The Last Tree

by Denise Getson

  “You’re not playing fair,” I whisper.

  He grips my chin gently, his eyes settling briefly on my lips. Then he lets go and turns toward the cave opening.

  “It is a shame you are so important to the world,” he says softly.

  I want him to say, “And to me,” but he doesn’t.

  “If I’m not back by dark, you need to leave here—immediately, as soon as the sun goes down. Get as far away as you can. You’ve got the supplies Tuck collected, plus the new cache information. Leave your mark as you go, and I’ll catch up with you when I can.”

  “That won’t be necessary,” says a tired voice.

  I whirl and see Tuck limp through the narrow cave opening. In seconds, we’re at his side. I remove his pack as J.D. slips an arm around his waist and half carries him to the back of the cave. Tuck’s face bears the strain of a sleepless night—and something more.

  “Tamara?” I ask.

  “Arrested,” he replies hoarsely.

  I bring him a canteen of water. He takes a deep swallow before speaking but shakes his head at the offer of a protein bar. J.D. and I sit across from him and wait.

  “After I finished my search on the Nets, I went to the rendezvous point, like we’d agreed. I expected Tamara to be there waitin’ for me. She wasn’t, which irritated me. I figured she’d bumped into another old friend of hers and stopped to chit-chat.” He takes another swallow of water, stares at the ground as he speaks. “And yeah, I know she’s been sad since Shay died, so you don’t have to tell me I was bein’ hard on her. But I was antsy. When I couldn’t take another second of waitin’, I slipped around to the AgTech labs to look for her. The labs were quiet, too quiet. So I snuck into one of the study halls where the students gather. A group was talkin’ about some stranger who’d been arrested. It wasn’t clear how much talk was fact and how much was simply kids kickin’ around a bit of unexpected drama in their day.” He wipes a hand over his face. “My takeaway from their chatter was that the card key Tam used on the lab door triggered an alert in their system.”

  “It was Eric’s old passkey,” I tell him. “I used it yesterday without any problem.”

  “True. And since you was able to enter the lab, it seems to me they never deactivated it, either out of laziness or neglect—or what I betcha is more likely, out of a plan to see if someone might return and use it one day.”

  “And lead them to Eric’s research.”

  “It makes sense,” J.D. says. “Security may have been lax yesterday because everyone was caught up in the news that water had been discovered in the old lakebed. But if that card key generated a red flag on an activity log of lab entries and exits, a guard may have noticed it and gotten suspicious. They could have been waiting for Tamara.” His voice is calm, but I detect a note of strain.

  “I should have seen the danger,” I mutter, thinking out loud. “Especially when I discovered Dr. Gallagher was moving her equipment out of the lab. That’s exactly when the security office would have been changing codes or issuing new keys. They may have been doing their normal transition entries and seen something out of the ordinary.”

  Tuck has dropped his head. He raises a hand and presses it against his eyes. I look at J.D. He knows Tuck better than I do. He’ll know if we should be worried about him. After a minute, Tuck drops his hand and gazes at us, his face without emotion. It’s jarring to see Tuck close down. He is the extrovert of our little group and usually the most optimistic. “There’s one good thing in this messed up situation,” he tells us.

  “What’s that?”

  “Tamara was wearin’ Kira’s disguise,” he says flatly, “so if any security cameras caught Kira enterin’ or leavin’ the lab facilities the other day, there’s ev’ry reason for them to believe Tamara’s the same person. In that dark wig, viewed over security video, she and Kira would be a match set.”

  “In which case, they won’t be looking for the rest of us,” J.D. concludes.

  “Tamara will follow that line of thinking herself.” I put myself in her shoes, try to imagine what she’ll do. “She’ll make sure the guards keep the focus of their inquiry on her. Before they even asked what she was doing there, I bet she let slip the fact that it was her second entry into the lab. She’d know to make it sound like she was persisting in a search for something she placed in there after Eric died.”

  “It’s a credible scenario.” J.D. turns to Tuck. “Did you get anything on her current location?”

  “Nah. I weren’t able to access the security tapes,” he mutters. Absently, he rubs his leg. “Once I knew those AgTech kids were talkin’ ’bout Tam, I scrammed to the Public Safety Office.”

  “Can they charge her with breaking and entering?” I ask. “Since Eric’s key was never confiscated after his death, she could argue it was legitimately hers to use. The fact that it hadn’t been deactivated might support her claim. Tamara’s a quick thinker. I’m sure she’ll come up with a reasonable explanation for why she stashed the data drive in the lab.”

  “She might tell them she was grieving after her husband died and not in her right mind,” speculates J.D. He stands and moves slowly around the small space. “Maybe they’ll go easier on her if she suggests that after Eric’s death she didn’t have the emotional strength to determine what to do.”

  I listen as J.D. tries to piece together a credible scenario. It’s not difficult to continue his train of thought. “She can tell them she hid the data drive for temporary safe-keeping, just until she’d had her baby and could sort through what to do next.” It sounds believable to me. And it may have been true.

  “You two have wrapped it up all neat and tidy-like,” Tuck comments. “But without access to the security tapes, we have no idea how she’ll respond.”

  “What can she say that would convince them to release her?” I ask.

  He shrugs. “Tamara’s been interrogated. She knows how to keep her cool. But as for gettin’ released ….”

  I see Tuck reach down to massage his leg. I gesture toward my pack where the first aid kit is kept. He shakes his head. “Not serious.” Nevertheless, I notice he keeps one hand pressed on the leg. “The idea that Territory officials might question Tam an’ then release her would make sense,” he says, directing his comment to me, “only if the Territory had no interest in Eric’s widow or whatever he was studyin’ before he died. I don’t think we know the answer to that, but it don’t seem likely. More importantly, we can’t ignore that Tam was interviewed by Thorne’s goons last year at Bio-4. That she has a connection to Kira will be an interestin’ detail to the Territory. Count on it.”

  “There’s no reason anyone in Bio-19 would know Tamara and I had a friendship in Bio-4,” I protest feebly, “unless she had the same interrogators both there and here.” I admit to myself this idea is not completely farfetched, especially now that I know Thorne is here.

  “It doesn’t work that way, Kira,” J.D. says, touching my shoulder. I know he and Tuck have been in and out of detention multiple times. If anyone understood the territory judicial system, it would be them. “Once a person is in the database, for any reason, that information is always one key stroke away. As soon as they take Tamara’s retina scan, fingerprints, voice print—it doesn’t matter—the system will connect her to the official interrogation notes from Bio-4, which will connect her to you.”

  For a moment, I can’t speak. “But they won’t suspect she’s been traveling with us, right?” I croak. “An old connection is a lot different than a current connection.” I can hear the desperation in my voice and know they can too. “The last thing Thorne knew was that you and I left Tamara behind when we departed Bio-4. Her coming back to search for her husband’s lost data drive is unrelated to us.”

  His eyes are kind. “Don’t you think they’ll find it odd that she showed up in Bio-19 the same week water was discovered in Lost Lake? At the very least, you have to admit it would indicate we’re in communication with her.”

  “Aagh!” I
can’t hold back my scream, and I pound the ground in frustration. “You’re right. And Thorne will want to use her,” I admit, my voice cracking, “to get to me.” He’d tried something similar once before, using J.D. as the leverage. Why should this be any different?

  No one speaks for a long moment. Everyone knows that if one of us is in danger, we’re all in danger.

  “Do you think they’ll keep her here in Bio-19?” I finally think to ask.

  Tuck sends me a look. The emotions he’s been pressing down are starting to rise to the surface. I can feel his frustration and, simmering below that, anger. “I betcha Thorne wants Tam with him—wherever he’s gonna be. Somethin’ will leak about it on the Nets. I betcha we only have to wait a day or two. He’ll want to make sure you know exactly where Tam can be found. That’s how he gets to you.”

  6

  The next morning, I pull an elastic bandage out of my pack and hand it to Tuck. After I was injured in the mountains last year, I began keeping first aid supplies with me at all times. With so many toxins in the soil, even a scraped knee can be lethal. I always have disinfectant and antiseptic ointment, bandages and slings. They don’t take much room.

  “It’s only a muscle strain,” he says tightly.

  “And you’re walking back to Bio-19 to check the Nets. Why risk making it worse?”

  He takes the bandage.

  J.D. wants to go to Bio-19 in his place, but Tuck and I convince him it’s too risky. With Thorne in town and Tamara captured, there’s bound to be a focus on me, and that means a focus on J.D. Thorne knows we’re inseparable. Right this minute, he probably has security cameras running facial scans throughout the dome to try and identify one of us. Tuck, even slowed down by a pulled muscle, is still the safest choice.

  J.D. and I do not dare go outside the cave, not now. Restlessly, we attempt to practice our fighting forms, but I’m unable to concentrate, and J.D. eventually gives up. In spite of my worry about Tamara, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about J.D.’s kisses. There’s a tension between us that wasn’t there before, but I know we need to keep our focus if we’re to rescue Tamara. So, we pace. We do our own exercises quietly and intently—pushups and sit-ups, and when we’re both exhausted, we sit and whisper quietly until I doze off. When I awaken, head nestled against J.D.’s shoulder, Tuck still isn’t back. Even with his limp, I hadn’t thought it would take this long.

  I gaze at J.D., biting my lip. I don’t know what to say.

  “Tuck has always come through for me,” he says quietly. “If he’s taking additional time, it’s because he’s doing something that can help us.”

  It’s nearly dark when we hear movement outside. In seconds, we’re on our feet and on alert. Tuck limps inside the cave with a half smile on his face.

  “I got it!” he says, his voice containing a trace of his familiar lilt. “Thorne didn’t take any chances. The same message was posted on every blog and chat thread connected to any conversations about Lost Lake being filled with water.”

  “Let’s hear it,” I demand.

  Tuck had typed it exactly as he’d found it. “To the girl with the pink flower: I missed seeing you at Lost Lake. Nevertheless, it was a pleasure to run into one of your old friends. She’s agreed to stay with me in order that we may become better acquainted. You are welcome to join us at my abode. Feel free to bring the boyfriend. We’ll have a nice long chat. Hugs, LT.”

  “Hugs!” I rage. “Seriously? Is this his idea of a joke?”

  “Not exactly subtle,” comments J.D.

  “He don’t need to be,” Tuck says. “He’s having fun with us. It tells us what we need t’know and nothing more. To the casual reader, the note might be viewed as unusual, but not alarmin’ in any way—and not particularly revealin’.”

  “So he’s expecting us to just come running ….”

  Tuck eases himself to the ground. “He’s not expectin’ me,” he observes.

  “That’s something.”

  J.D. and I exchange glances, communicating silently. Tuck whistles softly under his breath, giving us a minute to process the information he’s had all day to consider.

  “What are you thinking?” J.D. asks me. “Confront Thorne? Make a deal?”

  “I broke one deal, when you and I were captives at Slag. He’ll never trust me to keep another one. No … I’ve been considering something else, but it’s awful.”

  He watches me, saying nothing.

  Fingers twisting, I share an idea that’s been forming in my head since Tuck returned from the dome without Tamara. “I suspected Thorne might take Tamara to UTC headquarters. It’s where he’s the safest, the most protected.”

  “I agree.”

  “I’ve never been there, but I’ve read about it. The UTC headquarters are located completely underground. A nearby desalinization plant provides their fresh water, which is stored in tanks both aboveground and below the surface. The idea occurred to me because earlier Tuck mentioned that someone in Bio-19 offered him munitions.” I hesitate. “I thought we could blow up the desalinization plant and all the water tanks.”

  “Leave Thorne without water?”

  “Leave everyone without water,” I snap impatiently. “They’ll have to make a trade. If they give us Tamara, then I’ll provide them with a new fresh water source.” I pause, almost choking on the words that come next. “Otherwise, everyone dies.”

  J.D. won’t look at me, but he nods thoughtfully. I want him to look at me. I want to see if he looks at me differently, now that he knows how terrible, how merciless I can be. “It’s inventive. Slightly diabolical. There’s just one problem with this idea,” he says.

  “What?”

  He glances up now, holds my gaze. “Thorne knows you. He knows you have a tender heart. And we know he doesn’t. So all he has to do is put Tamara on a transport and get out of there. He doesn’t care if the residents at HQ die. But it won’t matter, because he knows you do care. He’ll call your bluff in an instant. Then you’re stuck creating a sustainable water supply for the government, and we don’t have Tamara or any leverage. We’ve got zilch.”

  “We’ll blow up his transports too,” I say recklessly.

  “It doesn’t matter. With his connections, how long do you think it will take for someone to rescue him? It’s easy for him to find a way out, Kira, leaving everyone else stuck. The other residents won’t have the resources that he can call upon to save himself.”

  I consider his words. When it came right down to it, could I follow through on my idea if it meant even one person might die of dehydration? After a moment, I puff out the breath I’ve been holding. No, I could not. Thorne would know that.

  I resist the urge to punch something. “That was my only idea.”

  “We have to consider another direction. Think stealth. We have to get in and get Tamara without Thorne realizing we’re even in the area. That means we’ve got work to do here before we can leave. How many days will it take to reach HQ?”

  Tuck starts to speak, but I cut him off. “Forty days, give or take,” I say, calculating quickly. We’ve walked so much over the past year; it’s easy to gauge time when I know the distance. Briefly, I speculate how much Tuck’s sore leg might slow us down. We may have to add a week to that total. J.D.’s next question distracts me.

  “Tuck, is your leg strong enough to return to the dome tomorrow? We need you back on the Nets.”

  “It’s no problem,” he says, “but ….”

  “We’ll map cache information based on our new destination.”

  Tuck gives a sharp shake of his head. “It’s not an issue.”

  “Good man.”

  “There’s somethin’ I haven’t—”

  “We’re all going to need disguises,” I mutter, processing the new plan. “Tamara took my wig. We’re going to need something that can fool the security cameras at HQ. Facial reconstruction will have to be part of it.” I glance at Tuck. “Can you pull together hair and prosthetics—dentures maybe,
and putty?”

  “ ’Course, but—”

  “We need maps of everything,” I continue, picking up steam. “See if you can get the floor plans for HQ and surrounding utilities, and access to security cameras if you can manage it. Even if we’re not blowing up their water supply, I still think we should take munitions, just in case.” I honestly cannot believe the words that are coming out of my mouth. I am actually planning to travel with explosives in my pack.

  “There’s somethin’—”

  “Do we have enough credits for this?”

  “Stop! If you’d let me get a word in.” Tuck’s face is mulish, his eyes hot. “Yer not sayin’ anythin’ I haven’t considered. It’s covered. All I need is the final supply list. My contact will get us whatever we need.”

  I give him a quizzical look.

  He gazes back defiantly.

  Crossing my arms, I shoot him a frosty expression intended to intimidate. “Your ‘contact?’ Maybe this would be a good time to fill us in, seeing as how you’ve already got everything ‘covered,’ and I’m still figuring out exactly what it is we need.”

  “It’s why I was so late gettin’ back. As soon as I saw Thorne’s message, I figured what we’d need for a rescue. It took me awhile to get it sorted. I been working the underground markets a long time, Kira. I got people who know people in pretty much ev’ry biosphere. You have to in order to get goods movin’ where you need ’em. And I found a guy who can take us.”

  “Take us?”

  “He’s a legitimate transporter, smuggles a bit on the side—nothin’ fancy—but he’s got a trip to HQ already on his docket. So we don’t have to walk. He’s got connections here in the dome and at HQ and swears he can get us whatever we need.”

  I’m silent for a moment, connecting the dots. I don’t know everything about Tuck’s background, but I did know he’d been smuggling in several territories before he’d joined us. Naturally, he’d have connections. Feeling more optimistic, I turn to J.D. “Do you know what this means? We’ll show up weeks before Thorne’s expecting us, which adds the element of surprise. We might even be able to reach Tamara before Thorne thinks to lock her down for safekeeping.”