arbitrate (daynight) (44 page)

BOOM.
 

I feel something unlock in my brain. I’m flooded with emotions so strong and powerful that I don’t know how to organize them. One thought filters through all the others.
STOP THIS.

Everything freezes. I mean
everything.
Other than me that is. My eyes dart around, trying to figure out what has happened.

Is this a dream? Did the Arbiters intervene after all? The Genitors?
 

It doesn’t matter. I must act and salvage all that can be salvaged.
 

Not all can be salvaged.

I run over to the undetonated bomb. The display says :13. I grasp hold of it and then sprint over to where Bailey is.

The ticking at my chest has stopped. I carefully set the bomb in my hand on the ground. Next, I search Bailey and her bag for the key to the one she strapped to my chest. I find it in her pocket and quickly remove the harness. Since I refuse to lower myself to her murderous level, I take both bombs, Bailey’s bag, and the gun and transport them to a field far from everyone. My beating heart thrums, matching the cadence of my feet.

Once I’m confident the threat to the babies is gone, I hurry back to face the only thing I cannot fix.

Blake and Madison.

They are both suspended mid-air, in the process of being shredded by the bomb. I don’t need to be a doctor to know their injuries are fatal. My hope is that it happened fast enough that they did not suffer.

Blake died to save his children.

I stroke his bloody hair and kiss his remains. “Thank you, Blake. You will
always
hold a special place in my heart. I’ll never forget what you did for the children.”
 

The pained look on Madison’s face is heartbreaking. Her short life was filled with more pain than anyone should ever have to face.
 

I collapse to the ground and weep. “I’m so sorry. I failed you both.”

“You didn’t fail them. It was their choice.”

I look up to see “B,” the Genitor boy.

“What do you mean? Of course I failed them. They are
dead.
Had I not asked Brad about the babies…had I not brought Madison here…then Bailey wouldn’t have threatened us. Blake wouldn’t have had to intervene. It
is
my fault.”

 
“Blake
chose
to sacrifice himself to save his children. And Madison
chose
to help him do it. Brad
knew
that Blake would be headed through the mega-portal. He
wanted
Blake to see the babies, wanted someone to pay for them being ‘different.’ One way or another, you would have all ended up here tonight.”
 

I peer at him through my veil of tears. “You did this? Stopped time? If so…I’ve got to say…you were a little late. They could have been saved.”

“No. I didn’t stop time.
You did.
”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Ethan

The crowd at Henry’s inauguration flows from the West front of the Capitol building, through the National Mall, and all the way to the Washington Monument.
Henry stands beside Elizabeth, who is wheelchair-bound, her legs mere stumps above the knee. Where Anne and Mary used to stand are empty spaces. It makes quite the statement.

I have arrived late on purpose, so that I won’t have to sit up in the reserved seating section, choosing to be down with the rest of the public. After all, we’ll soon be subjected to the SCI’s machinations together. I shift spots until I find one where my view of Elizabeth is obscured. While the missing legs don’t bother me, the expression of pain on her face does. Unfortunately, her face is plastered across large screens that have been set up throughout the mall.

The ceremony begins, and I tune it out. There is nothing to celebrate here. Henry being sworn in is not a moment of greatness but the beginning of a dark period for a once great nation.

People are pushing through the crowd, trying to get a little closer. Two people flank me, pushing up against either side. I feel a hard object thrust against my ribs.

“There is failure all around, when the SCI’s involved. They walk might-ly upon the ground, until such time they fall.”

I’d know that grating singing voice anywhere. I snap my head to the left. “Hey cousin,” the stranger says, giving me a wink. I would have never recognized him if not for the song. Chocolate brown eyes, slicked-back dirty-blonde hair, Argyle sweater hiding a beer belly. Joshua looks every bit the part of the thirty-something college professor. Looking to my right, I see Alexa disguised as an old lady—gray hair, wrinkles, hunched back, and all. Impressive work.

“Hey, Ethan,” she says softly, placing her hand on my arm.

“I travel all around the world in search of the two of you…and here you are, alive and well.”

Joshua looks me up and down. “You do seem to have acquired quite the tan while following our trail of breadcrumbs.”

“Did you actually go to any of those places? Or just send us on a wild goose chase?”

The corners of his lips curl up. “I can’t say that we had the pleasure…but we did send others in our stead.”

“Victor and Violet? Were you all working together?”

Joshua chuckles. “My parents would never… They’re more the ‘die for the cause’ type. They’ve gone…underground.”

“Dead?” I ask. Did he honestly kill his parents? He killed my mother. I guess anything is possible.

“Nah. In death they’d get another chance…and the truth is…not everyone deserves a second chance at life. So, they’ll be serving a long life sentence…in solitary confinement.”

“How’d you do it?”

He leans in close to me. “Alexa’s necklace was made of C4. Genius, right? We didn’t want anything big. As I said, these people don’t deserve second chances. They deserve to lose their livelihoods and self-esteem and stare at their pathetic, warped faces in the mirror every day.”

“Thus the small bomb and acid rain.”

“Precisely.”

I turn to Alexa and spit the words out at her. “So you…used me? To get information? ‘We’ were all one big joke to you?”

She winces but doesn’t look at me. “I’m sorry. There were bound to be some casualties in the war. The SCI killed my mother…killed Adam…took away my brothers. The
only
thing that matters is taking them out.”

I yank her face toward mine so that she has to look me in the eye. “You know what mattered to me, Alexa? My family. Because of your little stunt at the election party, you cost me Kira and my son. You killed my mother. And to think I believed in you both…when everyone thought you were responsible, I scoured the world in hopes of proving you innocent and bringing you back safe and sound. I hope you both rot in hell.”

Joshua rams the gun harder into my side. “Shoot me,” I sneer at him. “It would be a kindness. But good luck escaping arrest this time if you do.”

“Get a grip and try to see the bigger picture. In fact, the bigger picture should start in…three…two…one…”

The big screens flicker and the coverage of the inauguration ceremony fades to black. The words, “The Second Chance Institute—Benevolent Non-Profit or Killing Machine?” come to life. Images of SCI buses driving to an abandoned warehouse and unloading people going inside to meet an untimely death fill the National Mall.
 

I look up at Henry, and he looks terrified. He’s shouting orders and people are scuttling all over the place, trying to get the feeds shut off. His protests are drowned out by the crowd’s moans of shock and outrage. Henry can’t contain this. The damage is already done. Photograph, after video clip, after audio clip of damning evidence against the Clean Slate Complexes and The Second Chance Institute continue to roll. So unbelievable that it feels like a “B movie” horror flick. It all ends with a picture of Henry with Violet and Victor (labeled as “Henry’s sister and husband, the Clean Slate Complex directors”).

“Where did you learn how to do all this?” I ask rhetorically.

He gives me a wicked grin. “Homeschool. My SCI-approved education didn’t take me too long to get through every day. I had a lot of free time on my hands. And I learned how to bypass their secure network by the time I was ten.”

“Impressive. Very, very disturbing. But, impressive nonetheless.”

Joshua leans across me and says to Alexa, “I think our work here is done.” Alexa squirms behind me and around to Joshua’s other side and takes the crook of his arm. Then Joshua whispers to me, “I’m sorry you got caught up in all this. I had to take action against them, though. The SCI just took over leadership of the
free world.
It’s not right and can’t happen. They are dictators and murderers.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “And now you’re a killer too.”

He shakes his head. “I disagree. What I am is a soldier at
war
. However, I’m sorry how this has affected you. The whole thing with Kira is…unfortunate. Can I ask, though—is she really the right girl for you? Of the billions of options, is she the only one you can be happy with? It’s obvious to me…that since you were able to move on with Alexa…that the answer to that is no. Perhaps we did you a favor? Just food for thought…”

I should wrestle the gun away from him and turn him in. Or at least punch him in the gut for what he has cost me. But I’m too weak. Too overwhelmed. Too depressed. Too much in shock. Too grateful, since I finally have the answers I sought. So instead, I watch them walk away and join the throngs of people leaving in protest. Joshua grabs an American flag from its post and proudly waves it through the air. He raises his voice in song and the crowd joins in.

“Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,

Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?

And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof thru the night that our flag was still there.

Oh say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?”

Score one for Joshua and Alexa. Henry, the SCI, and me…zero.
 

Now what?

The crowd has thinned
. I stayed to listen to Henry spin his magic.
 

“It was the work of terrorists. Do not let them divide us.”

“They doctored these films. We’ve all seen movies. Using computer technology, it’s easy to make things seem real that aren’t.”

“The SCI is one of the finest organizations that I have ever had the opportunity to work with. They focus on saving lives and offering second chances, not the horrors that they have been accused of here.”

Many people believe him, and who could blame them? What is more conceivable? The now-President (this all happened
after
he’d been sworn in) colluding with an evil non-profit, or a terrorist group who has killed thousands spreading disinformation? The SCI, until now, has had a blemish-free reputation. They have been above reproach. And on the surface, they appear to be everything they claim to be.

However, the seed of doubt has been planted. Investigations will happen. And even if they come up smelling like a floral shop, some people will wonder whether the flowers are being used to cover up the stench of rotting corpses. The voting public is fickle. The staunchest supporter can become a politician’s biggest detractor in the time it takes to broadcast a bad economic forecast. And this is a whole lot worse than an out-of-control unemployment rate.

Jax appears at my side. He’s wearing a black suit and black dress shirt. The contrast with his light features is striking. He looks like he came straight from a funeral.

“I have news,” he says. “Bad news. Blake…” He chokes up and has trouble saying the words. “He is…gone.”

“Blake
died
?” I ask. I don’t want there to be any misunderstandings this time.

He nods. “A bomb…in Garden City. It’s a long story. But know that he died saving your children.”

He can’t be dead
. I feel tears starting to well up in my eyes, and I sink down to the ground, putting my head between my knees. I never got to say goodbye. I was never a good brother to him, letting what happened with Kira get between us. “Children? Zander?”

Jax crouches down next to me and shakes his head. “Brad lured Kira to Garden City to see the babies…the ones that had been implanted in her classmates back in Garden City. Blake came through the portal and happened upon them while he was chasing down the Exilers. The Exilers were in the process of invading Garden City.”

Kira was there?
During an Exiler invasion of Garden City?
“Is she okay?”

“She’s alive, but I don’t know if she is all right. I haven’t seen her yet. The Arbiter Council prevented me from being present.”

“What? You let her go into a dangerous situation by herself?”

He runs his hand through his messy hair and squares his jaw. “Not by choice.”

I shake my head in disbelief. “Well, aren’t you an awesome…whatever you are…to her.”

“I don’t expect you to understand. You haven’t exactly spent much time trying to understand the ways of the Arbiters.”

“Yeah…because the guy who was supposed to be getting me up to speed was avoiding me. He was too busy playing house with my Cleave. I have got to say…you’ve been a crappy brother, Jax. You used your job as Kira’s guard to get under her skin, even knowing I was Cleaved to her. You took on the role of father to all the babies. You made her dependent on you. Why? Why couldn’t you let me have her? Why did you want her for yourself? Was it just because you wanted to beat me…to win like you always did when we were kids?”

“You are right. I’ve been a terrible brother, a terrible friend, and a terrible mentor. With Kira, it wasn’t about winning. I never saw it as a contest. Not once. The first time I saw her…I felt an overpowering connection, and I knew she’d always be in my life.”

I raise my voice at him. “She’s a gorgeous girl. I don’t blame you for being attracted. But for Gads sake, Jax, I saw her first. You should have respected that.”