Rebels

by Jill Williamson

  He’d missed being the Owl.

  He darted from alley to alley, careful to stay in the darkness as much as possible. He and Zane had already worked out this route ahead of time, and he recited it in his head to keep it fresh.

  Villa Bonita was tonight’s target. For the Midlands, it was about as upscale as one could get for apartments. Some complained that only people in Renzor’s favor were permitted to live there. It seemed like a place that most Midlanders would appreciate seeing the mark of the Owl.

  Omar made his way out of an alley and onto 7th, lurking along the wall, hoping not to be seen just yet. Villa Bonita was on the corner of 7th and Winterset, just the right distance from the Prestige. Enforcers should get tied up chasing both parties.

  He came to Winterset and waited until there were no cars, then ran across the street without bothering to wait for the light, pretending to be a real owl, trying to make his steps smooth. He held out his arms and admired the shape his shadow took on the street. He even skidded gracefully over an icy patch on the street.

  He set to work immediately. He threw up his stencil, sprayed the words “Hoo is the Owl?”, filled in the stencil, and ripped it away quickly. Over the sign to Villa Bonita, he used white to spray over the word “bonita.” Then he stenciled an owl over the Wyndo that flashed images of happy people in their apartments. He went back and sprayed “Owl” over the white so that the sign now read “Villa Owl.” Nice.

  Around the corner he painted another owl, then wrote, “The Owl sees all.” Nash had better be able to get the incubator for Shay. And Omar also hoped that Levi would succeed in rescuing Jemma. This night of missions felt like the practice before the real thing. Operation Lynchpin was really going to happen, and Omar couldn’t wait. But he had to. First, tonight. Two small victories before the big one.

  “What are you doing out there? Hay-o!”

  Omar glanced up. Someone was leaning out their window, looking down on him. Good. Hopefully they’d call Enforcer 10.

  “Zane? What’s the status?”

  “Levi and Jordan are in the lot. The harem car is just now turning on Winterset.”

  Omar looked down the road, as if he might actually see the car in the dark three blocks away, turning the opposite direction from him.

  Levi’s waiting for you, Jemma.

  A siren pinged. Omar’s heart jolted. He turned around, looking for the red and blue lights.

  Nothing.

  Something moved out on the street. A car with all its headlights off. It had stopped a few yards behind him. What was that all about? Did they think they’d sneak up on him this time? Interesting.

  Omar had two options for escape. The nearest crossway gates were either a half block down to 8th or two blocks up to Prospector Drive.

  “Zane? Any calls for Enforcer 10?”

  “A call went out, but I’ve yet to see a response from Enforcer 10. It’s like they didn’t get the call, even though I saw it go through.”

  “That’s weird.” Time to go.

  Eighth was closer and Omar knew that crossway better. He took off, straight across the street, right in front of the mystery car. The vehicle started up and came after him, lights sending his silhouette long and massive on the street before him.

  The Owl.

  Awesome.

  He darted into the alley that would lead to another alley that would cut back out to 8th a few yards before the alley that led to the crossway. It was a maze of nameless streets, and Omar loved it.

  He wondered again why no enforcers had come. They’d come every other time.

  He slipped around the corner where his alley met the next and . . .

  Whack! Something struck him in the chest.

  He fell flat on his back, the wind knocked out of him. Breathe, he told himself. He needed to get up. Keep moving.

  Three shadows loomed over him, reached down. Omar moved without thinking, but it was too late. There was a pop, some sparks, and a stunner ended his chances altogether.

  They picked him up and carried him along. He tried to take note of where they took him. Back out the alley the way he’d come. They cuffed his hands behind him. Shoved him into the backseat of a car. A nice one. Not enforcer issued, though. A detective’s car, perhaps?

  They pulled a fabric sack over his head and he couldn’t see anything else. The way he was almost sitting on his hands made the metal cuffs dig into his wrist. Omar had no idea where he was being taken. To the RC, probably, back to a cell, then before the Guild, who would liberate him again.

  Lonn and his mother would be pretty disappointed. Shaylinn too.

  Forgive me!

  It felt like the car drove long enough to cross the Midlands and Highlands both. They stopped several times, though Omar had no way of knowing if they’d gone through one of the gates to the Highlands. Finally the vehicle stopped and shut off.

  Omar was led inside a warm building. Over soft carpet. Across hard floors. A staircase down. The temperature dropped. The floor was still hard, but no longer as smooth as upstairs. They walked about twenty paces. Door hinges squeaked.

  “Sit.” A man’s voice.

  Omar squatted carefully until his hands behind him felt a hard surface. He sat on what felt like a metal chair.

  A door closed.

  “Hello?” Omar said.

  No answer.

  “Hey? What’s the deal? You’re just going to leave me here?”

  Nothing.

  He stood up and thought about trying to leave, but that would be stupid when he couldn’t see where he was going. He shook his head and tried to get the sack to slide off. He leaned forward and tucked his head between his knees. Shook his head again. Felt the bag slide a little. He shook harder until his head filled with pressure.

  The bag slid off and plopped to the floor.

  Excellent.

  He sat back up and looked around him, his face tingling with gravity’s effect on his blood flow. It was a plain room. Sheet-rocked and taped but not painted. Omar had spent a few weeks tasking on a paint crew that painted rooms like these every day. He wondered why no one had bothered to paint this one.

  He got up and walked to the door. Turned around and tried the knob with his hands still cuffed behind him. Locked. If he wasn’t cuffed he could probably get out of here, break through the wall. Sheetrock was pretty brittle and thin.

  Maybe he could do it anyway.

  He locked his hands with his wrists behind him, braced forearm to forearm, then tried to elbow the wall. That didn’t work, though, and he ended up hitting his funny bone.

  He stepped back and gave the wall a good side kick. His foot dented the sheet rock. Nice. He kicked it again. Again. Now that was making a good start. Again. Turned and kicked with the other leg. Good. He walked up to the hole and peeked through.

  The room on the other side was dark. Powdered chalk misted the air around the hole and made it harder to see. He sneezed. Then backed away and breathed in some clean air.

  A noise outside sent him scrambling. Should he sit? Get behind the door?

  The door opened and Omar lashed out with a kick to the man’s chest. The man stumbled back into another man, who was right behind him. The second man pulled a stunner from his buddy’s belt.

  The next thing Omar knew he was back on the chair, hooded again, and unable to move as the stun wore off. He could feel them tying his ankles together with some kind of rope.

  So much for getting away.

  Hours passed. No one came. Omar’s eyes started to sting from lack of sleep.

  He’d almost given up when he heard footsteps outside the door. He straightened in the chair. Whoever this was, the Owl had to give his best.

  The door hinges squeaked. Footsteps. Some scuffy ones, some that clicked.

  “You really did it.” A woman’s voice. “Take that off.”

  Fingers tugged at the hood over Omar’s head. Pulled it off. Before him stood the two men in black suits he’d seen before and a woman in a fo
rmal gown.

  Omar couldn’t believe it. “Luella Flynn?”

  Her lips stretched into a beaming smile. “Caught you.”

  CHAPTER

  27

  Shay? You up?” Jordan peeked through the cracked open doorway. Shaylinn was up. She’d barely slept since the men had left the previous night. And now her heart sank heavily. “You didn’t get Jemma.”

  “What makes you say that?” Jordan asked.

  “If you’d gotten her back, she’d be here right now instead of you.”

  Jordan pursed his lips. “Can’t fool you, can I?”

  Tears filled Shaylinn’s eyes at the knowledge that Jemma was still lost. “What went wrong?”

  “She wasn’t in the car. Just Luella Flynn. I guess we misread the calendar or they changed it or she really wasn’t feeling well. That’s what Luella Flynn told Levi — that Jemma wasn’t feeling well tonight.”

  Shaylinn wasn’t feeling well either. She’d been in bed for nearly three months. She wanted the pregnancy to be over. She wanted to be able to walk around.

  “Nash brought back the incubox,” Jordan said. “Ciddah’s got it in my kitchen right now, washing it. Said it needs to be clean. He only found one, so your kids are going to have to sleep head to toe or something.”

  “I’m sure they’ll manage. I’m glad Ciddah is here.”

  “Yeah, she’s not half bad,” Jordan said, coming to stand at the head of her bed.

  “Did something else happen? You’re hovering.”

  “How am I hovering?” he asked.

  “You’re standing over me. If you were relaxed, you’d have sat down by now.”

  He sat on the edge of her bed.

  “Too late. Out with it, Jordan.”

  He sighed and rubbed his face. “Omar didn’t come back, kid. He got caught, actually. Zane saw it on the cameras.”

  “Oh.” Shaylinn shuddered and folded her arms. Omar caught? Again?

  “The little maggot was finally starting to grow on me too, the way he got out of the Lowlands like that — though I guess that was really more Mason’s brain than Omar’s brawn.”

  “It was enforcers?” Shaylinn’s voice cracked, watery. She heaved in a breath.

  “Zane thinks so.”

  “What does that mean? Will he go back to the Lowlands?”

  “We don’t know.” He took hold of Shaylinn’s hand and squeezed. “You’ll be okay?”

  She shook her head and tears blurred her sight. She blinked to wash them out of her eyes, but they were instantly replaced by more. So many tears for the girl who didn’t cry.

  Jordan scooted closer and pulled Shaylinn into his arms. He held her close and rocked her. “It’s going to be all right. Know how I know?”

  Shaylinn shook her head.

  “Because you deserve every good thing. And I’m going to see that you get it.”

  Shaylinn wanted to argue with him, remind him that very few good things had happened to any of them in the past few months, but her tears overwhelmed her and all she could do was cry.

  Jordan must’ve stayed with her until she fell asleep, because when she awoke, he was gone and the room was dark. She couldn’t see the clock without the lights on, and she didn’t feel like getting out of the warm bed just to know that it wasn’t time to wake up yet — not that she could get out of bed. So she cried herself back to sleep.

  She awoke the next morning to a knock at her door. Ciddah came in, pulling something behind her. The incubator bed.

  “The boys got our incubator.”

  Shaylinn forced a smile. “I heard.”

  Ciddah rolled the clear plastic box around the foot of Shaylinn’s bed and up against the wall on Shaylinn’s left. She crouched and plugged it in.

  “I think we should keep it ready just in case. How do you feel?”

  “Angry.”

  “I know, femme. I’m so sorry. And I know it’s hard for you to hear this, but you have to let it go for now. Find a way to relax. Severe emotional stress can trigger preterm labor. So try not to think too much about it. I guess that’s impossible, though, huh?”

  “Have you stopped thinking about Mason?”

  Ciddah sighed and fell into a slouch. “I see your point.”

  “I’ll think I’ll go back to sleep for a while,” Shaylinn said. “Then I don’t have to think about anything.”

  “Okay. Send one of the boys if you need me.”

  “I will.”

  And Ciddah left.

  But sleep would not come to Shaylinn that day. She got up to use the bathroom and found her bed sheets spotted with blood.

  Panicked, she pulled the bedcovers over the stains to hide them and walked to the door. She opened it. Could see two heads on the couch. “Hello? Is Ciddah still here?”

  The heads moved, and the faces of Joey and Weiss peeked at her over the back of the couch.

  “She left,” Joey said.

  “I need her,” Shaylinn said. “Can you fetch her for me?”

  “We can do it. Let’s go, Weiss.”

  The boys ran to the front door and were soon gone. They’d left the front door wide open, though. Shay crept out from her room, inching over the old rug. She closed the door, then started back to her room. Halfway around the couch she felt the familiar, slow spasm of a contraction.

  Oh no.

  There was very little pain. No more than a minor headache, and it was soon gone. Still, Shaylinn hobbled back to her room and climbed onto the bed, arranging herself in the position Tova had taught her. “Not yet, babies. Ciddah said thirty-two weeks. So you go back to sleep.”

  But the contractions did not stop. Another came just as Ciddah arrived with Naomi and Aunt Mary.

  “Oh, honey,” Naomi said, taking in Shaylinn’s position.

  “It helped last time,” Shaylinn said.

  But thirty minutes later, the contractions were still coming and Shaylinn gave up trying to stop them. They were stronger now too, like the pulsing throb of a major headache. Ciddah helped her roll to her back and tucked her in.

  “We should check you,” she said. “And, Naomi, please help me keep track of the contractions.”

  “Shay, where do you keep your paper and pencils?”

  “In the drawer.”

  Naomi whisked out writing utensils and Ciddah set about “checking” Shaylinn to see whether babies were on their way or not.

  “Well?” Naomi asked, pencil and paper ready as if she needed to write something down.

  Ciddah looked pale. “Not yet.”

  “What do you mean?” Shaylinn asked. “What’s wrong?”

  “Oh, nothing, Shaylinn, don’t worry. It’s just . . . With Kendall, the baby was already coming. To be honest, I’m not sure what I’m looking for. They don’t teach this in medic school, since labor in the Safe Lands is a simple surgical procedure.”

  Ciddah didn’t know what she was looking for?

  The door opened then and in came Penny and Nell, squealing about babies to hold. Shaylinn stopped worrying for a while, and soon her room was a flurry of noise. More had come: Chipeta, Eliza, and Aunt Mary. Which made it five women looming over her bed, arguing over who should “deliver” the babies, while Penny and Nell played with the incubator.

  “I’m delivering them,” Ciddah said. “I am her medic and have been from the start.”

  “But you’ve never done this before, right?” Aunt Mary asked. “And you admit you don’t even know what to look for.”

  “I’ve not done it on my own, no,” Ciddah said. “I’ve assisted. With Elyot.”

  “You should have seen Harvey and Elyot today,” Naomi said to Chipeta. “We had them on the floor and they were cooing to each other.”

  “I think Chipeta should do it,” Aunt Mary said.

  “Well, I’ve never done it either,” Chipeta said. “Eliza, why don’t you run and see if any of the Jack’s Peak women have experience birthing babies.”

  Shaylinn heard the clump of the door, w
hich must have been Eliza leaving. But all she could see from her position was a wall of women circling her bed. “We already decided.” Shaylinn panted, surprised that uttering only three words would leave her winded. “Ciddah is going to.”

  “But that was when we thought Jemma would be back,” Aunt Mary said. “Jemma and Ciddah as a team is perfect, but alone . . .”

  “I am capable,” Ciddah said. “Once they start coming, I know exactly what to do.”

  Shaylinn didn’t like this at all. They’d made a plan, but without Jemma, everything was messed up.

  The door opened and closed again. “I’m here, Shayleen. Let me see you.” Tova. She pushed through the crowd and up to Shaylinn’s beside. She smiled down at Shaylinn, and brushed her hair back from her cheek. “Oh, yes. They are coming today, aren’t they? Now you will see, Shayleen, with all of your letters. Pfft. Now you will learn the real hard work of a woman.”

  Shaylinn wanted to spit back an angry retort, but another contraction came, this one surprisingly strong. It felt like a giant had picked her up in his hand and squeezed.

  Tova took her hand. “You must breathe. In and out. That’s right.” She brushed her hair back again. “Medic. How far along is she?”

  “We don’t know,” Ciddah said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t know what to look for.” Ciddah winced. “I missed that part of Elyot’s birth.”

  “Okay, listen up!” Tova yelled. “Everyone leaves but the medic and one other.” She looked to Shaylinn. “Who do you want to stay?”

  “Naomi,” Shaylinn said.

  “Okay, Naomi, fetch two large bowls of warm water and towels. Ladies, help her. Medic, you have some materials? Show me.”

  The room cleared out, and Ciddah pulled a box up on the foot of the bed. Tova looked through it, selected a few things.

  Naomi returned with one bowl of water and a pile of towels draped over her arm. Chipeta held the door for her as she carried them in and set the bowl and towels on the desk. Naomi left and shut the door behind her.

  “Medic, we wash our hands first.” Tova waved Ciddah to the bowl and washed and dried her hands. Ciddah did the same.