When All Else Fails (A Push of a Button Novella)

Chapter Ten

Did he really believe that? She set the tray aside. Dane was right about one thing, though. He was just an ordinary person. He had needs and desires, and he'd ended up caught in a trap, a lie, just as so many others had. He wasn't exactly unique or unusual in that respect. "How do you plan to bring them down? You're just one person."

He nodded. "I know. But I have information. And I can get to even more. I have ears everywhere, even if the Supreme One I work for thinks I don't. I don't know who they are yet, but I know something else. Something more important."

She leaned forward with a frown, resting her chin in her hands. "What's more important than their identities?"

"The source of their power. They aren't pulling the strings, Vivian. They never were. If I can figure out who is, I might be able to bring them down and start some much needed change. They're afraid of whoever it is they're countering. They're not under the control of this other organization directly, but they're doing everything in their power to make sure that our little planet never comes to their attention again."

"What?" She blinked. "So you want to defeat them and...what? Bring us to the attention of this other organization?"

Dane shook his head. "No. I want to ensure we have a fighting chance. I want to give the people back the power to fight back."

"Why would you want that?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"No offense, but you aren't exactly the altruistic type. You don't care about the masses."

He frowned. "You're right. I don't necessarily care about the individuals themselves. But I want to live. I want to survive, and I want to do it with you. I want a world where my dreams of a family living without fear can become a reality. And right now, if things stay this way, if I fail, that doesn't happen." He came back to sit beside her. "This organization isn't going to leave us alone. The Supremacy believes they can keep them away, keep avoiding their notice, but they can't."

"Why not?" She scooted away to leave more space between them, but she didn't laugh him off. Dane might have seemed like the joking sort, but she knew now that he wouldn't joke about this sort of thing. In fact, the jokster of a brother she'd known probably hadn't existed.

"This group—Oblivion as they call themselves—only wants one thing. Chaos. Their surface goal is to annihilate any worship of the Christian God, which is why the Supremacy has tried to stamp out Christianity. But they're failing, and Oblivion has noticed. Not only that, Oblivion doesn't see it as enough to destroy Christianity. They want a world in chaos. A world living in the dark ages like they had on Earth all those centuries ago. And our world is orderly. Too orderly."

"So what are you saying? That this Oblivion already has us on their radar?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying. The Supremacy doesn't know I know about this. I know how to cover my tracks, unlike you. Yes, they knew all about the information you stole from the Archives that one day, and they knew the moment you did it."

She shivered. "And they let me get away with it?"

"Because I talked them out of taking action and because of your status, yes."

She'd been closer to the edge than she'd realized. She chewed the inside of her cheek. It was nothing short of a miracle she hadn't been arrested and executed the moment someone noticed. "So... You found out about the Oblivion organization..."

He nodded. "And just like the Supremacy had me in the McGayen house as a sleeper agent, the Oblivion has sleeper agents in our organization. I don't know who all of them are, but I know enough to know they've got a few in the higher echelons of society and of the Supremacy itself. From what I've been able to figure out, they aren't doing anything. Just watching. Always watching."