“What do you wanna do, boss?” Jesse asked.
A small cry came from the back of the van—a child’s cry—and one of the soldiers turned around and slammed his fist against the steel doors. “Pipe him down in there!” the guard yelled.
That was enough for Remko. He glanced at Jesse. “I’ll move right, you go left. Once you’re in range, pull one of the guards’ attention; I’ll deal with the other. And if you find keys, grab them.”
Jesse nodded and snaked off toward the left. Remko followed his own plan, working his way right, staying out of sight as he closed the distance between himself and the van. The smoking guard tossed his cigarette on the ground and mashed it with his heel. A pretty good sign they planned to leave soon. Remko reached the closest spot he could without being completely exposed and crouched down to wait.
The seconds dripped on and Remko started to worry that Jesse may have run into more guards roaming the forest. Finally something snapped in the distance and both guards tensed.
“You hear that?” the nonsmoking guard said.
“Yeah, probably just an animal,” the other replied.
The sound came again and both guards glanced at one another. The smoking guard motioned for his partner to go check it out, and with his gun raised, the second guard moved toward the diversion.
Remko waited, watching the smoking guard as the other slowly disappeared from sight. The guard left with the truck didn’t seem very concerned with the noise and carelessly let his weapon swing from the strap draped over his shoulder. He yanked another cigarette from his coat pocket and used both hands to light it. Remko seized the moment.
He moved swiftly, with ease, and the guard had barely registered Remko as a threat before he was standing in front of him, gun raised. The guard moved for his own weapon and Remko cocked his firearm. The guard paused in motion, his eyes cut to slits.
“Take your weapon and place it on the ground,” Remko said. The man reluctantly did as he was told and lowered his gun to the dirt. In one swift motion the guard yanked out another weapon, a small military standard that was strapped to his ankle, and sent a shot toward Remko.
Remko ducked, but it wasn’t necessary. The guard missed high, and the bullet cracked deep into a tree behind him. But the action was enough to cause Remko pause and alarm, giving the soldier the distraction he needed to run. Remko heard a small yelp to his left and hoped it was coming from the second guard, not Jesse.
Remko dashed after the man who had just shot at him. Remko’s familiar and currently friendly companion, anger, pulsed violently through his veins as he pursued his attacker. Partly because the man had shot at him and partly because a soldier should never run away from a fight. Remko’s legs pumped under him, his face flushed and dripping with sweat.
The guard glanced back, a look of fear washing over his face, and he aimed his tiny pistol to fire at Remko again.
Remko cut right to avoid the shot and pushed himself even faster. He was gaining on the runaway when another CityWatch vehicle drove over the top of the hill in front of them. Remko slid to a stop while the guard continued to run, waving his hands frantically over his head. The sun reflected off the van’s black surface, and through the front windshield Remko could make out two more CityWatch guards, their faces focused on him.
Remko spun on his heels and headed back toward the trees. He hadn’t realized how far he’d traveled away from the original CityWatch vehicle, and fear prickled his skin. He could hear the engine humming louder as the second vehicle came closer and he dug deep for the energy to propel him onward. The wind picked up dirt from all around him and kicked it into dust clouds that Remko could taste. He felt the vehicle behind him. It was too close.
He dove headfirst to his left, rolled once, pushed himself back up onto his feet, and pumped forward. The low buzz from the engine revved as the chase vehicle tried to make the quick turn, but Remko knew he’d given himself a couple seconds of space. The trees were getting closer, the original CityWatch transport sitting only a couple of yards off.
“Jesse!” Remko yelled.
After only a beat, the archer stepped from the woods and registered Remko’s predicament. Without hesitation he raised his bow and aimed it directly over Remko’s shoulder. If there was ever a time to trust this boy, it was now. Remko felt the air divide as arrows sailed past Remko’s right ear, one and then another. Jesse’s face twisted in frustration and Remko gathered that he’d missed his target. Jesse aimed his bow once more and with a deep breath let another arrow fly. Remko heard it hit something behind him and glanced back to see that Jesse had hit the vehicle’s right front tire, causing it to deflate.
The vehicle chasing him spun to a stop, facing away. Remko reached the first van and Jesse tossed him something that shimmered in the sunlight. Keys. Remko turned to unlock the driver’s-side door.
“Freeze!” someone shouted, halting Remko.
A new guard stood a couple feet away, breathing heavy from pursuit, gun raised with its barrel aimed directly at Remko’s head. The guard’s partner stumbled out of the disabled van and reached for his weapon as well, but Jesse was already moving. More fluidly than seemed possible, another arrow left Jesse’s bow and hit the rifle in the stumbling guard’s hands. He cried out and dropped the weapon, pulling his partner’s attention and giving Remko a chance to duck for cover.
The first guard fired a shot intended for Jesse, but the boy had already moved. “Get your gun!” the soldier yelled.
Remko stayed low and close to the first van as he moved down the side and toward the rear of the vehicle. He saw the stumbling guard’s rifle still lying in the dirt and moved for it. He looked up and saw yet another CityWatch van headed their way.
They needed to get out of here. Remko looked around for Jesse but didn’t see him.
“Looks like we’ve got reinforcements coming,” one guard said.
Remko could hear footsteps moving toward the back of the van and considered making a mad dash back into the trees, but it was too late. A soft metallic click popped near his ear and he went still.
“Don’t move,” the soldier said.
From the corner of his eye Remko could see the gun pointed at his skull and the guard holding it. Remko lifted his arms, the CityWatch rifle in his left hand. The other guard rounded the back of the van from the other side and moved forward to snatch the rifle away, as well as the keys dangling from Remko’s raised right fist.
“Where’s the archer?” the second guard asked.
Remko said nothing.
“Find him,” the guard behind Remko said. The other guard nodded and looped the rifle through the strap over his shoulder before moving to sweep the perimeter. Remko felt his hands being yanked, one by one, behind his back, where the soldier clasped them tightly together.
“Let’s go,” he said, and pushed Remko forward. He led Remko away from the original CityWatch vehicle and toward the one with the flat tire. “Your archer friend is going to pay for damaging Authority property.”
The third official vehicle slowed as it approached the scene; it pulled over and the guard holding Remko sent a wave of good faith. Had Remko been alone with just the guard working to restrain him, overpowering him may have been possible, but there was no way to know how many soldiers occupied the third CityWatch transportation unit.
The final vehicle pulled to a stop, its windows deeply tinted, the sun making it impossible to count the number of new enemies. The second guard, the one who had been searching for Jesse, reappeared empty-handed. “He must have gone deep into the woods, but the perimeter is secu—” The guard’s words were cut short as his body convulsed, his eyes rolled back, and he crumpled to the ground.
Remko glanced up to see Wire slowly stepping down from the driver’s side of the newest CityWatch van, a weapon of his own invention smoking from its latest electric shock pulse. The guard behind Remko moved his gun to aim it at Wire.
Another weapon clicked a couple of feet away. Kate hung out o
f the passenger-side door of the CityWatch van, her gun directed toward the guard. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” she said. Remko felt the tension in his neck release as a smile spread across his face. The soldier stood frozen as Remko stepped away and toward Wire and Kate.
Wire walked over to the guard. “Put it down nice and easy.”
The guard did as he was told and Wire strapped the man’s hands behind his back in cuffs. Kate sliced the plastic restraints that bound Remko’s wrists. He noticed the bandage on her calf was bloody. Her face was pale and shimmering with moisture. He could feel the heat from her body as he stood beside her. She wavered a step and he reached out to steady her.
“You all right?” Remko asked.
In typical Kate fashion, she shrugged him off and nodded, even though it was clearly a lie. Remko gave her shoulder a squeeze and moved toward the guard passed out on the ground. He pulled the rifle from the man’s shoulder and snatched the keys from his pocket.
“What are you doing out here?” Wire asked. The boy had bound the conscious guard’s wrists and ankles and deposited him on the ground behind his disabled vehicle.
“Coming after you,” Remko said. He could see the shame in Wire’s face and tried to keep the frustration out of his voice, especially since he and Kate had just saved his skin. “I would have thought you’d be at the south tunnel by now.”
“We figured you’d search for us there, so we went east instead. But the tunnel’s entrance was heavily guarded; there was no way we could get through, so we were headed to see if the south was the same,” Wire said. He glanced over his shoulder at Kate, who was now sitting in the passenger seat. “She’s not doing well, though.”
“Of course she’s not; she was shot yesterday,” Remko said.
Remko could read Wire’s emotions like a book. He knew taking Kate from camp had been a mistake, but he also loved her, and she was determined to get her brother back. If anyone understood taking risks for love, it was Remko.
Someone cried out in pain and Remko and Wire spun around to see a third guard crumpling backward, an arrow sticking through the top of his foot. It was the guard Remko had chased, the smoker with terrible aim. Remko looked up and saw Jesse perched on top of the original CityWatch van. Wire saw him as well and the expression of remorse on his face vanished.
“You brought him?” Wire asked.
Remko didn’t say anything as Jesse dropped down from the van’s roof. He ran toward the man he’d just hobbled, secured him with restraints, and retrieved his arrow.
“I still don’t trust him,” Wire said.
“Well, I do,” Remko replied. “No one else would come with me to find you two. Except him.”
Wire glanced back at the archer and exhaled.
Remko placed his hand on Wire’s shoulder. “We need him.”
Wire held Remko’s gaze and Remko dropped his hand, pointing to the unconscious guard at their feet. “Let’s restrain him before he wakes up.”
Wire nodded, and Remko moved toward the van that still held prisoners. He unlocked the back doors and carefully opened them. A small voice whimpered as Remko peered inside. There were only two prisoners, a young girl probably in her midteens and a small boy who couldn’t have been older than four or five. They resembled each other and Remko guessed that they were most likely siblings.
For a moment Remko longed for Sam. He was much better at these interactions than Remko.
“Hello,” Remko said.
The boy held tightly to his sister and she cleared her throat. “Hi.”
Remko reached his hand inside. “Come on; I’ll get you out of here.”
The girl hesitated but then reached out and let Remko assist her and the small boy from the van.
As Remko examined her face and her perfectly golden hair that fell in soft curls around her unblemished skin and diamond-blue eyes, he couldn’t shake the feeling that she reminded him of someone. The little boy beside her looked vaguely familiar as well, with shaggy blond hair and matching blue eyes.
“Are you both all right?” Remko asked.
The girl nodded. “Thank you.”
“I’m Remko. This is Wire, that’s Jesse, and Kate is the girl in the van.”
“My name is Eleanor, and this is my brother Willis.”
“Eleanor?” Jesse said. “I knew you looked familiar.”
Eleanor’s face crumpled in confusion. “I’m sorry; do we know each other?”
“No, but most boys in my Choosing Ceremony group would recognize you,” Jesse said. “You’re Eleanor Lane, Enderson Lane’s daughter.”
Her cheeks flushed red and she drilled her eyes into the ground.
“As in Authority member Enderson Lane?” Wire asked.
That’s why she looked familiar. Suspicion filled Remko’s chest. “What were you doing locked in the back of a CityWatch vehicle?”
She shook her head but didn’t answer and Remko looked at his team members, whose faces held the same worried expression.
“We should go,” Jesse said.
Remko nodded and they all started back toward the van where Kate sat.
“Please, you can’t leave us here,” Eleanor said. “My father was sending us away to the Genesis Compound. If you leave us here, they’ll find us and bring us there.”
Remko looked at Eleanor. Tears were gathering in her eyes and she looked terrified.
“What is the Genesis Compound?” Wire asked.
“A testing facility out toward the mountains.” She paused to swallow, her eyes falling away from Wire’s face. “They change people there.”
Wire looked at Remko.
Remko took a step toward Eleanor. “You know about the facility?”
She nodded. “My father said that the transition has started. Please, we won’t be any trouble, and we’ll help at the Seer camp however we can.”
“You know who we are?” Remko asked.
“You’re the famous rebels; everyone knows who you are.”
Remko had just turned to Wire to discuss what they should do when a soft thud clunked behind them. They turned to see Kate on the ground beside the van.
“Kate!” Wire called. They rushed over and found her passed out, her breathing ragged and short.
“Oh no! Kate!” Wire said and pulled her head into his lap. “Toss me that water canteen.”
Jesse grabbed it and handed it to Wire, who gently splashed water over Kate’s heated face. “Kate, come on.” He looked to Remko. “We have to get her back. Help me get her in the van.”
“I’ll do it,” Jesse said, stepping in to lift the bottom half of Kate’s body. He and Wire carried her around the side as Remko yanked open the back doors, and then they lifted her inside and laid her down carefully. Wire climbed in after her and set to work on her again.
Remko motioned for Jesse to help him as he dragged all three CityWatch guards into the back of the van with the deflated tire and shut them in. These vans all had trackers; eventually someone would come looking for them.
Jesse headed off toward the trees, tossing Remko a look over his shoulder. “I can’t leave my bike. I’ll meet you back at camp.”
“Remko!” Wire shouted from the vehicle. Remko raced back to the driver’s side of their stolen van and saw Eleanor and Willis standing there. The girl’s eyes pleaded with him to take them, and guilt tugged at his heartstrings. Authority kids or not, they were just kids. He waved them over and they both ran to jump up into the passenger side of the van.
Remko climbed in and glimpsed Wire in the rearview mirror. He was giving Remko an uneasy look. Remko cranked the vehicle to life. “We don’t leave people behind,” he said, twisting the wheel and pulling the van away from the other two vehicles, his foot heavy on the accelerator. “We just don’t.”
22
Carrington tucked Elise in her crib and slowly made her way back out into the commotion of camp. Remko had been gone a couple of hours, and like always when he was away her heart moved at a constant acce
lerated rate. She knew worrying for him did nobody any good, but it was impossible to avoid. It didn’t help that there was a thick tension wedging its way between them. After he’d left last night, she’d distracted herself with tending to Elise, endlessly driving away tears and thoughts of Remko stewing alone in the darkness of the tunnels.
Eventually her fight had given way to exhaustion and she’d been surprised how easily sleep had found her. She’d dreamed of her field. When she’d woken, Aaron’s sweet reminders of who she was, of her faith, and of their Father still rang in her ears. Remko had been snoring softly beside her and she’d lovingly watched him sleep for a long while before forcing herself to rise when Elise had stirred in her bed.
Carrington would have never guessed how painful the struggle was watching someone she loved miss the truth that was so clear. Worse still was knowing there was nothing she could do but wait for him to find his way. Haunting questions of doubt filled her head even now as she stood outside their tent.
What if he never knows the truth? What if he never believes? What if he insists on leaving? Would she follow him? Could she let him go? Would it be right? He was her husband, the father of her daughter; could she face the world without him? Would she want to? Fear made her hands tremble and she practiced seeing her fear and letting it go. It flickered for a moment and then returned with full force. Letting go was so simple and yet so difficult. She had been talking about it with Selena Carson only a couple of mornings ago. The way Selena’s daughter Arianna had spoken about fear had been the same way Larkin had come to speak about it toward the end.
Carrington remembered sitting with Larkin under a row of trees long before the Seers had been forced to move down into the subway tunnels. The sun had been warm, but it was cool under the shadow of the branches. It was the first time Carrington had been without Elise since her birth, and she was struggling to enjoy herself.
The Calling Page 22