Chapter 35 #3
Tristian nodded. “You sent Wilma to me telling me you were up to something when we had started this plan. Why?”
“Hatred has a way of motivating people.” Kaleo shrugged.
“Explain,” Tristian ground out, watching Kaleo.
“I sent Wilma because of her history with the Angels. Levi still hates her, but you don’t hate easily. You look for the good in people, to your detriment,” Kaleo said honestly. I swallowed a snarl, my spine stiff to the point of hurting.
“But also, I heard of your plan,” Kaleo continued.
Everyone in Unit Seven looked to Rumi. “I moved my own plan up. I got something we needed. The illness, while awful, provided chaos. Things can happen unseen in the mayhem. Your unit was still healthy. The Fates had aligned. We made a plan to plant the item so your unit would have it.”
“Who’s we?” I asked. I couldn’t be right. Kumar wouldn’t.
Kaleo met my gaze. “Me, Rumi, and Kumar.”
The floor fell out from under me. My hand found the chip beneath my sweater as I stared at Kaleo and Rumi. A bird brought it for you. That’s what Kumar had said. Was Rumi the bird? Her call sign was Eagle.
“I don’t believe you,” Levi said harshly.
I shall never stop someone from trying to save others. Kumar had said that. I knew in my soul that he meant it. He saw people. If Kaleo was telling the truth and Kumar had heard what he was doing, I knew Kumar would help them. Help people—humanity.
“Is it so hard to believe someone else might care about the greater good? That it isn’t just Unit Seven that wants more for the people of Haven?” Kaleo demanded. “I have risked my life to help you. I have done terrible things. I have hurt people to give Haven time.”
“How?” I whispered. “How was Kumar in on this?”
Kaleo sighed. “I read a communication Burdon left in her room shortly after the Angels fell.”
“Took you no time,” Levi spat.
“I wanted answers, Raven. I found Burdon drinking. I drank with her and let her get on with it. She invited me back to her room. I went in hopes of getting the truth out of her. I got the answer in the form of a letter. From Dr. Uri. He said the plan for Haven was stable once more with the Force and Ward as allies. That the key was safe. He congratulated Burdon on her coup.”
“What key?” Damien asked.
“The one around her neck. The one I spent the last two years tracking down,” Kaleo said.
Everyone stared at me.
“I don’t buy it,” Isla snapped.
“He’s telling the truth. At least about the key,” I said quietly, my hand still on my chest. “You put something in the locker the night we saw you in the commanders’ locker room,” I said more to myself than anyone else.
My mind spun. “You were on patrol that night,” I said to Rumi. She nodded. “Kumar, he said a bird brought me this. A key.” I clutched the chip. “They’re—I think they’re telling the truth.”
Kaleo’s dark eyes softened as he took a deep breath.
“Prove it,” Levi demanded.
“Her hand is over a small silver chip. It has grooves in it, kinda sharp. It’s tied to a piece of worn black leather like this,” Kaleo told us. He ripped the arm piece off his suit. A black leather band lay wrapped around his wrist next to his dark blue ID band.
Tristian strode over to me, his eyes ablaze, but his hand was gentle as he extracted the chip, showing everyone. We stood in silence.
“I was never on the traitors’ side,” Kaleo said. “I wanted to end it that night. I thought I could handle it alone, but I was wrong. It cost me almost everything. I wasn’t pretending in the Angels. I meant it when I called you brothers.”
Tristian stared at Kaleo, his body stiff.
Levi strode forward, his jaw tight. “Why did you get with Lyssa? You saw what it did to Hayes. We talked about it. Why do that to yourself?”
“If Burdon operated in any other way, I would have gone a different path. You both know she only gives information when she feels in control. She loves power; she thinks making someone run for her every whim gives her that. I wanted information. You two wanted me dead. Every time I asked if your promises stood, they did. You didn’t want to hear me out.
Burdon wanted to get back at Tristian for walking away.
Then I found out about the key, and I told myself I’d stay until I found it.
I would do it again. You found the supplies.
We needed the supplies to keep the people of Haven alive. ”
“How was Kumar in on this with you?” I asked again. I needed to know.
Kaleo refused to meet my eyes. “I was in the Ward for something. He believed me when I said I wanted to help Haven. I am sorry he’s gone.
He was a good man. The chip wasn’t meant to go to you.
It was meant to go to Hayes when the time was right, but the illness and Hayes murdering those men…
you were the best option. He knew time was against us.
He told us you would do the right thing with it, that you could stand between life and death and choose the right side. ”
I didn’t know what to believe.
“Why did you send us on this mission with it instead of your own team?” Tristian asked, his voice too calm.
“I was of best use keeping Burdon distracted. It wasn’t easy—she was obsessed with you going over her head for Sasha. Plus, if you failed, I’d be able to keep going.”
“You’ve really been helping us this entire time,” Levi said.
Tristian pressed on. “Rumi was with us. She could have died on this mission.”
Kaleo found Rumi’s hand. “Would you ever stop yours from trying?” Kaleo asked, looking to me. “Would you ask her to be small to protect your fears?”
I didn’t need Tristian’s No to know in my bones that he wouldn’t.
“We need to get back to Haven,” Peterson said to the room.
But I wasn’t ready to move on. I wouldn’t keep things from my unit. “What about the names, Rumi?”
Echoes of What names? rang out from Unit Seven as Rumi’s eyes went wide.
“I told you not to tell her,” Kaleo said to Rumi.
“If this is another fucking reveal, my head is going to explode,” Damien muttered.
“I asked for Sasha to look into some men we believe faked their deaths. She didn’t find anything on them in the Ward. Their tracks are covered. I don’t think all of the observatory team died,” Rumi said.
Swift footsteps echoed off the stone as Patrick and Ingrid returned to the room. They stood, slightly out of breath. Patrick didn’t look Rumi’s way.
“We need to get supplies back. We can continue this conversation on the way,” Tristian started. “Medications and medical gear would be the first thing we bring. We need to find the best way to get them out.”
“We can help with that,” Patrick told us, his face sweaty and red. “We found an easy exit. There are even stairs. There are also rooms down here with furniture and huge steel beams for buildings or something. More boxes too.”
“Found them on our run,” Ingrid told us, wiping her brow.
Rumi moved toward Patrick, but he turned away from her completely, didn’t acknowledge her existence. “Happy to show you.”
“All right, we’ll take the stairs. Say I believe you; what’s your plan?” Tristian asked
Kaleo explained our next steps. Everyone broke apart to find supplies that were the most vital for Haven. I waited until they had drifted away before I slipped back into the room with the pods. They remained in their neat rows.
I rushed to the one I swore I had seen the woman in. My hands were clammy. A streak of red was smeared across the words. My blood. No steam whirled beneath the glass. Nothing moved within. I leaned on the pod, rubbing the glass as something scraped across the floor.
I whirled to find Damien in the entrance. “There you are. Tristian’s looking for you. They need your medical advice.”
Maybe the chip activated the steam.
“Sasha, you good? What are you doing in here anyway? Are these important? I don’t think we can drag them back to Haven.”
“No. I dropped my knife when I heard the shot,” I lied, tearing my eyes from the interior white lining of the pod. “Where do they need me?”
Damien started talking but I couldn’t hear what he said as he led the way.
The woman was gone.