Linette never looked away from me, and I swear it was her steadiness that kept me from crumbling in panic at that moment. She spoke faster.
“We are brainless. We’re going to be fucking thrilled they’re saving us. We’re going to swear allegiance and do whatever we have to do to be found useful to their cause. We’ll keep our eyes and ears open. And then we’re going to take those bastards down from the inside while the others plan an attack from the outside.”
I managed a tiny nod.
Linette turned on her knees and grasped the bars. I couldn’t move. I felt trapped in the spiral of a twilight zone.This isn’t happening. It can’t be happening.
The door flew open, making me jump, and three men filled the doorway, dressed in what looked like SWAT team uniforms. They spread out, guns pointed at us. All three of us raised our hands. I was still on the floor, my legs feeling like jelly. A well-dressed woman in a black pantsuit sauntered in and her eyes took in everything. A creeping sensation overcame my flesh as I watched her jerky movements, knowing what she was.
“You’re here,” Linette said. Her voice had transformed from confident to meek. “Are you DRI?”
She eyed Linette without answering, and her gaze moved to the next cell. Her jaw tensed.
“He’s one of you,” Tater said, sounding scared. “DRI. They came in and killed him when the sirens went off.”
“And who are you?” the woman asked.
“Prisoners,” Linette said, still on her knees, peering up.
“Why have you been imprisoned by your own kind?”
“We wanted to contact the DRI,” Tater said. “We wanted to work with you, to help find outliers, but they said no. They said you all were the enemy. That’s when we knew they were the outliers you warned us about. So the three of us tried to leave, and they stopped us. Locked us up.”
Words bubbled up inside me and came out as a shaken whisper: “I knew you would come.” And I did. I think I always knew this place was too good to be true. I’d even held back from getting too close to Jacob.
The woman looked at me, stared at the tears that trickled down my face as I peered up like the lamb that I was, all laid out for slaughter.
“Can we help you?” Linette begged, sounding convincingly fanatic. “Will you get us out of here? Please?”
The Baelese woman’s eyes scanned until they landed on the key ring on the wall. She nodded to her nearest soldier. “Cuff them and bring them with us.”
Rylen
It’d always been my dream to fly a fighter jet, but not like this. Not with Amber and the others down there, running for their lives. I imagined I’d work my way up the ranks and take online courses, eventually become an officer so I could fly. But I always imagined the people I loved would be safe at home. I’d been in such a damn hurry to join the military when I was eighteen. I should have listened to Mr. Tate. Tater and I were just dumb ass kids when this war started. Back when we thought we knew who the enemy might be.
We couldn’t have been more wrong. About everything. All of us.
I nosed the jet back around toward base with Captain King behind me in the copilot seat. He outranked me, but that shit didn’t matter anymore. I’d read everything about this jet that I could get my hands on, and I’d been in the simulator countless times. Still, nothing could prepare me for the cold fear I’d feel knowing who I was directly protecting. Knowing what was at stake.
I finally, for the first time in my life, felt stable, and it was because of her. All these years. I hadn’t let myself believe there was a chance. I wasn’t going to lose her now.
“What do you see?” I asked King through our helmet mics.
“DRI in all black, crawling all over the base like fucking roaches. None of our people in sight.”
I exhaled heavily. “Good.” They’d made it to the hangars.
Now that I knew Amber was safe on a plane, I could concentrate.
King was turned, watching behind us. “Passenger Carrier One is up.” The first plane had taken off.
I searched the perimeter of the base. “Three white vans at the entrance and something smaller. Jeep, maybe?”
“Let’s take them out,” he said.
“Not if there’s a chance they’ve taken any of our people prisoner,” I responded, glad as fuck that I’d forced him out of the pilot seat. Top’s orders were to take out any enemy aircraft or ground vehicles that were directly stopping our people from getting to the hangar or trying to stop our planes and choppers from leaving. King always wanted to blow shit up—even on simulations—but I wasn’t taking any chances.
“Carrier Two’s in the air,” Lennox called.
