Extraction (37 page)

“But there might not be enough time for that,” Beechy says. “Which is why our best bet would be to find some way to disable the bomb.”

I press my lips together. I have to tell them I know how to disable it. But my stomach flips when I think about it.

Maybe because Fred said there’s a possibility Charlie changed the system. Maybe because using Yate’s Equation might not work.

“I … I might be able to help,” I say.

Sandy’s head turns. Logan’s brows furrow.

“How so?” Sandy asks.

What’s wrong with me?
Just say it.

I swallow. “Colonel Fred … he’s the one who designed the bomb. He told me things about it, like why he agreed to build it in the first place. He thought it was for something else. And … he told me how to disable it.”

But it might not work.

“What did he tell you?” Logan asks.

I take a deep breath and do my best to explain. It’s clear as soon as I begin that Sandy had no idea her father was keeping something this big from her.

She had no idea Marden exists.

*   *   *

The Pipeline entrance on this side of the Surface sits nestled in the rocky, snow-topped mountains we come to after the ocean ends.

By the time we move into the tunnel to the lower sectors, we have a backup plan, which Beechy has coordinated with Cady and the other rebels through his earpiece. If Charlie detonates the bomb, we’ll still try to overpower him. Beechy will help me get inside the ship with the escape pod carrying the missile, and I’ll solve Yate’s Equation on the control panel. Hopefully, that will switch everything off.

I fiddle with my hands in my lap and stare at the flashing lights on the tunnel walls. They all believed what I said about the moon’s acid, how it came from a generator put there by aliens from the planet Marden, who want us dead. Logan looked disgusted, and Sandy kept shaking her head at her father’s insanity, but she said she believed me. She trusts Fred because she knew him when she was younger, before he was thrown in Karum. Because she trusts Fred, so does Beechy.

A half hour passes in the Pipeline, maybe more. My palms grow sweaty, and my heart races no matter how many digits of pi I recite to stay calm. We have a plan now, but we don’t know if it’ll work. We don’t even know if we’ll have time for it. No one knows what the timer will be set for once it starts.

Even if using Yate’s Equation would disable the bomb, the bomb might blow the planet apart before I get to use it.

Finally, finally, the pods ahead of us start slowing. Beechy eases back the flight clutch to match their speed. Ahead of us, three of the pods disappear into a tunnel that branches off perpendicular to the Pipeline. Another pod keeps going, still heading for the Core. Fred is inside that one.

I wonder if I’ll ever see him again.

We veer into the tunnel, slowing further and flying close to the ground as we enter the massive flight hangar. There are pods and hovercrafts ahead, and lights dotting the floor. I don’t see people, but there must be people there, with so many ships. I wonder if they’re here to help Charlie prep the bomb or to make sure no one gets in the way.

I pray there aren’t more of them than we can handle.

We hover to a stop. Our engine’s whir dies.

Beechy flips a switch and the door slides open. Sandy’s already standing, opening the overhead compartment to remove the weapons stored inside.

I unlatch my seat belt, my eyes skimming the deck outside the window. Hovercrafts and smaller ships that must’ve carried personnel here block most of my view. But the KIMO ship should be on the other side of them, on the far side of the deck. With Charlie.

Sandy tosses me a copper. “You wait three minutes before you leave, okay?”

I nod.

Beechy’s talking into his earpiece. He finishes and slips a smaller gun into his belt holster, then glances at me. “Good luck,” he says, flashing me a tense smile.

“You too.”

He hurries down the ramp. Sandy follows after him, shutting the door behind her.

I slip off my seat and drop to the floor. Logan follows suit, so no one will be able to see us if they look through the window.

Beechy and Sandy are going to pretend they’re here to see if Charlie needs help with anything. While they’re distracting him, we’ll jump out with the other Unstables and the Core rebels, and attack. With any luck, we’ll throw Charlie off his game.

On the floor of the pod, Logan pulls me to him and breathes against my forehead. I count the seconds. My heart pummels my ribs.

One hundred seventy-eight, one hundred seventy-nine, one hundred eighty.

Holding my breath, I push off the ground enough to glimpse the deck outside the window. It’s empty.

“Clear,” I say.

Logan presses a button, and the pod door slides open. We hurry down the ramp. The deck air presses on my skin like ice. My Karum clothes are too thin. My hands are trembling.

The rebels and the other Unstables are already outside. Now I can’t help counting how many of us are left: There are seventeen besides me and Logan.

In a hushed voice, Cady directs people in different directions so we can attack from all sides. Unstables disappear around the hovercrafts and pods with guns in their hands.

“You two, come with me,” Cady says, beckoning to me and Logan.

I take a breath and follow her. We duck under the wing of a fighter jet and slip around a small hovercraft.

“Get back,” Cady hisses.

There are people ahead. Officials in black armor.

Logan grabs my arm and pulls me back. All three of us press against the side of the ship. The one ahead of us blocks the nearest guard from view, so I hope it hides us too.

But my throat clenches tight. There are too many officials—I bet there are more than Sandy and Beechy thought there’d be. There’s no way they can distract them all.

“On my signal, we’re attacking,” Cady says quietly, touching her earpiece so I know she’s talking to everyone and not just to us. Her hand drops, and she turns to me. “You know the code to disable the bomb, yes?”

I swallow. “I think so.”

“You might need it. Beechy says Charlie’s about to set the detonation timer.”

“Okay,” I say as calmly as I can. Inside I’m screaming
no, no, no, no, no
.

“Three…” Cady whispers.

This isn’t going to work.

“Two…”

The guards don’t have any distraction, and neither does Charlie.

“One—”

“Wait!” The word flies out of my mouth before I can stop it, just as Cady is about to yell her signal.

“What?” she snaps.

“Let me go first, please.” I don’t know what I’m doing. “I think I can distract Charlie’s officials.” I don’t know what I’m saying.

“No,” Logan says. “You’ll get shot.”

I might. It’s a very strong possibility.

“Charlie won’t let them kill me,” I say. “He wants me alive, or he wouldn’t have asked Beechy to come for me in Karum.” I hope it’s the truth, but it doesn’t even matter. “Please, let me try. You can attack if it doesn’t work, and if it does work I’m sure you’ll surprise them.”

Cady purses her lips. She’s thinking about it. She’s wondering if I’m smart enough and quick enough, and if Charlie’s officials will find me distracting at all.

If Sam is here, I know he will.

“Fine,” she says. “Be careful. We’ll stay out of sight.”

I pull away from Logan, refusing to look at his face. I don’t want to see the pain in his eyes. He must think I’m abandoning him again.

At least it isn’t to save myself this time.

I grip the copper in my hands. I take shaky steps away from our hiding spot. It doesn’t matter if the officials see me now; I want them to.

There’s the one ahead of me, and several more beyond him, patrolling or standing between the ships. I still can’t see the KIMO transport ship, but I can see smoke spewing into the air beyond some of the nearest ships. The bomb must be over there.

My heart hammers beneath my ribs. The official’s back is turned to me, and no one else has noticed me yet.

I breathe in and out through my nostrils. I lift my copper until it’s level with my eyes.

“Where’s Commander Charlie?” I ask loudly.

The official spins to face me, lifting a heavy gun. Panic rips through me, and I start to duck.

But he freezes.

It’s Joe, the muscular boy who carried the biggest gun in Phantom. There’s a layer of film over his eyes, but he still knows who I am. He looks furious.

“What are you doing here?” he asks. “How’d you get here?” He’s checking behind me to see if there’s anyone else with me. I pray the others are out of sight.

“I stowed away on Beechy’s ship,” I say. “Answer my question. Where’s Charlie? I need you to take me to him.”

“Hey, Lieutenant Sam, look who I found!” Joe calls over his shoulder.

One of the officials standing beyond another fighter jet turns. Sam’s whole body tenses when he spots me.

An image flashes through my head of me moving my arm a few inches to the left, pulling the trigger, and shooting him through the chest.

But I’m not brave enough. He’s already striding toward me with his rifle raised, snapping for others to join him. Five officials. I don’t run. I let them surround me.

“What the vrux are you doing here?” Sam yells.

“I snuck onto Beechy’s ship,” I say, trying to keep my voice steady. “I need to see Commander Charlie. There’s something he needs to know before he sets off the bomb.”

I’m spewing lies, praying Sam isn’t smart enough to see through them.

“Check the perimeter,” he says to the men from his squadron. “There might be others.”

“No—” I start.

“There’s just me,” a voice says behind me, and my heart nearly splinters into a million pieces.

I turn. Logan’s pointing a gun at Sam.

37

Sam’s lip curls. “Is this your boyfriend, Clementine?”

“No,” I say quickly. “No, he’s—”

Sam flicks a finger, and one of the officials tackles Logan. I cry out. He knocks the gun out of Logan’s hand and twists his arms behind his back.

“Stop it!” I aim my copper—to shoot Sam, maybe—but another official wrenches it from my hands before I can blink. The butt of a rifle slams into my back. I stumble.

“You’re both under arrest,” Sam says. He sticks his gun into its holster and moves behind me, grabbing my wrists and forcing me forward. An ache spreads through my back where the rifle hit me.

Sam’s nails dig into my skin as he hauls me across the hangar, while the others bring Logan. I twist, trying to break free of Sam, but he’s too strong. I feel his hot, dirty breath on my neck.

I want to spit in his face. I want to put a bullet in his head.

Around a flight pod, I see Charlie. He’s talking to some of his men—scientists, maybe. Sandy and Beechy are there.

Behind them and a few more passenger ships, I glimpse the massive transport craft that I climbed into in Restricted Division, that carries the KIMO missile inside its escape pod. The ship spews steam onto the hangar. I have no idea if Charlie already set the timer, but wouldn’t he have left if he had? I don’t think he’d stick around to watch the countdown to zero.

Please, please let the timer not be set yet.

“Commander!” Sam calls.

Charlie turns to stone when he sees me.

“The initial system—” a scientist is saying.

“Please excuse me one moment,” Charlie says, holding a hand up. He’s calm again. Collected. But the vein in his neck stands out.

I wonder what he wants with me and Fred, why he cared enough to save us instead of letting the KIMO missile destroy us.

“Sandy, please explain this,” he says. “You said she and Colonel Fred were safely on the other transport vehicle on their way to the Core.”

“She was, Father,” Sandy says quickly.

“So why is she here?”

“I hid in their transport,” I say, snapping the words. “It was almost too easy. You should do a better job training your personnel.”

Charlie’s eyes narrow.

This is dangerous. This is so, so dangerous; he could kill me right this second if he wanted. Logan too.

He eyes him now, assessing Logan’s figure. Realizing this is someone important to me. Noticing, I’m sure, how he puts more weight on his right leg than his left.

“I don’t have time for this,” Charlie says. “Lieutenant Sam, please escort the prisoners to my ship.” He turns away.

I let out my breath. At least he’s not going to shoot us yet.

“Actually,” he says, haltingly, “I’ve changed my mind. Shoot the boy.”

There’s a moment where I don’t quite understand, where I think he must be kidding. Then Joe lifts his gun and presses the barrel to Logan’s head.

“NO!” I twist away from Sam—wrenching—kicking—

You can’t—you can’t—

There’s a whizzing sound, and a ping.

Another official helps Sam hold me back.

“No…”

Did I lose him? I can’t.
Don’t you dare go.

Joe drops his gun and stumbles. Blood oozes from his back.

Behind Charlie, Beechy’s holding a smoking pulse rifle. He shot Joe.

Charlie realizes this at the same moment I do.

There’s the sound of another shot, then of pounding feet as the rebels come running. Sam yells something, and his men whip out their guns.

The air fills with laser beams. I drop to my knees and duck my head. A red laser blasts a lamp in the floor beside me. The bulb shatters, and glass flies everywhere. I scream, blocking my head with an arm. Shards scrape my skin. They set it stinging.

It takes me a second to realize Sam has let go of me.

I crawl beneath the lights and smoke until I reach a pod. I move to the other side and press against the metal, hoping it’ll shield me. Piercing noises from the guns reverberate in my ears. The flight deck rumbles beneath my feet.

“Logan!” I cry. Smoke from the lasers clouds my vision. I don’t know where he is. I don’t know if they shot him.

And I don’t know where Charlie is, either.

A body thumps as it falls two feet away. A copper slides out of the official’s grip, and I snatch it up. As I stand, I peer around the pod corner and aim at the first man in armor I see. The bullet grazes his side, and he almost trips.