Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Book Description
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Author’s Note
COPYRIGHT
Book Description
When Jordi finds out his brother is still alive, he isn't sure whether to strangle or hug him. By faking his own death, Darius Roberts set his brother Jordi on the path that led him through danger but ultimately brought him to the truth.
But knowing the truth isn’t the same as knowing what do. Darius wants Jordi to lead an aerial attack on the government’s mothership, but the last time Jordi was in a plane, he cracked under pressure.
As World War 97 grinds to an end, is World War 98 inevitable—or can Jordi break the cycle?
Part 5 of a 5-part serial. Each part is around sixty pages long.
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Chapter 1
The grass tickled my toes, and it felt wonderful. I walked barefoot through the trees, savoring the sensations. The breeze ruffled my clothes and hair, rays of sunlight fought their way through a maze of branches and leaves to momentarily dazzle my eyes, and bees buzzed past my ears. Worries crowded at the back of my mind, but I kept them at bay. I wanted to just enjoy being on the surface of the planet.
It was hard to imagine being horrified at the idea of coming to the surface, the way most people living in the undercities were. But just the day before, this area had been a place of terror. Only after the Bolivar had left could I enjoy the combined smells of tree sap, flower petals, and wet earth. I took a deep breath through my nose, and releasing it, I smiled. I had thought I knew something of the surface, and I did, compared to most who lived in the undercities. I had flown over it so many times, but seeing it from a distance hadn’t come close to preparing me for experiencing it—just as video pictures hadn’t prepared me for actually seeing it.
I picked a leaf from a tree as I passed and rolled it between my fingers, then I threw the little pieces up into the air and watched them float in the wind. I laughed for absolutely no reason then ran, spreading my arms wide so my palms slapped against tree trunks and branches. I stopped suddenly when I reached the tree line.
I looked up and up, astonished by how big the skyscrapers looked. Seeing them from above didn’t do justice to their size. They must have been extraordinary when they stood whole. I sat down on the grass and turned my face upward so the sun warmed it. I hadn’t been able to appreciate any of this the day before, when Arianne and I were running for our lives. And I doubted I would have much longer to appreciate it. Not too far away, Celeste had organized a crew to repair part of a street and turn it into a runway.
I stood and walked back to the camp, allowing the worries to return to the forefront of my mind. Everything had happened as Burnett and the other INSH leaders had agreed upon during the Grand Council meeting. When I arrived the night before, I’d found out that China had entered the fray, taking Latino, Indian, and Russian troops by surprise. The European and American forces had regrouped, and their enemies were in full retreat. This morning, the Bolivar had absorbed all its fighters back into its belly and fled southward. The most recent news bulletins carried increasingly strong rumors of peace negotiations.
Just before arriving at the camp, I had to quickly step off the path to make way for two people carrying a large drill. They were jogging, despite the weight they carried. Just as it had been all morning, the camp was a hive of activity. Something big was happening. Could what Arianna had told me be true? Was Celeste intending to attack the Conference?
When I’d checked on Arianne earlier, she was in a medical tent, sleeping. She seemed in good hands; they had more advanced medical technology than I would have expected. I wanted to check on her again, but first, I needed to find out what was going on. After seeing the row of fighter planes, I was pretty sure I had figured out why Darius had gotten me involved with Celeste. They wanted me to fly a plane for them. I wasn’t going to just do what I was told, though; I wanted answers.
I hadn't seen Darius since the night before, when I’d punched him, and Zirconia hadn’t come to see me. I tried to grab the attention of passersby, but person after person blew past me. I finally got the attention of one woman, who pointed out the command tent. A guard was waiting outside. When I gave my name, he stuck his head inside the door flap and, after a brief consultation, allowed me in. Darius and Zirconia were inside, facing each other awkwardly.
They looked as though they’d just been arguing and didn’t immediately acknowledge my presence. Darius broke the uncomfortable silence, turning to me with his hands in the air. “I surrender,” he told me. “You don’t have to beat me again.” He grinned, and I was unable to resist smiling back. His charm had always been infectious, and since I had recovered from my initial shock, I was glad to see him. I opened my arms, he closed the distance between us, and we embraced, thumping each other’s backs.
“It’s great you are still alive and well,” I said.
“Good to be alive, big brother. Feels good to be alive. Though for how long, who knows. Things are moving fast, and the risks that have to be faced will mount.”
“What are you doing here, Jordi?” Zirconia asked, interrupting us.
I released Darius and stepped back. “In this tent or in this camp?”
“Are you here to help us?” she asked.
“Would I be here otherwise? I saw the planes. And I know that you’re preparing a runway. Tell me what’s going on.”
Zirconia and Darius shared a look, and something unspoken passed between them.
“It seems that you know most of what’s to come,” Darius said. “I had a chat with Arianne a short while ago. We might as well tell you the rest.”
“She’s awake?” I took a half step toward the door then stopped. I could see her after, and I might not get the chance to meet with Darius and Zirconia later. “I know infinitely more than I did a week ago. But I still don’t know nearly enough. For example, I still have no idea how you came back from the dead, little brother.”
“That was both tricky and easy. We developed technology that allows us to control planes from the ground. When Transport One entered the launch tube, my men and I exited the plane and snuck into a compartment in the wall of the tube. We hid until the chaos of the battle allowed us to steal a different transport and get away.”
Controlling planes remotely, I thought. INSH weren’t the only ones with advanced tech they weren’t sharing. “Everyone on Transport One was part of Celeste?”
“Most,” Darius said. “Those who weren’t had to be killed. Their bodies were left on the transport.”
Just like that, I thought, shocked by how matter-of-factly Darius talked about committing murder. I would have expected such a tone from Zirconia, but not from him. I took a mental note to remember that despite his charm, Darius was every bit as cold-blooded as our mother. “And what happens now? Arianne mentioned an attack.”
“She shouldn’t have told you that,” Zirconia said. “You are not one of us.”
“Perhaps he should be.” Darius turned to me. “Do you want to be?”
“How can I know?” I asked. “I don’t even know what you’re doing—or why. What’s this madness about an attack on the Conference?”
Darius and Zirconia glanced at each other again.
Darius broke the unspoken communication. “We have to
trust him. He’s family.”
“Family who was sleeping with the enemy,” Zirconia said. “Family who has had long chats with both Burnett and Larsen recently. Family who ran away when I was trying to protect him and ended up in Burnett’s lair. Family who has never been a part of Celeste.”
“And whose fault is that?” I asked. “I was tricked into marrying a Bureau agent because the Roberts family was under suspicion. Following Darius’s breadcrumbs put me in Larsen and Burnett’s path. And I’ve never been invited to be part of the family secret. I just discovered all this shit. And since I found out, my wife tried to arrest me, and in the struggle, I ended up having to kill her. I’ve been chased up and down Under Nyork and almost been killed several times. Plus, I’ve just physically carried one of your members out of the undercity and saved her from enemy V-Tips. I don’t see how my loyalties are in doubt.”
“You see?” Zirconia said to Darius. “Nothing about his talks with Burnett. That man is a smooth operator who would have tried to recruit him—and Jordi didn’t think to mention that. And as for Arianne, he has other reasons for saving her, just as she had her reasons for rescuing him.”
“We have absolutely no reason to doubt Arianne’s loyalty,” Darius said.
“I’m just pointing out that Jordi bringing Arianne back to us was not in the cause of Celeste. He had more primitive motives. We have no particular reason to trust that he hasn’t been corrupted by Burnett’s silken words.”
“Let me prove myself. I can fly one of the planes.” Why did I say that? I had come intending to refuse to help them. “I assume that’s why I was involved at all, why you brought me in at the end. Jordi wasting his life flying for the ACM finally comes in handy.”
“We have pilots. We don’t need you,” Zirconia said.
“Of course you need me. That’s why Darius sent me searching for his hologram message.”
Darius shook his head. “That wasn’t the reason. Zirconia never wanted you involved and never shared why, and I made that decision on my own. I kept an eye on your military record and knew you were floundering along. I knew the key moment for Celeste was arriving. We were once a good team. And I couldn’t just leave you on the Eisenhower, knowing that it would be attacked and possibly destroyed. I left you a trail to finding the truth, including asking Arianne to give you some details, but only if you decided you wanted to know. Only by actively pursuing the truth did you end up here right now. That’s why I didn’t tell you everything at once. I didn’t want to force you to get involved since I knew the danger.”
“Danger,” I said. “That’s a bloody understatement.”
“I didn’t expect things to go as badly as they have for you. I didn’t know your wife was working for the other side and that Larsen and the mibs would get involved. I’m sorry about that.”
“You’re sorry. He’s sorry. Everybody’s sorry,” Zirconia said. “Sorrys don’t change anything. We are where we are, and we have to deal with the here and now.”
“Give me a plane. Let me prove I can be trusted.” Why do I want them to trust me? Even as I asked myself the question, I knew the answer. From the moment I’d seen the row of fighters, I’d felt the pull. Even while thinking I would never take part in such a foolhardy attack, I’d sensed a chance to redeem myself. And I might not get another one. Flying planes was a huge part of who I was, and I didn’t want my last flight to have been an abject humiliation. I still hadn’t fully figured out whether Celeste was a better option than INSH, but I wanted to be at the heart of the final battle, to see this thing through.
“I accepted the challenge Darius laid down,” I continued, “and now I’m here and willing to help. Yes, Burnett tried to convert me, and yes, he’s persuasive, but I decided to leave with Arianne and come join Celeste. Now tell me the plan—and I hope it’s a better one than Arianne had when she decided to rescue me.”
Darius and Zirconia looked at each other for a long moment. Then Zirconia gave a sharp nod.
“There’s no guarantees, big brother, but we do have a plan. It’s happening tomorrow afternoon. Devastators from every superpower are going to a meeting point in the middle of the Atlantic to agree on peace terms. The American Conference is sending the Roosevelt, and possibly Sam Burnett will be on board. And we have hacked into the Roosevelt’s defense systems. None of their guns will work, and the tube doors won’t open. They’ll be helpless, and we intend to force them to surrender to us before reaching the peace summit.”
“And after you have control of the devastator?”
“Everyone wants peace right now. That’s why this moment is perfect. If we capture the Conference’s flagship devastator, and hopefully the present leader in Burnett, the rest of the Conference will fall in line.”
Their plan had a million holes. “And what if Burnett doesn’t surrender?” One of the core principles of INSH was that each superpower had to cooperate with INSH or be destroyed. “And I doubt the other superpowers will fall in line so quickly, peace or no peace.”
“You want to lead Celeste now, is that it?” Zirconia asked. “You professed loyalty to our cause not two minutes ago, and now you think you know better than us? Did you question your superior’s orders when you were in the ACM?”
“Let us handle the details,” Darius said. “We’ve spent years preparing for this moment. You’ll have to have faith in our leadership. Good flying out there, soldier.”
I repeated the phrase, slightly modified, in my mind. Good dying out there, soldier.
Chapter 2
Arianne wasn’t in her bed when I went to the medical center. She hadn’t been cleared for release, and the nurses didn’t know where she was. I got directions to Arianne’s quarters, which turned out to be a compartment of one of the bigger tents. I ducked inside, and there she was.
I felt a surge of joy at seeing her looking healthy again. After what we’d been through, it was a miracle we were both alive. She wore T-shirt and shorts, and her thigh was heavily bandaged. Her long black hair was tussled up with bits sticking out at all angles.
“You’re still supposed to be in the medical center.”
“The doctors are a load of old women. I’m fine. I don’t like to lie around when I don’t have to.”
The confined space and low roof on the tent created the claustrophobia that my quarters on the Eisenhower had, though it lacked the smell of ripe tomatoes.
“May I sit?” I asked, gesturing to the small bunk that took up half the compartment.
“Be my guest.” Arianne swept various articles of clothing off the bed, flinging them onto a pile in the corner.
“You seem to have collected a lot of junk.” I sat. “Have you been living here since you went rogue?”
“Pretty much.” Arianne sat down beside me. “It’s not junk, though.” She leaned over and picked a piece of clothing from the pile. “This is…” She held it up and turned it one way, then the other. “Okay, I’m not even sure which way is up on this.” She laughed. “But there’s a nice light-blue dinner dress in there somewhere. That’ll be useful for the victory banquet when we win. And there’s a pair of walkie-talkies somewhere, and here…” She pulled a black boot from under the bed. “This is solid footwear, perfect for revolutionary types, though it’s a bit big for me and I may not have the left shoe.”
I grinned. “I had forgotten what a disorganized hoarder you are. Most are staying in communal barracks. How come you have your own space?”
“It wasn’t so crowded when I first arrived. And no one has dared to kick me out yet.”
“I don’t blame them.” I studied the bandage around her leg. “Are you sure you shouldn’t still be with the doctors and nurses?”
“I’m fine.”
There was a pause, and we both looked away from each other.
“Why didn’t you tell me he was alive?” I asked.
“Initially, the plan was to gradually introduce you to our world—provided you were interested in finding out more. Then later
, there wasn’t a good time. I didn’t want you falling to pieces on me while we were trying to escape.”
“Is that how little you think of me?”
“Well, you have a history.”
I ground my teeth. “That’s going to be thrown in my face for the rest of my life, isn’t it?”
She touched my shoulder. “It was just a joke. A bad one, I know. I have seen you in action under pressure. That incident before was a one-off.”
I brushed Arianne’s hand off my shoulder. “Damn right it was a one-off. And I aim to prove it. I’m flying one of the fighters tomorrow.”
“I knew it.”
“You did?” Zirconia and Darius had convinced me that I hadn’t been brought here just because I was a pilot. Am I still being manipulated and lied to?
“Well, I hoped.” She paused. “Remember when you were in your friend’s place and you told him you weren’t on Celeste’s side? Is that still true?”
“I’ve just finished with Zirconia questioning my loyalties, and now you, too.”
“That doesn’t answer the question.”
“I’ve agreed to fly your fucking plane on a suicide mission against the Conference. Isn’t that more important than what I said when trying to get Will’s help?”
“Okay, okay, you don’t have to get mad.”
“I’m not fucking mad.”
“You are wound up tighter than a drum is what you are.” She knelt on the bed, reaching for me.
“I’m not a fucking drum.” I pulled away.
She dug her fingers into my shoulders and pulled me back. “Come on, you’ve been running around Under Nyork for days now. We are going to fight a battle tomorrow. If now isn’t the time to relax, I don’t know when is.”
I stopped fighting her, and her fingers kneaded my back muscles. She was right about the tension in them—I hadn’t had a chance to unwind. Not in a long time.
A sigh escaped me as Arianne’s fingers continued to work their magic. Tendrils of pleasure ran through my muscles. I let my worries drift away. Arianne worked her fingers down to my lower back, and I felt a caress of hot breath on my neck. Then her lips touched the corner of my shoulder.
World War 97 Part 5 Page 1