Under Ground (30 page)

There's a tremor in his voice and
something in his eyes; he's lying or not telling us the whole
truth.

“How do you know about Chi? And
why should we believe you? Why are you messing with us?” I
ask.

“I’m not! I promise, I’m not.
Please, let me make it up to you,” he says.

“Why? Why would you even want to
help me? You care about no one but yourself!” I snap at him with
frustration.

“I screwed up, okay! I screwed up,
and I want to make it up to you. I never meant for them to take
your mother away.”

“Now, I have seen and heard it
all,” Taylor says, rolling his eyes. “Okay man, when you’re done
with your soap opera act, can you tell us something that’s actually
useful? My patience is running dry, and you’d better talk before
Chi gets suspicious and brings his ass over here. Because then, I
wouldn’t bet on your safety.”

Fear crosses William’s eyes upon
hearing Chi’s name and the threat underneath Taylor’s
tone.

“Look,” he says, frantic to
explain himself. “The camps are better protected than you think
they are. I know you’ve got guys on the inside, but most of them
are corrupted, and the authorities are on the lookout for you.
They've already increased security. You're going to need me if you
want to make it on the inside at all.”

“Thanks, but no thanks! We have it
under control,” Taylor replies.

“No, you don’t! They caught one
guard letting some prisoners out yesterday. He’s as mute as a clam
about all this, but they’ll be waiting for you now. Some other
guards opened up already and said you’d be attacking the camps in
two weeks. They gave out the date, the plans, and everything. They
know you're going to use the tunnels that lead to the supply rooms
underneath the camp. But I can help you. They won't be suspicious
if I'm there. They have cameras everywhere too, but I can
deactivate some of them.”

"I'm pretty sure we can deactivate
the cameras ourselves, thank you very much," Taylor replies. "I
don't know what you take us for, but we're not complete
morons."

Taylor's voice exudes confidence,
but shock is plain on his face. No one had told him some of his
guards got arrested.

“You can’t trust anyone," William
insists. "The guards might act like they're with you, but they’re
not—at least not all of them. I can help."

“And why should I trust you over
the members of the Underground?” Taylor asks with
disbelief.

“Taylor’s right. You’ve done
nothing but betray us until now. We can’t trust you, William. And
how did you know about the camps in the first place?”

“I’ve always known about the
camps. My father told me about them years ago,” he
replies.

He averts his eyes and clears his
throat a few times. Taylor beckons me away from William

“I don’t know how I feel about
this, Thia,” he whispers. “But I’ve only heard back from a few
guards, and I haven’t heard from Liam. I didn’t tell anyone because
I didn’t want them to freak out.”

“What if this is all a trap?” I
ask.

“We’ve been working on this for a
long time now, but if the authorities got to some of the guards
already, we have no choice but to take them by surprise. This might
be our only chance, and I can’t postpone the date. I don't know how
he got that information, and I need to look into it before we do
anything drastic.”

"I don't trust him," I
reply.

Taylor holds the bridge of his
nose and inhales deeply. "Neither do I, but we can't just stop now;
there's too much at stake for all those people. We're not giving up
now."

"How about the other camps? Will
the others get trapped?" I ask.

"No matter what William says,"
Taylor replies, "the other leaders can attack just about any camp.
All they have to do is shoot the men guarding the
tunnels."

I sigh. “We should discuss all
that with the others and Chi first," I say loud enough for William
to hear.

William cringes again when Chi’s
name comes up, and Taylor sneers. I’m glad William is scared of
Chi. He should be.

“We’ll talk it over with the whole
group." Taylor says before pointing his finger in William's face.
"And you still need to account for your actions. You can’t leave.
You’ll be under surveillance the entire time. If you try anything
or if this is a trap, you’re dead! You got me?” The menace in
Taylor's voice is very real. William's pupils widen with renewed
dread.

Before we leave the room, I pin my
gaze on his green eyes. “I need to know why. Why did you betray me?
Why did you give my mother away?”

I realize it’s a silly question
the moment I ask. Of course I know why. William did it because he
couldn’t accept my choosing Chi over him. He wanted to hurt me
back. I don’t know what he hopes to get from this help he’s
offering us, but I need him to explain himself. I want to know how
he knew about my mother. I want to know how he got her
arrested.

“I did it because I couldn’t take
it, all right? The thought of him touching you, it drives me nuts.
You’re supposed to be with me! Not with him! And to think of you
two like that—"

“But, we didn’t…We haven’t been
together like that,” I cut him off.

He pauses as if to reflect upon
this. I don’t know why I care, but it matters to me that he doesn’t
view me as being easy.

“But I thought, surely you. Surely
he—”

I interrupt him, “Chi is not like
that, William!"

He shakes his head in disbelief
before realization hits him. “Is that why you chose him?” he
asks.

I’m sick of this. I don’t owe him
any justification. If anything, he should be the one explaining
himself. I change the subject abruptly and turn the conversation
around on him. “How did you know about my mother?”

“Emily,” he says. “Emily told
me.”

This feels like a slap, hard and
raw. Of course, Emily has always begrudged me my position. My
mother, though, deserved better. My jaw clenches and my eyes
harden. I freeze though I’m suddenly burning on the
inside.

William tries to explain himself,
panic flashing through his eyes and disappearing just as quickly.
“She called me. The day after you left. Emily called me and told me
you were gone. You weren’t in your room that morning. Emily told me
she'd overheard your mother’s conversation with you in the kitchen.
She said your mother acted frantic, as if she thought you’d run
away, but Emily knew it was a lie. I was so mad! It was like I had
no more control over myself. I told my father what had
happened.

"Because of Chi’s link with the
Underground, the authorities thought your mother was involved in
the rebellion. They came to pick her up. I didn’t think about the
consequences. I was enraged and it blinded me. When I realized what
I had done, it was too late. I am so sorry! I didn't mean for your
mother to be taken away!”

His words sound remorseful, but
his cold, calculating eyes don't lie as well as his tongue does.
He's not sorry—at least not nearly sorry enough for my
taste.

“Don’t you dare apologize!” My
voice comes out raw, harsh, gritting against my teeth. My words
spray out like acid to sting him in the face. I don’t like this
person William always turns me into. I don’t like how he constantly
brings the rage and hatred out of me. I can’t stop the sardonic
words from coming out, "You sound pathetic! You are a miserable
excuse for a human being, and you are not forgiven.”

I turn on my heels just as Taylor
pulls William's hands behind his back. He pushes him forward in
front of him and I follow them. We go to the kitchen, and Taylor
calls loudly for James to come back into the apartment. Then he
tells him to go get Chi. Terror flashes through William’s eyes
again. I don’t know how Chi is going to react either. He can be
unpredictable when he's upset.

When James is gone, Taylor
attaches William’s hands with cuffs. He’s still working on those
when Chi walks in. It’s obvious he doesn’t know William is here
yet. The look of curiosity on his face turns feral the moment he
lifts his face and notices William.

“You’ve got to be kidding me! What
the hell is he doing here?” he snaps, restraining himself from
hitting William in the face.

Taylor grabs Chi by the arm and
pulls him outside the room. Their voices pour in through the door
and Chi’s tone rises. It quiets down suddenly and they both walk
back in. Chi glares at William and shakes his head, not believing
what’s going on. He comes and grabs my hand in his, possessively,
his eyes daring William to do something about it.

“Let's get out of here," he tells
me. "I’m not leaving you anywhere near that sociopath!”

But as we reach the door, Chi
pauses as if thinking better of it. He drops my hand and strides
toward William, so fast no one has time to stop him. He grabs
William by the collar of his shirt and pulls him close to his face,
snarling, “You try to screw us up, or you try to come near her,
just once, and I’ll kill you with my bare hands! Do you
understand?”

William’s Adam apple slides up and
down his throat as he swallows. He looks like he might soil his
pants. Chi seems satisfied enough though the disgust hasn't left
his face. He drops William, takes my hand again, and we walk
out.

When we are in the hall, he takes
my face in his hands. “Are you okay?”

I nod and he hugs me before we
head back to our apartment, all the way to the balcony outside our
bedroom. I no longer feel safe now that William is among
us.

Chapter 32

Chi and I
spend
the rest of the day together.
We don’t go to our training session and we don’t join the others
for any activities. I don’t want to see William, and Chi seems to
feel the same way. It’s eight a.m. the next day when James knocks
on our door.

“You guys need to come with me.
We've got new information and Taylor wants to talk to
you.”

We follow James to the meeting
room and find Taylor and Kayla sitting at the table. Kayla is
holding her arms crossed. She's still mad at Taylor for not letting
her join us on this mission. William is there as well. His hands
are still in cuffs and he looks uncomfortable.

“Hey, guys. Sit down,” Taylor
orders.

I look at Chi, but he’s clearly
avoiding William, pretending he’s not even in the room with us. I
guess that’s better than assaulting him.

“Our friend William here has
revealed some new information," Taylor starts. "Like he said when
he got here, it seems we can’t trust the guards. That complicates
things a lot. We have to act without their help. We can’t put our
lives in their hands anymore. We have to act sooner and take them
by surprise.”

“What’s changed?” Chi asks. “How
do you know for sure he’s not lying?” He points to William with his
head when he says “he,” his voice charged with
repugnance.

“Well, it turns out William has a
family member who's in charge of all the camps.” Taylor looks
slightly sickened as he says it. “His father apparently owns the
company that trains and supplies the guards.”

“What? That’s impossible!” Chi
exclaims.

His eyes shift toward William for
the first time since we walked in, and the look he sends him is far
from pleasant.

“Well, we always knew the guards
were trained by a specific corporation," Taylor says. "I thought
we'd managed to talk some of them into joining our cause, but it
seems they’ve been corrupted and threatened into shooting us when
we reach the camps.”

“That explains your high status,"
Chi shoots at William. "Your parents made all that money by
oppressing the weak and putting them in work camps!" The revulsion
on Chi’s face is so vivid he looks like he might throw up. “Tell me
again why you’re supposed to be so much better for Thia than I
am!”

“Okay, let’s not start fighting
like little boys." Taylor grabs Chi's shoulder before the argument
turns physical. "You guys will get over your personal grievances
until we’re out of this mess. I will not tolerate anyone getting
injured because of your childish feud! Chi, don’t force me to leave
you behind, man. If you look like you might jeopardize this
mission, I will! Understood?”

Chi’s jaw tightens and his hands
turn to fists. But he knows better than to contradict
Taylor.

“Fine!” he says while throwing
William a look filled with daggers. “What other nauseating piece of
information did he give you?” His hand reaches out to claim mine in
obvious defiance of William.

“I’m right here, you know! You can
talk to me directly,” William replies, his eyes shifting from Chi's
face to his hand on mine before his brows narrow in
anger.

Chi snorts with obvious distaste.
“Fine,” he exclaims. “What other abhorrent news do you have for us,
William?” He pronounces his name slowly, each syllable hissed
through his teeth with venom. “Is your family also in charge of
getting rid of all the corpses filling the camps? Or is that noble
task left to some other corporation?”