The Gender Plan

by Bella Forrest

  “Somebody get around them—Violet! Where is Mags’ team?”

  “Her team was held up by gunfire from buildings,” Violet reported. “She’s almost there, maybe two minutes aw—”

  “Hey, Viggo—you might want to get down, eh, friend?”

  Cruz’s voice cut over Violet’s in the radio, and I turned in time to see the giant harvester slamming into the concrete barricades right behind us. The barricades peeled open as Cruz drove, going under or tipping over as he pushed the three-ton vehicle through. The engine whined as he surged forward, and I pulled Margot down just as the extended metal bars that jutted out of the side smashed into the car we were hiding behind. Glass shattered as the vehicle jerked forward, the tires refusing to spin. I covered my head as the glass rained down on me, watching as our precious cover was slowly jerked away from us.

  “C’mon!” I shouted, grabbing Margot’s arm. I forced her up, moving to keep us behind the vehicle. As soon as she was on her own two legs, trying to keep up with the car as it was forced forward, I swung my rifle up and fired on any sign of movement. I heard Cruz curse over the line, and turned to see him leaping out of the cab of the truck, noting the bullet holes in the glass.

  The harvester, however, continued to roll forward over another barricade, and the car that was being dragged along in front of us smashed against the barrier, the metal on the roof rending and tearing under the heavy arm of the harvester before finally ripping free.

  Margot had pulled out her pistol again, the heavy sniper rifle bouncing on her back as she pressed against the second barricade, just past where the mangled remains of the car had settled. The harvester was rolling slowly to a stop, and I pressed the advantage. “PLUG THE HOLES,” I ordered my team over the radio as I vaulted over the next row of barricades. “They’re boxed in.”

  The harvester came to a full stop as the arms impacted on the walls of the buildings on the side of the barricade, but the cab punched a hole through the remaining barricades—they went flying a few feet back. The firing was dying down now, but there was still a big gun and a few of the enemy just beyond, and they were quickly getting ready.

  A flash of movement across from me drew my eye to Tim, and I watched as Violet’s brother used the barricade as a step, leaping up and spinning gracefully around, shooting a woman who was kneeling down on the other side. Margot was moving behind me again, and I altered my run so that she was partially hidden behind me, fearing a stray bullet.

  “Cad here. We’re approaching the harvester from the right side. Did any backup get to you?”

  “No,” I said as I approached the huge bulk of the harvester and slowed, the sound of gunfire disappearing completely. Pressing my back against the wheels of the hulking red behemoth of a vehicle, I slowed to a crawl, caution overriding my need to move into the city street beyond and put a stop to all this insanity. “If you are heavy on that side, I’ll take what I can get.”

  “Sending people over now,” he said.

  I waited, and two refugees and a Liberator crept around the rear of the harvester. Margot flinched when they appeared, and I pressed a hand on her arm. “Wait here,” I told her, and she nodded, clutching her gun in a tight-knuckled grip. I waved the others forward and began to move.

  The corner loomed ever closer, the gap between the front and sides of the harvester and the wall of the building seeming to grow as I moved forward. I caught a glimpse of the tail of the vehicle and came to a stop, collecting myself. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes, taking a moment to picture Violet’s face.

  My nerves settled down a bit, the tension easing as I tricked my body into a slightly calmer state. I needed to focus. At last count, there had been six wardens left. Five on the ground around the vehicle, and one on the machine gun.

  Then I opened my eyes and stepped forward, dropping down into a low crouch as I neared the gap, the enemy vehicle waiting somewhere in the street beyond. I peered down my sights and eased inches forward as the corner, and then the tire of the enemy vehicle, drew into view. Twenty feet back, judging from the narrow view provided. I eased forward a few more inches, knowing that once I could see them, they could see me—and not even my bulletproof vest was going to stop these bullets.

  Just as a leg in Matrian uniform was coming into view, rapid gunfire caused me to jerk back, and it took me a minute to realize the gunfire wasn’t at us. It was at them.

  “Who is that?” whispered Margot, and I turned to see her pressed behind Cruz and Harry, their faces pensive.

  “Viggo, hold your fire—those are Mags’ people.”

  I let out a breath at Violet’s news. Then I stepped out and approached the gap more confidently. Three women were already dead, their bodies on the ground next to the truck. I stepped out as a woman broke off, running for the gap, and she faltered. A bullet from behind caught her in the shoulder, and she fell, screaming. I kept my rifle up as I moved forward, dropping another woman as she popped up to fire on the street behind the truck.

  The last one’s hands shot up, just above the bed of the vehicle. “I surrender!” she cried, and I lowered the gun.

  “I got her,” said Harry, slipping around me and heading over toward the truck. My people began to creep in around the vehicle, and I noticed Tim and Gregory heading over to me.

  “Don’t fire!” I shouted down the road, and I watched as men and women began to creep in cautiously from the neighboring buildings and the alleys between them. A short, curvy brunette pushed forward through the crowd, and I recognized Mags from our handheld conversations as she made a beeline toward me.

  Turning, I nodded to Gregory. “See what you can do to straighten this up for the guard team,” I ordered quietly, and he gave me a thumbs-up.

  I turned back in time to see Mags only a few feet away. I opened my mouth to say something, but then froze when I saw a familiar, slightly bowlegged figure behind her, a cap perched on top of his disheveled gray hair, his mustache turned up in a smile.

  “Heya, boyo,” Alejandro greeted me, his blue eyes sparkling. “Long time no see!”

  21

  Viggo

  I pulled Alejandro into a tight embrace, surprised to find tears welling in my eyes. I’d had no idea he was coming, no idea he was there at all… no idea he hadn’t died fighting fires in the weeks of Matrian-dominated chaos.

  He hugged me right back, his hand thumping on my shoulder blades. “Oh, my boy, my boy!” he kept repeating. I laughed, and we broke apart, but my hand was still on his shoulder and his on mine.

  “What happened to you? Is Jenny with you? Is she okay?” I asked, the questions pouring out of me. I looked around and realized we had a bit of an audience, but I didn’t care. I was elated to see Alejandro again. I had worried endlessly about him since our parting, and now, seeing him here, I just had to know what had happened to him.

  “Jenny’s fine. She’s back with the others, holding down Mags’ fort.” He nodded at Mags, who was standing patiently to one side, a hand on the strap of her rifle. Her blue eyes sparkled in amusement as she watched both of us, and I did a double take, staring from Alejandro’s eyes back to hers. They were definitively similar, and Alejandro’s grin widened. “Oh, come on, boy—don’t tell me you haven’t put it together.”

  “She’s…” I trailed off as it clicked. “She can’t be.”

  “The very same,” Mags replied, smiling broadly, and I let go of Alejandro and immediately pulled her into a hug as well, laughing heartily.

  My command line beeped, and I switched to hear, “Viggo, what the hell is going on, and why are you hugging that woman?”

  I laughed harder at the sound of Violet’s voice coming through my earpiece and pressed my fingers together. “Because she’s family,” I announced, pulling away from Mags and looking up. “She’s Alejandro’s niece! I haven’t seen her since she was, what? Seven years old?”

  “What? Really! Alejandro’s there?”

  “Sorry, guys, gotta cut the family reunion short—Th
omas! Where the hell is Vox’s team? We’re pinned down out here.” Ms. Dale’s sharp retort cut through the rest of the chatter on the command line.

  “He’s almost there, according to the thermals. Just hold on.” The line went silent, but I was immediately sober. The transmission we’d just heard meant that Ms. Dale still hadn’t captured her position yet, meaning she and her team, people we all cared about deeply, were still in great danger.

  I turned to the two rebels in front of me and dug around in my backpack, producing twelve sets of handhelds and earbuds. “These are for you and a few of your men. The rest need to get to Drew’s team. We have two channels, but you’ll only need to worry about the team ones for now, although we might need you on the main channel from time to time. We also have backup channels in case these are compromised—your team leader will brief you on that when you get connected. We don’t have enough to go around, so we separated our men into teams with leaders who receive orders.”

  “Smart,” she said as she and Alejandro donned them. “Carmen! I want you, Pete, and Stacy to get these over to Drew. He’s waiting in what remains of the quartermaster’s office. You know where that is?”

  The short, dark-skinned woman with a downturned mouth listened carefully as Mags continued her explanation. I paid attention with half an ear as I began directing people over the radio about what needed to get done. I could see Gregory had already gotten a jump on it, so I avoided giving orders regarding anything he was working on—namely, removing the bodies. But the harvester needed to be moved and barricades righted, if only so the gate team could have defensible cover, in case trouble came knocking.

  Once Mags was finished, the woman repeated the instructions correctly, and then turned to get ready to go. Mags watched her go for a minute, and then gave me a thoughtful look.

  “So, I was actually eight and a half,” she announced softly. “Before my father and Alejandro had that fight.” I frowned, remembering how broken up Alejandro had been about that argument. Not because of what had happened between him and his brother, but because by ostracizing that part of the family, he had lost his chance to see Mags. And since he and Jenny had never had kids, it had been a blow to him.

  “But that is in the past,” Mags added with a smile. “Congratulations on your engagement. Did you actually propose on a sinking boat?”

  I gave Alejandro a look. “You told her that?”

  Alejandro’s smile was unapologetic. “My boy, I told everyone that story. The romance, the excitement… the drama. It was one of my better tales about you two.” He winked.

  I shook my head at him, unsurprised by his response, and looked at Mags. “Let me warn you, his stories are mostly secondhand, and grossly exaggerated.”

  The radio in my ear beeped, and I switched over to the next channel. “Objective B captured,” Ms. Dale announced, her breath coming out in a sharp pant. “That was a doozy, but the good news is, the barricades here are mostly intact, so you can send in the guard team.”

  “Excellent,” came Henrik’s voice. “Viggo, status update.”

  I did a quick scan to check everyone’s progress and pressed my fingers together, prepared to transmit, but the comm beeped as Cruz came on the line, interrupting me. I clenched my jaw, reminding myself to pull him aside to have a little conversation about teamwork and the radio—and why he was failing at both.

  “We had one casualty, and have taken one prisoner. But even now, we are working together to clear the road and repair the defenses.”

  “Unless Viggo is injured or dead, get off the main channel, Cruz,” grated Henrik. “You’re mucking up the system otherwise.”

  Cruz made a quick Cruz-like apology, but the man’s excuse that I seemed busy debriefing Mags and Alejandro, while technically true, didn’t mean I wasn’t capable of multi-tasking. Or just doing my job.

  “Cruz is right,” I said once he was done, unapologetic that we’d kicked him off regardless. My people were still busy, but it was a vast improvement over minutes earlier. Several of the bodies had been moved to the side, while the harvester had been moved back slightly, blocking less of the street. The engine had never stopped running, even after its impact with the wall, and someone must have managed to back it up a few feet. I doubted they could get it back any farther than that, recalling the mangled wreckage of the barricades it had left in its wake, but it did provide additional cover, should any patrols swing by. I noticed the hole it had broken in the barricades was wide enough to get the truck through, and felt confident that our guard team could at least hold this position should trouble come knocking. “We’re progressing a little bit ahead of schedule.”

  My eyes paused over Margot, her stillness drawing my attention amid the rush of people. Her eyes and face were vacant, staring at a fixed point on the road in front of her. She still held her gun in her right hand.

  I quickly switched channels. “Violet, tell Amber’s team to move up with the guard team.” I quickly excused myself from Mags and Alejandro.

  “They’re on their way now,” Violet replied as I weaved through the bustle of refugees and rebels toward Margot. As soon as I was close enough, I gently reached out and took her by her arm, leading her off to the side. She gave me a confused look, and then seemed to realize she was standing in the middle of everything, her gait increasing until we were out of the way.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, looking deep into her eyes.

  Her lips twitched, and she hesitated. “Not really. You?”

  I thought about it. The adrenaline surge that I had gotten during the battle had departed, and now I felt shaky and raw. A lot of things had happened during that fight—things my mind hadn’t had time to process in the moment, things that were suddenly pressing in, trying to flood my mind with a horror I hadn’t registered earlier. I pushed it back slowly, and then shook my head. “Me neither,” I admitted, and she smiled.

  It wasn’t a big smile, but it counted. It counted because, just for a moment, it had chased some of the haunted look from her expression, leaving her looking just a little bit more innocent than she currently felt. Still, it faded, and I was left with an uncertain feeling as to what I should do about Margot’s emotional state.

  I frowned, the image of Margot’s two children flashing in my head. I couldn’t even contemplate how she was feeling right then and there. What could I ever tell my children about what I had seen? What I had done? The enormity of it all hit me as I stared at the lost look that had returned to Margot’s face.

  “Do you want to stop here?” I asked her, needing to give her an out. “It would be okay. No one would judge you.”

  She thought about it. Her mouth opened, and I could anticipate the ‘yes’ that was already forming. But then she hesitated and looked away. I followed her gaze, and saw Cad helping to right one of the less damaged barriers that had been in the path of the harvester.

  “No,” she said softly, dragging my attention back to her. “No, thank you. I have family in the city, and… I just can’t let him do this alone.” Her tone was pleading, raw and naked, and I saw that she expected me to be disappointed in her for some reason. I couldn’t fathom that, couldn’t even relate.

  “Margot, don’t be silly,” I chided her, and she gave a surprised laugh. “I totally get it. If it were Violet, I absolutely would not let her go in alone.”

  And she would’ve come to support me, too, if she weren’t injured, I thought to myself, smiling. Margot stepped in and threw her arms around my waist, giving me a quick hug. “Thank you, Viggo.”

  “Oooooohhhh, I am telling Violet and Cad about this. They are going to be heartbroken.” I rolled my eyes at Amber’s childish taunt, and turned to see her standing behind us, her arms crossed, one auburn eyebrow arched in challenge.

  “Hey, Amber—any trouble getting the vehicles through to the city?”

  “Are you kidding? Cruz wrecked the place. But Cad and a few others are almost finished making a path. We’ll get them in.”

  �
��Our checkpoint is secure. Vox and I are ready to proceed to the next objective,” radioed Ms. Dale.

  “Roger,” replied Henrik. “Keep an eye on those street cameras, and be careful. We may not have a lot of time, but there’s still a little wiggle room, so play it safe.”

  I looked at Amber, and she nodded. “We got this. We’ll finish getting everything set up.”

  Hesitating, I looked around and took in all the work that had been done, trying to gauge how vulnerable I would be leaving her. “Five more minutes,” I said. “Then we’ll go.”

  “Right—I’ll go help everyone speed that up so we can get this over and done with.” Amber turned to go, and Margot stepped forward.

  “I’ll help,” she announced, squaring her shoulders.

  I watched them go, and then went to find Mags and Alejandro. Within a few minutes, I had pulled them off their jobs, and we’d gathered around the handheld and a map of the city, checking the nearby streets via Thomas’ cameras and charting the optimal route to the plant.

  “It’s a little bit close to the Porteque territory,” concluded Mags, “but it really is our best and fastest option. You sure you don’t have any cars to spare?”

  “If only,” I lamented. She chuckled and began folding the map. I watched her for a minute, and then leaned a hip on the car. “Why didn’t you tell me who you were during that meeting?” I asked.

  She looked up at me and smiled. “Two reasons. One, it would’ve taken away from the issue at hand, and two… I didn’t want you to try to pull the family card if your plan sucked and I called you on it.”

  I snorted out a laugh, and then turned to start collecting our people. We had a really long way to go.

  22

  Viggo