The Defiant (12 page)

Suddenly I crash against something. I realize that we've reached the van. Handcuffs are slipped around my wrists, trapping my arms behind my back. The soldiers push me inside the vehicle. I fall down onto the metal floor, yelping in pain. I hear the van doors slam shut behind me. The engine starts up and we begin moving rapidly down the street.

I gasp for air. The hood makes me feel like I'm suffocating again. I force myself to calm down and relax. I focus on Liam. I focus on David. I force myself to take slower breaths. My pounding heart finally starts to calm down. Eventually the panicked feeling subsides and I just lie there, as we go over bumps at rapid speed.

The journey lasts for many hours. I just lie there on the floor of the van, trapped, with my vision obscured by the hood. I know that this is part of David's plan, but I'm nervous about letting myself get captured. It goes against everything that I learned on Island Alpha, and it feels unnatural. I want to escape and fight the
guards. But I know I need to suppress that urge, at least for now.

I have no clue where I am headed. I just have to trust David. I remember what Kelley said, that helping someone like me means a mandatory death sentence.
Is that what's going to happen to the members of the rebel cell?
Is that what's going to happen to me?

I don't know how David ended up with so much influence, and with such an understanding of how everything works. Since the start he has been that way. I think of Kelley's words, that he was groomed since he was a little boy to play this role. There is something unique about him. I don't yet understand what it is.

The van eventually comes to a stop. My body aches all over. I have no idea what part of New Texas we're in anymore. It could be anywhere. Maybe we've even left the state. I try to suppress my fear.

I hear noises outside the van. People yelling and screaming. I also hear the guards cursing.

The back door suddenly opens up. Arms grab me and yank me forward. “Get out!” a voice yells. “Hurry!”

A
HAND GRABS ME
by the arm and pulls me out of the van. I fall onto the pavement, scraping my shoulders and knees. The black hood is yanked off my head. Around me is an angry crowd of citizens, screaming and yelling at the guards in the van. There are also more guards standing at the sides with guns, trying to keep order.

The sight of people openly rebelling against the government gives me a surge of hope. Such a thing would never have happened just a few months ago, before I got sent to Island Alpha.

“I can't believe you've caused us this much trouble!” one of the guards screams at me. He yanks me to my feet. A rock hurtles by, nearly hitting his helmet.

I try to push him off me using my shoulder, but he shoves me in the stomach with his assault rifle. The air goes out of my lungs. I bend over, gasping.

“Do you know where you're headed?” another soldier asks me. The agitated crowd is screaming. I realize that they're screaming for me to be released, and hurling insults at the soldiers.

I shake my head. It hurts too much to speak. My hands are locked behind my back by the handcuffs.

Soldiers on either side of me start dragging me through the mob, heading toward a large silver skyscraper. I've never seen this place before. We must have driven to another city. Probably New Austin. The soldiers look exhausted from dragging me through the crowd.

“There's been a request to see you in private,” one of them yells, putting his hand under my chin and pulling my face up to his. “Before you get shipped off to the Hellgrounds.” I'm still struggling to catch my breath.

“A request from the local minister himself,” another soldier proclaims, taking off his helmet and rubbing his sweaty brow. “He wants to see you in his office.”

“The local minister?” I ask, confused. “Who the hell is that?”

“Our boss. He's in charge of this city now.”

This is not what I expected. “Why does he want to see me?”

“You'll find out soon enough.” He pushes me forward roughly.

I walk, but I keep an eye on him. I'm worried that he and the other soldiers are just going to beat me up when we get inside the building. David didn't warn me about any of this. I thought I'd be headed straight to the Hellgrounds.

We keep walking, heading up a short flight of concrete stairs, until we reach the revolving door that leads into the skyscraper. It's heavily guarded by officers with guns drawn. I glance back and see the angry crowd. In some ways, I feel elated. A public demonstration like this would have been met with swift gunfire not long ago. But now, for some reason, the soldiers aren't firing.

I'm pushed through the revolving door and into the huge atrium of the skyscraper.

“Move!” the guard says, prodding me. I walk across the marble floor, beneath high arching stairways. The soldiers stop when we reach a bank of elevators.

“Where are we going?” I ask. “I really don't understand what—”

“Shut up!” he interrupts me.

“We're going to the very top,” another soldiers adds. The tone of his voice suggests that I'm in serious trouble.

I want to ask more questions, but I'm forced into the elevator along with two soldiers. One of them places his finger against an electronic reader and says, “Penthouse level.”  The elevator doors shut and we begin gliding upward.

As the elevator ascends, one of the soldiers turns to me. “Remember, do not speak unless spoken to. Do not look directly at the minister unless he requests it of you. Keep your eyes on the floor.” His tone is brusque. “Do you understand what I've just told you?”

“Yes,” I tell him, my mind flashing back to the drones and the Monk. They too were afraid to gaze at the Monk's face.
What is going on here?

The elevator comes to a halt. Its doors open, and I find myself staring down a long, bright tunnel. There is only one door in sight—a massive circular steel one, like the door to a bank vault—right at the end of the hall. I keep walking, sandwiched between the two soldiers.

I have no idea what this building is. Or who this local minister is. I've never heard of such a thing. I don't even know where I am. Was David lying to me about being sent to the Hellgrounds? Or did something unexpected take place along the way? Something that even he couldn't predict?

“Move!” snaps one of the soldiers. I pick up the pace.

We reach the steel door. Both soldiers place their right thumbs against electronic readers. One of them taps a code into a nearby panel with his left hand.

A voice crackles back through a loudspeaker, “You've brought the girl?”

“Yes,” the soldier says. He removes his thumb. So does the other guard.

My heart is beating wildly despite my efforts to stay calm. I don't know who—or what—is waiting for me behind this door.

The door begins to open inward, under its own power, much like the giant hatches back in the specimen archive.

Beyond it is darkness. I'm surprised. I thought it would be bright up here in the penthouse of this skyscraper. But it's nearly as dim as the rock tunnels back in Destiny Station.

“Enter the chamber of Minister Hiram!” one of the soldiers declares, as he shoves me forward into the massive space. I feel the other soldier behind me, unlocking my handcuffs. I swing my hands forward, relieved to finally have my freedom.

I turn around to ask,
Minister who?
But the guards are already stepping back into the hallway. The circular door swings shut behind them with an ominous clank.

I stand there for a moment, unnerved, staring into the gloom. I'm in a huge circular room, two hundred feet in diameter, right at the top of this building. It probably takes up the entire penthouse level.

All of the windows are covered with thick metal folding sheets, locked at the bottom with huge bolts. The walls are made of exposed concrete. It's like a bunker up here. The space is cavernous and cool. At first, nobody else seems to be inside.

But as my eyes adjust to the light, I realize that I'm not alone. Lining the curved walls is a row of guards, clutching rifles. Probably twenty of them.

For a moment, I think they're surreal statues. But they are real people, merely standing, silent and stationary. An entire army on pause. I don't understand why a minister I've never heard of—not from the rebels or scientists, or from anyone else—would be guarded as heavily as this.

The guards said that this minister runs the city. I wonder how much power he actually has, if any. Perhaps this is some sort of bureaucratic show meant to scare me before I get sent to the Hellgrounds.

A spotlight is turned on, illuminating the center of the room. Directly underneath the light sit two chairs facing each other at a marble table. The table is embossed with the UNA emblem in gold. But when I look closer, I see that this emblem has been modified. Instead of an eye hovering over a globe, it shows five eyes surrounding the globe. Its golden contours gleam in the bright light.

Confused, I take a few steps toward the table. Then a few more.

I glance back and see the guards lining the walls watching me. I consider saying something to them, or trying to fight them, but there doesn't seem to be a point. I don't want to jeopardize getting sent to the Hellgrounds and finding Liam, let alone whatever mission awaits us there.

I keep walking cautiously toward the chairs and the table. I imagine this is what I am supposed to do.

Other than the silent soldiers who stand guard, I am alone. None of them acknowledge my presence here.

“Hello?” I finally dare to ask, my voice cracking.

I feel a hand on my shoulder.

I yelp, spinning around in surprise. I slip on the slick marble floor and go crashing down to one knee. A second ago, there had
been no one behind me. But now a man is standing there. He's smiling, wearing an expensive-looking suit, with slicked-back hair.

I get to my feet, wary. I'm still trying to figure out what's going on.

“Alenna,” the man says, fixing me with an unblinking gaze. His face is impossible to read. Inscrutable. He is curiously ageless, with few wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, although I know he must be in his late forties. His strong nose and wide mouth make his face look swollen and masklike. He has a diamond-shaped scar on his left temple. I recognize this face because I've seen it up close before. “Do you know who I am?”

“You're one of Minister Harka's body doubles,” I say, feeling sick.

He chuckles. “It's true. I was. But that was several years ago.” He pauses, a thin smile playing over his lips. “Since then, I've been promoted.”

“To what?”

“To someone in charge.” He looks closely into my eyes. “See, just like the wheel, the UNA is now divided into certain sectors controlled by different ministers.”

“Why?”

“For economic and social reasons.” He pauses again. “Do you know where I take my name from?”

“No.” I shake my head, completely confused. “Why are you asking me?”

“I like to teach the uninitiated.” He smiles. “I take my name from Hiram Abiff. Also known as Hiram Abi. He's a mythological figure in the world of Freemasonry. A master builder and craftsman who constructed great temples. His tools were gold and
silver, bronze and iron, stone and wood.” He pauses contemplatively. “He's an inspiration to me.”

I nod, pretending that I understand what he's talking about. I suppose I should be glad that he's talking to me instead of torturing me. But maybe that part is coming next. I try to ignore the armed soldiers who stand, completely still and silent, around the edges of the room.

“Once I was promoted, I was free to name myself. I could become my own man, so to speak.” He shrugs. “Well, actually, given my resemblance to Minister Harka—thanks to the plastic surgery—I usually claim that I am his brother. So nobody gets suspicious.” He winks at me.

I nod. This man is giving me the creeps. I wonder who he was before he became a body double. There is something unhinged about him. Even more so than Minister Harka himself. I remember that Minister Harka mentioned being pushed out of his own government and sent to the wheel by men who were even more corrupt than he was.
Is this one of those men?

“Would you like to see something interesting, Alenna? Something few citizens of the UNA ever get to see?”

“Depends on what it is.”

A flicker of annoyance passes across his features, but it quickly passes. “Follow me.” He steps over to the chairs. “Have a seat.”

I take a seat across from him at the table. Here, under the lights, his face looks even more waxen and synthetic.

“So this is what happens to Minister Harka's body doubles,” I say. “You end up advancing your careers.”

“Some of us do. Others just get shot or poisoned. It depends.” He glances away from me for a moment. “Now take a look at this.”

Without any obvious signal, a red curtain is automatically drawn away from one of the walls. Six of the guards move forward and start rolling an object toward us. It's a glass box on wheels, about ten feet high and four feet wide. Inside it is a huge person—stuck in there, like a trapped insect. It's too shadowy for me to see any details.

“Observe this creature,” Minister Hiram says to me, as the box draws close. He turns in his seat to look at it. “Do you know what you're staring at?”

I swallow hard. “Somebody that you're torturing?”

He shakes his head. “No. You're staring at the future of the UNA Army. We are reinventing not just the UNA, but the entire world, and how warfare is conducted.” He glances back at me. I see the fervor in his eyes. I can't believe that he is revealing this to me. “Come, come,” he continues as the glass box stops moving. “Up to the glass. Have a look for yourself. It can't hurt you.” He gets up from his seat and I follow him.