Three (Article 5 #3)(42)

I’d stumbled upon a cemetery. My skin began to crawl, and instinctively I took a few steps back.

Beyond the cemetery, down a long hill, flickered the flames from half a dozen bonfires. As I crept around the perimeter toward them, people became visible, moving to and from a row of storage units. To the right was a tall wooden fence, and as I squinted to where it disappeared into the dark distance I could barely make out what looked like a dozen FBR cruisers and several more military vans and trucks. Enough to transport a hundred soldiers or more.

I turned back to the storage units, surmising from the lack of other options that this was where the soldiers slept. There were enough people moving around that I thought I might be able to blend in without much notice. I was just about to exit the trees when a noise to my right made me freeze.

To my right was a rickety wooden toolshed slightly removed from the graveyard that I hadn’t seen earlier. A guard stood outside, a rifle held ready across his chest. The twitch in his shoulder and nervous toss of his hair was too familiar. What Billy could possibly be doing out here in the middle of the night triggered my curiosity.

As I watched, another figure appeared in the doorway. The lean hips and straight shoulders identified him as male, but the fires were on the opposite side of the camp, and the shadows hid his face. He disappeared within, and then reappeared, and without a word to Billy headed straight toward me, cutting through the cemetery. He stopped at the last cross in the line and placed one hand gently on the wood.

I ducked as low as I could and held my breath. If I ran now I’d be seen.

A few seconds later another man came from the woods, moving quietly, but with purpose. More imposing with his height and muscular chest, he stopped at the edge of the woods, out of view from the shed. For a moment I felt a sharp need to call out a warning, but then the first man turned away from the grave marker and joined him, clearly having expected his arrival.

It was as good a time as any to make a quick exit, but something inside urged me to follow, and soon I was stooping behind a thicket of brush, ten feet away. The crosses watched over silently, the only witness to my eavesdropping.

“It’s not going to jeopardize the mission. We’ve already verified what the girl said. A quick extraction, that’s all we’re talking about.”

The slighter man had to be DeWitt; I recognized his voice but not the anxiety behind it. The second man responded with something I couldn’t make out, though I strained my ears to catch it. As far as I could tell there were only two people, not the whole council that Three’s leader had spoken of earlier.

I felt sure he was talking about sending a team out to rescue the prisoners. Still, I didn’t know what other mission he spoke of, or what girl had given him information that would need to be verified. My mind raced through everything I’d told him, just in case.

“The injuries could be substantial,” argued DeWitt.

I was reminded of our injured, left at the mini-mart miles up the coast. Hopefully they could hold on until we could reach them.

“There’s still time. Please. I thought you of all people would understand.” I held my breath as DeWitt’s voice rose. A shadow paced in front of the door and I ducked lower, the sharp leaves of the bush cutting into my hands.

This wasn’t the DeWitt I recognized from the radio room, or the one who had addressed his people this morning. Something had scared him. I wondered again who he was speaking to that had such control, and why anything he did required asking permission.

A second later a branch broke beneath my hand and both voices paused. Wincing, I crawled backward, behind a tree, but the two men were now coming my way. My heart was hammering. DeWitt already suspected me of having something to do with the fallen resistance posts. If he caught me sneaking around outside a meeting, he would never believe I was innocent.

“Did you hear that?” DeWitt asked.

I didn’t wait another second. I turned and ran straight back to the dorms.





CHAPTER


11


EARLY morning found us packed inside the cafeteria. The council was convening before breakfast and we were summoned to hear an important announcement. After Tucker’s last report, and the radio broadcast of Truck’s death, I couldn’t help but feel nervous waiting with the others. If ever Three would respond, the time was now.

I stood in the back near the exit beside Rebecca. Not everyone was accounted for; the children had been gathered and taken to the south wing, and Sean and some of the field workers had been summoned early to pack rations for some team heading to the interior. None of the fighters had come from the camps below. I kept my eyes pinned on the door, wanting to be the first to see Chase should he arrive.

The rain that had begun late in the night had yet to let up. It came in a constant sheet, dripping through the roof in a dozen different places. A familiar uneasiness spread through my muscles. Even with so many absent, this many people packed close together could not be safe.

Finally, Ms. Rita, Panda, and the man with the red hair who’d captured us in the grove arrived and sat behind a long table erected near the entrance to the kitchen. Dr. DeWitt followed closely behind them and even from across the room his exhaustion was apparent. He rubbed both hands over the stubble of his jaw and nodded to someone standing in the front.

“I feel bad for him,” Rebecca whispered. “You know his family was killed by the MM.”