Take Back the Skies (24 page)

Cat looked back through the window, her stomach lurching as she saw one of the mechanics raising a lethal-looking mechanical saw to the young boy's left arm. She ducked away as the blade whirred to life, not wanting to see any more. The lock clicked – Fox had the door open – but the hideous noise of the saw drowned out any conversation that might have been taking place in the room.

Unable to keep watching, Cat switched off the video recorder and crouched down to join Fox on the floor.

‘Th–they're cutting off his arm,' she stammered.

‘Just wait. We'll get our chance soon,' he assured her, one finger curled around the door's handle to keep it ajar, then they sat and waited for silence, trying to ignore the sickening grinding noise. Abruptly, it stopped.

Listening to the murmur of quiet conversation, both of them jumped at a sudden explosion, looking at each other in alarm. Cat stood and peered through the window. The mechanical arm the men had been attempting to attach to the boy's shoulder was twitching violently, and thick purple-black smoke poured from the wrist joint. Every man in the room had gathered around the table, and Cat
knew this was their chance. Seeing a desk piled high with metal boxes, she kicked Fox in the side, silently gesturing for him to go through the door. He looked at her like she was crazy, and she rolled her eyes in impatience.

‘Trust me,' she hissed.

He nodded, slipping through the open door in silence, and she followed. Together they crouched down behind some of the metal crates that spanned almost the entire wall. Fox tapped her on the arm, gesturing to his audio recorder and switching it on. Turning hers on, Cat pointed towards the other end of the room. Fox shook his head, sitting down to make it clear he was staying where he was. Cat steeled her nerve, then ducked low, rushing down the line of crates to the other end.

Standing in a small group on the other side of the crates, a few feet away from where Cat was crouched, were four doctors and one of the government men, Albert Jennings. He had worked for her father in the past, and it didn't surprise her in the slightest that the slimy man was part of this operation.

‘We need to change our approach,' one of the doctors said. ‘This isn't working well. We need to step back and try something different. Maybe keep them out in the country for longer, bulk them up a little more. They're coming in too scrawny.'

‘We don't have
time
to step back and change our approach, Meyers!' Jennings hissed angrily. ‘It's working in some cases, and we're running out of kids! The commoners will start asking questions if we take them any younger – they're sceptical enough as to what use a little brat could be in a war zone.'

‘It's only working in one out of five children! That's still four dead kids we could do without!' a different doctor exclaimed.

‘Getting a guilty conscience, Barton?' Jennings sneered.

‘No,' Barton insisted defensively. ‘I'd just rather we developed something more likely to work on
all
the children and reduce the rate that we're going through test subjects. You said it yourself – kids are in short supply these days.'

‘The commoners aren't having kids any more.' A third doctor now jumped in. ‘Not if they can help it. They can't see an end to the war, and they don't want to bring up kids in a country like this.'

Jennings snorted with disgust.

‘Well, the sooner they wipe themselves out for good the better. Do what you have to do,' he snapped. ‘Just do it quickly. If we run out of kids, we'll take adults.'

‘That won't work and we both know it! The subjects need to be experiencing puberty for the enhancements to take. Their body needs to be in the process of changing already. Adults have finished growing, so it would be useless to try.'

Cat almost screamed as a loud bell rang sharply three times, positive it was someone raising the alarm about her and Fox. She met his eye at the opposite end of the room, and he looked just as scared as she did. The workers, however, didn't seem fazed, and one let out a contented sigh.

‘About bloody time! I'm knackered!' Meyers remarked, rolling his shoulders and putting down the sharp metal tool in his hand. He glanced back at the boy on the table, who
now had a new mechanical arm fused to his shoulder, the skin around the joint red and blistered, but not bleeding. The arm was held out at an angle, supported by a smaller metal table that had been pulled up beside the large one. Two of the workers were taping plastic sheeting around the boy's shoulder, keeping it sterile, and another covered the boy with a thin blanket up to his chest.

With that, all the men headed for the door, and, seconds later, Cat rushed back to Fox. This might be a shift change, and would be their only chance to get out before a bunch of new workers entered. They waited for a long moment before daring to sneak out of the room and slipping down a corridor in the opposite direction.

‘Jennings – the government bloke – kept saying they didn't have much time, and were running out of children,' Cat said hurriedly. ‘He told the doctors to do what they needed to do, so I think they'll be redesigning some things. I just hope that while they're doing that, they'll leave the kids alone.'

‘We can but hope,' Fox agreed. ‘But we'll need to start keeping an eye out for rooms with live sprogs in. If this whole building is going up, we can't leave them in here.'

Cat shuddered at the prospect, and nodded. If they were going to be evacuating the monarchs, they could take the time to save as many children as they could too.

‘We should get back to Mary and James – it'll be light soon, and we both need sleep,' Fox prompted.

Peering around the corner, Cat followed Fox in a sprint down the corridor towards the staircase, while it was empty. The two of them practically fell down the stairs, jumping
them two or three at a time until they reached the bottom floor. Fox fiddled with the lock on the door, pushing it open and Cat followed him inside, eyebrows rising when she saw a lamp was still on and that Mary was sitting on one of the sofas.

‘You didn't have to wait for us,' Cat said by way of greeting.

Mary rolled her eyes.

‘Did you really think I'd be able to sleep with you out there?' she retorted.

Cat shrugged, looking around the room.

‘James gone to bed?' she asked, and Mary nodded.

‘Now, tell me what you've discovered,' the queen requested, eyes serious.

‘Nothing that need concern you until we're out of here. The less you know the better,' Fox said firmly.

Mary drew in a breath, but all she said was, ‘There are blankets and pillows for you both, if you want to get some sleep. Fox, there's space on James's floor, and Cat, you can take my floor.'

Cat froze.

‘No, I stay with Fox,' she said firmly, stepping closer to him. Mary frowned in disapproval.

‘Cat, dear, really, it's not proper for a young man and a young woman to sleep in the same room,' she began.

‘I don't care,' Cat cut her off fiercely. ‘It's safer for us to stick together. I stay with Fox, no arguments.'

‘I have to agree with Cat,' Fox added. ‘We would have slept in the same place had we not found you. We can sleep on the sofas – it's not like we'll be sharing a bed.'

Cat blushed lightly at the mention of sharing a bed with Fox, but stood her ground. Fox's hand rested on her shoulder in a show of solidarity, and Mary sighed.

‘If you're on the separate sofas, then I suppose that's acceptable,' she said sternly.

Fox raised a copper-coloured eyebrow, but Cat placed a hand on his arm before he could say anything. The last thing they needed was him picking a fight.

‘The guards come at eight with breakfast. We'll wake you if you're not up already. Goodnight,' Mary muttered in resignation, turning down the lamp and turning to go to her own bedroom.

‘She didn't seem too happy about being told no,' Fox mused when she was gone.

‘I'm not letting you out of my sight,' Cat declared stubbornly.

Fox smiled at her, squeezing her shoulder.

‘Me neither,' he agreed.

Cat sat down to unbuckle her boots while Fox gathered the blankets folded on the coffee table, tossing one to Cat and keeping one himself. Carefully removing both her audio and video recorders and leaving them on the coffee table, Cat removed layers until she was just in her undershirt, shirt and trousers. Normally she would sleep with the shirt off, but she didn't dare with Fox there. He, however, had no problems, stripping down to his trousers and undershirt. Cat couldn't resist stealing glances at his muscular arms as she crawled under her blanket. Fox collapsed wearily on to the other sofa. He tilted his chin back, meeting her eyes in the near-darkness.

‘I'm scared,' Cat whispered. ‘What if … what if this isn't good enough? What if we get caught, or we can't convince people?'

There was a pause, before Fox smiled.

‘Cat, we've got video and audio proof of what those bastards are doing. Once we go public, they're going down. And as for getting caught, well … don't you trust me?' He flashed her a cheeky grin, and she smiled back timidly. Fox's arm slipped out from under his blanket, reaching across to grab her hand. He squeezed strongly, and Cat held on, closing her eyes. It was far, far easier to get to sleep.

When Cat woke, it was to a pair of bright blue eyes staring her in the face – and definitely not the pair she'd been expecting. She nearly screamed, seeing James standing beside the coffee table, eyeing her silently.

‘What in storms are you doing?' she muttered sleepily.

He didn't answer, and she noticed that he was no longer staring at her. She looked at where his eyes were fixed, and coughed awkwardly. Her hand was still twined with Fox's.

‘Is he your boyfriend?' James asked, his voice slightly higher than it had been the night before.

‘No,' she answered quickly, trying to disentangle her hand. Unfortunately, she underestimated both Fox's grip and how light a sleeper he was. His eyes flickered open, and he looked at her with a small half-smile, squeezing her hand.

‘G'morning,' he greeted, voice husky with sleep. Looking around, he spotted James, the smile immediately dropping from his face. ‘Don't you have better things to do than watch us sleep? How long have you been there, anyway?'

James flushed, shaking his head.

‘N-not long!' he insisted, stuttering slightly, the guilt on his face giving him away. ‘I just thought I'd wake you both up before the guards bring breakfast in. Also, before Mother comes in and catches you holding hands.'

Fox glanced away at that, letting go of Cat's hand, and she felt somewhat bereft. Sitting up with a stretch, she yawned, running a hand through her sleep-mussed hair.

‘What's the plan for today, then?' she asked Fox, once they were back in James's wardrobe.

‘More evidence. We need names and faces so they can't worm their way out of punishment, and we need to try and find out who the boss is, even get him on film if we're lucky,' Fox replied softly.

They both went quiet when they heard voices from the next room – voices that didn't belong to either James or Mary. Cat didn't know how long they sat there, but eventually the wardrobe opened, and a sullen-faced James beckoned them back into the living room. Breakfast was tasteless porridge, but Cat and Fox ate their share without complaint.

‘What time are you leaving?' Mary asked.

‘As soon as we can,' Fox answered. ‘We need to find out who's in charge of this whole thing. Unless you can tell us …?' Fox trailed off expectantly.

‘I don't know enough to tell you about anything,' Mary insisted.

‘Fine.' The redhead stood, grabbing his bag from the corner. ‘Cat, if you want to get washed and changed, go and do it now.'

She nodded, jumping to her feet and taking her bag with her into the washroom. When she returned to the living room, Fox was waiting for her, also fully dressed.

‘Let's get moving, then,' Cat urged, clapping her hands together impatiently. They replaced their devices, Fox making Cat's skin tingle when he leaned in close to adjust her audio recorder, his fingers brushing her throat.

Ignoring James's glare and Mary's worried frown, the two left, letting the door shut and lock behind them.

‘Where to?' she asked in a whisper, mentally cataloguing which floors they hadn't yet explored.

‘Three floors from the top, where we left off?' Fox suggested. ‘We'll get some more footage, then take what we've got to the rest of the crew and see what they say about it. We need to check in with them, anyway, and see how things are going from their end. If we get there in time we can be over to the ship at lunch, and back in here at evening shift change.'

Cat nodded and followed him up the stairs. They reached the level and stepped out into the corridor – and immediately backtracked around the corner, flattening themselves against the wall. The corridor was buzzing with activity, and Cat and Fox shared a dismayed look. No way were they going to be able to slip undetected through all of that. Not wanting to waste an opportunity, Fox removed his video recorder from his waistcoat, turning it to face the corridor in the hope of catching some faces for Cat to later identify. At this point the more proof they could get the better. They moved to an alcove containing a long oak desk and hid underneath it, preparing to wait out the flood of people.

Within about ten minutes the corridor began to clear, and Fox suggested they attempt to have a look around some more of the workshops. Several of them contained experiments in mid-process, and while it made them both queasy to watch, they knew they needed to get footage of it. Fox dug a scrap of paper and a pencil from his satchel to write down door numbers of labs that still had children in them, so they knew where to find them when they began to evacuate. There was an encouraging amount of unharmed children; around fifty, by Cat's count. She just hoped that the mechanics wouldn't move them in the meantime.