Rebel (Legend, #4)(58)

But tonight, we let ourselves stay entwined together, as if everything will remain as perfect as this moment. As if this could be our future.





EDEN



I don’t know when Hann plans to unleash the real signal. All I know is that Hann finally comes to see me again in the makeshift chamber that he’s offered me at the estate.

I jump a little as he enters the room with two of his guards.

“I don’t mean to startle you,” he says to me now, holding up both of his hands. Then he nods at the guards. “You’re no longer needed,” he adds. “I’d like a word alone with Mr. Wing.”

The guards do as he says. They step out, and the room is suddenly just me and him.

Hann sits down in a chair across from me and leans his chin on his hand. “Word is that your brother is now safely back with the AIS,” he says.

“Thank you for keeping your word,” I reply.

“Do you know why I’m here right now?” he asks me.

I just stare warily at him. “Why?”

He reaches into the pocket of his suit jacket, then pulls out what looks like a heavy purse. With a careless gesture, he tosses it in my direction.

I fumble with it as it lands against my chest with a chunky clink of metal. “What’s this?” I say.

“Your payment, of course,” Hann replies. He nods at me. “I only pay in real gold corras. Soon, this place’s virtual currency will be useless after the Level system is disabled. I figure you’ll want real money instead.”

I glare at him, then peek once inside the purse.

There are hundreds—thousands—of gold coins in here. Each is worth a thousand corras. This entire purse must contain at least a million.

I look sharply back up at him. He’d promised a handsome pay for what I did, but this level of money is an amount that I hadn’t guessed at.

Hann smiles at me. “Surprised?” he says. “I’ve made enough of a fortune doing what I do. It’s a worthy investment for me to spend that money on talent like you.”

This kind of money is beyond what even most of the Sky Floor citizens can earn. It’s money that could pull Pressa and her father completely out of the Undercity. It’s money that could buy you the kind of Level that would make you safe forever.

It’s also the kind of money that’s dipped in the blood of people who have paid dearly for crossing someone like Hann.

I close the purse back up and toss it to the floor between us. “How long are you going to keep me down here?” I ask quietly. “Until my brother comes to find me? Until the AIS descend on you? Just because you disable the Level system doesn’t mean they don’t have a way to hunt you down.”

Hann smiles, unconcerned about the way I’ve rejected his money. “I’m not going to keep you anywhere,” he replies, nodding toward the door. “You’re free to go, whenever you wish. My guards are ready and waiting to escort you back to the surface of the Undercity whenever you want.”

Now I know he’s messing with me. I laugh, shaking my head at him. “What kind of game do you want me to play?” I say.

“I don’t play games with people I respect,” Hann replies. “Or have you just lived in a gamified society for so long that you don’t even know how to react to people outside of its system?”

“Why would you let me go?” I demand. “I’ve been a proven asset to you. I know where this place is. I’ve seen you, and I could go straight to the AIS the instant you release me.”

He shrugs. “I know.”

I spread my hands wide. “So—that’s it? You’re setting me free?” As if to test him, I stand up from my chair and walk toward the door. Everything in me tells me that this is a trap, that the instant I try to step out into the hall, they’ll clap me in chains or shoot me dead.

But Hann just watches me. “Go.”

When I still don’t budge, he leans forward in the chair and regards me with a focused expression. “Do you want to know why I’m letting you go? Do you want to know why I’m willing to give you millions?” He smiles. “Because you’ll be back.”

“What?”

“You’ll return to find me again. I can see the fire in your eyes, the way you try to hide the satisfaction of seeing that machine work with your engine attached to it. I know that you believe in the same things I believe in.” He narrows his eyes. “It’s haunted you the entire time you’ve lived in Antarctica, hasn’t it? The way this place runs its Undercity? The way the government handles the poor? The Level system that is as corrupt as it is innovative? You hate it all, just like I do.”

I shake my head. “Once I step out of here, I’m never coming back.”

Hann leans back in his chair and heaves a sigh. “Yes, you are,” he replies. “You will, because when you see the chaos that will reign in this city after the Level system is disabled, when you see the change it can bring about in the upper-class people you loathe … you’ll realize that what I do here is the noble cause. You want to be a part of something significant, don’t you? All people with your talent desire to make a difference. And I can help you get there. You can go from obscurity in your brother’s shadow to becoming one of the most prominent disrupters of change that the world has ever seen.” He nods at the purse on the floor. “And think of your friend Pressa. You can change her life forever with that. With a new job at my side.”