Marked

Chapter Sixteen

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"We've been intercepting capital communications and no one has mentioned anything about our location." Copenhagen sighed while running a giant hand over his weary face.

The next day, on her way to lunch, Rachel had seen her mother heading for Copenhagen's office so she'd intercepted her and demanded to come along --and to her surprise-- Ruth hadn't objected.

"That doesn't mean anything. Nicolas is no fool. I'm sure he's thought of the possibility of having his lines tapped. Maybe he's only telling us what he wants us to hear."

"I know." Copenhagen nodded to her mother. "Which is why we're taking the chip we took from Rachel a good hundred miles up the coast to create a distraction. Hopefully this will buy us enough time to prepare an attack on Nicolas."

"Unless he knows this is a distraction and it's all useless one way or the other." Rachel interjected.

"We're hoping it'll give us at least a few more days to prepare. Attacking the capital will be no easy feat, especially since what happened the last time. I'm sure they've reinforced their security since then--Nicolas is not one to make the same mistake twice."

"You're right. But it'll be a suicide mission, Patrick and you know it. You can't send these kids out there like that, especially only being half trained."

"What choice do I have? We have plenty of already experienced pilots but not enough of them to withstand odds against Nicolas's trained thousands. We need to send everyone we can. A massive airstrike that brings down the capital and puts us in control."

"What about the shield out by the ocean?" Rachel asked, leaning forward in her seat. "Wouldn't the storm have affected it too?"

Copenhagen shook his head. A permanent crease had formed between his eyebrows from worrying and he looked like he had aged a decade just in the past few days since the storm.

"I'd hope not. If it had, we'd all be dead by now. It's powered differently than our shields, reinforced in different ways. But it is weakening and it's only really a matter of time. We're not only racing against the clock from them now but from Nicolas too."

Rachel closed her eyes and tried to steady the wild hammering of her heart in her ribcage. The more they discused this with Copenhagen the more her faith in their survival diminished. Not only did they have to defend themselves from Nicolas's mind-controlled soldiers but they had to take over the capital just in time to fight another war against outsiders who are out for revenge. All with only a small pool of pilots, half of which hadn't even finished their training.

They were really grasping at straws here.

"If we go into the capital, it'll be a blood-bath. We'll lose people and so will Nicolas. That only benefits the outsiders." Rachel said quietly.

"If there is anyway to do this with the least number of casualties, I can assure you that's the route we'll take but for now our options are extremely limited.

That's not what she'd meant. She'd meant that there was no way they could ever win this global war without Nicolas's people. But Nicolas would never agree to a treaty. And she'd never suggest one to Copenhagen, knowing how it would make her sound.

One thing was for certain. Nicolas would only be satisfied once he'd Marked every last person in this nation. Until then, he would not rest. And because of this, they had no choice but to prepare for a fight.

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Juan had moved on from pure physical torture to teaching her hand-to-hand combat.

"Sure you'll be in a plane but what if you have to do a crash landing? What if you get shot out of the sky and eject into enemy lines? You need to know how to fight up close and personal."

He swung at her and she ducked, striking him in the ribs with her fist as she came back up on his other side.

"Good," He coughed and rubbed his side. "But try not to knock the piss outta me next time, alright?"

"Sorry," She mumbled.

"S'okay. You're my star pupil. I'm too proud to be mad at you."

"I'm your only pupil." She replied sarcastically.

"Quit ruining my moments will ya?" He made a motion with his hands, challenging her to fight him.

She drew closer, punched and kicked at him but he easily deflected each blow.

"Not that it's any of my business." He began while pushing her fists away with his open palms. "But what's up with you and my brother? You're both mopey all the time and he's been spending way too much time with me. It's starting to annoy me. Seriously, you need to take him back and out of my hair for a while."

Rachel paused in her attack and placed her hands on her hips, breathing heavily. "We've had a few problems."

"Come on." He rolled his eyes so hard she thought he might hurt himself. "Yall can fix it. I know you've both done some crazy shit for each other and feelings like that don't just go away."

"It's not his fault, Juan, it's mine. I just haven't been the same since the attack on the capital."

"None of us have little Ray. Shit happens and people change but sometimes it's for the better."

She smiled at him. He was blunt and cursed too much but he was the most honest person she knew and because of that she was fond of him.

"You better not hug me."

"What makes you think I want to hug you?"

"You've got a look on your face like you're about to hug me. I mean it, don't do it."

"Oh just shut up and train me."