Even when Pace gave me another dose of meds.
Even when “he” came over and said, “I can just go if you want.”
“It’s fine, Thane,” I said. “I need the information you have.”
“I reported two nights ago when I woke up.”
“Sure, yeah, whatever. I need the information you have.” I sat at the head of the war room table with only a small contingent surrounding me. Pace, Vi and Saffediene, and Gunn and Zenn, who needed to report on why they couldn’t finish their objective in Lakehead.
My only consolation was that Indy had opted to stay back in the infirmary. I couldn’t have handled her here too. I’d given her an assignment she was less than pleased with, but someone had to watch Thane while our plans moved forward, and I couldn’t spare anyone else.
Her displeasure at my decisions reminded me so much of Vi.
“You’ve seen some of what I know already,” Thane said, and I read between the lines. The cloning experiments. I nodded in unspoken acceptance. “I gave you everything else I know.”
I swiveled in my chair. “Vi, if you would, please.” I hated putting her in this position, but I couldn’t read the joker’s mind. I could, however, feel a massive vein of deceit flowing through the room. Nearly all of it emanated from Thane.
And the rest?
Zenn. The guy held a secret, and no one was leaving here without me knowing what it was.
I tapped my foot against the chair leg, waiting for Vi to excavate the information I needed.
“He knows what Van’s plan is,” Vi replied.
“Which is?”
“He wants General Director,” Thane said stiffly, cutting a tight look at his daughter. She returned it in force. Ah, how I loved her.
“Keep talking,” I said.
“I maintained Rise Twelve, as per Resistance instructions,” he said. “Starr Messenger was supposed to take over, and she’s a fighter. I left her a file that was only to be opened if I didn’t return. I can only assume she gave it to Mason Isaacs when he was appointed Director of Twelve.”
“And what was in the file?” I asked.
“Instructions for how to arm the Citizens of Twelve. How to bring in the Insiders. I knew that if I disappeared, Van would know I’d double-crossed him. He’d start with the Insiders. Van’s biggest problem is his craving for power. He cannot tolerate people disobeying him.”
“Hmm,” I said. “Sounds like a common thread among Thinkers.” I steepled my fingers under my chin, ignoring the pull of skin on my back. After two days of rest, my head and thigh were almost healed. But my back . . . Ouch. Pace had used sealant last night to keep two of the wounds together.
“We know he wiped out the Insider hideouts,” Zenn said. “What’s his next move?”
Thane looked at Zenn, and his jaw unclenched. I watched their exchange with interest. They both had a cache, they both served both sides, they both didn’t have my trust. For all I knew, they’d been working together—against me—for years.
“You’re in a room full of people,” I reminded them. “Speak out loud. General Director Darke is in Freedom. What do you know about that, Thane?”
Zenn slid a piece of paper from my own notebook toward me in response. I didn’t look at it.
“Van is looking for a replacement,” Thane said. “And he didn’t wipe out the Insiders, as I was telling Zenn. Isaacs was able to bring most of them in. The casualties were very low.”
“Define low,” Zenn said, clearly agitated.
“Less than two dozen.” Thane delivered this news with calculated coolness. Typical Thinker. No emotional attachments.
I suppose I was just like them. “How do you know all this?” I caught Gunn’s eye, and he nodded. The information so far had matched everything Starr had been caching us.
“I have talents too,” Thane said. He didn’t even blink. I knew his talents all too well. Voice and mind. A lethal combination.
“No,” Vi whispered, but it sounded like a shout. She shook her head, looking from Thane, to me, to Zenn. “No.”
“What?” I asked.
“No,” she said again, more forcefully now.
“Violet,” Thane said.
“Tell me,” I commanded.
“Van Hightower is looking for his replacement,” Thane said. “He believes his appointment as General Director is coming soon.”
“And?” I prompted.
“He wants Zenn,” Vi said, anguished.
I looked down at the paper Zenn had passed me. The note read, Should I say yes?
Voices broke out, but I sat silent, staring at Zenn’s message. He sat silently too. When he caught my eye, he jerked his head toward the closest hallway. I stood up and followed him into the tunnel.
“Well?” Zenn asked.
I folded my arms. “What aren’t you telling me?”
He held my gaze, unflinching. Classic Insider. But the pause before he spoke told me everything.
“I don’t trust you,” I said. “And this is why.”
Still no outward sign that Zenn was withholding information. But he was. He had to be.
“Should I say yes?” he asked, sidestepping my question.
I raised one shoulder in a shrug. “If you want. I don’t care.”
“Think how much I could do in Freedom as Director.”
It was exactly what I was thinking.
Zenn cast a glance toward the argument still raging in the war room. “Will it help Vi?”
“Vi doesn’t need your help,” I said. “She’s safe with me.” I said it to hurt him, and even cool-cat Zenn couldn’t hide the pain/fury/anguish fast enough. I saw it. I saw it all.
It hurt me to hurt him. We used to be best friends once, united in our zeal to take down the Association. I’d fought from the outside, and he’d crippled them from the inside. My barricades softened, just for a second, but it was enough.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
“I would change so many things,” Zenn said. “Starting with you and Blaze.”
I cleared my throat, trying to scrape back my tears. I nodded.
Zenn copied me, and actually brushed his hand across his eyes.
“It’s your decision,” I said. “I’ll support it.” Then I returned to the war room, kissing Vi before I sat down.
I still didn’t trust Zenn. A few tears and a couple of nice words didn’t buy confidence.
“Zenn will choose,” I said, effectively ending the discussion/argument/shout-fest. “Thane, what else?”
“Everything should be set inside the city,” he said. “We’ve still got Starr Messenger and Trek Whiting who are Informant. I believe Gunner’s been receiving their reports.”
Gunn nodded. “When I’m gone, Saffediene’s been picking up the chats.”
“Yes,” Saffediene said. “But I’d like to request to be on the traveling team.”
“Gunn?” I asked.
“She can have my spot.” He looked down the hall. “I’d like to stay . . . . Starr likes to deal directly with me.”
“Right,” Zenn said, having rejoined the group. “I think Raine likes to deal directly with you.”
I laughed with everyone else. In response Gunner handed his dad’s journal to Zenn. “She does, actually. Can you be in charge of this?”
“When he goes into Freedom, I’ll take it,” I said.
Zenn fingered the leather-bound book, his eyes taking on a far-off quality. “If I go.”
But I knew he’d go. Zenn wanted to matter. He always had—and what better way to matter than to hold an important government position? He’d definitely be going. It was just a matter of when.
Vi put her hand on Zenn’s arm, and my stomach flipped. I didn’t want her touching him, even if they were just friends.