“Anything else about the uppers?” Riley asked.
“Yes, Logan said Takia Qadim would be the best person to have on our side as she has access to multiple systems.”
“How will she and the others know to trust us?”
I shuffled through all the information Domotor had told me. “This is going to sound hokey, but tell them the force of ten is back in action.” Which was true. If I counted Logan, Anne-Jade, Riley, Doctor Lamont, and me, the number was ten.
“I don’t know if I can say that with a straight face,” Riley said.
“Just think of the consequences if they don’t help us.”
“Good point.”
Anne-Jade had been fidgeting with the top button on the Pop Cop uniform. Dipping her head down, she spoke to her chest. “Did it work?” Then she pressed a fingertip to her earring, cocking her head.
Riley and I exchanged a significant look. Had the pressure been too much for her?
“Okay. I’ll give it to her. Thanks.” Anne-Jade noticed our dubious expressions. “I can’t keep playing messenger between you and the lower levels.” She pulled the small blue earring from her earlobe. “Receiver.” She dug into her pocket, and removed a strange metal device that resembled a rivet gun. She placed the earing in the gun and pressed it to my left earlobe. “Hold still.”
Before I could protest, she squeezed and a loud pop sounded in my ear followed by a sharp pain. Anne-Jade batted my handaway as she finished, wiping my lobe with a medicinal-smelling cloth. It came away wet with my blood.
“Now you can hear Jacy.” She yanked on her top button. It popped off with ease and revealed an identical button underneath. “A listening device. It’s built into a standard issue button and attaches with ease. Go on, try it.”
I clipped the metal listening device to my top button.
“She’s on,” Anne-Jade said.
“Trella?” Jacy asked.
I started and glanced around. His clear voice sounded as if he stood next to me.
“Trella, are you there?”
“Yes.”
“No need to shout, I can hear you just fine. These devices of the Tech Nos are wonderful. Once they make more, we can coordinate our team’s efforts.”
“What team?”
Anne-Jade averted her gaze.
“The Gateway team of course.” Jacy’s matter-of-fact reply contrasted with his upsetting revelation.
“How did you?—”
“He threatened to report us to the Pop Cops,” Anne-Jade said in her defense.
Under normal circumstances, Jacy wouldn’t interact with the Pop Cops.
“You fell for his bluff. How much did you tell him?” I asked her.
But Jacy answered. “Everything and you should have come to me right away instead of blundering around.”
Riley’s confusion increased as I talked to Jacy, but he keep quiet.
“Blundering? You would have done better?” I asked.
“Of course. I would have assigned people to cover your shift, to help smuggle food and to supply you with information.”
