“I do. I hear you brought the bazooka.”
Bill smiled. “You mean Bertha? She’s my baby.”
“Well, don’t be surprised if your baby needs to come out to play.”
Bill gave him a serious look. “Theo, I’m ready for whatever comes. I’ll do whatever I have to do to help you and Kylee win this thing.”
“Okay. Good. Go hang out with Jamie for a few minutes. I don’t know—”
“If she and I will both be alive after to talk. I gotcha, bro.” Bill merged back into the marching army.
The rebels arrived at the wide intersection leading to the Palace. Theo had experienced so much within the golden walls of the Palace. School, private meetings with Lucas, the frightening encounters with Tiberius. He was tired of being afraid of the Supreme Leader, that was for sure. Still, he had absolutely no strategy for facing Tiberius, if and when it came to that. Theo imagined the odds were good he would have to shoot the man at close range. He tried to remember all the horrors Tiberius had committed.
The Palace gleamed majestically before them, its bright lights illuminating the vast complex.
“Okay, we are coming in through the garage,” said Kylee. “It’s very likely we are going to run into some opposition before we even get into the building so—”
She was interrupted by the blinding flash of the giant screens around the Palace flashing to life. Theo saw a distant glow from the beach that told him the screens along the heavily damaged pier mall were also active. He guessed this message was appearing on all available screens throughout the island. The screens showed the emblem of Atlantic Island. A voice boomed across the landscape, loud enough to rouse the city from its slumber. “A message from your Supreme Leader, Paul Tiberius!”
The image changed to show Tiberius sitting at a desk that Theo immediately recognized as the one that had belonged to Mayor Lucas. The Supreme Leader looked calm and confident.
“Citizens of Atlantic Island,” Tiberius began in his cold, serious voice, “it is my unfortunate duty to inform you that we are under attack from a small band of traitors on this island. It disturbs me to think that there are a sad few who do not appreciate all that we are doing to make life better for all of us. Please do not fear these criminals. I assure you that the Security Force is taking care of this problem as we speak.
“A moment before I went on the air, I was informed that a group of the traitors had been injured by our Security Force and were attempting to steal supplies from our hospital. I am proud to announce that our forces were waiting for them. While we wished to simply arrest them, they persisted in a senseless attack on our good soliders. The Security Force had no choice but to eliminate all of them.”
Theo heard screams from among the rebel army. His stomach tied in knots. He looked at Kylee who was biting her lip to keep her emotions contained.
“Among those killed were three traitors from the Security Force, including one highly ranked official, Carlos Menendez. It should go without saying that abandoning the Security Force is considered treason and is punishable by death in all circumstances.”
Theo felt nauseous. Kylee was wobbling as she struggled to keep herself together, and he pulled her to him.
“Some of you are no doubt wondering how these criminals were able to make any kind of progress against the limitless power of my Security Force. I wondered the same. I now present to you the answer.”
The cameras panned abruptly around the room. Sitting in a chair, struggling against two masked agents, was Michelle.
More screaming and yelling from the rebels. Theo knew he heard Ryan’s voice in the mix. His heart broke for Ryan who had been on a horrible roller coaster of emotions with Michelle the past few months. He knew his friend felt powerless at the moment, but so did he. They were all powerless right now to do anything but watch.
“This young woman,” Tiberius said off-camera, “had every opportunity afforded to someone in this country. She became close with some of my highest-ranking men and women. She even got to meet with me several times. But for reasons she refuses to disclose, she chose to throw all that away, betray her Supreme Leader and the people of Atlantic Island, to be a double agent working for the traitors.”
There was a sound as Tiberius rose from his chair and made his way back into the frame. Michelle, her mouth covered with a cloth, squirmed and moaned as he drew near.
“There must be no room for treason in this country,” Tiberius said. “I am the Supreme Leader. I am God in this land, and my word is law!” He stepped behind Michelle’s chair. “To the criminals who even now continue their assault on the lives of everyone in Atlantic Island, I send you this message: Give up your pointless efforts. Lay down your weapons. You will serve life sentences in our fine prisons, where you will able to do work for the good of the country, to make amends for what you have done. If you continue this senseless course of action, there will be only one response.” He reached forward so fast the cameras only showed a blur, and snapped Michelle’s neck with both hands. The cameras briefly showed her twitching form and then panned up to Tiberius who looked directly forward.
“Life or death, traitors. The decision is yours.”
The image faded and was replaced once again by the Atlantic Island flag.
Theo looked at Kylee, expecting her to completely fall apart. What he saw disturbed him even more. Her face was expressionless. When she spoke, her voice was flat and serious in its tone. “He dies tonight, Theo. He dies. They all die. I want to burn this place to the ground.”
Theo nodded and turned to the army. He knew their confidence was shattered. “We will not stand here and let it be that our friends died in vain,” he told them. He looked at Kylee again. She stared at him with calm, almost frightening conviction. “Those of you assigned to the garage, head down there now. Bill, Ryan, to me.
His lifelong friends joined him. Ryan was in tears and clinging to Bill for support. “Bill,” Theo said, “is Bertha ready to go?”
Bill’s voice shook with anger. “Ready, willing and able.”
“Good. Then follow me.”
“What are we going to do?” Bill asked.
“We’re going to knock on the front door.”
Chapter 32
Before splitting away from the rest of the army, Theo pulled Kylee in front of him. “Ky, babe, are you okay? Can you handle this?”
She nodded, unconvincingly.
“Kylee, these people need to know they can count on their leader. If you need to step aside—”
“I’m fine,” she said.
Joseph walked up to them. “I’m here to help you, Kylee.”
This seemed to grab her attention. “Hi, Joseph, where’s Andrew?”
“He’s with Jamie and Liz. They need comforting, and…well, I’m not as much with the comforting. I want to help you fight, Kylee.”
“Okay,” she said. “Okay. We’ll fight.”
Joseph took her face in both his hands. “I need you to focus. Your army needs you to focus. We will kill the bad guys, yes? Kill them all.”
“Kill them all,” she repeated. “Okay, Joseph.”
Theo was not at all convinced. “You’ll watch out for her?” he asked Joseph. “You won’t let her do anything stupid?”
“I will protect her with my life. Now you go and do what you need to do.”
Theo walked over to Bill and Ryan. Ryan was still clinging to Bill like he might blow away if the wind was to gust. None of this was good. How had their fortunes shifted so suddenly and dramatically?
Theo pointed at several of the rebels. They did not hesitate but walked over to him. “We are going to mount an assault at the front of the building,” he said. “I don’t think they would expect us to be so bold, and I don’t think they would expect us to split into groups so soon after coming back together. Keeping them confused, outsmarting them, this is the way we will win. We’re going to hit them with a big blow right up front, and I need all of you to move right in and start firing. Catch them while they are disoriented…whoever ends up being there. Does that make sense?”