11
I don’t fear the ones who are strong.
I fear the ones who are underestimated.
Another ugly curse ripped from Khalani’s mouth.
Lane gently prodded her shoulder, and her nostrils flared at the sharp ache.
“Just relax. I’m going to push it back in on the count of three.”
Khalani nodded, forcing the pain and fear deep into the recesses of her mind.
“One—” Pop!
Lane twisted her shoulder, and the audible click and searing pain made her cry out.
“You said three!” she rasped.
“It’s better when you don’t expect it.” Lane shrugged. “The good news is the injury isn’t too bad. Just try not to use your arm unless you have to.”
He wrapped her shoulder in a sling and left shortly after, joining Jack for a meeting the Aces were having that night.
All Khalani had to occupy her in the small room was her thoughts.
And they kept returning to Takeshi.
For the faintest of seconds during their fight, she’d thought a flicker of desire had swept through his eyes. It reminded her of their training in Braderhelm.
The constant push and pull that defined their entire relationship.
The sight had filled her with hope.
But when he’d dislocated her shoulder, those foolish fantasies vanished. To be fair, Khalani did ask for it.
And he didn’t try to kill or kidnap her this time.
She groaned, wanting to bury her head in the pillow and never come back up for air for all the progress she was making.
A slight knock sounded at the door.
Blue hair peeked through the doorway, and Serene’s pale face appeared. She took one glance at Khalani’s shoulder and crossed her arms.
“If I stick Takeshi’s head in a blender, do you think that will help him remember?”
Khalani snorted. “Trust me, I’ve already had to convince myself that hitting him in the head won’t bring his memories back any faster.”
“You’re probably right,” Serene muttered, sitting on the bed. “Fucking men. Can’t live with them…”
“Can’t kill them,” Khalani finished.
Serene smirked, tapping her fingers together, something she often did when she was nervous.
Lately, she’d been doing it more often.
“Serene…is something going on with you and Brock?”
Her blue eyes widened. “What do you mean? Nothing’s going on.”
Khalani fixed her with a knowing look, and Serene finally sighed.
“There’s not much to tell,” she grumbled, as if the words themselves bothered her.
“After you and Takeshi left for the prison camp, he hung around more, still his annoying, self-absorbed, misogynistic self. But then, he started being…nice. He got me drinks in the morning. Waited for me to eat. Kept asking if I was okay because he could tell I was a wreck worrying about the two of you in camp.”
Khalani’s heart clenched, but Serene continued.
“And one day, he kissed me.”
“What!” She instantly straightened, ignoring the shooting pain in her shoulder.
“I know, I know!” Serene rubbed her eyes. “ But the next day, he acted like nothing happened! He’s hot one moment and cold the next.” She slunk against the wall. “That’s why I tried to make him jealous, and the fact that I’m wasting precious brain cells on him feels so stupid.”
“Stop. You’re not stupid,” Khalani insisted. “If he’s too dumb to see how amazing you are, then I’ll kiss you to make him jealous.”
“Yeah, right.” Serene laughed. “Takeshi would blow a lid. I wouldn’t be surprised if you guys did it in that camp.”
She felt her cheeks redden, and Serene’s mouth popped open. “You didn’t!”
“We did…some things. But we didn’t do everything.” Khalani’s gaze drifted down to the sheets, and she picked her fingers, barely holding herself together. “I wanted to. But what’s sad is that I’m glad we didn’t, because he wouldn’t have even remembered.”
Her chin trembled, and Serene’s arms carefully wound around her, avoiding her injured shoulder. “Hey, hey. We’re going to get him back.”
“How do you know?”
“Because you’re not in this alone. And neither is Takeshi. But if he hurts you again, memory or not, I’m going to cut off his balls and gift them to you out of sisterly affection.”
Khalani’s pained shoulder shook with laughter as she hugged Serene tighter. “You’re kinda scary when you’re mad.”
“I know.” Serene grinned. “And if Brock isn’t careful, I’ll put his in a bag next to Takeshi’s.”
* * *
Two weeks passed.
The only word they received from Jack was that the streets were still too hot and they needed to remain in hiding.
Every day, they trained in the basement. Well, Khalani mostly watched since her shoulder was wrapped in a sling, but that morning, Lane finally removed the white wrap.
Raziel joined them for most sessions. But Takeshi never did.
He isolated himself in his room, and Khalani never saw him. It felt intentional, like he purposely waited to grab food or take a shower until she wasn’t around. One day, she watched his door for hours, but he never came out.
The restlessness and paranoia finally came to an end when Raziel announced they were skipping training to attend an emergency meeting with the Aces. They practically raced upstairs to the communal area.
But Khalani’s legs faltered at the sight that greeted them.
The usual dining area had been rearranged.
A single long table stretched across the room.
Jack sat at the head, with Jericho to his left and Spade to his right.
Other Aces filled the remaining seats, including Ryder, who looked paler than usual, but appeared to have fully recovered from the gunshot wound.
Everyone’s expressions were carefully guarded as Khalani and her group sat down. But she gripped the side of her chair when Takeshi appeared around the corner.
His black gear hugged his muscles like second skin. His eyes held a rough, vicious edge, and his hair was wet, like he’d just left the shower.
She noticed some of the female Aces stealing glances at him. Khalani didn’t blame them. It was hard not to be stunned by Takeshi’s raw beauty.
Even though her eyes drilled holes into him, he still didn’t look at at her and sat at the opposite end of the table, with his back to the wall. His shoulders were stiff and rigid as his calculating gaze roved over the Aces, scanning each individual like he was making some type of mental inventory.
But for what?
“Now that we’re all here, we can get started.” Jack raised his voice, commanding everyone’s attention.
“We’ve received word from our scouts that the Dealers have been called back to the prison camp. We don’t know the exact reason, but we believe it’s to implant the chips into each Dealer and use them to wipe out not only the gangs but the rest of Hermes.”
Murmurs erupted along the table, while Khalani and her group remained silent. They’d encountered this before, and the similarities between the two cities sent chills racing down her spine.
She shook her head as the Governor’s pale blue eyes entered her mind once more.
Leave me alone.
“Why would they do that?” one of the Aces asked, his pupils blown wide. “Why would they want to destroy Hermes?”
“We aren’t entirely sure why, but we have confirmed reports that similar events are occurring in Apollo. The underground cities are too close for this to be a coincidence. We have no choice but to act.”
“What do you expect us to do?” Raziel leaned forward.
“The Dealers outnumber us ten to one, and they’re recruiting more by the day,” Jack said.
“Lane estimates it will take a month for Doctor Strauss and his team to implant all the chips and complete their army of mindless soldiers. By then, it will be too late. We can’t wait for them to strike first. We have to attack where it will hurt the most.”
Jack’s gaze flicked from Takeshi before centering on Khalani and her group.
“We know the chips originated from Apollo. Lane and his team tried overriding the code to see if there was a way to shut them all down, but they were unsuccessful. Do any of you know where the chips could be stored in Apollo?”
“The R&R Labs,” Adam answered automatically.
The Research and Resource Labs.
Very few had ever seen them in person. The labs controlled the underground farms and cloned food source of Apollo. It was where Derek had worked before he learned of imminent crop failure and was quickly thrown into prison.
“We don’t have the manpower to storm the prison camp again,” Jack said in a grim voice.
“And even if we were able to kill Doctor Strauss, Apollo would keep sending chips to Hermes, and we’d be stuck in the same cycle.
Our only choice is to travel to Apollo, infiltrate this lab, and destroy all the chips. ”
“But how do you expect to get in?” Brock asked, straightening in his chair.
Jack crossed his arms, his grave expression solidifying.
“We blow up the Genesis Dome.”
Everyone’s jaws dropped.
The plan was ludicrous. Asinine.
“That’s a suicide mission!”
“The radiation will kill us.”
“I’m not stepping a single foot through the Death-Zone.”
The voices jumbled together, and Khalani’s lungs worked faster. She stared at a large dent in the wooden table. The image of Alexander Huxley’s torn-off head rolling in the sand replayed in her mind, toying with her.
She clutched her cramping chest, and Serene whispered, “You all right?”
Khalani licked her dry lips and nodded, trying to get her breathing under control. She felt Takeshi’s hard gaze on her, but she couldn’t let him witness the fear in her eyes.
“Quiet!” Jack’s loud voice pierced the room, silencing the commotion.
“We’ve received reports that there is no radiation on the surface. Spade volunteered to test the truth of these claims,” Jack exclaimed, gesturing to his right-hand man.
Spade stood, straightening his crisp white suit. “I triple-checked the readings myself. The radiation is gone.”
“That’s impossible.” One of the scarred men slammed his fists onto the table. “They told us we’d return to the surface once it was safe!”
“And the government would never tell lies.” Brock rolled his eyes.
Silence persisted. Many Aces shook their heads, wanting to deny the terrible truth that they’d been lied to their entire lives, just like Khalani and everyone else in Apollo.
“All I’ve ever known is the underground,” Bakarra whispered, staring at the table in disbelief.
“I know this is hard to accept,” Jack continued. “But I’ve ordered our scouts to start gathering supplies to breach the dome. After that, it’s a two-week hike to Apollo.”
He leaned on the table, head hung, eyes sunken from his time in the prison camp.
“I know what I’m asking is a lot,” he said. “But we can’t hide any longer. The people in charge have been keeping us in the shadows, taking away our freedom, and are now trying to rob us of our minds. This is our chance to make them bleed for it.”
“But we’ll likely die, Jack! Is that what you want?” one woman nearly screamed.
“You’re right. I don’t know if we’ll survive this.
But I know what will happen if we all stand back and do nothing.
” Jack took a deep breath and lifted his iron gaze, letting his conviction spill free.
“More of our people will be kidnapped and murdered. And I’d rather die than be made into a machine. ”
Khalani glanced at Takeshi. His expression hardened, but he kept very still, his dark gaze holding an entire world of thought. She wished she could dive in and uncover every inch.
“Does anyone want to stay behind?” Spade asked, scanning the room.
Knees bobbed up and down, fingers tapped together, low murmurs sounded. But not one person walked away. Even those who had protested stared at Jack with a shining light in their eyes.
She breathed in their dissent.
Tasted the rebellion on her tongue.
“Khalani,” Winnie whispered low in her ear. “What about Prometheus? We must travel to the Prometheus Headquarters.”
Khalani shifted her gaze to Elise, who absentmindedly twirled her father’s old ring around her finger—the one that said “Prometheus Inc.” When Adan searched through the old Hermes records, he discovered that a few select individuals listed Prometheus Inc. under their previous employment.
If they traveled to the headquarters in California, they might find answers about Project Helix, but despite her promise, the sinking feeling in her stomach didn’t go away. Something deep inside warned her they should never go to that place.
“We will, Winnie,” Khalani whispered back, squeezing her fingers under the table to hide her apprehension. “But we need to help Apollo first.”
Winnie’s shoulders hunched over, the worry evident in her eyes, but she slowly nodded.
“Then it’s settled.” Jack sighed in relief. “In two weeks, we leave for the long road across the Death-Zone.”
“Not all of us will be traveling with you,” Khalani spoke, her heart racing as one more person clung to the top of her mind. Someone she hadn’t forgotten since they left him in the desert.
“What do you mean?”
All attention pivoted to her, including Takeshi.
“We encountered a tribe on the way to Hermes.” She raised her voice. “They call themselves Desert Spring. We had to leave one of our people behind to make it to your city. Our group will leave early to retrieve him. Afterward, we’ll meet you outside Apollo.”
“How do you even know he’s still alive?” Raziel clipped.
“He is alive,” she snapped.
“Khalani’s right,” Adan said, clasping his hands together. “We can’t leave Derek behind. He also worked in the R&R Labs. He’ll know the best way to get us in.”
Jack hesitated, glancing at Spade, who gave a subtle nod.
“Okay.” He fixed them with a stern look. “Which of you will be going ahead?”
Serene, Winnie, and Adan quickly affirmed their support, and Brock wasted no time joining them.
“I’ll go too,” Elise’s soft voice chimed in, and Adan gave her a smile of encouragement.
Jack clasped his hands together. “So that’s six—”
“Seven.”
She gulped at the deep voice speaking from the end of the table.
“Are you sure?” Lane spoke up, frowning at Takeshi. “You recently underwent major surgery and are still recovering—”
“I’m not asking for permission,” Takeshi said in a dangerously low voice, the tension expanding.
Jack thumbed his chin as he considered all points.
“All right,” he finally said. “The seven of you will leave tomorrow, and in two weeks we’ll meet up at the dome.”
Khalani and her family sucked in a deep breath. They’d been in Hermes for so long, it was hard to believe that it would be their last night there.
But they’d never belonged in the sinful city.
All roads led back to Apollo.
And no matter how much she hated her birthplace and everything it represented, she couldn’t turn her back on the innocent people still living there. The thousands of families who would soon die from crop failure.
Maybe other people wouldn’t care.
Maybe that would’ve been easier.
But change only happens when one person dreams about what the world can be…and stops accepting what it has been.