Atlantic Island (28 page)

He allowed his thoughts to turn to Kylee. Beautiful, strong, capable. She believed in him and he believed in her. In all his friends, really. Together they could do anything. He thought of Sam Lucas. A good man who had seen so much potential in him. A man who had tried to do the best he could in unimaginable circumstances for which there was no guidebook. Theo promised himself he would do the same. He calmed then, and was still sitting calmly, practically meditating, when the first of Kylee's women arrived to collect the weapons.

Under the cover of a moonless night, the rebels removed every piece of equipment from the bank vault. Every weapon and bit of ammo, from the largest, most elaborate guns to the quiver of arrows, was transported silently in an assembly line stretching from the bank to the safe house.
 

Theo was thrilled with the efficiency of the operation. Every step, from Bill's drop onto the guard to the very last handgun being liberated from the bank had gone exactly as he had hoped. They now had more than enough weapons to arm every man and woman in the safe house with more to spare for new recruits, should they be so fortunate as to acquire them.

Of course, a little sacrifice had to be made. Having so much firepower in the house with children around was a disaster waiting to happen. Theo hated having to move people out of one of the upstairs bedrooms, as it meant more crowding in the others, but it had to be done. He set up a volunteer rotation to stand outside the door of the new rebel armory. He laughed every time he thought how they were storing that many weapons in a room with seashell wallpaper.

There wouldn't be much time to rest on the laurels of their great accomplishment. Theo knew the rebels would be looking to him for the next plan. Tiberius was proceeding with his changes to the very fabric of Atlantic Island. Between the ongoing demolitions in the heart of Ventnor to the fights to the death that were reportedly still happening, there was a great deal of ugly corrupting the heart of the island.
 

He wasn't sure what the next move should be. He had spent a good amount of time dwelling on the subject of the weapons stash. Now that they had cleaned out the one, he spent the next few days deciding how to proceed. Some of his "advisors" wanted to seek out the other stashes. True, there was a value in taking away Tiberius's weapons, even if the rebels couldn't possibly use that many guns. Still, there was far too much risk involved. Tiberius probably already knew about the raid. He would be increasing security at the other locations, which were likely far from the safe house. Theo just couldn't see a scenario where he didn't risk his people for relatively little gain.

Two days following the raid, Theo sat down with Kylee. "You wanted to talk to me?" he said.
 

"Well, I thought you should talk to someone. You don't have to go through all this alone."

"I do talk to people. I met with Brian and Liz this morning to go over some ideas about how to better gather intelligence on the other side and—"

"That's not what I mean," she said. "I know you talk about plans and strategies, and that's important. But when you start looking to the people closest to you as allies, subordinates, advisors, whatever, you lose out on what you need most. Friends."

He smiled. "You're a little more than just a friend to me, you know."

"Really? I had no idea. Seriously though, that's why I'm the one who needs to talk to you. I don't want you putting so much pressure on yourself."

"Kylee, last year I was struggling with my grades in school. Now I'm the head of a rebellion with my girlfriend as general of my army. How can I not feel pressured?"

"I get it. I had a normal life too, you know. Friends, family. There are many people I miss, and I'm a girl who had a few months of training now trying to lead a team of mostly women to do I don't know what. It's stressful. But somehow these are the jobs we ended up with, whether we wanted them or not. We have an obligation to our people, and to all the people of this island. Tiberius has to go, Theo. And it's up to us to remove him. "

Theo thought in silence. Finally he looked up at her. "You're right, babe. You always are. And you've given me an idea."

"Well thank you. What's your idea?"

"You said you're dealing with an army of mostly women. Well, that's because their husbands are locked up. That's the rest of our army right there. The 'political prisoners' Tiberius took away because they didn't agree with him."

Kylee brushed back her hair. "You want to stage a prison break? Do we even know where the men are being kept?"

He shook his head. "Not specifically, no. Though I think most of the prison is filled with dissidents. I think the real criminals whose weapons ended up in our safe house weren't so lucky."

"How do we break into a prison? It's got to be heavily guarded."

"Well, who says we have to break in? Maybe we can somehow help the prisoners break out. Start the uprising from within."

She kissed him. "You see? You can't doubt yourself, Theo. I keep telling you, you're in this position for a reason. Why don't you meet with all the inner circle tomorrow?"

"Sounds good. What do I do today?"

She smiled. "Leave that to me." She kissed him again.

"We have so much to be proud of right now," Theo said to his friends. "The bank mission has provided us with a fighting chance. It's now time to talk about what comes next."

"Does it involve some kind of espionage?" asked Brian. "I'm dying to get out there and get involved."

"Then this might be your lucky day, my friend."

"What's your plan, Theo?" asked Jamie.

"My plan is to bring the fight to Tiberius. It's time for war. How we get there… well, I have a few key parts of my strategy. Please feel free to contradict me and give me your opinions." He smiled. "It's only the fate of all of our lives that we are discussing here. You know, NBD."

The laughter that greeted this statement inspired him. His people were united by common goals and beliefs. Tiberius united only by fear. That was going to be his downfall. Theo was going to show Atlantic Island that there was nothing to fear from Paul Tiberius and his Security Force.

Theo opened his mouth to continue, but caught himself as he saw the expressions on the faces of everyone in the room. They were all looking to the doorway.
 
One of Kylee's recruits was standing by the entrance to the safe house with a gun raised to the head of another woman. It was Michelle.
 

"Found this girl wandering around. She was asking about all of you. I thought I'd better bring her in."

"It's okay," said Theo. "She's our friend."

The woman scowled as if to question the company Theo chose to keep. She lowered her weapon and backed off. Michelle relaxed and walked into the room. Jamie and Kylee jumped up and hugged her.

"Where have you been?" Kylee asked.
 

"Living in the city," said Michelle. "The Security Force thinks I'm a Tiberius loyalist."

"And you're not?" asked Ryan. He looked furious.

"No, Ryan! I'm so sorry for everything. I was wrong to run out on you guys. It took me a long time to find you. What is this? You have security?"

"We've been through a hell of a lot since you decided to wander off," Ryan said.

"Come on, man," said Bill, "go easy on her."

"No!" said Ryan. "She left us. Left me! Ran away because we dared think that we didn't have to accept a life under a dictator. Well guess what, Michelle? We damn near got killed by your beloved dictator. We've been hiding here. Sleeping on the floor. Trying to survive and mount a counterattack."

"A counterattack?" Michelle asked.
 

"Yes," said Theo. "Why don't you join us, Michelle?" We were about to discuss some strategy."

"I'm sorry, Theo," said Andrew, "but how do we know we can trust her? How do we know she's not a spy for Tiberius?"

"We don't. We can't. But I'm not going to deny safety to someone who needs it and I can't have any of us not trusting each other. I want her to stay."

Theo could tell that some of his group did not agree with his decision. He hated having to pull rank. It was not his style of leadership. In this case, it was the only thing he could think to do. Michelle was one of Kylee and Jamie's best friends. She deserved a chance to apologize and return to the fold. He knew that Ryan would likely not forgive her, and maybe that was okay. Ry would be keeping an eye out, and that was good enough for Theo.
 

"So as I was starting to say," Theo continued, "the time is coming to go to war with the leadership. We don't have to launch the plan until we are good and ready, but once it starts I'm afraid it's all going to happen at once. We are going to build our army from the men Tiberius has unfairly thrown in prison. We'll do that by starting the fighting from within."

He looked at Kylee. "I wish there was time for you to train them, but this isn't going to be like the raid on the bank. There's no way to get all those people back across the island to hide out here and learn to fight. The prison breakout has to be the first major part of the battle. From there, we don't stop. We will make sure to get word in advance to Officer Menendez. With any luck he has a few recruits who can help us. It's going to be a difficult, progressive struggle. We will need to disarm Security Force soldiers as we defeat them, in order to properly arm our men."

"What's the end game?" asked Bill.

"The end game is our army storming the Palace. We take out Tiberius, dead or alive. Personally, I'd prefer alive. He has a lot to answer for and I'd love to see that happen in a real, honest court of law."

He paused, waiting for dissent. There didn't seem to be any. Michelle was clearly holding her peace so as not to incite another round of animosity in her direction. Theo doubted she had totally relinquished her concerns about challenging Tiberius.

"I don't say any of this lightly," he continued. "Many of us in this room and in this house may not survive the battle to come." He saw his friends starting to interject. "I don't want to hear anything about me staying back. This is for all the marbles, as they say. I'm there with you every step of the way. Who is with me?"

Hands went up. Before long, every hand was raised but Michelle's. Theo saw her look around. She reluctantly raised hers as well.

"I'd follow you to the gates of Hell itself, Theo," said Joseph. "And if I die, it will be fighting. A good death, yes?"

"Thank you, Joseph," Theo said. "I am…honored, touched, beyond words to have your support. To know each and every one of you." He spoke for the next five minutes praising them for the challenge they had accepted.
 

A week later, he stood in front of the safe house, addressing his entire army, Kylee and Bill at his sides.

"The world outside this island, it would seem, fell victim a long time ago to a dictator and his ruthless ways. The same thing has happened now, on Atlantic Island. With your help, with your sacrifice, this comes to an end. Tiberius comes to an end. And in his place, we will bring about a better, brighter future. We will find safe, reasonable ways to provide opportunity and basic necessities for every citizen of this nation. I promise you that I will do everything imaginable to ensure that what you do very soon will be remembered in the history books to come, and never, ever forgotten.
 
Be ready, my friends. I will call on you soon to fight for your freedom. Will you stand with me?"

The crowd cheered. "Good thing Tiberius's men are far away," said Bill. "Enjoy it, bro. They love you."

Theo did enjoy it. As much as he feared what was to come, he felt empowered by the support of all these people. More than that, he knew that as crazy as this whole situation was, he had found what he had always been meant to do. Sam Lucas saw it in him right away. He was meant to lead people to better, happier lives.
 

It was a bizarre concurrence of emotions. On the one hand, he felt fully realized for the first time in his life. Here on a bizarre island he had "found himself." Still, that self-discovery had come in the middle of death and loss, with more surely to come. How many of the cheering people in front of him now would not survive the coming conflict? How many of those children sheltered in the safe house would lose one parent? How many would lose both? These thoughts floated through his brain, round and round, as he took time to greet his supporters like the politicians he had seen on television.

Theo spent the next few days in meetings with his inner circle. The plan for the uprising was becoming more defined with each session. Theo knew well the sayings about the best plans for war going out the window once the battle began, but he believed that the broad outlines of the strategy would hold no matter what. In many ways they had to hold for the endeavor to be successful.

The outline was easy to develop. An outside force would join a rebellion within the prison. The combined army would fight through the streets to take the Palace. This was simple enough to understand. Theo and his advisors quickly realized there would be some difficult spots in the plan.