The accusation hit like a bull.
She almost reminded him that they were siblings, but that was stupid. Obviously he knew that. She said, “They weren’t your family. Sub Rosa preyed on the vulnerable, including you.”
“Look at you, Kaden!” he yelled, startling her. “You’re dripping in blood. Is any of it yours?”
Some of it, maybe most by now. Her mouth opened to shoot a defensive response, but he was right. By now, most of the blood on her face was dry, cracking when she talked. That didn’t matter, though. Only the two of them together mattered, and he was missing that monumental detail.
She tried to remind him, voice becoming a plea. “I need you to cool me down, Aaron. Since you were a baby, that’s what you’ve done for me. You were my reason for getting up every morning.”
“Look, don’t take this personally, but you’re a terrorist.”
A terrorist? If his first accusation was a bull, this was an eighteen wheeler jamming straight into her heart. She squatted, crossed her arms over her chest, and ran fingers through her hair, staring at her brother’s dress shoes. Those words were both unexpected and delusional. If she were a terrorist, that made him a… super terrorist. This interaction was veering in the wrong direction.
She sat down hard, which sent a searing pain through her butt and down her legs, and looked at Aaron, losing patience and energy as blood trickled from her. “No, you’re coming with me and we’re starting a life together. Remember how overwhelmed we were with the possibilities once we were free? We can be free now. I’m still excited. It’s why I fought for your freedom.”
His words dripped in loathing. “Don’t you talk to me about freedom.”
She burst into tears, realizing her brother was a stranger now. Although she’d done her best to raise him, she was never a model, struggling to tread water herself. Their lives had diverged suddenly, and the toll of his past few years were mysterious. His story must’ve been dreadful, because they were both at this bloodbath, near corpses of people they knew and loved.
She pleaded harder between sobs. “How can you say that? We both understand feeling trapped, like there’s no way to safety. The humans sold on Sub Rosa, that is their everyday reality—they are mentally and physically trapped! How is that freedom?”
She took a deep breath and continued when he stayed silent. “Please, please, come home with me. I can help you remember actual love, not the deluded thing that put you here.” She gestured behind her. “It’s all in the past. Just you and me, brother.”
His chest heaved now, either from anger or panic, maybe both. Her heart ripped into pieces, and she said, “No more running, wondering if we’ll be okay in a month.”
Through clenched teeth, he said, “Leave me alone.”
Yeah, right. “No. I should've been looking for you for two years. A big sister isn’t something you can get rid of at will.”
“Go!” he bellowed, intensity shredding the last of her hope.
Aaron was done talking to her. She whispered, “I can’t lose you again,” despite knowing the horrible truth: Aaron was an adult now, one who made his own bad decisions. She faced the castle and said, “I’ll be in the pool room for a few if you change your mind.” She started walking back toward it, weakening with every step.
She left the brother that rejected her, to return to the place where her friend had died for her. Still, Kaden didn’t understand why Joy backed her up, as always, and the cost was unbearable.
She knelt next to Joy, then cradled her head and stroked her thick, lustrous hair as Kaden memorized the lines of her face. Kaden sat mesmerized, brewing her own sorrow through pondering Joy’s best qualities. Joy had cared for her, more than Kaden had cared for herself, and Kaden had done little to deserve the generosity. She owed Joy her life a few times over. Tears flowed, but she held back the sobs. Sobbing would tear open the dam within her.
Benny said, “Kaden, I’m blowing up a few things. Don’t freak out.” All around them, minor blasts popped. Despite the warning, Kaden leapt onto her feet to find little piles of metals chunks and ash. The Gooses. The explosions further mutilated the corpses.
“I can’t keep them,” he murmured. He hadn’t made eye contact with Kaden since Joy had chosen herself to die.
“Why not?”
“That much power doesn’t suit anyone. While we were sitting in the van, I daydreamed about what I could do with them. The ideas weren’t all terribly noble, Kaden. I’m just as corruptible as everyone else.”
Somehow, she didn't believe that, but a thought shot from her. "How come you waited to deploy them? Joy could be alive!" She bit her tongue to keep from sobbing.
"They weren't ready. Plan C was Goose disappears and spends all his computing power finishing their code to do exactly this. I was waiting and waiting for them to come…"
The corners of her vision darkened. The adrenaline dwindled without any reserves, but her body demanded more for its mangled self. She lowered herself to the ground, and darkness took over.
Twelve
Again, Kaden eased her eyes open into unwelcome whiteness. The compact space had four windowless, stark white walls, a steel operating table in the opposite corner of the room, and a white dresser with a box, overflowing with latex gloves.
She’d found Aaron and lost him again. Unconsciousness was preferable.
The bed faced a wall-mounted television. If she were stuck awake, at least she had a distraction in this makeshift hospital room. She moved her arm for the remote and realized she was hooked up to an IV and heart monitor. That’s why she wasn’t in agony from being shot however many times. Her left ring finger ended at the final knuckle.
“You’re awake!” Furniture scraped and scooted, and Benny appeared from behind her. A huge band-aid, a few shades too light for his skin, marred his temple.
Kaden peered at her friend, her only remaining friend, and wondered how she’d lose him too. If it would be her fault. Although she knew the disaster had happened, it felt like she’d left her emotional attachment in Venezuela. She asked, “Where are we?”
“We’re at a... freelance doctor that Company used. She asks no questions but is serious about her work. We had to drive real far to disconnect ourselves from the bloodbath. And man, was it a bloodbath. Seventy-two dead, none injured. It’s been the national story for days now. Don’t get me started on crossing the border.”
“Days!”
“You’ve been out for three days.”
“Honestly, next time someone tries to kill me, let them. Benny, how did we get out? Please tell me Joy wasn’t left behind.” Her voice trailed off and she started crying, the inevitable despair trickling in. She asked in a small voice, “Did that really happen? Joy?”
“I’m so sorry, Kaden.”
“I’m sorry I left you alone for three days!” She cried harder, rushing into the territory of blubbering and frantic. The heart monitor beeped faster.
“She left you a note.”
“Who?”
He handed her an envelope.
She tore it open. In Joy’s handwriting, “Dear Kaden. If you get this note, it means I didn’t make it. I bet you’re ripping yourself apart over my death, and that’s not what I want. I only want to say that you brought me back to life when I didn’t think it was possible. You’re probably scratching your head and still blaming yourself, and that’s okay. Thank you for everything, honey.”
Kaden frowned. This note was the most Joy had ever opened up, and it made no sense.
Benny said, “And I wasn’t alone for three days. Someone came with us. We carried both you and Joy out. I’m still sore from it, in fact.”
A happy jolt surged through her body, and her breath halted. She crushed it down, because hope never panned out and always led to disappointment, each time somehow more devastating than the rest.
Cori came into the room, confirming Kaden’s reservations. “Doesn’t count,” Kaden snapped. She had never seen Cori loo
king so haggard and pale.
A purple beanie bobbed behind her. Kaden’s heart dropped as Aaron strolled in, holding a half-eaten peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He stared at his feet.
Cori said, “Benny, I have something to show you.”
“Ah,” said Benny. “We better leave then.”
They left her alone with Aaron, who stayed near the door, glancing everywhere but at her.
A familiar maternal annoyance flitted through Kaden. “Aaron, I’ve waited long enough to ask you questions. Don’t make me wait any longer by being embarrassed.”
He smirked, and she smirked the same smirk in return.
She said, “Put that sandwich down. I don’t want you choking, because you'll be explaining things for... hours.”
He set his sandwich next to the rubber gloves on the dresser, and said, “Lucky your friends did a decent job of telling your side, otherwise I’d say the same.”
Kaden narrowed her eyes. “One of us isn’t in a position to make demands, because one of us completely abandoned the other for years. Or did Edward snatch you off the street?”
“I ran away.”
Kaden released a breath. That question had plagued her every night, every hour since he’d left. She had spent so much energy crying for her brother, racking her mind wondering why and how he had disappeared—and even more energy burying those painful emotions, so she could carry on with surviving. So although the three words were the worst she could hear, they brought her relief and to her next quiet, simple question.
“Why?”
He responded flatly. “Rena’s toxicity seeped into my bones. I couldn’t wait anymore.”
“You picked slapping me in the face? Leaving safety, security? How does that make sense, Aaron?”
“It does. I can’t explain it, but it saved me. I was going to… harm myself. Edward took me in, showed me purpose.” His eyes filled with tears. With a shaky voice, he said, “Sub Rosa was the family I needed.”
“Why wasn’t I enough?” Her voice broke, too.
“I thought about you all the time, Kaden. You’re the one thing in my former life I care about. I could’ve sworn I saw you on so many corners.” He closed his mouth, obviously holding something back. She had the rest of their lives to ease it out. “I needed to purge everything to move forward.”
“I’ll buy that for tonight. How did you get wrapped up in Sub Rosa?”
“The short answer is that I desperately needed something, anything to live for when Edward showed up.”
“Did he know you?”
Aaron cocked his head. “I got that impression, but he swore he didn’t. Why do you ask?”
Company had been so impressed with Kaden, their parent company had tracked down her equally impressionable brother. This was her fault, one hundred percent. A lump emerged in her throat, but she wasn't ready to spill her story yet. Seeing the killer that she'd become was more than enough for now, so she'd save that tidbit for another day. She said, “Just wondering. What made you come with me? You threw some hefty insults.”
“My dream had just been pulverized, obviously. But why I came?” He sighed and paused for a full minute. Then he disappeared from view, and the furniture scraped behind her. A director’s chair appeared next to her bedside, and he sat closer than they’d been in years. Her heart raced. This was one reunion fantasy fulfilled, minus the IV, murdered friends, bullet wounds, and the patch of scar that took up much of his cheek.
He said, “I remembered how much I wanted to escape with you as a kid. We talked constantly about living in the mountains by the beach, away from trouble. That was me at my most innocent, so I thought I'd listen to my little self and give it a shot. I couldn't ignore the coincidence, either. Don’t get me wrong, I’m extremely uncomfortable. I was convinced you’re all authoritarian terrorists. Cori is patient and has been helping me see her truth. Your truth, I assume.”
Kaden wanted to pinch herself. After every bit of pain she’d endured, an ending that didn’t end in gore or prison wasn’t even a possibility in her mind. The part of her that wanted things for herself had been buried long ago. She couldn’t let hope seed, not yet.
She asked, “Are we going to be okay?”
Aaron sighed. “Benny wiped everyone’s DNA from national databases and anonymously pointed the FBI at Sub Rosa, and they seized it and are now trying to find Benny for answers. He had to destroy every one of his devices. Mainstream media hasn’t connected the shutdown of Sub Rosa to the castle, but maybe it’s on purpose. The doctor asked no questions. So I think we’ll be okay.”
“That’s great. Are we going to be okay?”
He broke into a smile, and tears spilled from his brown eyes.
He leaned forward and embraced her so tightly, she lifted off the bed. Probably awful for her numb wounds, but her brother’s embrace was everything she wanted. If only the cost hadn’t crushed them both.
She sobbed and clutched him. She wouldn’t let him out of her sight for a year, at least.
His voice shook as he whispered, “We’re going to be great, sister.”
He’d brought the best piece of her back.
About the Author
Jordan weaves her sense of adventure into thriller and science fiction novels, catching inspiration from a lifetime of daydreaming when she should have been learning or working. She adores a good, buttery pastry and watching wildlife webcams.
Jordan's main characters are all flawed yet powerful in their own way, and they invariably end up thrown in a pressure cooker. Her ideas come from her musings into sociology, technology, and her own multi-racial heritage.
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