The Significant (3 page)

      
“Fuck off. It’s none of your business.”

      
“Don’t have that kind of attitude when we
do this, Lynni,” Theo warned. “Remember, you are a lady of Anon who has been
assaulted. You need to be helpless.”

      
“Then why the hell did you choose
me
to play your fucking damsel in
distress?” Kailynn murmured.

      
“I need someone I can trust.”

      
“Yeah, but, who’s to say that we can
really trust her?” Arina said, glaring at Theo. She had always carried a torch
for Theo, and thought it was creepy how much the Evada siblings depended on one
another. She wanted to be the center of Theo’s world.

      
“First of all, bitch, I don’t give shit
if you trust me or not. Second, I was the one who freed him from prison when
you sat on your ass and waited. What the fuck were you doing when he was locked
up?”

      
“I sure as hell wasn’t whoring myself out
so that my boy-toy would pay for his bail.”

      
Kailynn started forward, but Theo held
her back as another member of the Heart of Trid put his arm in front of Arina
to keep her from attacking Kailynn in turn.

      
“Don’t start this now,” Theo growled. “We
have two days to figure the rest of this shit out. You two wanna scratch each
other’s eyes out? Wait until we’ve shut down Venus.”

      
Arina slowly backed away, but she and
Kailynn continued glaring daggers at one another.

      
“Are we ready to get started?”

Chapter
Two

      
Kailynn was shifting her weight back and
forth nervously, her arms crossed tightly over her chest, trying to stay as
warm as possible in the tiny dress that had been torn around her belly. The
scratches that Kailynn had made on her thighs were stinging in the cold air.
Theo stood beside her, glancing around as he waited for the signal that
everything was ready.

      
There were twenty-nine participating.
When the others were in their agreed positions, Jamis would flash his light
twice to Theo and Kailynn. Theo was watching the ledge of the nearby
manufacturing plant, his hands closed around the vile of whiskey he was nursing
to steady his nerves.

      
Kailynn ripped it from his hands and
gulped down some of the horrid drink. She needed to calm her nerves as well,
but was hoping the alcohol would also warm her frozen limbs.

      
When Theo snatched the vile back, Kailynn
ground her teeth together in frustration.

      
“I’m fuckin’
freezing
!”

      
“I know, I’m sorry,” Theo breathed, his
voice betraying his anxiety. He had concocted grand plans of attacking the
Elites and rupturing the class system of Tiao, but the previous plans always
concerned taking out the nobles or the Elites. He never thought he would get a
shot at attacking the head of the snake—Venus.

      
When a small light flashed twice from the
roof of the manufacturing plant next door, Kailynn’s stomach flipped. Theo
turned to her, pocketing the flask of whiskey and bending to scoop her up in
his arms. Kailynn could not tell if her shaking was due to the cold, or
realizing that everyone was in position and they were about to attempt taking
down the super-computer that ran the planet.

      
“Ready?”

      
Kailynn gave a tight nod, wrapping one
arm around herself and curling forward.

      
Theo took a deep breath and raised his
voice.

      
“Help!” he cried, running forward,
holding Kailynn in front of him. “Someone?! Anyone?!”

      
He darted out of their alleyway and ran
the short distance toward the front gate of the warehouse complex they had been
scouting for days. Kailynn knew that there were four guards at the front gate
and two posted at the other seven gates around the complex. The others were
supposed to take care of the other guards—some were being drugged, others were
being lured away by members who were trying to appear to be casing the fence,
and a few of the guards were meant to remain unharmed. The gang hoped to do
their work quietly, and wanted a few of the guards around to take the blame for
not stopping the raid of the warehouse compound.

      
“Help us! Please!!” Theo called, looking
around frantically. When he saw the confused guards, he ran to them.

      
“Please! Please help!!”

      
The guards watched the man approach,
wary. However, when they saw that he was properly dressed in Anon attire for an
upper-class citizen—not knowing the garments were stolen—they relaxed slightly.

      
“What’s wrong?” one asked.

      
Theo ran to them, breathing hard. Kailynn
started gasping for breath, cringing, her face contorted in agony. She tried to
force some tears out of her eyes, but she was so cold and nervous about the
plan, that they would not come.

      
“I found her in an alley.” Theo nodded
somewhere with his head while the four guards crowded around them, their faces
hidden by dark, protective visors. “She was supposed to be home hours ago and,
when she didn’t show up, I went searching…and…she-she says…” Theo’s voice
became choked. “She says she was
raped
,”
he hissed, “by a gang of filthy
Trids
.”

      
“Trids? In this district?” one of the
guards hissed, sharing worried glances with the other guards. “Unlikely.”

      
“Please, can you call help for her?” Theo
said frantically. “I don’t know how badly she’s hurt…She’s so
cold
.”

      
“Pat, Boomer,” one guard said, turning,
“do a precautionary sweep. Make sure there aren’t any Trids.” He turned to Theo
and motioned to him. “Bring her inside.”

      
Theo walked in with the shivering and
whimpering Kailynn.

      
Kailynn was surprised that, so far, the
plan was working. She had never expected to be let in the main gate. Yet, the
guards were unlocking the man door and opening it, ushering both her and Theo
into the compound. Once the card swept over the electronic lock, the reader in
Theo’s pocket copied the code to another gang member’s proxy card, allowing
them to access the back gate of the facility, which should have been unguarded
with the now-drugged guards.

      
The guards opened the door to the small
building where they would take shelter and watch the security monitors. Kailynn
spared a glance at the screens as she cringed and groaned in mock-agony.
Everything seemed quiet. There was no movement on the cameras that would have
caused alert.

      
Everything seemed to be going according
to plan.

      
“Put her here.”

      
Theo moved to the cleared table and
gently set Kailynn down. Kailynn let out a cry of pain when her body was moved
out of the position, playing up her fake injuries, her hand reaching out to
grab Theo’s. Theo took her hand tightly.

      
“I don’t know what to do to help her…”
Theo choked. He squeezed her hand once. That was the signal that everything was
alright. If he released her hand, that meant that something was wrong and they
needed to escape. Two squeezes meant that she needed to play up her injuries
even more as a further distraction.

      
“She’s probably freezing,” one murmured.

      
“We’ll call for an EMU immediately,” the
second said, moving to the phone. Kailynn knew that, when the Emergency Medical
Unit was called, they would have less than seven minutes to complete their
plan. When she got two squeezes from Theo, she bolted upright, screaming.

      
“No! No! Stay away from me!!” she
bellowed, flailing wildly.

      
“Miss! Miss! You’re safe!!”

      
“Get away from me! I want to go home!!”

      
The other guard moved away from the phone
and went to help hold Kailynn down when one of her flailing hands connected
with the first guard’s face.

      
“Mina! Mina! It’s alright, it’s alright…”
Theo said, using the code word of her fake name to tell her that the
distraction had worked. She turned to him, her eyes going wide.

      
“Dale?” she whispered. “Dale!” She lunged
forward and hugged him tightly, trying to force tears to her eyes again. “I’m
so sorry!!”

      
“It’s okay, it’s okay.”

      
Kailynn glanced at the screens around her
brother. She caught sight of one of the gang members running down the middle of
the warehouses, looking for the one they had found to be linked to Golden Elite
Isa’s identification card. Her heart raced when she realized that they were
caught on camera. She pulled away from Theo and took his face, trying to keep
the attention of the guards on them and away from the screens.

      
“I tried to call you…”

      
“Miss, can you tell us what happened?”

      
Kailynn turned to the guards, her eyes
wide. She legitimately panicked. She had not come up with a story about her
assault.

      
“I…I was…” She lowered her head and
raised a hand to her head. “I was out with some friends…Dale and I had gotten
into a fight and I was drinking…”

      
“You were in the Walking District?” one
guard asked suspiciously. “With friends?”

      
“Yes,” Kailynn said. “And when we left…”

      
She could not think of how to continue.
Instead, she forced her eyes wider and turned back to Dale, trying to draw
attention away from the story so that she would have time to form it.

      
“Dale…I didn’t mean what I said…”

      
“What started the fight?” the first guard
pressed. “Were you yelling at one another?”

      
“Loud enough for the neighbors to hear,
unfortunately,” Theo said. “I didn’t go after her immediately because I was
explaining to them what had happened.”

      
Kailynn was watching the suspicious
creases on the guards’ faces get deeper the more Theo explained the fake fight.
Kailynn knew something was wrong. They did not believe the story.

      
Kailynn turned back to Theo and removed
her hand from his, signaling that something was wrong.

      
“Dale…we shouldn’t so openly discuss our
problems…” she tried to get him to stop talking. That was when she realized
their mistake. The high-class citizens of Anon did not
speak
to one another as Trids did. Often they rarely saw each other
face-to-face. That was why companies that provided Significants existed.

      
Her heart began climbing out her throat.

      
“I’m feeling ill…please…I want to go
home…”

      
“Where is the nearest hospital?” Theo
asked, turning to the guards.

      
“I don’t think it’s safe for you to take
her there yourself,” the first guard said, walking to the phone. “I’ll call the
EMU.”

      
Kailynn knew that they were not calling
an EMU. They were calling the Officials. They knew something was wrong.

      
“No!” Kailynn cried. “I don’t want to go
to the hospital! I just want to go home!”

      
“You must be seen by a physician,” the
second guard said, his hands moving to his sides.

      
Theo quickly realized how out of control
things were getting. Both guards were armed and could kill them at any moment,
and they appeared to be reaching for their weapons.

      
“I agree,” Theo said with a nod. “Where
is the nearest hospital? How long will it take them to get here?”

      
“No, really, I just want—”

      
“
E-Team,
to eleven!!
” a voice bellowed outside. Kailynn jumped when the sound of
orders being barked filled the air. She turned to the screens again and barely
caught sight of what seemed to be hundreds of armed Officials running out of
various warehouses, surrounding warehouse eleven—where the gang had expected
Venus to be located.

      
But Kailynn did not have long to study
the situation before a gun turned on her. Both guards had drawn their weapons, pointing
them at the Evada siblings.

      
“Stupid Trids,” the first guard growled.
“Did you think we were morons?”

      
“We’ve been waiting for you,” the second
added.

      
The two Trids were completely still and
silent, not sure how to respond or how to get out of the dangerous situation.
Kailynn looked between the two guns, her head trying to wrap around how fast
the situation had changed. She had never considered they would get into the
warehouse compound. She had never thought of an escape plan if they were trapped
inside.

      
The sound of rapid gunfire caught
everyone by surprise. Kailynn was sure her heart was about to jump out of her
throat. However, she knew her only means to escape was when the guards had
their heads turned.

      
She leapt at one, kicking him in the gut
and causing him to lose his balance. Theo jumped on the other one, wrestling
with the gun.

      
“Lynni! Run!!” he bellowed.

      
Kailynn did not hesitate. She ran for the
still-open door, almost colliding with the other two guards who were returning
to assist in the capture of those who had raided the compound.

      
Surprised by her sudden appearance, they
watched her turn and run out the closing gate. She managed to slip out of the
gap just before the gate shut, stalling the guards for a few further seconds. Kailynn
darted into the dark alleyways, trying not to notice that snow had started to
fall during the time they were inside the compound.

      
She heard the guards getting closer as
she tried to orient herself to determine the safest escape route. The reason she
had evaded capture from Officials so many times was because she knew the
streets like the back of her hand. She could easily out-maneuver any Official.
She knew the alleys. They did not.