On Wednesday morning, I was caught.
Well – at least that was what I thought was about to happen when the sleek black car slowed down beside me near the college entrance, engine prowling behind my footsteps. I was early as usual, cutting through empty parking spaces on my way into the building, when I noticed it. The noise behind me that had the hairs on the back of my neck standing up.
I tried to backtrack, but there was no competition: even my fastest pace couldn't outrun the car. As long as it wanted to, it was going to catch up.
I glanced over my shoulder, frantically scanning for a pedestrian-only exit – but then the driver's tinted window rolled down.
And I exhaled in relief.
From Jace, there was no polite greeting – just an order. "Get in."
"Nice to see you, too," I snapped. "Was the shady approach really necessary? I thought I was about to be abducted."
"I was trying not to draw attention," he said, "which I'm pretty sure we're doing right now. So hurry up and get in."
For a moment, I hesitated. I couldn't see the backseat, and there was no guarantee he hadn't come accompanied by two government officials, ready to pounce. But when I glanced back at the street behind me, I noticed more students coming into view, and I figured I had more to lose by staying put.
"Fine," I said, heading for the passenger seat.
The air was on full blast inside his car, despite the cold weather, and a shiver ran the full length of my spine as I sunk into the leather seat. He rolled the window up, closing the two of us in. Only then did it occur to me how clean the car was – there was no clutter in sight, and I could see an eerily clear reflection in the windscreen. Somehow, it seemed to have Jace written all over it.
I couldn't quite hold in my surprise. "This is yours?"
"Yeah." He glanced over at me. "Any particular reason you sound so shocked?"
"Nobody our age has a car."
It was true: even back at the academy, car parks on campus had been disproportionately small, and the few vehicles sitting in them belonged to older staff. We were sometimes dubbed the environmentally friendly generation, but cars had long since turned carbon neutral. The simple truth of the matter was that the roads of New London were not built to cope with the new city, and adding more cars would just bring traffic to a standstill. It was easier to take a train, or catch a lift where possible.
"Well, I do," he said. "And be thankful for it, because it's one of the safest places we can talk."
"Alright," I muttered, slightly stung by his tone. "What's put you in such a mood this morning?"
"I'm not in a mood."
"You're not exactly a ray of sunshine, either."
"I'm just a little stressed out, okay?" he said, gripping the steering wheel a little tighter. We'd sped up past the entrance of the college, now moving up the street as it disappeared behind us. Traffic was getting thicker, but this at least meant he wasn't about to make a high-speed getaway towards BioNeutral headquarters, so I had to appreciate the small things. "That's all."
"Stressed?" I repeated, unable to keep the sarcasm out of my tone. "You mean all's not well in the glamorous life of Jace Snowdon?"
"Sneer all you want, but I'd like to see you in my shoes for a day." He hit the indicator, glancing toward the mirror before we turned onto a quieter street to the right. "You're not the one living under the same roof as my dad when he's got nothing but BioNeutral on his mind."
I looked over at him. "The rally, right?"
"That goddamn rally," he muttered, shaking his head. It seemed like there was a lot more he could say about it, but chose not to. "Are you going?"
There was a beat of silence, in which I half-expected him to burst out laughing. But nothing happened. He was really asking.
"Of course I'm not going," I said, looking over in disbelief. "That only sounds like the most idiotic plan I could think of. Stand in the middle of a swarm of people chanting their support for my culling? I'll pass."
He didn't say anything, and I was sure I had to be misreading the expression on his face.
"Why do you look so surprised? Does that really sound like something I'd do?"
"I don't know," he said eventually, running one hand through his hair. "Maybe that's the thing. A lot of the time I forget I don't know you. We don't know the first thing about each other."
"And I'm pretty content to leave it that way," I added. "Staying even, right?"
"Right." He nodded. "Of course."
"So the almost-abduction..." I began, wondering if we were ever going to broach the main point of the conversation. "I don't believe I'm sitting here because you wanted a morning catch up. What's going on?"
"Oh. Yeah." He glanced over in my direction. "You need to go to the rally."
I blinked. "What?"
"The rally, this weekend. The one we were just talking about. You need to be there."
"Have you lost your mind?" I asked, wondering if he'd suffered some kind of blow to the head in the minute since we'd had this discussion. "Didn't we just go over this? I'm not out of my mind."
"I know you're not," he said. "And believe me, I'm not taking this lightly. I tried to think of any way we could possibly go about it differently, but... there's no other option."
"Go about what?"
"Our deal," he said slowly, like it might have slipped my mind. "I was thinking about what you said to me before, at BioPlus HQ. Do you remember? I was trying the wrong door, the one that wouldn't open. You told me there was a building-wide security lapse upstairs, and that I'd be stupid to waste the opportunity."
Of course I remember, I wanted to say. I remember all the details about that conversation. Right down to your every nervous move.
But I didn't. "What are you trying to get at?"
"Well, when you think about it, we're kind of looking at the same situation," he explained. "This rally has been in the works for weeks. Every bit of BioNeutral effort will be focused on it. And all those unattended file rooms inside City Hall..."
"A building-wide security lapse," I finished for him.
"Exactly."
For a moment, I didn't say anything, turning over the idea in my mind. It was kind of difficult to grasp that Jace was the one who'd suggested it in the first place – my polar opposite, for once, was thinking like me. "You're thinking about stealing government files."
"Yeah," he said. "I guess I am."
"How do you know we'll find anything?" I asked. "The security on anything worth knowing will be insane. It seems like a big risk for such an uncertain reward."
He was staring straight ahead, eyes fixed on the road ahead, even though the queue of stationary traffic didn't demand that much concentration. "My dad's keeping secrets," he said eventually. "I didn't really notice before... not until you got me thinking. And the more I do think about, the more I realise how much doesn't make sense. He tells me what I need to know. And it stops there."
"And you don't question it?"
"I didn't used to," he said. "But the other night, after you told me about Nova... I figured it was worth a shot. What could I lose by just asking?"
"What happened?"
"It didn't go down well – let's just put it that way." The corner of his lip twitched, but the smile was miles off humorous. "He was pretty pissed. Yelled all the stuff I should've expected. That I was pushing my luck, trying to meddle in things that didn't concern me, that if I didn't agree with what they were fighting for I should get out now."
I grimaced. "Oh."
"I mean, I'd be an idiot to expect anything else," Jace continued, shaking his head. "Not to mention the reaction kind of gave me the answer I was looking for. He knows what happened to Eden, even if he doesn't realise that's what I'm trying to find out."
I paused. He wasn't looking at me, so I studied his profile – wishing his thoughts were less expertly concealed behind the lines of his face. I could never work out what was running through his mind, which was perhaps what made him so dangerous.
"Jace," I said eventually. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
He seemed to flinch. "Of course I am. Why?"
"It's just..." I trailed off, wondering how to select the words that would do the least amount of damage. The last thing I needed was for Jace to get cold feet, but at the same time, I felt like I owed him a warning. "What we're planning is serious. Depending on how it turns out... our lives could change forever. And I want to make sure you're ready for that."
I expected him to get defensive. It was kind of questioning his loyalty, after all, and he was probably getting enough of that from both ends. He should've snapped.
But then silence lapsed between us, and I realised he was truly considering.
"Yeah," he said eventually, looking over and letting our eyes lock. "I can't be content not knowing. Whatever happens... it's got to be better than fighting blind."
I found myself nodding, captured by the look in his dark eyes. It was a look of blazing determination – one I didn't see up on the BioNeutral podium. "Okay," I said, my voice barely louder than a whisper. "Let's do it."
"Right," Jace said, taking the turning that would start to loop us back toward the college. "So here's the plan..."
***
When the weekend arrived, spring weather seemed to descend pretty much overnight.
The Channel Six newscasters were more excited than anybody, cheerfully proclaiming that the sun was shining over the City Walk, ready for the rally. They talked about it so often and for so long it seemed like they were trying to convince people it was a sign – even though nobody had believed in acts of God for fifty years.
It wasn't a sign, of course – just the lingering effects of our carbon-producing ancestors, who'd sent the climate so out of whack it still hadn't completely righted itself. After all, there was no need to leave the fate of the rally in the hands of the weather. If BioNeutral had anything to do with it, there was no doubt it'd be mapped out to the tiniest detail. They were, as always, totally in control.
Or so they liked everybody to believe.
Even so, the sun was pretty strong that morning, and beads of sweat formed on the back of my neck as I pushed my way through the swarming crowd. The rally started at noon on the dot, but it hadn't stopped the masses gathering from mid-morning, and chants swelled around me with such powerful unison it seemed impossible nobody was leading. It sent a shiver down my spine, despite the heat.
I'd tried to dress inconspicuously – which, for a BioNeutral rally, meant every item of green clothing I owned. On my way in, somebody had been handing out badges, and I figured the easiest way to blend in was to pin one to the front of my shirt. Add a pair of coloured contacts to tone down my blue eyes, and I could only hope I looked the part.
"Excuse me – sorry."
Squeezing through the mass of people involved brute force, but I couldn't be complacent – I had to make it as far toward the front of the marching crowd as possible. There was still half a mile to go, and I couldn't risk falling behind on the journey. With the plan hinged on being in the right place at the right time, I had to take every precaution.
"Oi! Watch where you're going."
Glancing back, I found myself on the receiving end of a man's glare. Middle-aged and balding, there wasn't a lot to find striking except the green-tinged tattoo creeping up the side of his neck. The ink was so new his skin still looked sore.
"Sorry," I said, even though he could probably only read my lips over the noise of the crowd.
"We were here three hours early to get to the front. You can't just show up and barge through."
I looked round for a chance to slip away, but the people around me were wedged in so close I couldn't see a gap. It wasn't like I could rely on the event security, either – those defending BioNeutral were hardly likely to swing things in my favour. Their presence was subtly sinister – something you didn't quite see on first glance, but that appeared everywhere once you started taking notice. Armed officers lined the Walk for as far ahead as I could see, hands resting on concealed weapons, ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. Even the crowd wasn't quite what it seemed. It looked like a collection of passionate New Londoners – but every so often I'd be shoved by the crowd, and there was no mistaking the fall against somebody in a bulletproof vest.
"I need to be somewhere," I told the man, but this ended up being far from the right answer.
"The only place any of us have got to be is City Hall," he snapped, and I wished I had a corner to shrink back into as he came closer. "All here for the same reason, aren't we? Unless you've got something to hide..."
"Is there a problem here?"
All of a sudden, I felt something press into my stomach, and my forward steps were halted by the stick of an officer who'd appeared out of nowhere. I looked up, and our eyes met from behind the tinted visor of his helmet.
"She's trying to barge to the front," the guy said, like I had no better reason than wanting a good view. "Told her to keep to her own place. Some of us have waited hours for this."
"And rightly so," the officer said, nodding at the man as if exchanging silent respect. I wondered exactly how I'd been excluded from this, when I'd put so much effort into blending in. "Go ahead, sir, and I'll deal with this. We're approaching City Hall, and I wouldn't want you to miss the speech."
Thankfully, he didn't seem in the mood to pursue it – either that, or the prospect of a front-row view of Max Snowdon held too much appeal. It was kind of weird to see. Never before had New Londoners taken such a fiery interest in politics. For so long, government had just been something that whirred away in the background, only attracting attention if all went disastrously wrong. An address from the Officer of Public Health had certainly never been standing room only.
The man disappeared back into the crowd, and I waited for the stick to be lowered, but the pressure against my stomach remained. He was staring at me too closely, and the pace of my heart quickened.
"You sure you're supposed to be here, girly?"
"Of course," I snapped. "What's that supposed to mean?"
It looked like he was debating voicing a thought, but decided against it at the last minute. "Just an observation," he said instead. "You're a pretty little thing. Maybe you should take it as a compliment."
"Funny way of complimenting somebody."
"Hey, now, no need to be so touchy." He lowered the stick, and only with the motion did I exhale. "Just behave yourself today. We're not looking for any trouble."
Who are you trying to kid? I wanted to ask. That's what this whole rally is about – causing trouble.
But I had too much to lose, and I couldn't go attracting more attention with an unruly temper. So I kept my mouth shut, letting my gaze follow the back of the officer's helmet as he moved back into the crowd, opening up my path once again.
I wanted to kick myself. The only thing I had to do so far was blend in, and somehow I'd managed to screw that up. Part of me wanted to give up and get out of here – the sheer aggression of the protesters had taken me by surprise, and it suddenly seemed stupid to think a pair of coloured contacts would be enough to divert their suspicions. Wouldn't it be safer to go about this in a different way – one that didn't involve submerging myself in thousands of enemies?
But then I thought of Jace, somewhere behind the doors of City Hall, bearing the weight of the plan with his father in the same room. We had to go through with it. There was no telling when we'd get another chance.
The plan... We'd run through it so many times we could both recite it in our sleep. My memory didn't need the extra help, but when it was us against the government, I wasn't sure there was such a thing as too much preparation. Every corner was riddled with potential threats – and any one of them could mean game over.
The doubt alone had kept me awake for three nights.
Jace would wait until his moment. Five minutes before the big appearance, and the heat would get to him – too dizzy to stand before the thousands. If his acting was convincing, he'd get to stay behind while his father appeared on the steps.
And then the both of us would be free to make our next move.
My steps plodded on. Every second turned into an hour under the baking heat of the sun, and sweat glued the shirt to my skin. My throat had become sandpaper – I wished I'd grabbed a water bottle on the way out of my house that morning, but in being so determined to slip out without my parents noticing, it had slipped my mind.
We were close to City Hall now – that, at least, was what kept me moving. No point turning back on the mile I'd already walked when it had taken so much to get there.
Keep going.
"BioNeutral! BioNeutral!"
The chant had started somewhere behind me, sweeping across the crowd like a tide. I lowered my head, keeping my gaze fixed on the slow steps I was taking.
"No more modification!"
The shout erupted from right beside me, pure fury echoing behind each word.
"Down with super-humans!"
A figure in front moved aside, and suddenly I saw it: the looming grey stature of City Hall coming into view over the crowd. Huge screens were set up either side of the steps, the static BioNeutral logo casting a green hue over the rally. We were filtering into the square now, below the steps, where an even thicker band of security lined the edge.
If only that made me feel safer – rather than the total opposite.
Space opened up in front of me, and suddenly I was in the square, slotting in against the mob of people trying to push closer to the steps. We'd made it. Now all I had to do was edge further in, and the plan actually stood a chance of getting somewhere.
We might actually be able to do this.
The brief flicker of hope was like a spark inside me. For the first time that morning, I was feeling something other than crushing pessimism.
It didn't last long.
Seconds later, the single scream cut through the crowd, piercing the sweltering air. Instinct had me turning to look, to see where it had come from – a quick-fire move to locate the source of danger.
My head turned, but I didn't get to see anything.
Because that was the moment the bomb exploded behind me.
------------------
Hi, everyone! Sorry this one's taken a while -- I had a bit of trouble working out exactly what I wanted to happen here. It's kind of essential for the rest of the plot (as you can probably work out) so I wanted to get it right.
Hopefully the issue with notifications on the previous chapter has been fixed... I know a lot of you didn't get to read the chapter immediately last time. Don't forget to drop a comment if you enjoyed!
Leigh