Rebels

by Jill Williamson

  Shaylinn glanced at Omar.

  He was staring at them, eyes liquid with tears that had yet to fall. “They’re so small.”

  “They came early.”

  He glanced at her. “They’re okay?”

  “Seem to be. They can’t eat on their own yet, so that’s been a challenge, but they’ve already grown some since they were born.”

  “They have?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Did you name them?”

  “I accidentally named the girl Rosie because of how pink she is. I know that’s kind of close to Rosalie, so . . .” She shrugged. “I’m not set on it. And I hadn’t named the boy yet because I was trying to think what you might name him.”

  He smiled at her and took hold of her hand. “What had you thought of?”

  “Well, I thought maybe Eli after Papa Eli, but I know Papa Eli didn’t like anyone naming their kids after him.”

  Omar nodded. “He thought everyone deserved a fresh start in the world with no expectations to live up to.”

  “So then I thought maybe Nicolas, after the Owl from the comic book you like so much.”

  He laughed, a low and surprised chuckle. “After Detective Nick Terry?”

  “Yeah.”

  “How do you even know who Nick Terry is?”

  “You left your comic in the meeting hall once. I read it.”

  “Wow. Okay. Yeah. Let’s name him Nicolas, then. It’s a good name.”

  Yay. Shaylinn felt happy that they had agreed on that. “And Rosie?” She wrinkled her nose.

  “I like Rosie, but it’s really close to Rosalie, like you said. What if that’s her middle name?”

  “Okay. Does Nicolas need a middle name too?”

  “Elias, whether Papa Eli likes it or not.” He winked.

  Shaylinn squeezed his hand. “Then what will be her first name?”

  “What about Coraline or Cerise or Carmine? Those are shades of pinkish red. Or we could call her Ruby.”

  “Ruby Rose?” Shaylinn shook her head at that one. “I like Cerise. That really means pink?”

  “More red than pink. It’s French for cherry.”

  “It is? Oh, I like that. She is a little cherry. Just look at her nose.” Shaylinn leaned close to the incubator.

  Omar leaned with her. “She’s beautiful. Just like her mama.”

  Shaylinn turned her head fully to face Omar. “I’m fat again.”

  “Hey, don’t say those things.” He gripped Shaylinn’s shoulder, closed his eyes, leaned toward her, and kissed her . . . forehead?

  He pulled back, staring into her eyes, then leaned in and softly kissed her lips.

  Shaylinn felt like her insides had caught on fire. “Omar.”

  “I know. I don’t have the right. I should have asked first.”

  “It’s not that. But I’m afraid you’ll disappear again. I don’t think my heart can take it. And I don’t want you to feel like you have to be with me. Like you’re obligated or something.”

  “That’s not how I feel.”

  “Then how do you feel?”

  He sighed and looked at the babies. “I’m uncertain. About everything.” He glanced at her. “I want to be a good father. But I’m afraid I’ll mess it up. And I want to take care of you, but I’m . . . well, afraid I’ll mess it up. Tomorrow I’m going to be the Owl one last time, because someone has to go back to the Lowlands to expose liberation for what it really is. And that’s going to be dangerous. But if everything works out, well, I don’t know if you’ll like my plans, but I’m going to stay inside the Safe Lands.”

  Oh no. The words seemed to make everything fall. “You are?”

  “If I can. Shay, I didn’t tell you, but . . . I tried to kill myself when I was in the Lowlands. Not that long ago, actually. It was dumb, but I was tired of hurting. And, well, I didn’t die. So I figure God gave me another chance to do something important.”

  Kill himself? Shaylinn’s eyes flooded with tears. “What are you going to do?”

  He blushed then, from his cheeks and down his neck. “Don’t laugh, but I was thinking of starting a church.”

  In a million guesses, Shaylinn would never have guessed that. “Like, in a building? With bells?”

  He squirmed a little. “I don’t know. Maybe. I don’t think I can do it by myself, though. I’d like your help.”

  “My help? Why?”

  “Because you see people, Shay. And I want our church to be a place where people can come and be seen. To feel accepted the way they are. And to get help and support if they need it.”

  “So I’d . . . talk to people?”

  “Maybe. I haven’t really thought it through. Only that I wanted your help. If you wanted to, of course.”

  She looked at her babies. “I think I’d like that.”

  He smiled, leaned in to kiss her again.

  But Shaylinn pulled back. “Omar. Don’t you want to ask how I feel about you?”

  His hair fell in his eyes and he pushed it back over his head. “How do you feel about me, Shay-Shay?”

  She pursed her lips, trying to look tough. “I’m completely infatuated with you. But I’m a mother now, and I have to be smart and look after my children first. And I’ve seen so many good things from you. But I’ve also seen a lot of poor decisions. Like trying to kill yourself! Really? I just . . . need to know who you really are before I make any commitments.”

  “I understand.”

  Really? “You do?”

  “Yeah. And I will win you, Shay. Just see if I won’t.”

  She smiled and glanced back at the babies. “We’ll see.”

  CHAPTER

  31

  A kick to Mason’s solar plexus woke him.

  An enforcer loomed over him. “Get up.”

  Mason’s body ached. His hands were still cuffed behind him, so he used his elbows to push himself up off the concrete. His shirt made a ripping noise as the fabric peeled away from where it had stuck to the floor with dried blood. Sitting upright made fluid drain down his throat. He coughed to clear his airways.

  The enforcer kicked his thigh. “Up, I said. We’re moving you.”

  Mason’s head ached as he stood. He followed the enforcer out into the hallway, where a second enforcer was waiting. The three of them walked to the elevator, which they rode to the eighth floor. Mason recognized the interior. This was the elevator in City Hall, where he used to task. Lawten Renzor’s office was on eight.

  Sure enough, the enforcers led him from the elevator to the fancy penthouse office. Lawten was sitting behind his desk. As always, Kruse stood beside him.

  When Kruse saw Mason, his eyes lit up and he smiled. “The handsome medic is back! Hay-o, Mr. Mason.”

  “Hey,” Mason said.

  “That will be all.” Lawten pierced the enforcers with a stare that sent them scurrying from the office, leaving Mason standing alone in front of Lawten’s desk.

  Lawten turned those beady eyes on Mason. “Did you enjoy your time in the strikers’ bunkhouse?”

  “Not really, no,” Mason said.

  Lawten grunted a wheezy chuckle. “I know what they do to each other down there. As chairman of the Safe Lands Guild, I’ve seen many unpleasant things, especially in the bunkhouses.”

  “There are plenty of unpleasant things down there,” Mason said, “though I managed to avoid most of them. If you had a conscience, you’d do something about it.”

  “Where is your brother?” Lawten asked.

  “I don’t know where either of my brothers are. And if I did, I wouldn’t tell you.”

  “I see. You’ve put me in an unpleasant situation, Mr. Elias.”

  Mason almost laughed at that. Yes, Lawten was the one in an unpleasant situation.

  “Fortune must be smiling on you,” Lawten said. “But don’t think you’ll get everything you want. You’re about to find out what you lost.” He nodded to Kruse. “Do it.”

  Kruse called back the enforcers, who took Mason ou
t of the office and back to the elevator. This time, Kruse came along.

  “So you’re going to beat me again?” Mason asked.

  “Mr. Mason,” Kruse said, “much to my dismay, you’re leaving us. We can track you, of course, so do keep that in mind when you run off to your rebel friends.”

  Mason twisted around to look at Kruse. Was the man warning him?

  One of the enforcers picked up on it as well. He shot Kruse a glare. “Why’d you say that? He might have forgotten and we could have tracked him to the rebels.”

  Kruse sighed, as if the enforcer had a very small brain and often exasperated him with stupid questions. “Mr. Mason is a genius. He doesn’t need me to remind him of how SimTags work.”

  The enforcer’s eyebrows sank low over his eyes. “But — ”

  “Please don’t hurt yourself,” Kruse said.

  The elevator stopped on the ground floor, and the enforcers took Mason outside the front entrance to City Hall. A sleek black car was waiting. They loaded Mason into the backseat.

  The car didn’t go far. Three blocks later they stopped at Champion Park. The enforcers got out and dragged Mason with them. Kruse led the way across the dark, wet grass to where two other enforcers were waiting in the middle of the park.

  “Where are we going?” Mason asked.

  No one answered.

  They stopped when they reached the enforcers.

  “Have they given the signal?” Kruse asked the new enforcers.

  “Yeah, they’re waiting.”

  “Then let’s get this over with.” Kruse raised his eyebrows at Mason, who had no idea what to make of any of this. What had Lawten said again? Fortune must be smiling on him?

  One of the new enforcers tapped the Wyndo watch on his arm. His voice amplified through the watch speaker. “Levi Elias, we’re ready when you are.”

  Levi? Mason’s heart rate spiked. What was this?

  And then, about fifty feet away, Ciddah appeared, holding a baby.

  Her name came from Mason’s lips involuntarily. “Ciddah.”

  An enforcer pushed Mason’s back. “Go on. Walk toward the girl.”

  Walk? Mason started to run, which was awkward with his hands cuffed behind him. They met halfway across the expanse. The baby started to cry, and she bounced him.

  “Ciddah,” Mason said. She looked different without any Roller Paint. Her skin was flaking badly, but Mason still thought she was beautiful. “What’s going on?”

  “Are you hurt badly?” She reached up and lightly touched his cheek.

  His adrenaline was all over the place. He wanted to hug her, but his arms . . . “I’ll live.”

  “Mason, I love you. I’ve never really loved anyone before.”

  “I love you too,” he said.

  She beamed. “You do?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m sorry.” She raised up onto her toes and quickly kissed him.

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Keep moving!” the enforcer yelled through his simplified Wyndo watch.

  Ciddah stepped past him. Mason turned with her. The baby was still crying.

  “Shh.” She bounced him. A tear rolled down her cheek. “He’s trading you for me and Elyot.”

  “No! Ciddah, please. I never asked to be rescued. I got caught in the first place because I wanted you to be free.”

  “I know. But I want you to be alive. And he’ll kill you, I know he will. He won’t kill me.” She continued on, so Mason turned and walked alongside her.

  Two enforcers approached them, and the amplified voice said, “Mr. Elias, turn around or you will be shot.”

  Mason stopped, and his right foot slid on the wet grass. “It was Xiaodrine,” he called after her. “In your meds. We tested some others too. A dozen before I was taken. Some had Centralin, some had Focastat XR. Uh . . .” He struggled to remember the others. “There was also Validum, Inergia . . . uh . . . Excitare!”

  She turned around and stopped, bouncing Elyot in her arms. “Amphetamines?”

  He nodded. “Lonn thinks they might be experimenting on the population, to see what works best.”

  “Only nothing seems to be.”

  “Exactly.”

  “This is your last warning. We will shoot.”

  “I’ll never forget you,” she said.

  “I’ll get you back.”

  “Mason, please don’t risk your life for me. He’s obsessed. He’ll have you killed.”

  “I’m not afraid of him.”

  “Well, you should be.”

  Two enforcers reached Ciddah and took hold of her arms, dragged her away.

  “This isn’t over,” Mason yelled, not wanting to stop talking to her.

  Someone grabbed his arm and he pulled away.

  “Mase, it’s me.” Jordan. “We’ve got to move quickly because we know they’re going to follow us.”

  Mason felt like someone had ripped his heart out of his chest. He stumbled alongside Jordan for ten feet before he stopped cold. “I can’t go with you. My SimTag.”

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  “It’s in my neck. You can’t cut it out. They’ll track me.”

  “We know, okay. Calm down. Omar told us. We’re taking you someplace special. They can track you all they want. It won’t matter.”

  “The Technology Research Organization building?”

  Jordan snorted. “You think too much. No, this place is even better than a building with lead walls. You’re going to Luella Flynn’s apartment.”

  Jordan used a pair of bolt cutters to remove Mason’s handcuffs. As he drove Mason across the Highlands, he filled him in on what had been happening with the remnant from Glenrock.

  Shaylinn had given birth to her twins early, a boy and a girl. And Ciddah’s wisdom in locating an incubator was likely the reason they were alive and growing. Jemma was in the harem, pregnant with Lawten Renzor’s child, which Mason could not fathom a logical reason for, though Lawten had never been a very logical man. Levi had taken over Omar’s Owl patrols, another surprise. Omar had returned. And finally, Luella Flynn was going to help the rebels.

  “Are you certain we can trust her?” Mason asked.

  “It doesn’t matter. We’re not telling her anything until it goes live. That means you have to watch what you say. Don’t tell her the truth about liberation. You get me? That’s very important. We can’t have her going live with it until we’re ready.”

  If it worked as they were hoping, the idea of using Luella to broadcast the truth was brilliant. “I won’t tell her. But tell Levi that once we go live with the truth, I’ll need his help to get Ciddah back.”

  Jordan hummed as if he just remembered something important. “Ciddah thinks he’s going to take her to Wyoming. She said he mentioned that once before — that Wyoming accepts family units as immigrants or something. He’s going to be liberated in a few months, and Ciddah worries he’s going to run, using her and Elyot as his family in order to get past the immigration law.”

  “Then we’ve got to stop him!”

  “Calm down. We’ll figure it out, okay? But first, Operation Lynchpin.”

  Mason took a deep breath. He was tired of waiting. He wanted to help Ciddah now. What if Operation Lynchpin made Lawten run? What if he was leaving for Wyoming with Ciddah right now?

  Then Mason would find a way to get to Wyoming and get her back.

  Luella Flynn’s home was located in the same neighborhood as Champion House. Though the home wasn’t nearly as large, it was still massive.

  Luella herself answered the front door. “Hay-o, trig! Come on in.” She waved Mason inside.

  Mason looked back to Jordan, who was already walking to the truck. “How is this a good idea?”

  Jordan turned and walked backward for a few steps. “It’s the only idea. Zane gave her an off-grid Wyndo. We’ll tap you later and let you know where you can help tomorrow.”

  Mason nodded and turned back to face Luella. The woman was
wearing a glossy black dress that looked like a trash bag.

  “Come in! You’re letting out all the heat. Don’t you know it’s the middle of winter?”

  Mason stepped inside the house and kicked off his shoes. The floor was gray stone. The walls a light peachy color. As he followed Luella into a fancy sitting room, he took in the rusty brown drapes, dark wood furniture with pearl gray upholstery. The home was tastefully decorated, despite what its owner was wearing.

  Luella leapt into a recliner, feet first, and sat on her knees. “Have a seat, trig. You look terrible. Did Lawten’s people do that to you?”

  Mason lowered himself gently into a wing chair. “Yes.”

  “Not very chatty, are you?”

  “Just shaken. Being here. It’s not where I expected to end up today.”

  A wide smile broke out on her face. “I suppose not.” She clapped once. “So, what shall we talk about? Not liberation, of course. Though I have to say, in the history of the Safe Lands, no one has ever returned from being liberated. And now you and Mr. Strong have both returned in the same week. It’s quite extraordinary.”

  “Yes, well, how did this arrangement come to be?” Mason couldn’t imagine that Ruston or Levi would have thought to ask Luella Flynn for assistance.

  “I caught the Owl. Mr. Strong. Had him in my basement here for several hours.” She said all this as if it were the juiciest secret of the year. “He wouldn’t tell me the truth about liberation, but he promised me a video exclusive.”

  “Meaning?”

  “He’s going back to . . . wherever it is you go when you’re liberated. And when he does, I’ll be recording through his eyes.”

  Mason wondered how Omar was going to get back. Maybe he still had the hot air balloon. “Tomorrow?”

  “That’s right. And I’m going to accompany Mr. Elias and Mr. Neil to the monthly Safe Lands Guild meeting. We’ll show the Ancients and Lawten our footage of the Owl exposing liberation, then we will issue our demands. We’ll be a voice for the people.” Her eyes went wide with excitement. “It’s going to be astonishing.”