She’d known. Or suspected. And I suddenly had a fair idea how that had come to be.
“Calvin,” I shouted above the sound of lasers firing and concrete shattering and Cardinal orders overriding Merrikan soldier commands. “What the hell is going on?”
“You are fighting the indigenous of this city, Trent,” the Shiloh unit replied in my ear.
“Somehow I doubt that,” I muttered, as I returned fire at a target I couldn’t see for the dust and light bursts. “Override Trent Masters, Two-Four-Alpha-Charlie-Eight.”
“That won’t work,” Calvin calmly advised me.
“Of course, it’ll work!” I argued back. “You’re still a fucking computer programme.”
“I shan’t deny it,” he replied casually, as if we were having a conversation over tea and crumpets and not in the middle of a shoot out.
“What did you tell Lena?” I demanded.
“Can you be more specific?” came his computerised reply.
“She knew this would happen. How?”
“Satellite imaging.”
What? We’d seen the satellite imaging of Lunnon. Wanted to disbelieve it; nothing can prepare you for that. I’d had to see it for my own eyes. Lunnon had meant so much and yet everything we’d been told, everything we’d seen in reconnaissance pictures, had been the truth.
Well, almost, it seemed.
I ground out a sound which could have been mistaken for a growl, and made my way towards where Lena used a piece of fallen wall as cover. If the u-Pol officers firing at us didn’t fucking shoot her, I would.
Laser light whizzed past my head, singeing a lock of hair and making the air smell like burnt plastic. I grimaced, ducked, and watched as Cardinal Beck fired a single shot back at my attacker, taking him out with one practiced - and deadly accurate - blast. His eyes met mine, but only briefly. He saw too much of my aggression there to hang around eyeballing me.
I would have smirked, but right then I’d reached Lena.
“What the fuck, Lena?” I exclaimed in what had to have been the worst attempt at leadership control that I’d ever seen.
“We need them,” she said with a shrug of her shoulders. “We’re well rested. Fresh off an uneventful boat trip across the sea. There is no better time than now to attack.”
“You call this attacking?”
“I call it not allowing the enemy to have a chance to expect us.”
“Oh, they were expecting us, baby. And you led us right into a trap.”
She smiled. It was Elite perfection in the middle of a shit storm. I’d always admired her ability to do that; to switch off from the crap all around her and rise above it like cream.
“Oh, it’s a trap, Trent,” she purred. “And now we close it.”
She was up and moving before I could fashion a reply. And I was scampering after her before I could stop myself.
“Lena!” I hissed. “Care to let us in on your plan?”
She skidded to a stop several heart palpitating seconds later. A spot that amusingly placed us behind the advancing u-Pol team. Clever. But she’d had help. And the moment this situation was contained, Calvin would be shitting computer chips when I got to him.
“My father would have insisted on waiting until we had a better lay of the land,” Lena advised, watching for something, God alone knew what. Or Calvin, the traitorous computer programme, did.
“Not a bad idea,” I said in argument, just for the sake of arguing. Lena and her father had issues. Me siding with him would rile the Elite.
Riling Lena right now seemed only fair. She was fucking riling me!
She didn’t even spare me a glance.
“You would have agreed with him, merely to keep me out of harm’s way a little longer.”
“I resent that,” I snapped. When had I ever held Lena back? I loved her for who she was. Although, right now, I wasn’t entirely sure if it was love I felt for the woman or not. “And this could have cost us lives. Are we that disposable to you?”
And OK, I had snarled that last comment rather vehemently. The woman was pissing me the fuck off right then. But the look on her face made my heart break. Made breathing suddenly difficult.
“Lena,” I whispered. “Baby,” I added, reaching for her, but she was gone. Up and moving, continuing to flank the advancing u-Pol officers, ready to draw that trap closed she’d been talking about.
And, yeah, I know it had been harsh, but there was more to Lena’s reaction than just hurt. There’d been fear, as well.
What would scare my Elite? If planning an ambush, while keeping the salient points of that plan a secret from the rest of us, didn’t scare Lena, then how come that statement did?
I chased after her, an action I was not too happy with. But this was Lena; I’d long ago realised I’d chase after her anywhere. Even when she concocted hair-brain ideas such as this.
And didn’t that make me stop and think, because Lena usually had better control over her scheming than this. Was usually more subtle. Had the reappearance of her father thrown her that much?
No, I realised. His reappearance, as such, wasn’t the issue. The fact that he was trying to father her, ten years too late, was.
She was right. Cal would have forbade this attack so soon. Would have wanted copious surveillance pictures taken. Scouting by Irdina and her merry bunch of fucked-in-the-head men. Ex-Wánměi Citizens who resented being Wiped but thought of themselves as superior, because they had been Wiped to Merrika, of all places.
Lena was right. Cal would have stalled the attack. Possibly ruined the element of surprise. But that still didn’t explain why she’d not involved me in her plan.
I noticed as I skidded to a bruised and battered halt beside a stationary Lena that not ten feet away hid Cardinal Fucking Beck. Positioned in such a fashion as to back up Lena’s trap scenario. As though the fucker had known about it from the outset.
Well, didn’t that just put the fucking icing on the cake? Anger like I’d never felt before consumed me. Blinding, frustrated, self-righteous fury coursed through my veins.
Lena trusted Beck enough to involve him… but not me.
“Lena Carr,” I growled in her ear. “You tell me right now what the fuck is going on!”
She stared at me as if I’d grown two heads, then calmly advised, “It’s a trap. I thought we’d established that already.”
“A trap you told him about,” I said, with a purposeful nod of my head towards Beck.
Lena glanced over at where the Cardinal was waiting for her signal and paused. Then she shook her head and offered an Elite-like sigh.
“No, Trent,” she said with meaning. “He just doesn’t fight a good plan when he sees it.”
Meaning I did. Well, hell. Fuck that.
“It’s a good plan, baby,” I crooned. One that was going to get her very fine arse spanked when I got her alone after this.
She snorted. This Elite that meant everything. I loved it when she snorted; it was always so unexpected and yet so very welcome.
And she thought I’d prevent her from doing what she does best?
The woman didn’t know me at all.
And OK, I had been a bit overprotective lately. But her father had been a jerk. Rushing her when she wasn’t ready to be rushed. Insisting on making up for ten lost years. Someone had to protect her. And that someone would be me.
I took in a deep breath, let the smells of burning chemicals and electrical fire from the laser guns settle me. Then surveyed the ruined piece of paradise that we’d stumbled into. We still couldn’t see the u-Pol officers, only the red flash of their laser guns. But the fact that they were here at all meant something.
Why Lena had insisted on leaving me out of her plans wasn’t really important. Not in the scheme of things. And I always tried to look at things with the greater good in mind. It’s how I’d been raised. Even if this Elite had come along and destroyed that foundation completely, I pulled on those rebel leader skills now.
Urip
knew we were coming. This vanguard had been waiting for us to arrive.
Delaying the inevitable was fruitless, and like Lena had suspected, could have ruined the rescue mission of the Wiped.
No, Lena’s reasons weren’t important. Not to the war. Not to the promise of peace.
I flicked a glance towards her, noted her singular focus on what she had to do next, and cursed myself for not believing a word of what I’d just reasoned.
With one look toward Cardinal Beck - and not me - they were up and over their makeshift hides, guns firing, laser lights flashing, the noose tightening.
It took seconds which seemed like hours, but eventually the u-Pol attack had been quashed under the Zebra’s hoof.
I stood back and let her take all the glory. I stood back and watched as Cardinal Beck offered a nod of his head in congratulations and then rounded up his men to check the perimeter for any we might have missed.
I stood back as her father approached, the wheels of his chair rolling through mud, muck and blood.
“Well done, baby girl,” he announced. “How did you know they were there?”
Lena’s shoulders stiffened, but I didn’t go to her. Her back ramrod straight, she faced the man who she’d thought had been dead. Instinct had me clenching my fists. Desire had me taking a step towards them.
I turned away… and walked towards a body that lay half in and half out of a window, little droplets of its blood dripping into a puddle beneath an outstretched hand. I stared at the growing pool. Could have sworn the plunk of blood overrode everything else I could hear right then.
And noticed something. Something that didn’t make any sense.
Something that had my heart racing, my hands fisted, and sweat to bead on skin.
I reached out and rolled the body over. Definitely not ours.
But also not theirs.
“Fuck,” I whispered as Alan came alongside. He stared down at the corpse too.
“Are you gonna tell her or should we wait for Beck to do the honours?” he asked.
My head came up and my eyes searched out Beck. He stood over another body, his frame immobile, his lips in a thin line.
“Fuck,” I swore softly, but vehemently.
And then I went to my woman. Because pissed off or not. Hurt or fucking not. I would not let her hear this from Cardinal Fucking Beck.
Fuck. They weren’t u-Pol. They didn’t look like they’d come from Urip either. Not from Hammurg City where our surveillance had shown us they all wore clothes like Mikhail the hal-gen torturer had.
Fuck. If they weren’t Uripean, and they weren’t from Merrika or Wánměi, then they were something else.
And I had a sinking feeling that all they’d been doing was defending themselves.
Lena. Fuck. She was not going to take this well.
Three
We Had A Plan
Trent
As far as cock-ups went, this was a big one. Huge. Enormous. Too big to comprehend.
My heart was aching for Lena.
Hers was completely shattered.
“But Calvin had said…” she whispered, her body curling in on itself.
“There’s your problem, Lena,” I murmured softly, but the words might as well have been sharp knives. She flinched. I closed my eyes. But it needed to be said. “Calvin.”
I waited for the tears. But Lena doesn’t cry. I waited for the self-recrimination. But Lena’s a warrior princess, not a fanciful one.
“No,” she said, whisper quiet, but I heard. “No.”
And just like that, I’d lost her. Just like that, she’d wrapped that Elite armour around herself and shut me out. Again.
But this hurt more than the “trap” had. This hurt more, because she was doing it while she was Elite. Lena hadn’t been Elite for months. Not really. But right now, right in front of me, she was an Elite.
And I was nothing but a Citizen who knew no better.
“This doesn’t make any sense,” I heard her father say across the ramshackle room we had all taken shelter in. As far as a base of operations went, it was severely lacking. Beck and his Cardinals were out scouting, along with Alan and Irdina. The fact that Cal hadn’t sent his Merrikan soldiers with them made me think he was reeling for his daughter.
He might have been an absent father, but that did not mean the man wasn’t a real one.
His heart was shattered too.
I just thanked our stars that Lena’s zebra-lookalikes weren’t here. We all felt shocked. Disbelief for more than one reason. They’d have been gutted.
Their Zebra had fucked up. Big time.
“Why would they attack so vehemently?” Cal was asking; I’m not sure, but maybe one of his soldiers replied.
I didn’t listen any further, Lena was AWOL, and I needed to get her back.
I let a slow breath of air out, and then ran a hand through my hair.
“This changes nothing,” I said. Lena didn’t even offer a snort. “We still set up a communications base here, just ensure it’s well fortified before we move on. We need the relay in order to reach the ship.”
The plan had always been to leave the ship off shore, keeping it mobile to avoid detection. But in order to adequately keep tabs on those in the rescue party entering Hammurg and those on the vessel keeping our escape route free, we needed a base of operations in Lunnon. Lunnon which was supposed to be deserted. Lunnon which had at one time been a dream.
If I was having troubles with all of this, I knew Lena was drowning. But my Elite kept her head above water; the only way she knew how. By being Elite.
“We still have to go forward with the plan,” I added. Wanting desperately to qualify that statement with something along the lines of “the agreed plan” or “the plan we all were in on” as opposed to Lena’s fucked-in-the-head plan that had brought us here.
But knowing Lena had fucked up and treating her as though she had were two totally different things. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t add more guilt on top of the shit-pile she was already labouring under. I couldn’t watch that Elite armour get crushed. I might hate it at times, but she needed it. To get through what had to be done now, Lena needed to be Elite.
“But while we’re waiting to do all of that, I think we should get the lay of the land in Lunnon.”
Lena turned her head to look at me. Stunning blue met my gaze; held me trapped; the promise of a morning sky.
“Why?” she asked, but the question was a cover. Of course we’d get a lay of the land. Of course we’d use the time it took to establish and secure a base to assess what other challenges were out there. How many more survivors were armed and on Lunnon’s street? Lena knew this as well as the rest of us did.
No, the question hid so much more than just that single word.
I reached forward and tucked a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear. No longer white and black. No longer shocking white alone. A more natural colour seen on the streets of Hammurg. My zebra blending in, like she’d always been so good at doing.
I cupped her cheek, leaned forward in my seat and rested my forehead against hers, nose to nose, hot breaths mixing. I breathed her in. My fingers finding her nape, automatically wrapping around stands of her hair there. I anchored myself, while I held her in place, stopped her from flying away. Stopped her from flying away from me.
My eyelids lifted and blue met blue. So beautiful. So breathtaking. So fragile.
My thumb started rubbing gentle circles on her skin.
“I don’t trust Calvin.” She stiffened, went to move away. “Hear me out, baby,” I insisted, tightening my hold on her neck. “But that’s because I have an issue with artificially intelligent computers and their penchant for world domination.” Her lips twitched, but sadness filled those deep pools of aquamarine. “I understand, on a purely intellectual level, that there is a place and time to use that sentient mind of his to our advantage. But I will never trust it. Not completely.
“But here’s the thing. I trust you.
”
Her eyes closed and I watched stunned as a trickle of a tear worked its way out from beneath long lashes. I swallowed thickly, licked my lips, and took a breath of much needed air.
“I don’t know what happened today,” I whispered. “I don’t know if it was an intentional error on Calvin’s part, something calculated and cunning beyond what we can comprehend. Or whether there’s more going on here and Calvin just doesn’t have the necessary input to extrapolate the answers. I just don’t know.
“But I’m willing to concede that it could be the latter. That Calvin is on our side and the fuck-up” - she flinched, I knew she would, I held on tighter - “was a combination of errors, unforeseen, unexpected, and just plain unlucky. And if it is all of that, and if you think it’s worth investigating, then we use the time we’ve got while Cal and his soldiers secure the base here to find out what we can about these Lunnoners.”
I let a long breath of air out, my thumb stroking, my heart beating a little too fast. It always beat a little too fast around Lena. But if Lena was hurt or in pain, any sort of agony at all, my heart damn near burst out of my chest in sympathy.
I wanted to ask. Hell it was constantly on replay inside my head. Why had she left me out of the plan? Had I known about it, would things have been different? Could I have prevented what happened, prevented Lena’s pain?
And therein lay the answer. I would do anything to prevent Lena from experiencing pain.
She’d been right. I would have baulked at an instant attack. And even though the attack proved a monumental fuck-up, would we have been in any better position now if we had waited?
It was a question that had no answer. A circle of doubt and worry and concern. I didn’t know what these Lunnoners were capable of. I didn’t know why they stayed here when their city had been destroyed.
We knew nothing. And as much as Lena’s secrets had hurt, she was right about one thing. We couldn’t afford to be cautious. We couldn’t afford to not strike first.
We just had to make sure our targets were justified.
But that was the hard part, wasn’t it? Was what we were doing right or not?
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