Chapter 45
“Am I missing out on undercover agent BBQs or anything? I can’t talk to anyone about what I’m doing but you, and no offense, but dead-dropping encrypted messages isn’t really talking.” -- Decoded message from ILF undercover operative Nightingale to ILF handler Hiro Tanaka
Briar
“You handling Stella?” Nova asks me.
We’re crouched behind bushes in the jungle, watching Stella and Niran. They’re hiding on the other side of the jungle, waiting for their moment to board the boat.
With four armed guards protecting the wide ramp that’s the only entrance and exit from the ship, it won’t be easy. I’m going to be pissed if they rush the guards and one of them kills Stella.
That bitch is mine.
“Yeah, but you have to cover me,” I whisper. “Niran could be an issue.”
I still haven’t fully processed what Niran almost did back there. It didn’t completely shock me that Stella turned on us, but Niran? I thought he loved Marcus like a brother.
Marcus. I force myself not to think of him. The lives of the seventeen Rising Tide kids depend on me staying calm and focused.
“We’re behind schedule!” a guard yells from the ship’s deck. “Where’s the commander?”
One of the guards by the ramp shrugs and says, “How the fuck would we know?”
“Send someone to—”
“Pull the anchor! Hurry!”
Dozens of Ingrid’s green-uniformed soldiers are running toward the boat. More like sprinting, actually. They’re pumping their arms, most of them wearing panicked expressions.
“We have to get out of here!” one of the approaching guards yells.
I can’t believe what I’m seeing. The guards are shoving each other, fighting to get up the ramp and onto the boat.
“Get the kids off!” someone yells. “Get ’em off now!”
“How did he do this?” Nova whispers, awestruck.
“It’s poisoned!” a guard says. “That underground place is poisoned and Voss wants us all to get out while we can. She wants the kids left here.”
They all scramble, a chaotic scene unfolding as they argue and race to get on board the ship.
“We should go help the commander.”
“Shouldn’t we take at least one of the kids?”
“The commander’s probably dead! 6A5 died right in front of us!”
“Did you breathe the poisoned air?”
“Get those kids out, fucking now!”
My heart races furiously, because that wasn’t 6A5. Nova and I watch from the sidelines as we get everything we wanted, and something we didn’t think possible.
The Island Three soldiers are afraid of our island now. Marcus somehow convinced them the air is deadly and that’s why they’re fighting each other to leave. They won’t be able to get anyone to risk coming back here.
The Rising Tide kids run down the ramp, the oldest ones clutching the youngest in their arms. Some of them look alarmed. My heart breaks for them; this is just another traumatizing event they’ll have to live with, but it’s also a sign of progress.
At least some of them are feeling something. That’s new. They’ve always looked like miniature killer robots—shrewd and emotionless.
A baby wails as the kids gather in a group on the beach. The soldiers on board the boat waste no time pulling up the walkway and taking off, the motorized ship moving surprisingly fast.
Olin emerges from behind a rock formation, Pax behind him. One of the girls walks up to Olin and takes his hand, and some of the others make “Baby Shark” motions with their hands.
Stella walks out of the jungle wearing a fake grin. “Hey, guys! Want to play a game?”
My jaw clenches, a storm brewing inside me as I walk out of the cover of the brush, my gaze locked onto Stella.
“We’re going back to camp,” Olin tells the kids, ignoring Stella. “It’s safe again.”
“Hey,” Stella says when she sees me coming. “I’m so glad you’re okay. We’ve been worried.”
I play along. “I need to talk to you. Olin’s taking the kids back to camp.”
When Stella sees Nova, her false smile widens. “Nova, thank god you’re okay!”
Olin gets the kids lined up, and Pax approaches me.
“You want me to stay or go?” he asks under his breath.
“Go. Get Amira and Ellison back to camp and help them start pulling things back together. We’ll be there soon.”
Pax takes a baby from one of the Tider kids, gently holding it against his chest. They begin the walk back toward camp in a single file line, organized and led by Olin, who missed his calling as a preschool teacher.
“What’s our next move?” Stella looks between me and Nova. “I didn’t see Ingrid get on the ship. She should be easy to take out.”
Vines wave and wind at the edge of the jungle behind her, preparing. They’re getting more and more locked into my thoughts and feelings.
“Where’s Marcus?” I look between Stella and Niran.
Niran looks away, pained. Stella shrugs, eyes wide with pretend confusion.
“We haven’t seen him. He must be back at camp. He’s with Ingrid, though. I thought that was why you guys left.”
Nova walks over to Niran and says, “Give me your weapons.”
“What’s going on?” Stella puts a hand on her holstered gun. “Niran, what did you do?”
Niran passes a gun to Nova, his expression flat.
“That’s all I have,” he says.
“On your knees,” Nova orders him.
He drops to the sand, defeated.
“We trusted you guys,” I say, my throat tight. “I would have protected both of you with my life. Marcus would have, too.”
Stella’s still playing dumb, but I clock the slight movement of her fingers over her gun out of the corner of my eye. I grab her neck and pull my knife. She gets her gun out, but it’s too late.
I’ve already buried my knife in her gut. My arm muscles strain with the effort of dragging it down a few inches, giving her the same death she thought she was giving Marcus.
Her mouth gapes open, the life draining from her eyes quickly. Niran is crying softly, Nova aiming her gun at his head.
“I’m sorry.” He gives me a tortured look. “I’m so sorry. I know I deserve it. Just do it.”
Nova’s eyes find mine, one of her brows raised in question. Too many times, I’ve made decisions on my own and expected her to back me. I’m not alone anymore, though, and I need to stop acting like it.
“My vote is to do it,” I say, my shoulders sinking. “But you’ve known them both longer. I think you should decide.”
She cocks the revolver’s hammer, the click making Niran close his eyes.
“Niran, you’re not a bad man,” she says softly. “Your bitterness will eat you alive if you let it. So don’t.”
A few seconds of silence pass, and then a choked sound of stunned relief pours out of Niran.
“That’s it?” he asks.
“That’s it.”
I nod my approval to Nova and we head back toward camp, Niran behind us.
Stella’s body is still warm; a lion was standing in wait in the jungle behind us. With the prey shortages left by the volcano, she won’t be there long.
She’s another casualty of this brutal, merciless island. Even though we’re stronger together, power calls and alliances crumble. No one leaves this island without being tested.
I hope Niran doesn’t let his rage consume him. We all have choices; just because someone dies here, that doesn’t mean the island devoured them and won. Some people stay true to themselves until the end.
Like Marcus. A lump wells in my throat, because I’m furious and brokenhearted at the same time. I don’t know if I can handle seeing his body. To me, he’ll always be full of life.
I don’t know if he even realized he was his own worst enemy. He was so full of self-loathing over his role in creating and using aromium that he felt like dying for it was his only chance of redemption.
Though I dream of cool evenings beside him on a porch swing, he never thought he deserved to imagine a future of joy and contentment.
The bill always comes due. A man meets it head-on.
My dad used to say that. I understood it, but now I feel it down to my core. Marcus couldn’t live with the rest of us risking our lives to save the innocent people here unless he was doing the same.
By the time we get to camp, my feet are leaden. People are hugging each other and talking in small groups. Pax is directing people, doing a double take when he sees us.
“We spared Niran,” I say. “Keep an eye on him.”
“You need to go to the Sub. Ellison’s working on Marcus.”
I go still, not even breathing. “He’s alive?”
The words choke out of me, my legs already moving. I didn’t think there was a chance. Now hope floods into me so hard and fast it makes me dizzy.
The Sub’s door is open. I race through it, trying to tamp my joy into cautiousness. Just because he’s alive, that doesn’t mean he’ll survive this. He was unconscious for a while last time, and it was McClain who treated him, reducing the swelling in his brain.
Maybe Ellison knows how to do it now. Maybe I’ll get to hear his voice again. Maybe it’s okay to still dream about the porch swing and a life without daily death and betrayal.
I reach the open door of Ellison’s emergency treatment room, where Marcus lies motionless on her stainless table.
“Don’t you die on me, Marcus! We’ve been through too much. Fight.” Ellison locks eyes with me. “Come in, talk to him.”
“I don’t know, but I think his blood pressure’s going up,” Nova says, squinting at the gauge.
Ellison’s brows drop a fraction, her expression grim. She draws liquid from a vial into a syringe, injecting it into Marcus.
“I’m here, Marcus.” I take his hand. “Come back to me. You did it. We’re all okay.”
His body locks up and jolts.
“He’s seizing,” Ellison says. “Nova, track the time. Briar, help me get him onto his side.”
Panic surges through me, his body jerking violently. I follow Ellison’s lead, helping her move him onto his side. It’s all we can both manage, working to keep his massive frame in the position she wants.
“We’re here, Marcus,” she says. “I just gave you a second dose of a new treatment. I’ve seen it work. Stay with us.”
The seizure slows and finally stops. I cup Marcus’s cheek, longing for him to open his eyes. He can say more with his eyes than he does with words.
Ellison checks the blood pressure gauge, then nods.
“What’s the treatment?” I ask.
“You don’t have the negative side effects of aromium.” A crease forms between her brows as she checks Marcus’s pulse at his neck. “I wanted to know why. So I used some of your blood I had left from the transfusions and I think I figured it out. This compound has your blood in it.”
My stomach drops, my mind short circuiting. “What ...”
I can’t even come up with the rest of a question. There are so many to ask, but I can’t make my mouth form any of them.
Ellison peeks at the blood pressure gauge again. “I like what I’m seeing, Marcus. Hang in there.”
“How?” I finally manage, smoothing a hand over Marcus’s sweat-drenched brow and hair.
“In oncology, we look inside our patients’ bodies first to see what they’re doing to fight something. I ran a blood panel on you and noticed something off with your Rh typing, so I did some extended Rh typing. You’re Rh null, which is incredibly rare.”
“No, I’m O negative.”
She nods. “Yes, but you’re also Rh null.” She presses her hand to Marcus’s skin in different spots. “I don’t think he has a fever. That’s good.”
“You really think this might work?” My voice breaks.
She meets my gaze. “It worked on rats. I don’t think your lymphocytes—your white blood cells—resist aromium like other people’s. I think they break it down. Your body has slowly been adapting an immune response to aromium since you were injected with it.”
My voice is thick with emotion as I say, “My mom.”
She gives me a soft smile. “I don’t have the equipment to determine whether it’s your blood or your genetic makeup, but you couldn’t be Rh null without a gene you inherited from both of your parents. If it’s genetic makeup, that’s all your mom.”
When I blink, tears course down my cheeks. I carry my parents with me, and I’m overwhelmed by this new knowledge. It may be the two of them who save not only Marcus, but everyone with aromium.
Ellison reaches for my hand. “Hopefully I got to Marcus in time. I didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up because I still had more testing to do, but ... I believe the stabilizer you’ve been trying to make has been inside you this whole time.”