Numbers Ignite (26 page)

The two men with lanterns were there. They pointed and occasionally stopped someone, but if they were talking, I couldn’t hear anything.

The building they entered was one of the larger ones, still intact and windowless. Somehow it had survived a lifetime of desert heat and windstorms.

These couldn’t be NORA soldiers. They would have secured the area and worked in broad daylight, bold and unafraid. Sneaking around at night was not their way.

Who else could they be?

Settlers
. My heart quickened at the thought. Maybe they knew where to find Vance. If they had secret aircraft, they could travel to and from the mountains easily. A few more passengers wouldn’t be a problem, and our trip would be a matter of hours, not weeks.

I felt a leap of excitement at the thought. I could be with Vance by this time tomorrow.

But something wasn’t right. If the settlers could travel by air, why hadn’t they done it before now? They could have transported the NORA refugees in shifts rather than forcing us to cross the desert. And why would the settlers keep cargo here, so close to the border?

One of the men raised his arm and yelled something. I strained to hear, but I couldn’t make out the words.

Another figure shouted back. A woman. Her words made no sense either. Their voices rose and dipped in an unfamiliar way. Definitely not English.

We watched for several more minutes as the aircraft was unloaded. Then thirty or so soldiers flooded out the door and up into the cargo bay, packing themselves in where the crates had been.

I leaned forward as the aircraft lifted off the ground, but again, it barely made a sound. More of a high-pitched whine. It lifted straight into the air, hovered for a moment, then turned and disappeared into the darkness, going the opposite way it had come.

I slumped, disappointed. I’d hoped to get a better look as it passed overhead. It probably had distinguishing features or a logo, at the very least. Now I’d never know who those people were.

The building they’d just filled with boxes stood unguarded, silent as every other structure in this abandoned town.

“I had to forget the disabler,” Coltrane muttered, shaking his head, still staring at the blackness where the aircraft had melted into the sky. “So, did you get your question answered?”

I barely heard him. My brain was hard at work, trying to piece everything together. No guards. At least, none outside. Surely they’d left someone inside. Whatever their cargo was, there was a lot of it.

Something big is happening
,
my mom had said. Was this related somehow?

“Amy?”

I turned to Coltrane and pursed my lips, unsure how to explain what I was about to do.

He folded his arms. “You’re going closer, aren’t you?”

“I have to know.”

“You’re a raving lunatic, Amy. Really.”

“I’ve been called worse.” I crept around the wall and headed for the exit.

He gave a growl of frustration, but he followed.

I tried to imitate how the soldiers had moved, smoothly and quietly. I imagined someone training a stunner at my head every time I ran out into the open, but there was no sound. We rounded the building and approached from the back, just in case. The night air was perfectly still. The moon emerged from the clouds, bathing the building in an eerie blue light.

“Okay,” Coltrane said, and I winced at the noise. “What’s your plan?”

I held a finger to my lips and motioned for him to get behind me. There was a door on the back side, but no windows. An old sign hung sideways, covered in dust and shadows. I tried to pick out the words.

Hamilton Credit Center

Please enter on other side

A familiar nervousness hung heavy in my stomach. I’d felt this way before missions as a member of EPIC. My life had been at risk each time, yet I’d survived.

You were surrounded by armed soldiers
,
I reminded myself. This time I was essentially alone and weaponless. Facing an unknown enemy.

Coltrane was right. I really was insane.

I hesitated, looking back at the road we’d traversed. We could turn back now, and nobody would think the less of me. Except me. No, if NORA soldiers were setting up bases in abandoned cities, we needed to know it. And if it wasn’t NORA—we
definitely
needed to know it.

I picked up a piece of broken tile, aimed, and tossed it at the door. It fell short. I grabbed another. On the third try, a piece struck the door and bounced off. We leaped behind the corner again and plastered ourselves against the building.

Nothing. Nobody came out with stunners or rifles. Not a sound.

This time I found a rock about the size of my fist. It sailed true and hit the corner of the door with a
whack
that sounded like a gunshot. That would be impossible for any lurkers to ignore. We hid around the corner for a full five minutes while I gathered my courage. Coltrane must have seen the determination on my face because he gently touched my arm. “You don’t have to do this.”

“Yes, I do.” I started to turn away.

He grabbed my arm, forcing me to face him. “Seriously, Amy. If you’re worried about my settlement, don’t be. They know better than anyone how to survive in the desert.”

“That’s not it at all.”

“Then what, your fellow NORA citizens? I thought you didn’t care about them anymore.”

I’d never stopped caring about them
.
I wasn’t loyal to the government; I was loyal to my neighbors and friends, people who followed the script and did everything they were supposed to do without knowing why. People whose lives were being examined under a microscope and manipulated by people with strings. They deserved better. Someone had to help them.

I already tried. I’m done with that now.

Instead of replying, I strode around the corner and headed for the door. Coltrane sighed and followed. I made it to the door and stopped. There was no doorknob.

I went around to the front and listened closely. No sound. This door had a knob with a fancy-looking keypad. A red light blinked at the top corner.

A quick yank of the doorknob confirmed that it was locked.

“Password,” an automated voice said with an accent. Strange.

“It’s voice-activated,” Coltrane said.

“No kidding.” I yanked on the doorknob again, and the red light began flashing faster. “Is this all that’s guarding this place? An automated lock?”

“Password,” the accented voice repeated.

“Uh, Amy?” Coltrane said.

“Just a second.” I tapped at the lock, but it seemed secure. A beeping began from the lock. Slow, but then it began speeding up.

“Amy.”

“There’s got to be a way to break into this.” I felt around the mechanism for an opening or a way to key in a code. There was nothing. It was a sleek, modern-looking device.

The beeping quickened even more.

“Amy!” Coltrane shouted. He grabbed my arm and yanked me away.

We stumbled down the front step, landing on the ground. I leaped to my feet and whirled on him. “What was that about?”

“I know what that beeping is! We have to get out of here!” he said, scrambling to his feet. He grabbed my arm again and pulled me after him.

I yanked my arm away. “Stop that. What—”

An explosion rocked the night—an incredible force picking me up and throwing me forward. My legs flew up over the rest of me, and I tumbled before landing in a heap with my face in the broken concrete. Several smaller explosions sounded off, and then the night was lit by an eerie red hue. Heat singed my back. I turned slowly around.

The building was on fire. Flames licked the open doorway. What had once been the porch was now engulfed.

“Stars,” Coltrane breathed. “That explosion was too big to be chance. There had to be explosives in there.” He looked around, then back at the fire. “Great. People are going to see this for miles around.”

A detonating defense mechanism. Those soldiers would rather lose their precious cargo than allow it to be discovered.

“Let’s get back,” I said.

Coltrane’s expression was grave. “You don’t have to tell me twice.”

We hadn’t made it two kilometers before the scouting planes showed up. They had nowhere to land, so they circled the abandoned city. I knew choppers wouldn’t be far behind.

“We’ve got to warn everyone,” Coltrane said as we ran, breathing hard. “I think you really pissed NORA off by destroying their weapons base.”

“I don’t think that was
NORA,” I said thoughtfully. Nothing fit. What would they have to gain by storing ammunition out here? If they wanted to attack the settlers, they’d do it with bombers. Ground weapons were practically useless to them, especially so far from everything. And that strange aircraft…

“Of course it was,” Coltrane said between breaths. “Who else would it be? And now they’re going to descend upon this valley. We’ve got to get everybody out before we’re discovered.”

That much was true. My chest burned with pain, and my limping was more pronounced as the minutes went on, but I blocked all that out. I’d brought more danger upon Coltrane’s people, and I had to make it right.

The settlers were scrambling when we got back, shoving half-folded blankets into their packs and soothing the children.

“Where in the dying stars have you guys been?” Maxim snapped as we approached. He looked ready to murder me but turned his attention to Coltrane instead. “Don’t you realize there was a huge explosion?”

“We’ve got to leave,” I said, suddenly swaying with exhaustion. My leg throbbed, pulsing with each beat of my weary heart. “NORA is on their way. You’ve got to get over those hills before they reach the town.”

“How could you possibly know that?” Maxim said.

“We saw them arrive,” Coltrane cut in. “They’re mad about the weapons storage we blew up.”

“You
what
?”

I groaned inwardly. Coltrane wasn’t helping the situation. “We didn’t mean to. There were soldiers out there, so we went to investigate.”

Maxim’s expression was murderous. “And now you’ve brought their army down on us a second time!”

Irina, Maxim’s mother, caught sight of us and strode over. Several others walked up behind her, all elders, their eyes all trained on me. “There you are. When we awoke and found you gone, the elders met in discussion.”

Uh-oh. “You’re throwing me out.”

“You’ve got to go,” a man said. I recognized him as the one who had tried to fix the explosive mechanism in the emergency shelter. “We have decided you’re too big a threat to remain with us. You’ve only confirmed the wisdom of that decision.”

Coltrane folded his arms and glared at me but didn’t move away. “Did Ruby agree to this?”

Irina pursed her lips. “Ruby is still resting, but it doesn’t matter. The vote was unanimous.”

“Coltrane,” I said softly. “It’s okay. I meant to leave by now anyway.”

“But the pact!” Coltrane insisted. “You can’t—”

“Coltrane.” I put a gentle hand on his shoulder. “I’m going.”