps. Though, as I said, they don’t seem to know Serenity and Jase were doing anything with the islands.”
Vogue drops her chin. “What else could they have been doing with the trains?”
“I don’t know.” Sophos rubs his eyes.
I have no suggestions either.
“Now Vogue,” Sophos continues, “you need to give Serenity this information. She can’t come to
see me off the schedule. She needs to keep calm and act natural. She should also continue to portray a relationship with Jase to help cover up Saturday night’s scene. In fact, she can give him all of these updates, so we can all distance ourselves from each other.”
She sighs. “All right. How much longer is this all going to be?”
“Not long,” Sophos says. “We can’t drag our feet now that tensions are rising.”
I push the chair as I straighten up. “Are you kidding? We can’t start an uprising! The Establishment will crush it. It’s suicide.”
Vogue looks at me in confusion. “What changed?”
“They have a military base on Leavenworth full of weapons that could destroy the islands. There’s no point.”
She shudders and presses the bridge of her nose.
Sophos glares at me. “The Establishment cannot destroy the islands. They need them. No one will survive here without the islands, so this is not over. Both sides have leverage over each other.”
Vogue looks at him resolutely. “What needs to happen for it to begin?”
Okay. I’ll just be ignored then. Perfect. Back to pacing.
“We’ve done everything we can to prepare the islands at this point,” Sophos says. “Greenwood and Gladstone won’t have the additional weapons, but there isn’t anything we can do about that now. We need the trains back, and now that we know the real situation on Leavenworth, I’d like to find a way to cut power there.”
“I mapped the power sources,” she says.
“But if we knock those out,”—not that my opinion has ever mattered—“we cut power to the whole chain, not just Leavenworth.” Why not keep scattering in points for them to ignore?
“It could be worthwhile,” Sophos says, “but we’d also have to find a way to take it out. Before we take down the power grid, I’d like to take control of the broadcasting system. It stretches across the entire chain of islands, so it would be the most efficient way to signal the beginning of the uprising. Every island needs to act at the same time to catch the Establishment off guard.”
“Okay. Checklist items:”—Vogue numbers them on her fingers—“one, take back control of the trains, two, find a way to turn off the power, and three, hack into broadcasting.” She stands to walk out.
“Wow. Slow down.” Her laser focus is kind of scary.
“Vogue,” Sophos says, “you cannot single-handedly do it all. If you rush, you will make mistakes, and you will get caught.”
“I’ll be caught soon enough anyway. They already have their eyes on Serenity and Jase. How long until that spreads to the rest of us? At this point, it’s a race. Does the Establishment figure us out first, or do we engage the uprising before they can catch us?”
She’s right. We have to beat them to it.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
SERENITY
I should be absorbed by the topic at hand, but Vogue explaining everything reminds me of when I told her about the islands. Now that our roles are reversed, I can see why telling it was worse than hearing it. She looks mortified, and I’m more worried that she will break down than I am for my own precarious situation.
“Say something.” She eyes me expectantly.
“Umm, I think we should have an array of junk food like last time.”
“Serenity! This is serious!”
“It is. I know. I guess I’m getting numb to it all.” I slump over against the sofa’s armrest and stroke Snowflake’s fur. “I’m sorry. Thank you for worrying about me.”
“And also…” She searches for words. “Agnar did tell your parents about the islands. They’ll evacuate to Leavenworth when this blows up.”
I knew their visit from Agnar was suspicious, but they seemed deeply disturbed by their conversation with him. “They wouldn’t go along with this system.”
“In front of the council, your father is saying he is.”
“But I can talk to him about it now. He knows, so I can find out what side he’s really on.”
“No, the Establishment is suspicious of you already. You don’t want him to be aware of your involvement.”
I rake my fingers through my hair. “There’s no way he knows the whole truth. He wouldn’t go along with it.”
“I know.” Her smile is sad and supportive. “So, now what?”
“Now, I guess I have to go update my new boyfriend.” Way to take a bad situation and make it worse, Serenity.
“How did that come to pass?” Vogue’s eyes sparkle with curiosity.
A sigh escapes my lips. I avoided the topic yesterday, but I knew that wouldn’t last long. “I ran into Adwin while I was looking for Jase, and I had the ridiculous urge to, I don’t know, make him jealous or hurt him a little.” She raises an eyebrow at me. “I know,” I agree to her silent reproach. “Not something I’m proud of. Especially since now, it means I have to continue to act like I’m in a relationship with Jase.” I tap my cuff to send him a message. “I better go see him.”
“It won’t be for long. I promise I will work tirelessly to end this.”
I smile coyly. “I know your new-found rush to fix the world has everything to do with getting me out of the Establishment’s grasp and little to do with correcting social injustice.”
She shrugs as she glances up at the ceiling. “I always wanted to correct the social injustice, but yes, this gives me a reason to rush it.”
“Well, don’t take it all on your shoulders. I’ll be careful, and they won’t find the connections they’re looking for.”
“That won’t save you. Eventually, Kemp will take his chances with finding out what you know rather than waiting for you to lead him to Sophos.”
My next breath is heavy. She’s right; time is of the essence. My cuff vibrates, and I glance down at Jase’s message.
“I’ve got to go. Don’t get yourself into trouble, please. Do it carefully, all right?”
“Of course.” She hugs me tighter than necessary to say goodbye for an hour or less.
***
As I walk the few blocks to Jase’s apartment, I dread the awkwardness of telling him his memory was wiped out. How would anyone respond to that kind of news? I get into the elevator and press the button for his apartment. When the door opens, Jase is waiting in the foyer. “You look tense. Are we breaking up already?”
I smile humorlessly as I walk in. “Quite the opposite.”
“Would you like a drink?”
“Please.”
We sit, and I get a gin martini while he sips an old fashioned. “You are going to have to start because I have no idea what’s going on.”
“I know.” I sigh and eat a cocktail onion off the skewer before I dive into the story. “I guess the beginning of it is that, of course, the Establishment knows the train system was tampered with. They don’t seem to know what we did with it, and they don’t know who was involved, except for you and me.”
He shakes his head as he puffs out a breath. “Because I went back Saturday night, and you stopped me.”
“That’s why they know I’m involved. Security had actually already caught you leaving the train station Friday night.” His eyebrows furrow. “You didn’t tell them anything, but they saw messages coming in canceling Saturday night’s plans, so they rewrote your memory of the day and sedated you until you had to leave.”
He presses his lips together in a frown and leans his elbow on the armrest of his chair. “That makes sense.”
My head cocks to the side. “It does?” How was I more surprised by this than he is? Maybe I’m just less creative in considering the possibilities.
“I felt drunk that evening, and even though I remembered drinking, it didn’t make sense that I’d do that. But I remembered it, and it’s hard to deny your own memory. Krisalyn is better at it than I am.”
What? “I’m confused.” Why has he practiced fighting his belief in his memories?
“Krisalyn and I have tested out the amnesia drug.”
I came here expecti
ng to be the deliverer of shocking information, but I find myself on the receiving end. My jaw drops open as I rack my brain for a response, but he graciously continues his explanation without waiting for me to form a question.
“Small doses. We wipe out thirty minutes to research its effects. Both of us always equate it to a feeling of intoxication. Whatever she tells me of those thirty minutes, I believe no matter how implausible it is. It’s not until she tells me I took the shot that a switch flips, and I can see that what she told me is ridiculous.
“She doesn’t fall for it as easily. She fights me on any detail that’s out of place in the memories I supply her with.” He shrugs as if this is no big deal. “Just a difference in how our brains work.”
“Wow.” That’s all I can get out for a moment. That’s fascinating research to be doing (it makes my job look even more boring) but playing with my brain sounds sickening.
“At least I didn’t give up any information,” he says.
“Oh, I know, you’re a hero.”
The right side of his mouth curls up in a half-smile. “Is sarcasm your only tone?”
“I can also be facetious.” I smile back.
“Sorry you got dragged into this.”
“It isn’t your fault.” I believe that, even though I am kind of taking it out on him.
“What are we supposed to do now?”
“Now, we have to stay away from everyone involved to keep the Establishment’s eyes off them, and we have to be on our best behavior. There isn’t anything we can do to help anymore because we have to assume we’re being watched.”
“But you still came to see me.”
I gaze up to the ceiling. We’ve reached my awkward part. “It has been suggested that if we appear to be a couple, it might help make our behavior Saturday night look believable.”
“I see.” He nods slowly.
Quiet settles over us a moment before I speak again. “You could have saved yourself a lot of trouble if you had just given me amnesia when I first barged into your office.”
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