Haunted (State v. Sefore) (24 page)

Ben stared at each person for a moment. “We will have to sacrifice. Our fellow citizens will sacrifice, but freedom has always come at a high cost. This revolution is no different. We may not be the ones standing over the potentate’s dead body at the Center. But we will be remembered as the region that revealed the vileness of the Elite. The nation will remember our teenagers and students. The images of smoking hospitals and schools will be burned into their brains. Our names may never be touted, but the people will be free. And that is all we are after.”

Chapter Thirty-One

W
atching the forest
of trees blur by, Maddison felt numb. Like she had been watching someone else mingle with the Masses. Like someone else had heard the madness of their plan. The trembling of her arms and legs increased as Ritchie’s face came to mind.

When she’d first seen him, a flash of excitement had run through her. After all, it’d been years since they’d actually spoken. He’d spotted her and sat down to greet her as Lynn left to refill their glasses. She should’ve followed Lynn.

In secondary school, Ritchie had been passionate, but he’d changed, become angry and vengeful. As he breathed threats toward the Elite, he leaned closer, and it took everything in her not to shrink back. His eyes burned with something dangerous, and she had cast her gaze around for Noah, willing him back to her side. Someone called to Ritchie, stopping him mid-rant, and she breathed a sigh of relief when he stood and joined the person who’d distracted him.

Noah had come striding toward her, and she’d never been happier to see him, wanting to throw herself into his safe embrace. But her fear didn’t have time to abate as Lynn and then Ben Yancey met them. She wrapped her arms around herself, remembering the change in Noah’s demeanor. The shift had given her chills. Her alarm had increased as Ben spoke to the crowd and turned to horror when he revealed their plan.

They planned to risk other people’s lives—no, take other people’s lives, at little expense to their own. Their teenagers and college kids, people her age, would die thinking they had been a part of something great. Never to know the adults had used them as pawns, used the MA as pawns, in their own quest for freedom.

Her world had turned inside out. Could anyone, anything, be what she thought? She was dating a liquidator, had been saved by another liquidator, and worked against the resistance. For, it turned out, good reason since she’d been wrong about their position as selfless saviors. They were no better than the Elite.

Even thinking it felt like betrayal.

However, the truth couldn’t be denied. Human life meant little more than a bargaining chip, a flint to light the fire Ben and the leadership orchestrated. And those who would die? They would have no more input or warning than the Elite would’ve given them.

The heat blasted into the car, but it didn’t bring feeling back into her fingers or toes. She would never be warm again. For so long, she vilified everyone in the Elite and saw the resistance as the hope of the people. Heroic, good people belonged to a resistance. Evil pledged loyalty to the Elite. She couldn’t have been more wrong. Ben, Ritchie, and their leadership were insane—and definitely evil.

She glanced over at Noah, and tears filled her eyes. How could she ever have doubted him? “Thank you.”

He stared straight ahead. Red mottled his face. He looked ready to combust. “For what?”

“For being a good man. For making the right decisions.”

His white-knuckled hands clenched the steering wheel. Could he exert enough pressure to bend it?

“What are you thinking?”

His head whipped toward her, his eyes on fire. “Does no one value human life? I heard Ben give this great speech about freedom for the future and a better tomorrow, and then he sentenced those students to death. He’s using them to make a point. Them and anyone else who happens to be on one of those campuses that day.” He banged a hand against the steering wheel. “It’s the same thing Marcioni did. Don’t they see? Their values might be better, but their methods show how like him they are.” His eyes hardened. “At least I’m in a position to do something about it.”

She sucked in a breath. She’d seen this intensity once before, the night Callista arrived in town. His warrior persona changed him—his focus, his posture, his tone of voice. “What are you going to do?”

“Well, first I’m going to take you home where you’ll be safe. Then I’m going to make myself call Daniel and get him to meet me at the hotel. Someone should be worried about collateral damage.”

“Get him to sneak into my house. In case someone’s watching you or him tonight. I’ll have Jakob get Taylor out of the house long enough for us to plan.”

A low growl rumbled through his chest. “You are not going to be part of the planning.”

“I could help. And it’ll be less suspicious for you and Daniel to meet there.”

“I don’t want you to help. I want you to have deniability in case something goes wrong.” Switching the car to autopilot, he faced her and his expression softened. His mouth twisted. “People are going to die, Maddison, and I’ll have to decide who. I won’t put you in a position to carry that around with you.”

The truth of what he said slammed into her like a tsunami. She didn’t want Ben’s plan to succeed, but killing them? “Can’t you stop them without liquidating anybody?”

He shook his head. “McCray will want all of them dead. I don’t know how many I can save. That’s why I don’t want you there. I need you to let me handle this alone.”

“Noah, you—”

“Don’t you trust me?”

His words hit their intended target. She willed her voice to respond. “I do. I will.”

“Then stay with your brother.”

*

Why did he keep hurting her? The pain in her eyes as he dropped her off at the house echoed in him. But she couldn’t be a part of this. He knew what this decision would cost—in memories and in nightmares. He’d do anything to save her eyes from looking like his.

A rap sounded on the door, and Daniel’s impatient face appeared seconds later. Noah couldn’t help but ask, “Were you spotted?”

Daniel gave him a condescending look complete with eye roll. “I’ve been a liquidator for four years and a rebellious teen before that. I know what I’m doing.” Shrugging off his jacket, he looked around the room. “So what’s the big emergency?”

Noah pointed toward the information filling the wall.

Daniel paused. “You found it.”

“And almost too late.” Noah paced.

“Why do you need me? Call McCray and give him the good news.”

“It’s more complicated than we thought. Things could get messy. I want to give McCray not only his info, but an action plan as well. I need you for that.”

Daniel flopped down on the bed, leaning against the headboard, and stretched his arms behind his head. “You know what he’s going to say regardless.”

“I know. But I figured if I could come up with a plan you agreed with, he’d have to agree as well. I don’t want anyone getting hurt that doesn’t have to.”

“So what’s the situation?”

Noah filled him in, pointing out pictures as he mentioned specific people and locations.

Daniel’s disinterested look became grave. “A warning won’t be enough.”

Noah shook his head. “I know McCray’s going to say that, but most of those people don’t even know what they’re involved in.”

Daniel sat up, his gaze focused. “No, I meant, a warning won’t work with them. They’re too well formed and motivated. You could try issuing a warning to those students, but they’re idealistic and short sighted. You won’t get them to call it off. The leadership won’t surrender either. You might postpone their act, but you won’t be able to stop it. You need to end it.”

Noah’s pacing froze. “So, what, we liquidate them for an act they haven’t even committed yet? How is that any better?”

“It’s better because doctors and nurses don’t die because of them. Hospitals aren’t burned to the ground. Schools aren’t razed with students inside. Children don’t die.”

“Even if we could arrest them as they arrive next Sunday, what about the others?”

“McCray’s going to want them all dead. Or you leave people behind to take the leadership’s place.” Daniel studied the wall of information again.

Noah’s fists clenched. “Some of those are women and children, who don’t have a clue what’s been planned.”

“The women know they joined an anti-government group. That’s treason, and it’s the way every liquidator will see it. Those under eighteen will be remanded to government custody.” He pointed at Noah. “We’re going to need help, and we can’t trust any of the stationary liquidators here, not with Bullard’s defection. There might be more. Ask McCray for at least a hundred young free agents, and they’d better come well-armed.”

Noah sank down in the desk chair. “Taking out the leadership is one thing. They’re guilty, and I agree they have to be stopped. But killing the rest?”

Daniel shook his head. “McCray won’t agree to anything less. Not since he’s vying for the minister of justice position. He’ll want to make sure he appears in complete control of his territory. Besides, if these people worship Yancey, they’ll just raise up another leader to take his place once he’s gone. His devoted followers are as dangerous as he is.”

Squeezing his eyes shut, Noah pinched the bridge of his nose as the pressure behind it built into a migraine. “But they aren’t dangerous now. Liquidating people who might become violent is unjust.”

“They’ve already knowingly broken the law, Noah. Liquidation is the consequence for all acts of treason, violent or not.” Daniel’s matter-of-fact tone made the situation all too clear. “Look, either you keep this information to yourself for over a week, innocent people die, and then we punish everyone—including the men, women, and children who rise up in protest of the ‘liquidator attack’—or you turn all of the adult members in for liquidation now, and no one else gets hurt. McCray isn’t going to give you any other option, and I doubt these ‘Masses’ will either.”

Noah wracked his brain for another option. Any solution that didn’t doom three hundred plus children to a life like Maddison and Jakob’s, but sparing their parents meant risking the lives of innocent and regime-abiding men, women, and children.

Daniel stood and headed for the door. “When you’ve made your decision, let me know, and we can talk about at least controlling the way it goes down.”

“Wait.” Noah’s hand shot out to stop his brother. “You’re right. I hate it, but you’re right.” He felt years too old.

“’Bout time you recognized it.” Daniel sat back down, spinning the compad toward him. “We have to get the other liquidators here fast but as quietly as possible. We don’t want to tip our hand.” He typed at a furious pace. “They could all arrive different ways: planes, trains, cars. At intervals over the next two, maybe three days—”

“Doesn’t planning people’s deaths bother you at all?”

Daniel didn’t even flinch. “I’m pragmatic, which is why you called me. You know this plan is the only answer. So what do you expect me to do? Wallow in self-imposed guilt? That’s your job. Sit down and let’s get this finished, so we can call McCray.” His smile twisted. “Then you can take all the time in the world to moan about the hard choices life gives you.”

Noah clenched his jaw and bit back a retort, aching to pummel Daniel for good measure.

“We don’t have time to go another round. Focus.” Daniel searched the financial records of the leadership on the compad.

Noah sank back into the chair, defeated. “So, we get a hundred other liquidators here without being discovered. Then what?”

“This group is too well organized not to have a backup plan in case something happens to derail them.” Daniel clicked on another page, smirking as he skimmed its contents. “And I think I found it.”

“What are you talking about?” He leaned over to see real estate information on the screen.

“What happens if the group’s compromised? Do the last five years go up in smoke? That doesn’t fit with what you’ve told me about Ben and the original ten’s careful planning. I think if the organization is found out, if a plan fails, there’s a contingency plan in place. A meeting place, a final hurrah before they can all be found and liquidated.”

“Makes sense. Ben does seem to have every angle covered. What are you getting at? A spontaneous uprising wherever they are?”

“No.” Daniel’s smirk grew wider. “Even better. A general meeting place with supplies, some black market arms, and room for everyone to gather. A place that buys them time to go underground or go out fighting.” He pointed to a line item on the screen. “And I think this is where it is.”

“The abandoned Amtrak station?”

“Several years ago, Tomás Consuelos bought the land it sits on. Isn’t he one of the leadership? Why would a retail president buy two acres of land and not do anything with it? I mean, it’s prime real estate, and he hasn’t even razed the station or the maintenance warehouses. All five of them. And look at the next line item. It’s an actual Amtrak train. I bet it even works, archaic or not.”

Noah pulled up a satellite image of the property, zooming in and out to view its surroundings. “It’s right in the center of the MA. Anyone could make it to the station within an hour, two tops, if they wanted. And no one would go looking through those warehouses with the electric security fences on the property.”

“It’s the perfect place to stockpile illegal weapons and supplies and serve as a central meeting place if anything goes wrong. It’s a stronghold and escape plan all in one.”

Zooming out again, Noah felt a shoot of hope sprout up inside him. “It’s separated enough from the surrounding neighborhoods that we shouldn’t have to worry about stray bullets. We can contain and deal with them without endangering anyone else.”

“Well, yeah, there’s that too,” Daniel said. “You’ll have to confirm it’s the place once we compromise them.”

Noah crossed his arms. “And how do you propose I do that?”

“We know the leadership is too dangerous to chance them escaping or holing up. I say, on Thursday, we send six pairs of liquidators out to deal with the original ten along with the others in the war room. Once the Liquidation Updates hit the com screens, panic and outrage will set in, and the followers will head for their safe place. All you have to do is call someone who trusts you and pretend to be as distraught as they are—they’ll give you the location, not knowing you, me, and the other eighty-eight liquidators will already be there waiting on them.”

“I hate the way your brain works,” Noah muttered. The tenor of excitement in Daniel’s voice, the blasé way he orchestrated the death of so many people, unsettled Noah more than the idea of what they planned.