It’s undeniably Maeve’s voice. She’s using theHighwaymen’s main radio channel to give orders to her little army. Jude and I jump from the car’s roof hurriedly.
“Helios…” I breathe out.
“Oh, fuck no,” says Jude, opening the door. “Did you get the coordinates? I didn’t.”
I shake my head.
Luckily, they get repeated a few times over the next hour, and we locate them on one of the maps we find in the glove compartment. It’s a few hours north-east of Las Vegas, near the Grand Canyon.
“We need to get theFireflyback if we want to have a chance at helping them,” I say.
“And Maeve must have left the dam. It’s the perfect occasion. Let’s go!” He’s already behind the wheel.
We drive at neck-breaking speed through the dark wastelands, the red flag on our roof flapping in the wind. We cross paths with many groups ofHighwaymengoing in the same direction, their headlights blinding. As expected, they ignore us.
We know where we left theFirefly. And, with some luck, Marika didn’t have time to hack into it. Jude informs me that she isn’t as good as Perri, and it’ll certainly take her a few days to even break into Fyfe’s security.
We find no resistance as we reach the canyon of the Hoover Dam. We park the car and finish the rest of the hike leading to theFireflyon foot.
As expected, Marika is still there, hacking into the aircraft from a laptop balanced on a chair. Three solar lights have been installed around her. They forced one of the doors to get inside. A man is with her—an assigned bodyguard. But he doesn’t get much time to guard her, as he falls to a bullet in the head, courtesy of Jude. Marika screams and crawls under theFirefly.
“Don’t make us get you!” warns Jude.
There’s violence on his face. He almost hopes that she’ll make us drag her out of her hideout. He’s angry. And with good reason. If given the chance, I will kill her for betraying us. The only thing stopping me is that I don’t want to go against Jude’s desires. He might be harboring some shreds of feelings for his old friend.
Marika crawls back out, dust clinging to the tears running down her cheeks.
“Jude…I’m sorry…I—” she starts.
“You’re only sorry that we survived,” he says coldly.
“You don’t understand… I did it to survive… You understand—”
“I don’t. Now shut the fuck up, or I’ll ask my mutant here to cook your brain until it runs down your nose.” He gestures toward me. “And he’ll enjoy it.”
My mutant. I like that. Strangely.
For show, I let electricity rise to my fingertips and create an arc above both of my hands. Marika whimpers again but keeps her mouth shut.
We tie her up, then inspect theFirefly. They stole all the food and guns. But the rest seems to be in order.
“Welcome back, Mr. President,” Fyfe says in his toneless voice as I sit on the pilot’s chair. “I’ve been under siege, but they haven’t managed to break into my core yet.”
“Good job, Fyfe,” I say.
“Are you okay? Do you require assistance?”
“I’m fine. But yes. I need to change your command.”
At that, Jude turns to me.
“Of course, Mr. President,” says Fyfe.
I hold Jude’s gaze as I say, “I would like to appoint my new vice president and give him full control of theFirefly. Same status as me. Jude…”
“Jude MacCain,” says Jude, eyes sparkling.
“Yes. Jude MacCain has full access to theFirefly, even when I’m not around. And if I were to die, he would replace me as sole owner of this aircraft.”
