We left the meeting as soon as it ended, though I did feel Dana’s eyes on me as I walked.
We got in the car and sat in silence until we had left the area where the government buildings stood. I then turned to Clark.
“I think the elevators are best,” I said vaguely.
“I don’t think we have another option,” he agreed with a sigh.
“You don’t like them?”
“I don’t think that they’re good when a lot of people need to get somewhere,” he answered just as vaguely, both of us unsure if there were bugs inside the car.
I sighed and nodded in agreement.
“But…they seem to be the best for now,” I continued, trying to be vague.
Clark sighed and turned to me.
“I’m worried,” he admitted. “I don’t know if they will work for this. And if they fail at their job…”
I fell silent.
“But we can’t do anything without them.”
“I know, and that’s what scares me about it,” he said. “What about emergency evacuation procedures? How do we get out if there is a problem in the building and there are only elevators?”
The thought had not crossed my mind before, but I suddenly realized that there had to be an emergency stairwell of some sort just in case there was a real problem in the basement of the Commission and everyone needed to get out.
“Where is the emergency exit going to be, then?”
“I don’t know,” he shook his head. “Where is there room for it?”
“Around the offices,” I said quietly. “I think that’s the only place where it could fit.”
“So we need to see on Monday if we can fit it into the project,” Clark nodded. “Maybe we’ll be fortunate. If not, I guess we can…” he trailed off, his eyes glancing out the window behind me.
“What?” I asked nervously. He blinked and then quickly turned to Mark.
“Mark, where are we?”
Mark said nothing, not even tilting his head to show that he heard Clark.
“Oh shit…” Clark breathed, his eyes wide.
I looked out the window worriedly and saw that we were nowhere near our homes. We were closer to the entrance of the national park at the south end of Central. I felt fear grab at my being, choking me. Mark was driving us somewhere. All sorts of thoughts began to fly through my mind.
Does he know what we’re saying?
Did he figure out about the rebellion?
Is he turning us over to Dana?
Are we being captured?
“Lily…” Clark hissed, looking at me strongly, though his eyes were filled with fear. I saw him nod discreetly to the door handle. I looked between him and Mark and then slowly shifted in my seat as Clark turned to Mark.
“Mark, stop the car. I order you to stop the car!” he snapped as I carefully undid my seatbelt, preparing to throw myself out of the moving car.
Mark did not obey, and when Clark took off his seatbelt to shift forward and command Mark more forcefully, I rested my hand on the handle of the door.
“Mark!” Clark snapped.
The doors locked and I jumped at the sound, turning to look at Mark as Clark’s eyes widened.
Now, I knew we were in deep trouble.
Mark reached up with one hand and removed his glasses, glancing in the rearview mirror at us, his eyes harsh and purposeful. I shivered and shrunk in my seat as Clark backed away from the gaze. All we could do was look at one another worriedly. A few moments later, when Mark had turned his eyes back to the road, Clark carefully moved his hand over to the door to pull on the latch above the door handle to unlock the door once again.
As soon as his hand rested on the latch, Mark made a sharp turn and slammed on his breaks, turning off the headlights and startling us both, sending us flying about the back seat since we no longer had our seatbelts.
When the car had stopped completely and we had regained our bearings, I spared a glance at Mark and saw that he was holding one finger up, telling us to wait, turned around from the driver’s seat to face us in the dark car. Clark and I stared at him as his eyes darted back and forth between us. The fear in my belly was telling me to run, to get out of the car and make a break for it as quickly as my legs could carry me, but Mark reached up with his other hand and turned on the light at the front of the car, illuminating the front two seats and the radio dash.
Tearing his eyes away from us, Mark reached into his pocket and grabbed a switchblade, extending the blade and shoving it into the crack between the main dash and the black radio.
Clark took my hand and tried to pull me, telling me to open my door, but I shook my head and pulled my hand out of his.
“Look,” I hissed.
We both watched as Mark worked the knife around the plastic and finally managed to wiggle the radio out of the dash slightly. He pressed the blade into the gap and when he lifted the tip of the knife, we both saw a small microphone on the tip, attached to a wire.
Staying completely silent, we watched Mark roll down his window and then reach into his pocket again, pulling out a lighter and burning the bug. When the plastic had melted and the wire was damaged, he flicked the blade sideways and the melted bug flew into the darkness of the surrounding woods.
Mark flicked the switchblade back and rolled the window up, putting both the knife and the lighter back into his pocket before pushing the radio back into place. Then he turned to us and pressed one finger to his lips, telling us to remain quiet.
He shifted in his seat and motioned for both of us to move to each side before he awkwardly climbed over the middle console of the car and sat down in the middle of the back seat. Reaching into his pocket and pulling out his knife again, he pushed the blade into the small crack in the frosted plastic covering the light above the back seat.
Removing the cover, he stabbed the second bug planted in the light, burned it, and then tossed it out my window.
As I was rolling the window up, he leaned to the front passenger’s seat of the car, grabbing something before sitting between us again with a notebook and pen.
In shock, both Clark and I watched as Mark opened the notebook to the first page and wrote a message to us in very familiar handwriting.
“That won’t work. You can’t get everyone out by using either set of elevators in the Commission and the emergency evacuation will lead you to a parking lot where cameras feed to the National Security Council.”
I turned to Mark, my eyes wide.
“It’s you…”
Chapter Forty-One
“This entire time?” Clark gawked.
“I’m sorry I deceived you,” Mark wrote below his other message. “But I had to be sure that you would seriously try this rebellion.”
“How do you know all this? Everything on the notes? For that matter, how long have you been able to understand what we’re saying?” Clark pressed, his eyes remaining wide.
“Before I came to your family I already understood English. It’s easier for me to pretend I don’t understand because people talk around me. It allows me to learn a lot.”
“So, you’re not working for Dana?”
“No.” Mark underlined the word several times. “I hate him. I want him dead.”
“I really wish you would have told us that before you drove us to a random place,” I said, chuckling brokenly, placing a hand against my chest. “You scared me to death.”
Mark smiled and wrote “sorry” on the paper.
“Do you know a way to get the experiments out of the Commission?” Clark asked, catching Mark’s attention. “You knew which experiments we could break out, so you must have an idea for how we can break them out.”
Mark began writing quickly.
“There were old blueprints in Dana’s office that show the secret passages between the rooms. That was how I knew how to get into the records room. There are seven other secret passages, and the one that would be best to use is in the Dome.”
“The D
ome?” both Clark and I blinked.
“You mean that actually exists? It’s real?” Clank gasped, looking at Mark with a surprised expression.
“Wait, what is it?”
“Remember that one set of blueprints with the huge circle that I said was never built?” Clark asked. “Apparently, it was.”
“What is it?” I repeated.
Mark began writing.
“It simulates the outside. The experiments go in there from time to time and interact with one another.”
“Mykail told me about that…”
“In the Dome there is an artificial stream of water that comes in through a pipe and is pumped into the Dome. Most of the time the current is really strong, but when the Dome is not being used and the breakers are off, the fan for the water stops because the energy the Dome uses costs the Commission a lot of money.”
“So the experiments can just swim out?” Clark blinked. “And into the pipeline? Where does the pipeline go?”
“It’s not that simple. There is a current even when the fan is off, and there is a wall that only leaves a little more than a meter at the bottom of the stream for someone to swim through. Against the current, that will be difficult.”
“How do you know all this?” I blinked.
“I’ve been looking for ways to get people out since I got into the Commission eight years ago. Four years ago, when I came to the Markus’ house, I started going out at night and tried to find where the water for the stream was coming from.”
“But how will people swim out if the current is strong?” I asked.
“My friends know that you are planning to break experiments out and they are willing to help. Two of them could swim into the pipeline and attach ropes that people could use to swim under the wall.”
He motioned with his hands the act of climbing a rope after he had finished writing what he was trying to explain.
“Where does the pipeline lead?” Clark asked.
“It’s a long tunnel with a few drainage exits, but about seven hundred meters down the pipeline there is a ladder that leads up to the base of one of the water tanks on the side of the hill surrounding the reservoir,” Mark wrote. His handwriting was sloppy and a little difficult to read and he kept making mistakes since he was writing so quickly.
“The same one where you can get into the fort?” I gasped.
“No, the one next to it.”
“That’s almost too perfect…” I blinked. “How did you find the fort?”
“Accident,” Mark wrote as he smiled. “I went to the other water tanks and went down that ladder and found the fort.”
“Well, we’re happy you did,” Clark laughed. “Does Dana know about any of this?”
Mark shook his head. “He probably knows about the secret passageways within the Commission, but the water pipe is not marked as a secret entrance or exit. It’s just part of the construction of the Dome. And I am sure he does not know about the fort.”
“Do you have a plan for how we can break everyone out?” Clark asked. “We want to get humans out as well.”
Mark stared at him for a few moments and then back at me before he took a deep breath and slowly let it out
“Are you meeting with other kids from the Commission tomorrow?”
“Yes, but just a few,” Clark nodded. “Most are studying for finals, so not everyone could make it.”
“Can I come with you to the fort and show you the plan I have?” he wrote before turning and looking at us with eyes that were so innocent, I would have never believed he was someone who had been diligently planning the downfall of the leader of the Commission of the People for eight years.
“Of course,” I laughed, unable to help myself from smiling.
“The thing is we need to break everyone out within the next few weeks,” Mark wrote. “At the beginning of the Sweeps, there are more people out of the Commission. Right now, sixty-five percent of the security has been fanning out during the Sweeps. That leaves a very small amount of people in the Commission. It would be best to do this on a Sweep day.”
“Do you know when those are?” Clark asked.
“No, but I can find out. Normally, the Commission is patrolled by about two hundred security guards. It would be too difficult to get everyone out around two hundred guards.”
“But you’ve thought up a plan, right?” Clark asked.
“Maybe,” he underlined the word. “It might not work, but I will explain it to you and maybe you can figure out how to make it happen.”
“How many people do you have that can help us from the inside?” I asked.
“About twenty,” Mark wrote. “But that will all depend on how long the security can be turned off.”
“One more thing,” Clark said slowly. “Can you really not speak?”
Mark turned to him and then touched the scars on the side of his neck before shaking his head. He put his pen back to the paper.
“This is how I can communicate with you,” he wrote before motioning to the pad of paper.
“But you can communicate with the other experiments?” I said.
He nodded.
“Then, what do you want Mykail to do?” I pressed. “He’s been stuck in the house, but he wants to help.”
“I don’t know. He can’t blend in, so it’s hard for him to do anything during the day.” Mark glanced at the clock in the car. “I will drive you tomorrow to the fort and we will discuss the plan there. I need to take you both home now before anyone in the Commission tries to track either of you. It’s past curfew.”
Mark capped the pen before ripping the pages out of the notebook and looking at me expectantly. I blinked at him, confused and not sure what he wanted me to do. He motioned to the papers and then nodded to the door.
“What?”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out his lighter again, which caused the gears in my brain to finally click into place. I unlocked the door and opened it, stepping out. Clark also got out, letting out a heavy sigh as he walked to us. Mark stepped away from the vehicle, flicking the lighter and starting to burn one corner of the papers.
“This is crazy, you two…” Clark groaned.
“No kidding,” I agreed. I looked at Mark. “But I have to say, it’s really nice to know you’re on our side.”
Mark looked up at me and smiled as he moved the paper in the air, allowing the flame to grow over the paper and ink, burning our conversation.
“Wait,” Clark said quickly. “If you’ve been able to understand all this time…then you heard all those horrible things that everyone in the Commission, even the family, calls you…”
Mark glanced up at him again and then sighed and shrugged with one shoulder before his eyes went back to the paper, watching the flame get closer to his fingers.
“I’m so sorry…” Clark whispered.
Mark smiled to assure us everything was alright before dropping the papers on the dirt ground and crouching to watch them burn, being sure that there was nothing left of the words he had written. When the paper was charred and brown, he used his foot to grind the pieces into the dirt, ensuring that any evidence of his talk with us was gone.
I wanted to speak even more with Mark as we drove to my house, but I remained quiet, feeling the tension slowly leave my body as I finally got over the adrenaline that had rushed through me when I thought Mark was turning us over to Dana. I was excited and thrilled that we had a strong ally. Since he was part of the security team of the Commission, he obviously had a lot of inside information that would be beneficial to us. And everyone, including Dana, seemed to think that he had absolutely no understanding of English, which made him very inconspicuous in the Commission of the People.
And, with the way he burnt the bugs in the car and the pages of the notebook, it was obvious that Mark was meticulous in covering his tracks.
It also made me realize how amazing it was that Mark had been able to deceive everyone for eight years while thinking so carefully abo
ut how to execute his plan to break people out of the Commission. Even Dana seemed convinced that Mark was no danger.
Mark pulled into the darkened driveway of my house and turned off the car, getting out as I opened my door, stepping into the cold night air.
The lights in my kitchen were on, leaving a dim glow in the windows of the dining room. My heart fell. Mykail was waiting for me and he was probably worried sick.
Clark also got out and we all walked to my front door.
I unlocked the door and slowly pushed it open, looking in and seeing Mykail standing near the bottom of the staircase, his face pale.
“You had me worried sick,” he hissed, quickly starting forward and hugging me tightly. I wasn’t sure if he saw that there were people behind me or not, but I hugged him back, apologizing repeatedly.
When we parted, he turned to Mark and Clark, who had quietly stepped inside and closed the door, though they did not move from the foyer.
“What’s going on?” Mykail asked, looking them over. Mark reached up and removed his glasses and lowered his head slightly. Mykail also nodded before turning back to me. “Lily?”
“Well…” I said slowly, turning to look at Mark, not sure how to tell Mykail about Mark’s assistance. “Remember those notes?” I asked slowly.
“Yes,” Mykail nodded. I saw the gears click in his head and he turned quickly to Mark, who lowered his head. “It’s you…” he whispered. “I thought…but…you’re part of the Eight Group, aren’t you?”
Mark nodded.
“What’s the Eight Group?” I asked.
“It’s what we called the Asian experiments who ended up being on the security detail. They’re all from Ward Eight,” Mykail answered distractedly, still looking over Mark. His eyes were wide and his mouth was open. Mykail seemed even more shocked than Clark and I had been. “I don’t believe it…”
Mark sighed and reached up, scratching the back of his neck before pulling on his left earlobe.
“No, don’t apologize,” Mykail blinked. “I’m thrilled, just…surprised,” he admitted with a small chuckle. “How many of you can understand English?”
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