The Law and the Codas

Chapter Twenty-One

 Della's gaze follows us as Keran ushers us through the double doors. The Codas Commander sits at the head of a long, square table, that's surrounded by a handful of metal folding chairs. Codas faces, both familiar and foreign, peer up at us as we enter. Ellie, the red-headed girl from earlier sits three spots down on Della's right. Beside her sits Dieter, Nose, and Finn, three of the Codas that had traveled with us since the Facility.

On Della's left, there's a row of several thin, sallow faces, all sporting the Comm dots on their temples. There's a blond-haired woman with hefty bags under her brown eyes. A man, sitting beside her, his bronze skin dappled with a thin film of sweat.

Another man, young, fidgets in his seat, bony fingers tapping mindlessly against the wood table. David and the twins stand behind them, while Sin leans in the corner, arms folded over his chest, his eyes half-closed. He looks on the verge of sleep despite the very palpable tension clinging to the air.

"One-zero," Della says. "How're the injuries?"

"They'll heal."

She flashes a smile. "They always do."

David's fingertips brush against mine. "You really okay?"

I nod. "Keran's one hell of a healer. I'm doing a lot better."

Sam grabs a part of his t-shirt and sniffs it. "Ugh," his nose crinkles. "I wish they'd given us new clothes to wear. I feel like we never left the sewer."

Della claps her hands together and the room quiets. The boy who'd been tapping his fingers on the table stops and jerks upright. Della's thin lips peel back.

From under the table, she produces three sets of dog tags. We all watch, our voices frozen in our throats. "Frigga," she says, slamming one on the table. "Able," another dog tag. "Jensen." The curved line of dirtied metal smirks menacingly underneath the room's single lamplight.

Keran's hands mold into fists. Ellie grunts as anger pull her lips tight.

"All dead because someone in this room is a spy for the El Accosta." Della stands up and her chair slides across the floor. "You all are the only ones who knew about the operation to rescue the Chemist." She nods toward David. No one bothers to look in his direction. All eyes remain on Della as she stalks around the table, a predator entrapping her prey.

"Which of you did it?" She runs a finger over her chin and stops behind the bronze-skinned man. Her hands clamp down on his shoulders. He jostles. Her breath makes the hair nearest his ear sway. "Was it you, Cade?" She snaps and the man jerks away. Della's hands keep him locked in place. "Did you send them to an early grave?"

He shakes his head, flinging sweat onto the table. Della releases him and sidles up to the woman next. She goes as white as the room's walls. Della scoops up a handful of the woman's pitch-black hair and yanks. The woman yelps as her neck are wrenched back. "And you, Laur? Did you betray us?"

Tears gather in the woman's russet eyes. "No-no."

Della smiles releases her. The woman's head slumps forward. Della runs a hand over Laur's hair, stopping at the woman's slender neck. Stiff fingers stroke Laur's neck. She flinches.

Della moves on. "What about you, Sparks?"

The boy shakes. "I-I-"

She pats his head and he crumbles back into his chair, blowing out his cheeks and sniveling. Della glides to the other side of the table where she does much the same with Nose, Dieter, Finn, Ellie, and even Keran. Each answer is a variant of the one before it. "No," "No ma'am," "I'd have died for any of them if it meant they could live" - this impassioned last part had been blurted by Ellie in swift staccato, who by the end of it, had stood and saluted before Della had shoved her back in her seat. Keran remained speechless.