ROGER

S I X T E E N

The plan was simple: break into Provincial Hall and wipe the VF program clean. It was the part of the plan I knew I could do.

What I couldn't do? Pretend I was a Host and talk to them to prove it. Sure, putting on the grey jumpsuit and channeling my inner ninja was one thing, but looking a Host straight in the eye and sounding believable... that was hard to do.

Hosts had no emotions, no remorse. They'd see my sweating heart a mile away.

I'd made my complaints known hours after I'd agreed to it. If it'd been disclosed at the very beginning, maybe I'd listened to Roger and let them do it all on their own. Yet, the second I said it, he made a point to remind me, I would've gone along regardless. I was stubborn, curious, and once I had my mind set to a goal; I saw it through.

Which was why I stood under the midnight moon, staring at its light through the reflection on my smartwatch. Aside from the night sky, I eyed the time and temperature, as well as the eerie glow from my blue contacts. It was left in Erica's hands to make this mission as easy as possible, and as I blinked, I thought Peace needed to give her more credit.

She was the brightest woman I'd ever met; if she needed a comparison, I'd say Xerses—both highly intelligent and droll. Even before Roger ventured out to copy the Hall's layout, she'd started the design on contact lenses that resembled Hosts eyes. They glowed blue and behaved just the same; took one tiny computer chip to create numbers across the lenses.

But she could only make two pairs. That was the reason why only two people were meant to walk through the door. Of course, Peace meant for their two top people to be the ones to do it—Matthews and Douglas—but after I volunteered, Matthews hesitantly agreed to take me instead. It wasn't due to my bravado either; Douglas made him take me.

He'd said, "It looks better that way because the both of you are mismatched. Imagine two strong-arms rushing in. That looks suspicious."

"Second thoughts?" Matthews looked at me as he leaned against a light post at my right. I glanced at him before looking at the street around him, uncannily beautiful with the shadows brought on by the city's lights. I turned my head to look at more, but he lazily waved a hand in front of my face. "'Member, you can back down any time ya want."

"I'm not," I muttered, pushing his hand away. "I can do this."

"Oh?" Matthews shot me a grin as he faced Provincial Hall in front of us. It clashed between the steel, perfected buildings on either side of the street. Being one of the only structures to survive the last war, I couldn't help but think it was beautiful. Maybe it was because I saw it at night, because truthfully, in the mornings, it was boring, just brick and stone. Yet now, it was dangerous, but alluring, pulling me in with the task I needed to do.

Matthews grabbed my shoulder and broke my thoughts as I took a step forward. "If you're so confident, tell me the plan."

I glanced at his hand before following his arm all the way up to his jumpsuit. His was different, darker than mine; near his shoulder were metals only given to Enforcement officers. I wasn't sure who made him so decorated, but I had a good idea he did it alone; that, and his double gun holster, hidden well within his suit.

I, on the other hand, only had one gun.

"The plan?" I huffed. "We walk through the doors, tell the Codes inside we've returned from monitoring duty. You will report that all is normal, and we should retire to our rooms in the West Wing."

Matthews clicked his teeth. With the contacts, I admit, he creeped me out. I wonder if I looked the same to him. I need to calm down, I thought.