Joan Undone

Chapter 21

"Maybe I should ask him for a few tips," Justus mutters under his breath.

"All that's left to determine is what case we should propose," Nic says, his stare intense as he considers the plan.

"I had an idea about that, too," I begin, ignoring the knowing glance between Elizabeth and Sacajawea. "A few weeks ago, Harriet and I met a man named Gavyn Mol, who was being imprisoned, and possibly retired, for unemployment. But he was partially blind, which would make him eligible for a disability exception. And even Throwbacks are entitled to a fair trial before they are executed."

"No one follows those laws," Harriet says.

"He's probably dead by now," Mason adds, his arm tight around Harriet's shoulders.

"Then we'll take the case of someone like him," I say.

"By my current count, over six hundred Throwbacks have been arrested on unemployment charges, most of them elderly or disabled," Marie offers. "That gives us an extensive list to choose from."

"Building cases takes time. A lot of it," Leo says. "You should not delay hiring this lawyer and finding him a client."

"We have already begun," Sun says. "I will personally oversee this case, and I welcome the input and creativity of everyone in this room."

Leo smiles widely. "At last, you begin to build momentum. I'm proud of you all."

The general mood of the room is lighter than it's been in weeks, as my teammates assess next steps. But my gaze stops on Harriet, who is looking at me, her mouth in a firm, hard line. She is not happy to be teaming up with the Evolved on this project.

Have we ever disagreed like this before?

I meet her stare, and she sighs and nods. The noose around my heart falls away. Even though she may not agree with my action, Harriet has my back. I can breathe again.

~ ~ ~

About a dozen of us have another late night scanning the input Strand sends from Marie's algorithm. There are some hot spots in the city, and I coordinate sending people out to investigate the suspicious areas. Most of the action turns out to be minor, and slowly, the members of my team turn in for the night.

Marie and Sun go back to the dorms, and Harriet leaves with Mason, first stopping beside me to give my shoulder a squeeze.

"We'll work this out, Harriet. I know it," I say.

She nods. Her eyes are hollow and shadowed, but I see no resentment in them.

"You need rest, too," Nic says as the door swings closed. "I'll handle anything that comes up during the night."

"Okay. Thanks," I say, and his eyes widen. "What? I accept help sometimes."

"Sure. From people you trust," Nic says. "Guess you finally trust me now too."

"You did take a bullet for me," I allow with a grin. "That should count for something."

The largest tablet pings with new data, and Nic moves to check it out. Whatever he finds doesn't seem to upset him, so I walk toward the sleeping quarters, yearning for my lumpy bottom bunk.

Hushed voices inside make me pause, not wanting to interrupt a private moment.

"You have to tell her," Kat says. "Joan needs to know."

Justus's voice is tense when he replies. "I'm not sure how she'll take it. She's got so much to deal with as it is."

My imagination is a runaway train, but I pull the brakes.

Cowering in doorways is not how I operate, so I step into the room. "What do I need to know?"

Justus sits on one of the bottom bunks, with Kat next to him. Her arm is around his shoulder. In the interest of acting like a sane leader of our team instead of a petty, jealous almost-ex, I keep my face neutral.

Kat hands me a tablet resting on her lap. There's a vid on it which pops into 3D life at my touch. It shows Justus on another talk show hosted by a dark-haired man with a large nose.

Justus's words are impassioned. "Last week, one of my best friends was beaten by the police. They could have killed her. We need to come together as human beings and decide what's right, not just what benefits our own ends as Evolved."

"This friend of yours who got beaten. What'd she do?" shouts an audience member, ignoring Justus's plea.

"Does it matter? Should a nineteen-year-old girl ever be beaten into unconsciousness by an officer sworn to protect all lives in this city?"

"Answer the question," says the host.

"She was out a few minutes past curfew, but she did nothing wrong. She was tying her shoe!"

"She broke the law," a woman in the audience counters. "Of course a beating is excessive, but these Throwbacks need to learn that there are serious consequences when they break the law. When we're lenient, we end up with terrorists like the madman behind Circe Night and the Police Station Massacre."

The audience murmurs their agreement.

"She broke a rule that shouldn't exist," Justus counters. "If the laws for Evolved and Throwbacks were the same—"

Justus is interrupted by a shout from the crowd. "That Throwback girlfriend of yours is filling your head with garbage!"

I wince. The video the reporter took of Justus and me must be everywhere if this audience is talking about it.

The host intervenes before the audience can interrupt further. He turns to Justus with a grandfatherly expression. "Your opinion is an uneducated one. Throwbacks need the Evolved to guide them, or we'll return to the dark ages."

"The Throwbacks I know are more mentally evolved than anyone in this room," Justus says, his brows drawn in disgust. "This supremacist attitude is from another century—"

Incoherent shouting makes the rest of Justus's statement impossible to hear.

Justus pulls the tablet from my hands and shuts off the vid. "I can't relive it again."

"I get what you were trying to do, Justus," I say gently, as Kat squeezes his shoulder. "But that wasn't the right audience, or the right message. Let the team help you if you're determined to speak to the public."

He sighs. "I have to find a way to be useful to the team, or I'll go crazy. I thought I could help build bridges with the rest of the Throwback community, like my dad's group, but Throwbacks don't trust me any longer. And trying to speak to the Evolved community is going even worse, even with Kat teaching me how the Evolved world works."

How much time are they spending together? Why didn't he ask me about the Evolved world? If only I could make my stupid, selfish brain stop obsessing over the least important issue here. My friend is hurting.

"That video isn't the worst part," Justus continues. "People all over the country are writing into the show, and almost everyone thinks I'm naïve, or brainwashed. I'm not getting through to anyone."

"You'll get there," I say, my voice softer when his eyes meet mine. "You can't rewire your brain overnight. I know what an asset you are to this team. Give yourself time to realize it too."

"Thanks, Joan," Justus says, and I resist the overpowering urge to pull him into a hug.

"I was going to sleep, but if you two want the place for yourselves, I'll go to my dorm room," I say, suddenly uncomfortable.

Kat springs up. "No! Stay. I need to get home."

Kat leaves, and part of me wants to take her place next to Justus. But the distance growing between us is necessary.

Right?

Instead, I choose a bed across the room, and Justus turns out the lights. I swallow all the unsaid words between us and try to pretend that a lifetime of pushing Justus away wouldn't be worse than cutting off my own arm.

Before I can ask Justus if he's feeling even half of what I am, his gentle snores fill the room, and I have my answer.