Renegade (20 page)

“It’s not a problem,” he says, pulling me out of my thoughts. “It would kinda suck if my girlfriend died before I could introduce her to my mom, you know.” He watches me out of the corner of his eye.

I blush, and tingles of pleasure bloom all over as I duck my head, hiding my face from view with my hair. I like the sound of that. Even if it was only meant in jest. “My girlfriend.” It has a nice ring to it.

While I wait for the medication to kick in, I debate for a minute or two with myself, then nestle in next to Gavin. He winds his arm around my waist and pulls me closer when I start shivering. At first I stiffen at his touch, but then I relax into him. Just having him hold me makes me feel a little better.

My body is going into shock, but the injection should take care of that. Unfortunately, it can take up to twenty minutes, but at least there will be some kind of relief coming.

“So, how about explaining about that turret thing while we’re waiting? How do you know it was malfunctioning?” He takes my head and pushes it down so it’s resting on his shoulder.

I adjust so I’m a tiny bit more comfortable, but keep my head on his shoulder. It feels too good to move. “I don’t. Not for sure. But it happens often enough there’s a good chance that’s the problem. For some reason, the turrets’ sensors malfunction. No one is sure why or what causes it. Mother has them taken offline until they’re fixed, but it’s almost impossible to anticipate the malfunction.”

“Don’t they get maintenance?”

“Yes. Once a month, and a thorough tune-up twice a year, but it doesn’t seem to matter. That’s why Mother had them removed from the Palace Wing. She didn’t want one going off accidentally and killing us.”

“That’s really kind of her.” His voice drips with sarcasm.

“I asked her about removing the turrets from the rest of the facility and she did remove some, but not all of them. They are there to protect the Citizens from Surface Dwellers.”

“Like me?” Gavin asks, moving his gaze back to me.

“Yes, but you’re in the system. Macie helped me get you in there. That’s why I used the coupling excuse. So I could get your DNA and have it entered into the system.”

He runs his fingers down my arm and then interlaces them with mine. “Why did it leave us alone when we dropped to the ground?”

I stare at our conjoined hands. I have to force myself not to pull away. His skin is golden next to the paleness of mine. I half expect him to start glowing. “It works by motion,” I say. “So it doesn’t waste bullets on a dead body. The minute the targets drop to the ground, it’s supposed to stop firing. Since most people panic and flee when they’re fired on, it works well.”

Gavin’s grip tightens around my hand, grinding the bones against one another. I hiss and he lets up. “Sorry,” he mumbles. “So, because you knew it would stop shooting at us when we dropped to the ground, we were able to beat it?”

“Exactly. And now all we have to do is wait out the Guards’ investigation, then the turret will be taken offline, and Citizens will start returning to this area. Then we can be on our way. Simple.”

He caresses the side of my hand with his thumb. It feels nice, but I have a feeling he doesn’t even realize he’s doing it; while it’s all I can focus on.

“How do we know that another turret won’t malfunction?”

And now we get to the crux of our situation.

“We don’t. We’ll just have to make sure we’re careful and aware of our surroundings at all times. We’ll watch for more malfunctions.”

“How do we do that?”

“The turrets in the common areas are in the ceilings. You can tell where they are by their sensors, which hang down slightly from the ceiling on black posts. We’ll just make sure to watch them carefully. Not to mention you should be able to hear a hissing sound.”

“And if we see or hear a turret, we drop to the ground.”

“Or we get out of sensor range, which will allow us to keep moving.”

Gavin’s silent, and I start to get drowsy as the minutes drag on.

He startles me when he finally speaks. “What’s up with that sign on the other side of this booth? Also? Why is there a booth? It’s not like you need tickets or something. Do you?”

I laugh. “No. It prevents unauthorized travel between Sectors Two and Three.” I pause, trying to remember what sign he’s talking about. “The ‘Caution: Stay clear of tracks. Strong magnetic fields in use, which may affect the operation of your nanobots’ sign?” When he nods, I say, “All Citizens have nanobots—little microscopic robots—in our bodies to prevent pressure sickness.” At least, that’s what I thought they were they for, but now the journal has me questioning even that.

“Pressure sickness?” he asks.

“There’s so much pressure at this depth, gases would eventually build up in our blood,” I explain. “The nanobots make sure to clean out the excess so we don’t get sick. They actually accelerate healing, too. They’re pretty amazing. You’d get them, too, if you stayed.”

“So how come I’m not getting sick down here?” he asks.

“It takes a long time, and you’re more at risk if you go back to lower pressures quickly.”

“The bends,” he says.

“Yes.”

The Guards’ voices grow closer, which means they’re nearly finished. The turret has been taken offline if they’re creeping into sensor range. They’ll just make sure there aren’t any more dead bodies over here, and will soon move on.

I place my finger over my lips and gesture to the windows. Gavin nods and we both make sure we’re in the shadows of the desk and not visible from the windows.

“All clear over here,” a Guard calls. It sounds like his voice is just on the other side of the glass.

A young female voice from slightly farther away calls, “No sign of the renegades?”

“No, sir,” the first Guard responds, confirming my thought that the girl is an Enforcer.

“Very well. Go back and attend to the wounded.”

The station is quiet. I wonder if it’s okay to take a peek and see if everyone is gone. However, before I can, I hear Mother’s voice. “Did you locate my daughter?”

At first I start, because I think she must have joined them, but the voice is tinny and I realize it’s just her holo. I let out the breath I was holding.

“No, milady,” the Enforcer states. “The turret malfunctioned.”

Mother makes a noise of disgust. “This wasn’t a malfunction, you idiot.”

Gavin and I exchange a wide-eyed look.

“Milady?”

“I removed their DNA from the computer. The camera caught them in the Square. If this turret went off, it was because it didn’t register their DNA.”

C
HAPTER
F
IFTEEN

Conditioning is an important part of your daughter’s training. But there is no need to fear. All the Conditioning takes place while she’s asleep. She will feel nothing other than a quick sting of the needle filled with “happy juice” that will ensure the perfect atmosphere for Conditioning.

—EXCERPT FROM
S
O
Y
OUR
D
AUGHTER
H
AS
B
EEN
C
HOSEN TO
B
E AN
E
NFORCER.
C
ONGRATULATIONS!
PAMPHLET

Of course it wasn’t a failure. Were they ever? Probably not. The computer was programmed to locate by DNA. All they had to do was delete the person from the computer, so it would think they were Surface Dwellers and open fire.

That was exactly why Mother wasn’t afraid to go down to the Detainment Center to speak with Gavin. She
knew
they wouldn’t go off.

Gavin and I wait for them to finish their conversation, hoping Mother will drop something else important, but she doesn’t, and I have to wonder if she knows I’m nearby and
wanted
me to hear that I’d been removed from the computer. I pray they don’t get smart and decide to check the booth. They’ll find us in a heartbeat.

They don’t, and I hope it’s because they think we ran with the crowd to blend in, even if I’m especially grateful we didn’t do that. How many more lives would we be responsible for if we had?

“I know what you’re thinking, and it’s not your fault,” Gavin says. He runs his hand down my arm and interlaces our fingers again.

I shake his hand away, not in the mood for his coddling. “Yes it is. I was stupid enough that I didn’t think Mother would pull our DNA from the computer. She used my own plan against me.”

“What else could we have done? How else would we get here?”

“I don’t know.” I clench my fist so hard my nails dig into my palm, breaking the skin. “Something. Anything would have been better than getting innocent people killed because of me.”

He takes my hand and straightens out my fingers. There are four little half-moon shaped marks in the heel of my palm. “Let’s put that off to the side for now. We need to get to the subs.” He pauses as he stares at me.

I shake my head, but he cuts off my refusal. “She’s going to kill you, Evie. The turret was planned to go after
both
of us. Not just me. I’m not leaving you here. You’re coming with me.” His tone becomes more forceful with each word and I’m pretty sure he’s close to demanding that I listen to him this time.

Even though I can’t imagine leaving my home, I don’t see a choice. If I stay, I’ll die. Mother will see to that. The wound in my shoulder is proof.

Slowly, I nod. “Okay.”

“No, you don’t— What?” He looks dumbstruck at my agreement and I have to laugh.

“I said, okay. I’ll go with you. You’re right. She’ll kill me if I stay.”

He closes his eyes and lets out a long breath. His features visibly relax before he opens his eyes again. “Great. How are we going to do it now if our disguises aren’t going to work?”

“I don’t know. Every time I plan something she’s one step ahead of me.” I rub my hands across my eyes. Voices are coming our way, along with the scraping of shoes against concrete. “We have to leave this room. The Guards have opened the station again. The booth worker will be back soon.”

He glances around until his eyes focus on the dark area to the right side of the booth. “The sensors didn’t seem to pick us up in the shadows. Let’s hide there for now, until we can think of something.”

I nod and we hide in the shadows just as a worker enters the booth from the other door.

It’s a woman; I can see her clearly through the window. If she looks closely she’ll see us, too. But she’s too busy fiddling with buttons on the control panel in front of her. Exactly above where we were hiding.

“Didn’t think I’d ever thank a Surface Dweller for anything, but he picked a good night to try to escape. Now that they’ve shut down the Tube, I’ll get to go to Festival and not have to keep coming up with excuses to keep people from going back to Three,” she says.

“But what about Miss Evelyn?” another female voice asks. I can’t see her, but it sounds like she’s on the other side of the booth, closer to the concrete wall.

The first woman turns around, confirming the other woman’s position for me. “I do feel sorry for her. Poor thing is so daft she probably doesn’t even know what’s going on.”

Narrowing my eyes, I fight the urge to tell her exactly what I think about her.

Gavin squeezes my hand and, when I glance over, he shakes his head.

I return the squeeze to reassure him I’m not going anywhere and go back to listening to the women’s conversation.

I freeze when I see how close she is. I dare not breathe in case she hears me, but she’s studying something on the wall. Not me.

“Ugh, the Guards took our first-aid kit. Now I’ll have to fill out a requisition before I leave,” she says.

“Would you like me to do it? I don’t mind. I didn’t really want to go to Festival anyway,” the other woman says.

“Would you? I’ll just fill it out for you, if you’ll take it to Supply.”

“Certainly. My pleasure.”

Waiting for the women to finally leave, I have to listen to their chattering about the men in their lives and clothes. And they called me daft.

When they finally leave, we sneak back into the booth and Gavin bursts into laughter. I stare at him in shock.

“You should have seen your face after they called you daft. I thought you were going to strangle them,” he says, practically doubled over with laughter.

“I wanted to,” I say with clenched teeth.

“Apparently they don’t know you too well.”

With a tilt to my head, I ask, “Why is that?”

“If they did, they would know you’re far from daft. In fact, I’m pretty sure you’re the smartest woman I know.”

“I don’t know. I guess I’m not so smart after all.”

He squeezes my good shoulder. “Hey, you’ve gotten us this far and we’re not dead yet. That’s saying something. They don’t even know where we are exactly. We just need a way to get our DNA back in the system, right?”

I stare at him in disbelief. He’s absolutely right. Why hadn’t I thought of that?

“Um, Evie? Am I wrong?”

“No. That’s brilliant. Especially for a Surface Dweller.” I grin when he scowls at me. “And I know what our next step is.”

“Oh, great. What is it?”

“We have to find Macie. She’ll get our DNA back into the computer. And she can probably check while we’re there to see if there’s a
real
evacuation map. The scientist said that the others had different evacuation plans. That
must
mean there are other ways out of here. Maybe there’s something close and we won’t have to go to Three. The only problem is getting to her lab. Hopefully she’s there and not at Festival.” Plus, I’d like to find out how to bypass that EMF. The scientist never did say whether or not he found a way around that.