A Girl Called Fearless (38 page)

“No, it's not,” he said, as we saw Ramos embrace Maggie. “Everyone is united now.”

Behind us, I overheard Barnabas tell Beattie, “It's time to change plans.”

86

“Council meeting,” Beattie called out. A dozen men and women left their posts and disappeared into the back. Yates and I watched for movement outside until they reappeared a few minutes later.

Barnabas took the stage. “I've got an announcement.” The whole room hushed and every eye was on him.

“The situation isn't playing out the way we thought. This is a clandestine operation, and to get these agents to stand down, we need to bring it out in the open. Maggie and I and the Council have come up with a plan we think makes sense.”

I could feel the whole room go still.

“We have access to a piece of software that can broadcast a distress call to a large population that we believe will be sympathetic to our situation.”

I wrapped my hand around the phone in my pocket. Barnabas was talking about the software Sparrow put on it, the software I used to send out her video. Maybe by using this phone I could finally help save Salvation.

“But to be most effective, the device needs to be carried out of the valley to a higher elevation, the top of Phelan's Ridge.”

People gasped, some muttered under their breath.
“Go for help?”
I whispered to Yates. “How the hell is anyone supposed to do that? We're
surrounded
.”

“Maybe there's a way out of the church we don't know about,” Yates said.

“We're asking for volunteers,” Barnabas continued. “A two-man team. It can be men or women, who will exit the church under cover of darkness, then climb to the top of the ridge and broadcast the distress call.”

Around the room, families gathered and huddled together. Jemima and Caleb wrapped their arms across each other and linked hands.

I searched the room, wondering who would have the guts to try.

“We think it best that expert marksmen remain here to defend the church.”

Ramos' wife grabbed his shirtfront and shook her head. Luke and Rogan pressed their lips together, and I saw how they would have been the first to volunteer if they weren't such good shots.

Barnabas set his hands on his hips. “The volunteers need to be in good physical shape. They're going to have to climb that ridge before the moon rises, and reach the top by a designated time. Then we'll turn on the cell tower. We'll only have a few minutes before the agents realize what we're doing and block the signal.”

“No!”

I saw a woman force down Jemima's raised hand.

“Stop, Mama, I want to do this,” Jemima said.

“No!” Her mom grabbed her and pulled her close. “We have to stay together,” she cried. “If we die, we die together!”

Jemima struggled in her grasp for a moment, and then gave in and embraced her mother back.

I gazed over this room of families and I realized what I had to do. I laid my hand on Yates' chest. “I want to volunteer.”

He wrapped his hand over mine. “I'm glad you said that, because I was about to tell you the same thing.”

I smiled up at him.

“You're not scared?” he said.

“Scared to death, but I did this. I brought these men here.”

“It wasn't just you. We both did.” He leaned down and placed his lips on mine. We gave each other a sad, slow kiss, then turned to face the rest of the church. “We'll do it,” I called out.

The room went silent for a second, then an older man snorted out a laugh. “Ha! You! We should put our faith in you! A girl who fell to pieces just hearing those men out there say her name!”

I stared at the floorboards. It wasn't enough to want to help them, I had to be strong and focused enough to do what needed to be done.

“Yeah? Well, I'll tell you,” Yates answered back. “You don't know what Avie can do when she puts her mind to it.”

“Yates—” I warned.

The whole room was waiting, and the man who'd called me out waved his hand like he was writing me off. “Little rich girl from L.A. She can't even speak up for herself!”

“He's wrong,” Yates said. “Tell them about Roik—about how you got away from him.”

And I realized I wasn't a poor little rich girl anymore, afraid to try or waiting for people to save me. I held my head up and told them about Father G's arrest and Aamir bailing, about coming up with a new plan, me giving Roik the drug that made him sick and making him take me back to the cemetery where I'd been attacked days before. I told them about Tasing Roik, then running through the dark, sketchy neighborhood, dodging the guys chasing me, before Yates picked me up.

“Well, that's good enough for me,” Nellie said, turning to her neighbors. “Is that good enough for you, Mr. Oakley?”

The man who'd written me off cocked his head and nodded. “Yep, I think so.”

“All in favor of these two volunteers,” Barnabas said. Hands went up all over the room. “All opposed.” I wasn't surprised to see some doubters.

“Okay,” Yates said. “Tell us what you want us to do.”

Barnabas and Maggie took Yates and me into the control room. Luke came in after us. A map was spread out on the table, and one of the silk wall hangings was folded up beside it. “There's an escape tunnel,” Maggie said. “It goes from the Bunker to a hatch under Beattie's back porch.”

“So where do you want us to go?” Yates said.

Maggie pointed to a pencil-thin valley on the map. “We're here. There's a trail to the ridge.”

Luke frowned and almost elbowed her aside. “The trail's hidden under three feet of snow. You need to follow the stream that runs behind Beattie's and the houses to the east. The land will start to rise, and you'll follow the stream another quarter mile before you start climbing.”

“We can't use skis,” I said, “not to get up the ridge.”

I remembered how hard it was just to ski up the valley and that was flat. Now I'd volunteered to hike in the snow.

“You'll start out on skis and then switch to snowshoes farther on,” Barnabas said. “You'll have to travel without a headlamp to keep from being spotted.” His voice was matter-of-fact, barely disguising that he knew our attempt to get to the ridge was a long shot.

Luke. Keisha. Jonas. Sarah. Jemima and Caleb. Nellie, Rogan, that tiny, tiny baby down in the Bunker. They were depending on us to be brave and strong enough to go for help.

Yates was strong and brave.
Can I really do this?

Luke glanced from me to Yates. “You'll have to cut your own trail, but the woods aren't thick and if you keep Salvation behind you and keep climbing you should be okay.”

“Yeah,” Barnabas added. “While Phelan's Ridge would be the best, any ridge should work.”

“What time do we need to get to the top?” Yates said.

“Eight o'clock. We'll launch our diversion, then we'll turn on the cell tower.”

“What kind of diversion?” Yates said.

Maggie stood up straight, and Barnabas slipped his arm around her waist. They gazed so deeply into each other's eyes that I sensed before Maggie opened her mouth what she was about to say.

She turned to us. “I'm going to surrender.”

My heart stopped. “No! You can't!”

“I have to, Avie. I owe it to my family to protect them.”

“But those men, they'll—”

Maggie held up her hand to stop me. “I need you to take the evidence—this wall hanging and the rest of it—and get it to a friend of mine in Washington, D.C. Will you please do that for me?”

I paled, knowing what I'd be carrying. My throat tightened, and I had to force out my promise. “Yes, I'll do it.”

Yates rested his arm on my shoulders and I wove my hand into his. “What do we do once we make the call?” Yates said.

“Once they cut off the signal, you'd better get going.”

Maggie tapped the map and ran her finger over the mountains and then west through a jagged valley. A two-lane highway north cut across it. “If you can get here, the ranchers in this valley should help you.”

“Folks who live up here don't countenance the government interfering in people's lives,” Barnabas added.

Yates measured the distance with his fingers. “It's about six miles. We can do that.”

I swallowed.
What if I'm not strong enough to do this?
The responsibility for all those lives was on my shoulders.

“Avie, we can do this, right?” Yates said.

I caught movement on the monitor to my right as a man in snow camo darted from one tree to another. I opened my mouth, but I couldn't answer.

“Can you guys give us a minute alone?” Yates said. The others cleared the room. “Avie, tell me what you're thinking.”

“I—I—”

He turned around until he faced me, then he set his hands on my waist and leaned in until his head rested on mine. “Tell me,” he whispered.

“If I fail, everyone here dies.”

“Listen,” he said. “We're in this together, and if I didn't believe we could do this, I'd have fought you going.”

When I looked up, Yates was waiting.

I wanted to be Fearless, the girl he thought I was. The girl that Mom and Ms. A believed in. “Okay. Let's do this.”

87

Barnabas and Luke sat us down and went through all the details. The timing. The terrain. All the things that could trip us up or get us killed. Like the creek we needed to follow, but didn't run straight and was disguised in places under the snow. Or the agents who might be out on patrol. Chances are, Barnabas said, they'd stay close to the church, but he couldn't guarantee it.

Or the goats who'd spent the whole day without food or water, suffering with big, swollen udders that needed to be milked. They'd pitch a fit when we entered the barn. “Don't even think about feeding them. Just get the packs and get the hell out of there,” Barnabas told us.

He and Luke went quiet when Maggie walked in. She clutched the ends of a makeshift banner, torn from a bedsheet.

I SURRENDER.

My eyes filled, but I blinked to make them stop.

“Where'd you find the paint?” Barnabas said.

“It's beet juice. Nellie suggested it. You ready to film my testimony?”

“No better time.”

They sounded like an old married couple talking about a project in the garage. Yates shook his head. Don't say anything.

Maggie sat at the folding table and asked me to stand across from her and hold up the wall hanging so she could see it. Barnabas turned a camera on her and Maggie started her testimony.

“I, Margaret Stanton, do solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”

Luke leaned against the wall with his head bowed. His eyes were closed, but he was listening hard.

For the first time since we'd met, I believed everything Maggie said. She was a U.S. citizen. Georgetown Law grad. Clerk for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ginsberg. Dozen years at a D.C. law firm. Six civil rights cases argued in front of the Supreme Court.

“Five years ago,” Maggie said, “I began to suspect that there was a deliberate and organized effort to restrict the rights of women in the U.S. To investigate the possibility of such a conspiracy, I opened an escort service in Las Vegas, Nevada, catering to men in the highest ranks of government and industry.

“I was present at meetings and informal gatherings in which government policies, laws, and practices were discussed. My testimony here provides reasons to conclude that a conspiracy exists to deny women and girls their civil rights.”

She nodded to me to hold the hanging higher, then began to unravel the convoluted story. Names and dates. Deals and political favors. Players on five continents. Cash. Lines of credit. Multibillion-dollar loans.

I flinched the first time I heard Hawkins' name, but not all the times after that. Maggie had never met him, but he was friends with the key Paternalists, and they linked him to all kinds of political deals. Expose the Vice President, and Hawkins could be the next to fall.

When Maggie was done, Barnabas shut down the camera. I watched Luke go over to Maggie and rest his hand beside hers on the table.
Hug her!
Say good-bye, I wanted to tell him, but something passed between them that I didn't understand, and Luke walked out. Maggie stood up.

“What about Sparrow's last message?” I asked. “Was that in the testimony you just gave?”

“No. Barnabas will put a copy on the thumb drive along with it.”

Barnabas linked my phone to the computer and did the same with the camera. When the thumb drive was ready, he threaded it onto a chain, and I hung it around my neck, knowing I'd crossed a line I could never cross back over.

“Hold up your shirt.” Maggie had folded the hanging into a narrow strip, and I chewed on my lip as she wound the silk around my waist.

“You can do this,” she said, pinning the end. There wasn't an ounce of pity in her eyes. She was Magda. Committed. Unyielding.

Yates gave my arm a squeeze. “Yeah, she's fearless.”

No I'm not, I wanted to say, but I kept my mouth shut. If Maggie was going to walk out in front of the guns, I needed to suck it up.

“You need a minute?” Barnabas said.

“No,” I said, looking at Yates. “I think we're ready.”

88

Down in the Bunker, the piled sacks of rice and beans had been moved away from the wall, revealing a small metal door with a handle at the bottom.

People surrounded Yates and me as we neared the door, wishing us luck. Luke insisted on reviewing the route, and warning us about places to look out for where the snow might give way and throw us into a creek.

He went to turn away, but I reached for his shoulder. I rose up on my tiptoes and left a kiss on his cheek. “Take care, okay?”