She’d come to the tech lab and sat next to me while I assembled the receivers. Turned out I wasn’t half bad at it. One of the rings Trek had fashioned, with the receiver I’d constructed inside to make it work, now sat in my pocket. Almost everyone had one; fifty hadn’t been quite enough for all of us, but close. The Insiders in Grande had done a great job of collecting tech materials.
Worry seethed just beneath my skin. I tugged on the sleeve of my jacket to release some of the anxiety. Didn’t work.
A flicker of light crossed the p-screen near Thane, but flatlined into nothingness. I didn’t realize how much I wanted to see Jag on that screen, though he’d only been gone a half hour and couldn’t have achieved victory so quickly. I needed to hear him say he’d completed the objective. Craved the sight of his triumphant smile.
Because I didn’t want to leave the safety of this building. In here I knew what to expect. Out there anything could happen. Anything at all.
When Thane departed with his squad, I started pacing. Besides Saffediene, my team consisted of three guys from Baybridge, and two guys from Harvest who’d learned to fly hoverboards yesterday.
They weren’t my top picks. Jag had assigned those people to his contingency. It didn’t matter. If the other teams weren’t successful, my pathetic team of seven wasn’t going to tip the balance.
I glared at the p-screen as if it were to blame for not broadcasting the images I wanted to see. All too soon the buzzer on my belt went off. “Time to go.” I strode toward the door with what I hoped looked like confidence.
The chilly air outside felt dense, thick as water, inside my lungs. When I cleared the roof and turned south, I caught a glimpse of fire to the north. The Security Department.
The top half of the building danced with flames. I hovered there, staring. Jag had done it. I didn’t know why, but I honestly thought we might never succeed. He’d been trying for so long. Trying—and failing.
“Zenn?” Saffediene asked.
I pulled my attention from the orange glow. She hovered with the others, waiting for my directions. “South,” I said. “Stick to the plan. We haven’t been alerted of any changes.”
I ignored the smoke curling into the sky. I ignored the emptiness in the streets and the buzz of techtricity hanging in the air.
All of it unsettled me. Something about this felt too easy.
As we circled in from the north, the unease grew. My breath came fast. I crouched low, scanning scanning scanning the horizon. I expected a flood of lights to illuminate the downtown area and an army of clones to make their appearance.
When they didn’t, I wondered why.
And then I saw someone that erased all my thoughts.
A low moan escaped my mouth.
My hands clenched into fists.
I braced myself—
just—
before—
ramming into—
My father.
After that, everything happened so, so fast. Next to me, Saffediene cried out. I spun wildly out of control from the collision with my dad. When I regained equilibrium, I found Saffediene a few feet away, shaking tech-sparks from her coat.
My father hovered with his back to me, regaining his balance on his board. When he spoke, his voice sounded off, but I hadn’t seen or heard from him in over a year.
“Come with me, Zenn.”
“Dad?” I asked, so many questions buried in that single word. I swung my attention back to Saffediene. “Saffediene?” I whispered.
She closed the gap between us and slipped her hand into mine. “You should go with him.”
“Come with me,” I said, squeezing her hand.
She shook her head. “Go work things out with him. I’ll carry out our directive and meet you back at the safe house.”
I kissed her quickly, just as my dad called my name again. I’d longed to hear his voice for so long. My father held out his hand to me.
The ache that had grown inside withered and died. “Dad.” I flew over to him. “What’s going on?” I had so much more to ask him (Where have you been? Why didn’t you message? Did you know Fret used to live here?), but in the middle of a mission didn’t seem like a good time.
“Come with me,” he said. He curved his board expertly away from the burning Security Department.
I glanced at Saffediene and saw techtricity arc out of the flames and hit her board. She seized as the energy lightninged through her body, and then she plummeted toward the ground, her mouth open in a silent scream, before being caught by an electro-net. She hovered in empty space, her blond hair splayed, her eyes filled with pain, her left leg bent at a weird angle.
“Saffediene!” I shouted as my father yelled, “Zenn!”
I shot toward the electro-net, toward that girl I’d recently started falling for. I’d abandoned my father for another girl, years ago. But I couldn’t leave Saffediene.
My board sliced the ashy air, but before I could reach Saffediene, it lost power. I began to move backward. I spun around. My dad had tethered my board to his and was flying us away from the Security Department.
“Stop!” I cried. “Dad, please.”
He ignored me as he zoomed downward, undisturbed by the spark of a taser over there, or the shout of someone behind us. I couldn’t take everything in fast enough.
Beyond the Security Department, my dad had little difficulty navigating the city, which added more questions to the queue. He flew us into a portal, and we disappeared inside a building.
The tunnel grew lighter and lighter until I entered a tech-lit room filled with hover technology. Boards, balls, cars, the works. Jag would kill to get in this room. Maybe he already had.
We were alone, but I didn’t trust myself to speak first. My dad stepped off his board, but—
It wasn’t my father at all.
It was General Director Darke.
My vision blurred, but the image of the General didn’t waver. I should’ve immediately backed up and retreated through the tunnel. I should’ve said something in my most powerful voice. Something like Leave me the hell alone or How dare you impersonate my father? I should’ve done something more than stand there and stare.
“Zenn Bower,” the General said, his eyes deep pools of intrigue. “We finally meet under appropriate circumstances.”
If he thought morphing himself into my father—or getting inside my mind to make me think I was seeing my father—and then forcing me to follow him constituted “appropriate circumstances,” the man was delusional. He slicked one hand over his graying hair and smiled.
“What do you want?” I asked. I didn’t know what I expected from the General. He hadn’t made it to the crown of the Association by playing nice. I imagined my friends out in the sky, fighting to find the very man that stood before me. Dying, maybe. I saw Saffediene in that net. My hands clenched and unclenched as I worked to control my escalating anger.
“I believe you’ve already spoken with Van.” General Darke’s eerily calm smile never wavered as he spoke.
My throat turned dry. “I don’t like his offer.”
“I didn’t say you had to like it, but you do have to accept it.” The General casually sat down and plucked something from his jacket pocket.
“I don’t think—”
“Ah, now there’s the problem,” the General said. “You think too much.”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t.” I plan. I calculate. It’s one of my best qualities.
“Oh, but it’s not, Zenn,” the General said, revealing his ability to read my thoughts. “Why don’t you try being a little spontaneous for once?”