Three (Article 5) (32 page)

The girl groaned quietly. One shoulder was bandaged, and her leg had been splinted. Whatever had happened to her, it hadn’t been easy.

Then she removed the hands from her face, and my mouth fell open in surprise.

“Cara?”

Her gaze flicked my way, a little dazed. “Hey, sister.” I noticed then that there was a bottle of pills by her shoulder on the floor. She grabbed it and without sitting up threw back a mouthful. At the sound of her dry swallow, I cringed.

Cara was alive. Cara, who’d let the country think
I
was the sniper, not her. Who’d been murdered by the FBR in Greeneville while out with Tucker.

“I thought you were dead.” As the shock passed, my hands curled to fists. If she wasn’t so injured, I might have strangled her.

“I thought so, too.”

She looked smaller than before. Not necessarily thinner—though her cheeks did look hollow—but more delicate. Never did I think I would see her so broken. She looked like a different person completely.

“What happened to you?”

She lifted her eyes to the ceiling. “I got caught.”

I scoffed. That much was obvious.

“How’d you get here?”

Her brows scrunched. “I don’t know.” She hesitated. “They let me go. Some Sisters fixed me up and gave me some meds and a ride to the Red Zone. I walked from there.”

“Your leg…”

“Hurts,” she finished.

I didn’t understand how the MM had released her. I hadn’t heard of them releasing anyone.

“What is this place?” I asked.

“A safe house of sorts,” she said. “A hiding place. Hasn’t been used in years. The old couple that ran the place kicked the bucket I guess.”

I cringed, remembering the bodies covered with roaches.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were the sniper?”

She pulled open her collar, tapped the same scar on her collarbone that now scabbed over mine. “The cause comes first. It always comes first.” Her weak laugh was laced with cynicism.

“It was my name, Cara. You killed people in my name.” My voice, raised in anger, scratched my parched throat.

“Isn’t that what you wanted? Revenge? Well, you got it. At least, everyone thought you did.” She coughed once, then shuddered. “Don’t tell me you’re already jaded. No one has to know it was me. You got all the credit, sister.”

“I didn’t want the credit.”

Cara closed her eyes. “You may not have, but Ember Miller did.”

I opened my mouth to object, but realized with a flutter of panic that it was no use. Cara was right. Just as I’d once seen two people in Chase—the soldier and the boy I loved—she now saw two people in me. The sniper, who thirsted for revenge, who called the people to fight through the Statutes, and the real me. The girl behind the curtain.

The girl who nobody really knew but Chase.

If I didn’t find him, I would be lost.

“DeWitt said it was him anyway,” I remembered. “We heard it on the radio. He was captured, and told the MM he was the sniper.”

She lowered the bottle and stared at the ceiling.

“Endurance endures no more,” she said. “I guess he got me out after all.”

Her words triggered a memory. The night I’d snuck out in search of Chase, and instead overheard Dr. DeWitt talking to someone at the cemetery.

“It’s not going to jeopardize the mission. We’ve already verified what the girl said. A quick extraction, that’s all we’re talking about.”

Had DeWitt been talking about Cara?

“You think DeWitt arranged for you to be let go?” I asked.

“We’re not so different, you know,” she said quietly, avoiding my question. “They took my mom, too. For harboring the enemy.”

She propped herself against the wall, expression pained. Her jaw was swollen, a collage of brown and purple, and her bottom lip was cracked and bloody. She shook the bottle of pills, the excess making a rattling sound. The strained lines beside her eyes relaxed. I wondered how many she’d taken.

I tried to clear my head. Sean had said the soldiers had followed us from the mini-mart to the Lost Boys—it would only be a matter of time before they tracked us to this house.

“We need to get out of here,” I said.

Something caught Cara’s attention over my shoulder and I turned to find Sean coming down the hall where the bodies had been. He reached me in three long strides, a look of urgency on his face.

“You’re awake.
Finally
.”

He sat beside me on the couch and gave me a hug so hard we both winced. I glanced over his shoulder to the window, where outside the morning sky was turning gray from the clouds rolling in off the ocean. “How long have I been out?”

“Seven hours,” he answered, pulling back. “Not that I’ve been counting. Jesse brought us here. All of us. Those boys, too.”

“Help me up.” Chase had been with the MM for seven hours. I couldn’t think of what had happened to him during that time. I wouldn’t think of it.

“Jesse told me about Endurance,” Sean said, lowering his voice. “He said you found Becca in the grove with the others. I’ve got to go find her.”

He looked more serious than I’d ever seen him.

“They took Chase,” I said.

“I know.” For a second he didn’t say anything, and then he grabbed my shoulders. “He’s my friend, too, Ember, but you can’t stay here. You have to come.”

“I have to find him.” He made a noise of frustration, but I could see in his eyes he’d expected this answer.

“You’d better hurry,” said Cara.

Something about her tone made my blood turn cold.

“Why?” She hesitated, and I kneeled beside her. “
Why
, Cara?”

She took another swig of pills and in a flash of fury I slapped it from her hand. What few remained spilled across the dusty carpet.

“The walls are about to come tumbling down.”

I rose slowly.

“We’re going to bomb Charlotte,” she said. “Just the way they bombed us in Chicago. Just like they did with the safe house.”

CHAPTER

21

IT
took a moment for her words to sink in, to push past the buzzing in my brain.

“We have bombs?” Sean asked.

“
They
have bombs,” she said. “Long distance explosive devices.
We
have access to their control panels.”

And access to the census reports for each base, as I’d seen documented in the radio room. We knew how many soldiers in each region would be attending to Charlotte for the chief’s party. The amount of damage we could do took my breath away.

“Three has people working in the FBR,” I said, remembering what Rocklin had told Chase and I our first night there. “It’s how they assured that Endurance wouldn’t get bombed like the safe house or Chicago.”

Some good that did. They found Three’s base anyway.

“That doesn’t make sense,” said Sean, crossing his arms over his chest. “If that were true they wouldn’t have let the safe house get hit.”

“We had no choice.”

Sean and I turned to find Jesse, his face and clothing smeared with grime, striding through the door. He wiped his palms on his pant legs as he crossed the room to where Cara lay.

“Hey, Jesse,” she said, eyelids heavy.

They knew each other. How, I had no idea.

“What does that mean,
no choice
?” asked Sean.

When Jesse didn’t answer, Sean blocked his path, standing between him and Cara. Next to Sean, it was clear how much taller and physically imposing Jesse was. The tattoo on his neck glistened under a fine layer of sweat. For a moment I thought he might fight Sean—his bloodshot eyes flashed with something feral and dangerous—but when Sean lifted his chin in challenge, Jesse rocked back on his heels and put his hands on his hips.

“The location of the safe house had already been compromised. Our men on the inside had no choice but to follow the Bureau’s orders and take it down.”

“What are you talking about,
our
men?” I gripped my side, feeling weak, as another piece fell into place. “You knew they’d bomb the safe house. That’s why you weren’t there.”

He didn’t answer. He didn’t even look at me.

“All those people died,” said Sean. “You’re saying that Three killed them?” He sent a dark glance my way, confirming that every suspicion he’d had about this place had been true. The triple scar on my chest tingled uncomfortably.

“Three didn’t kill them, the Bureau did,” said Jesse, passing Sean to reach Cara.

The Bureau may have killed them, but Three let it happen.

“They could have at least warned them. They could have tried to evacuate.”

Jesse twitched. “I tried to warn them. I wasn’t fast enough.”

He’d told us he’d been in the woods. Sarah had been by the beach. He’d saved her, she’d said.

“How long have you been with Three?” I asked. The location of the president’s hideout in the mountains. The men Jesse had killed in Chattanooga. The soldier in the cage at the cemetery. He’d known all along Endurance would be there, that they’d bring us in without question.

Cara snorted. “Oh, I’d say awhile, huh, Jesse?”

He kneeled beside her, picked up the nearly empty pill bottle and with a grim look stuck it in his pocket. “There are choices we have to make that aren’t easy. Save the safe house, or save the mission. Either way we lose good people.”

“You could have stopped it,” Sean said.

“And lost the chance to strike back,” countered Jesse. “Right now our people are outside of Charlotte, waiting for it to fall. Ready to claim our victory.”

This had been the plan all along, the orders that the fighters would receive once they arrived. Without knowing it, I’d called the people to join them.

“Chase could be in Charlotte.” My knees grew weak, and I leaned against the side of the couch for support. “
Your nephew
could be in Charlotte.”

Jesse stood rigid, filling the whole room.

“Yes,” he said.

“You’re going to stop it, then. You’re going to get him out.”

“It’s too late.”

I did not believe that. I would not believe it. But the evidence was thick and heavy and filled me with dread.

“You’re bombing it tonight. For the chief’s party.” To kill one man they would risk hundreds more.

Jesse’s jaw twitched.

“We all make sacrifices,” he said.

A veil of red passed before my eyes. I thought of how he’d taken Chase away when I was twelve, how he’d left him when he was sixteen in Chicago to fend for himself. I hated Jesse then. I hated him for not even trying.

I’d wanted to believe in Three so much I’d neglected to see it for what it really was. Just another group of insurgents trying to tear apart the system. They didn’t care about the truth—that our injured had been murdered, that the prisoners were dying each day, that Chase was gone and Tucker had been used as bait—they only cared about the outcome.

Jesse had scooped Cara up in his arms and was making for the entryway. He twisted, reaching for the handle to open the door without bumping her splinted leg.

“We’re leaving,” he said, carrying her to the porch and down the steps to where the Lost Boys waited on the patchy front lawn.

I followed him outside, Sean on my heels. The standalone garage where Rebecca and I had fought off the pack of dogs was behind the parked white moving truck. The sun hid behind the thick thunderclouds, but was climbing, counting down the minutes to the Chief of Reformation’s party.

“Where?” I called.

“Tampa,” he answered bluntly. The nasty boy, Charlie, rose, and helped him lift the back gate of the moving truck. Gently, Jesse settled Cara on the flatbed.

My nerves cracked like a whip. I was not going to Tampa. I was going to Charlotte. I needed to get to Chase before the bombs hit, and the only way I knew to do that was to sneak in.

“I need this truck,” I said. I glanced at Sean.
“I’m sorry,”
I mouthed. He needed it, too, to get back to Rebecca.

“Don’t test me, neighbor.” Jesse didn’t turn around.

My gun was missing, and before Sean could stop me I’d snatched his from behind his back. I released the safety but kept it lowered. Jesse, hearing the noise, turned slowly.

“Don’t test
me,
” I said, trying to stop my hands from shaking. “I’m taking this truck.”

“Put down the gun,” said Jesse.

“Give me the keys.” It occurred to me that I didn’t know how to get to Greeneville. I didn’t even know how to drive. It didn’t matter. I’d figure it out. Fast.

I glanced to my right, to Sean, his stare shifting between me and Jesse. The eyes of the children had all turned my direction, and I couldn’t help but feel a little bad for that.

“You’re not going to shoot anyone,” said Cara from inside the truck.

I lifted the gun and fired into the air. The adrenaline kicked down my arm.

“She’s gonna shoot someone,” said Charlie.

“The keys!”

Jesse reached into his pocket, teeth bared.

“I knew you’d be a pain in the ass.” He tossed me a silver key ring.

I heard footsteps on my right, and felt Sean stand beside me.

“Get out of here,” he said quietly. “Do what you’ve got to do.”

“What’s your plan?” Jesse asked him. “How are you going to get back to your girl?”

“The Horizons truck in the garage,” said Sean. I’d forgotten about that—we’d pulled supplies out of the back the first time we’d been here.

“The tires are flat,” said Jesse.

“A lot of kids here,” he said. “I’m sure we can find a few spares.”

“You just need to make it to Endurance,” I said. “There’s one more car left in the lot.” It would be a tight fit with all the kids, but I had confidence Sean would make it work.

He nodded.

“Hey, sister,” called Cara weakly. I glanced over at her, half expecting her to have a gun pointed in my direction, too. Instead, she wore a lopsided grin. “If you’re breaking into a base, make sure you dress the part.” She winked.

Clearly she’d had too much pain medicine.

Jesse made a move toward me, but Sean blocked his way. “Uh-uh,” he said with a firm shake of his head. Jesse could have flattened Sean if he’d wanted to, but something had him falling back. He swore, and then reached into the truck to help Cara out.