Independents: Taoree Trilogy #2

by Michele Notaro

  When I rounded the corner, I heard voices arguing in Taoree. It was coming from a small hallway up ahead. Normally I’d have just walked right past, but when I recognized one of the voices, I slowed down to eavesdrop.

  “You don’t understand,” I heard Orrean whisper-yell.

  “For the millionth time, Orrean, it’s not that I don’t understand. I just don’t agree with you.” It took me a moment to place the voice, but my eyes widened when I realized it was Ozias.

  “The evidence is right in front of you, brother. Why do you keep pushing it aside, as if it doesn’t matter?” Orrean sounded seriously pissed.

  “Put yourself in my shoes, Orrean. I’ve been working with these people for fourteen years.”

  “And you believe them over me. Why would I ever expect my own brother to believe me?” Orrean’s voice was cold. So cold, it sent a shiver through me.

  “Do not turn this into something it’s not,” Ozias said, even colder than Orrean.

  “How can I not? How can I not take it personally when you are the one making it personal?” Orrean practically roared.

  I peeked around the corner to make sure I didn’t need to break up a fight. Neither of them seemed to notice me.

  “So every time you say something, I have to believe you. No matter what. Is that what you’re saying?” Ozias asked.

  “When I present the proof to you, yes.”

  Ozias sighed and they both looked at the floor, mirroring each other. Then Ozias seemed to get a second wind because he squared his shoulders and said through clenched teeth, “You know I didn’t ask for this job, right?”

  “What?” Orrean asked.

  “I. Didn’t. Ask. For. This.” Ozias got in Orrean’s face. I thought about stepping between them, but I didn’t think he would hit him… I hoped, anyway. Ozias tried to tower over Orr, but it looked ridiculous since they were the exact same height. “They voted me in.”

  “What? What are you talking about?” Orr asked quietly.

  Ozias’s nostrils flared as he took a deep breath. “When you… when you stayed behind to gather intel on Thelonious, and the others and I made it out of his reach, there was a vote. I was nominated and voted in, even though I told them I didn’t want it. They told me that was exactly why I had to take it.” He took a step back and rubbed the back of his neck. “You say you didn’t have a choice? That you didn’t get a say in being sent on that mission? On being forced to stay? On being away from those that actually loved you… Well, guess what, Orrean, I didn’t get a choice either. And it’s not like I had anyone, either, until a couple years ago. You’re not the only one that has suffered and sacrificed for the cause, not even close.”

  Orrean’s jaw ticked and I could tell he was pissed. I was surprised that he switched to English. “I never said I was. There are plenty of others who have sacrificed more than me, sacrificed their lives and their families. That wasn’t the point I was trying to make, you asswipe. This isn’t some contest, or some way of showing your masculinity, Ozias. I was simply pointing out that while you’ve been here, safe in these walls for nearly three years, others have been in the front lines, facing the danger of discovery every day. Clearly, there’s a mole in your midst, a mole that gave away the location and names of our spies. How else do you think eighty percent of our spies have been captured or killed? Eighty percent, Ozias. You don’t know what it’s like out there. You don’t. So maybe you should start listening to those of us that have been out there for the past fourteen years. Maybe if you’d shut the fuck up, let go of your precious pride, and listened for once in your life, you might actually discover something helpful.” And with that, Orrean turned on his heel and marched down the hallway, right toward me, anger practically visibly pouring off of him. He didn’t even acknowledge me as he stormed past.

  Ozias looked at me, opened his mouth, then snapped it shut.

  When he didn’t say anything, I offered a half-shrug and marched off, determined to find my friend and hopefully calm him down before he ended up snapping at someone else.

  I somehow knew he’d gone back to our suite, back to his room, and before I could stop myself, I knocked on his bedroom door.

  The door swung open to reveal a very pissed-off alien.

  It took me a moment to get my wits about me. Still, all that came out was, “Orrean.”

  “What do you want, Jeremy?” His voice was still cold. It felt like he’d slapped me across the face.

  But I knew he was upset, so I asked, “You wanna talk about it?”

  “My brother is a fucking idiot. End of story.”

  My nostrils flared in annoyance. “Can I come in?”

  “Fine.” He left the door open and stomped over to his bed where he sat, leaned his elbows on his knees and stared at the floor.

  I made my way in and closed the door, then leaned my ass against his dresser, crossing my arms over my chest. “You think there’s a spy here?”

  “I know there is,” he ground out.

  I knew his anger wasn’t aimed at me, so I tried to ignore it. “I believe you.”

  His eyes snapped up to mine in surprise. “You do?”

  “Of course I do.” I waved him off. He should know by now that I trusted him, even after everything. No, especially after everything. “Do you know who it is?”

  “No.” He sighed. “My brother won’t let me look at some of the records since I don’t have the clearance. He doesn’t trust me.”

  “I didn’t know there was anything you weren’t allowed to see.”

  “Neither did I, until he wouldn’t let me access some of the communication records.”

  My brow furrowed. “Why the hell wouldn’t he let you see that?”

  He held his hands out, indicating he didn’t know. “I’ve been assigned to find and bring back as many of our spies as possible, yet he won’t let me see the messages sent. It makes no sense.”

  I chewed on my cheek for a moment, unsure if I should voice my thoughts or not.

  Orrean rolled his eyes. “Just spit it out, Jeremy. There’s no way you could piss me off or upset me more than I already am right now.”

  I wasn’t so sure about that, but I figured I owed the truth to him, myself, and everyone living here. “You don’t think Ozias is the spy, do you?” I cringed.

  Orrean sighed, then ran his hands over his face. “If you’d asked me that question a few years ago, I’d have said no way. But now I’m not so sure.”

  I chewed on my cheek as I pondered the situation. Then I sighed, pushed off the dresser, sat beside Orrean, then plopped onto my back on his bed. I stared at the ceiling as I said, “I guess that means it’s just us, then.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean it’s up to us to figure out who the spy is and take the asshole down.”

  Orrean froze, but then slowly lowered his body until he was lying beside me with his shoulder against mine. He looked up at the ceiling as he spoke. “You’d do that? Help me figure out what’s going on and who’s on our side?”

  “Of course I would,” I said without hesitation. “We’re family, Orr. Family sticks together.” I bumped his shoulder a little, but kept staring at the ceiling. “I know you’ve never had that… a real family, I mean. I know your childhood was never pleasant. But this is what family does. We help each other out, we stick together. You’re my family, for better or worse; no matter what, you’re stuck with me.” He didn’t say anything, but I could tell by his lack of motion that he was probably just overwhelmed. I added after a minute, “I guess we need to have a family meeting tonight so we’re all on the same page. I bet Nolan could gain access to some records since he’s obsessed with the control room.”

  Orrean cleared his throat, but his voice still came out sounding rough. “If we get caught, we could be thrown into the holding cells. Are you sure you want to do this?”

  “Of course.” I waved him away again. “The others will too.”

  After a moment, he whispered, “Thank y
ou, Jeremy.”

  I shrugged, then immediately changed the subject. “Dude, you seriously need to do something with your room. How can you stand all these white walls?”

  He snorted. His voice was still thick with emotion, but he asked, “Are you offering to paint my room?”

  “Definitely. As you know, I ran out of space in mine a couple weeks ago. And the living room is always crowded with people distracting me. What do you want me to paint?”

  He thought for a moment, both of us content with lying side-by-side on the bed. I could feel the heat of his body this close to mine and it sent a pleasant tingle down my spine. So I scooted closer to him and pressed our shoulders and arms together. He leaned back into me.

  He sighed. “What about some wizards or castles or something?”

  I grinned at that. “You’re obsessed with Harry Potter, aren’t you?”

  “Ugh… maybe. I’m already on the last book,” he admitted.

  I laughed a little at that. “We can totally figure out something to pai—”

  “Orrean! Jeremy!” Cal’s voice yelled through the apartment.

  “We’re in here!” I yelled back.

  A minute later Cal opened the door and exclaimed, “Oh, thank god you’re both decent. I was afraid you’d be naked or something.”

  “And yet, you burst through the door anyway. You trying to see me naked?” I looked up and grinned at him.

  He made a face. “Unfortunately, I’ve seen your bare ass more times than I care to admit.”

  Orrean leaned up on his elbows and smirked—the first smile I’d seen since his argument with Ozias. “So it was me you were trying to see naked, then.”

  Cal’s mouth opened in shock, then he shuddered dramatically. “You’re both disgusting. Now come on, we need to go to dinner.”

  “Actually,” I said, “we need to eat up here tonight. There’s a problem.”

  Cal grimaced. “What kind of problem?”

  I blew out a breath. “There’s a mole somewhere within the Independents that’s leaking our intel to Thelonious.”

  Cal looked back and forth between Orr and me. Then he turned and slumped his back against the doorjamb, banging his head on it. “Fuck.”

  I plopped back on Orrean’s bed. “My thoughts exactly.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Six Months Later

  We finally caught a break, though not with our mole investigation, unfortunately. The summer had been brutal so far, and the month of August was the hottest yet. We’d been going out on missions every day; sometimes just for the day, sometimes even for weeks. But we worked every single day, looking for survivors and for clues about where the Legion was hiding Emperor Thelonious. He hadn’t made an appearance once since he released Hell on Earth. I was beginning to wonder if he was even alive. Every time we ran into any Legion, Thelonious was inevitably absent. We traveled as far and wide as we could, steering clear of the Legion camps unless our mission was to scout one, or to go in to extract one of our spies.

  Every day it seemed that we found fewer and fewer people alive, fewer and fewer survivors. Though we killed more and more Ferals, they were still never-ending. And to top it off, the bug-bots were patrolling along with groups of Ferals. It seemed that the Legion was controlling Ferals remotely with the bug-bots. Our enemies were becoming more organized, which made them harder to kill, and harder to trick and evade.

  But we were fighting back, and we were collecting data, searching for that bastard and a way to take down the Legion.

  The control room had been monitoring the areas surrounding our Independent base, keeping an eye out for possible threats and attacks. They’d noticed a lot of movement about fifty miles northeast of us. There were many vehicles and alien ships coming and going from a huge-ass warehouse, and many people in the area. We weren’t able to get close-ups of the people without being detected, so we didn’t know for sure if they were Taoree or humans. We needed to get closer.

  So my team, along with two others, were assigned to stake it out, and move in if necessary. We were told to spread out and surround the large industrial buildings—though only one looked to be in use—and keep watch for a few days, then discuss a plan of action.

  We’d been there for two days already. The only thing we’d seen was a bunch of Taoree going in and out, sometimes carrying a human prisoner with them. I’d been surprised that the humans were alive. I hadn’t thought that the Legion was taking any prisoners. I, along with most of the others, had thought they were simply killing everyone, but I’d seen it with my own eyes… though I didn’t know what they did to the humans once they had them behind closed doors. I shuddered at the thought.

  “Looks like you’re on first shift with me,” Cal said as he returned to my side after getting some food.

  I yawned, scooted down the hill and rolled off my stomach so I could sit up, using the hill to block me from view. “Okay.”

  “Here.” He passed me a canteen.

  I smelled it and was pleasantly surprised to find it contained coffee. “Thank you.”

  Cal shrugged. “I got you some bread too.” He passed me a loaf of bread, or something that resembled bread, anyway. I remembered seeing Orrean eat something similar when we first started traveling together. The Independents had been working on a sort of bread-like food that we could easily carry in our packs, that was lightweight, but would fill us up. It tasted like absolute shit, but it kept me from going hungry and was honestly better-tasting than the quasi-chocolate they’d also packed for us. So fucking gross.

  “Thanks, man.” I tugged on his ear.

  He smacked my hand. “I swear to Enimus I will shoot you in the foot if you do that again.”

  I laughed at that. It was still completely amusing how much he hated it, though I knew better than to tug on his ear for a second time. I had no doubt he’d retaliate with violence if I touched his ear again. I took a bite of the offending ‘bread’ and after chewing asked, “What shift is Wes on?”

  “Same as us. Nol, Tabby, and Orr are opposite. Wes said he’d switch spots with Bek so he could be closer to us since he’s bored.”

  I nodded. “I want to ask him about that girl we saw him with the other day.”

  Cal snorted, laid on his stomach and army-crawled up the hill to take over my lookout position. “I can’t believe you’re still going on about that. They were just talking.”

  I shrugged. “So? I can’t give my brother shit about it?”

  He chuckled and shifted a little so he could get his binoculars out and scan the building for the millionth time today. “You know, he was talking to a boy that day, too.”

  “What? He was? When?”

  “Right before you came into the mess hall. I’m pretty sure the guy and that girl he talked to are siblings. They’re all the same age as Wes, but they have to go to school. I think all the teenagers envy Wesley since he’s the youngest soldier we have.”

  I frowned at that. “Hmm… still gonna give him shit about it.”

  “I figured.” Cal shot me a grin before refocusing on the building.

  “Hey, did you get me any?” Wes said as he plopped down beside me.

  “In my bag,” Cal answered.

  Wes reached across me to grab Cal’s bag. I waited until he had a bite of bread in his mouth before I asked him, “Who was that girl you were talking to, and that boy in the mess hall before we left base?”

  Wes started coughing on his bite, but got it under control after a second. Once he swallowed he asked, “Who? Lindsay and Lincoln?”

  I shrugged since I didn’t know their names.

  “Yeah, that’s who J’s talkin’ ‘bout,” Cal supplied, still on his stomach.

  Wes furrowed his brow at me. “Just some kids asking me about our last mission.”

  I raised a brow at him.

  He shrugged. “It’s not like I told them anything.”

  “Didn’t think you would,” I responded.

  “What’s with the face, t
hen?” He pointed at me with his bread.

  “You called them kids. They’re the same age as you.”

  “Technically, they’re a year younger.”

  “Just because you turned seventeen last month doesn’t mean you’re a whole year older than them.”

  He rolled his eyes at me. “You are such a prick sometimes. And I’m not an idiot. They’re twins, they just turned sixteen like last week or something. Fuck. What does it matter?”

  “I was jus—”

  “Guys,” Cal’s whispered voice brought my attention to him. “Look.”

  He nodded toward the building, so I laid flat on my stomach, crawled up and pulled out my own binoculars. It took me a few seconds to find what Cal was talking about, and when I did, I could only gape at the scene. There was a large truck parked next to the building at the loading dock. The back was open with a ramp leading straight into the building… and walking down the ramp was a group of Taoree… a group of bound Taoree.

  I counted ten of them, that I could see, and every one of them was gagged, with their hands tied behind their backs and chains around their ankles. There were about fifteen other Taoree surrounding the truck, each one with a reelian pointed in the direction of the Taoree prisoners. Did they capture Independents? Or did they find more of our spies? Shit.

  “What the hell is going on?” I whispered.

  “Dunno… I’ll go tell the others,” Wes said before scooting back down the hill. We’d been using our comms as sparingly as possible while this close to so many enemy Taoree. We didn’t know what kind of technology they had in that warehouse, and we didn’t want to take the chance of having them pick up our signal.

  Cal and I stayed silent as we watched the armed Taoree usher the prisoners into the building. I was surprised when the armed guards came back and ushered eight humans inside as well. What the fuck?

  Nolan army-crawled up beside me with his binoculars, and I told him what we’d seen before he signaled for me and Cal to follow him back to the group. Once there, he sent Sanjha and Lee to the other teams so we could meet up, discuss our findings, compare what they’d seen, then formulate a plan.