He’d end her life just as easily.
“Why do you think I murdered your sister?” Rami asked, tilting his head.
Gemma blanched. Had he heard what she said before he’d entered the room?
When she didn’t answer, Rami sighed. He pulled an electropad out from under the table and placed his palm on the front. It lit up in seconds.
His fingers tapped against several spots on the screen, then he held his thumb on his personal comm device before speaking. “Find Nadine Proctor.”
The electropad’s screen swam through a series of colors, obeying his order as if it too was connected to his DNA. The device centered on what appeared to be an exact replica of the training room in which Gemma and her team had sparred during their Trials.
“Zoom in on Nadine Proctor, and note the date and time of this visualization,” Rami spoke to the machine. He spun the electropad to face Gemma.
A lump the size of her fist formed in her throat when the device zeroed in on a young woman with dark brown hair the same shade as hers. Thereon the screen was Nadine, standing with her arms crossed as she surveyed two fighters in a boxing ring. She looked exactly the same as Gemma remembered.
The date and time popped up on the screen.
This visualization was taking placenow.
Gemma would’ve jumped from her chair if her legs hadn’t been so weak.
She shoved the electropad away from her. “Is this a joke? Do you really think I’m that stupid?”
“I don’t think you’re stupid at all,” Rami replied. “But I do think you were misinformed and weaponized on the basis of a lie.”
Gemma shook her head, her nostrils flaring. “No. Reymond showed me the optic. You choked the life out of my sister here in Zion. Don’t deny it!”
“I can’t admit to something I didn’t do.”
“Prove to me she’s alive, then.”
Rami sighed but turned the electropad so that both he and Gemma could see the screen. He panned out enough so that several individuals could be viewed, including Nadine.
He held his thumb on his comm and spoke. “Connect me to Training Room Eight of the Oranos Space Station.” A short moment passed before he spoke again. “Lieutenant Collins, please.”
A woman entered their view from off-screen and approached one of the older men in the training room. She handed the man a device Gemma couldn’t make out, then Lieutenant Collins spoke into the air.
Rami must not have adjusted the volume yet for Gemma to hear.
“This is Zion Director Rami Vidar,” he said. “Might I have a word with one of your trainees, Miss Nadine Proctor?”
Gemma’s entire body flushed with intense heat. This had to be staged. There was no way this was real.
Nadine was dead.
But Lieutenant Collins called for Nadine, and Gemma’s heart plummeted into her stomach as her sister walked into view.
“Turn on volume,” Rami said to the electropad.
A moment later, the device was in Nadine’s hand. “Hello?”
Gemma’s face fell into her hands, a loud sob bursting free. For how long had she begged the stars to let her hear that voice again?
Yet now that her dream had come true, the sound was like a bullet to her soul.
Everything Gemma had done was to vindicate Nadine, and she’d been alive this whole time. What else had the Dissent lied to her about?
“Hello, Miss Proctor,” Rami spoke to Nadine. “This is Rami Vidar. I wanted to let you know that your sister passed her Trials and will be joining you on Oranos.”
