Rebel (Legend, #4)(79)

All we’re doing is buying Eden time.

June gives me a nod when we’re done and begins broadcasting out the different messages on each frequency.

“Place a call to Eden,” she says quietly. In order to give a realistic illusion that Eden and I are at odds, I need to try to contact him.

I call Eden. As expected, he doesn’t answer. Even though I know he isn’t supposed to, a part of my chest still tightens in fear.

I call several more times, then stop. It’s a good sign that Eden isn’t picking up, I tell myself. It most likely means that he and Pressa are in, and that he’s no longer on the grid.

June is already checking the harnesses on her waist and legs. She’s going to lead a small team into one of the intersections we requested Hann to show up in, to watch for where he might appear. I’m wearing a similar getup—hooks, harnesses, and an assortment of knives and weapons. My team will head to the opposite side of hers. Still other teams are on their way to the other locations.

I watch as she works. She may not be with her Republic teams, but even here, with a patrol of foreign soldiers at her beck and call, she exudes a natural leadership that makes them wait respectfully for her command.

A sudden sliver of a memory returns to me at that. I remember the swing of her dark ponytail as she stood in an alley, her hand on her hip and her chin tilted up, the light in her eyes invincible, calling out a challenge for a Skiz fight. The first time I saw her. The first moment she caught my eye. How could I not have known then, immediately, who she was?

June notices me looking at her. A curious smile touches the edge of her lips, and she tilts her head at me. “What?”

“Nothing.” I shake my head, embarrassed to be caught. “I was just making sure you looked like you have everything, yeah?” I point out the gun at her hip and the climbing hooks hanging from her belt. “If, for some reason, Hann does show his face—”

“—then our teams are ready on the ground, hiding in our zones on every side of the intersection.” June nods down at the street. It’s desolate right now, the usual rows of cluttered shops and neon signs shuttered and fenced off. “And if he doesn’t show—”

“Then we hope that it’s because he listened to Eden’s warning and has taken him into his circle.” I take a deep breath, run through the elements of the plan in my head, and look down at my watch. “We should hear from him in several hours.”

June walks up to me. She reaches out to touch my wrist with her hand, gently coaxing me to lower my arm. “We’ll hear from them before then,” she promises. “I’ve seen Eden in worse situations.”

“I know.” I run a hand through my hair, trying to keep my eyes on the horizon instead of on her so that she can’t see my worry. “I’m just thinking everything through.”

June hesitates, then edges close to me. Her lips brush mine in a light kiss. For an instant, it’s as if she has created a small, sheltered space for us—even here, on a tower overlooking a standoff. I close my eyes and let myself lean into her, savoring this small moment of peace.

Finally, we pull away.

“You’d better make sure you’re careful,” June says.

I smile back. “You know I always am.”

Then she pulls away, and the moment’s over. We straighten, step back from each other, and go to our teams. I do stop, though, to glance one more time at her over my shoulder. You rarely regret the things you do, but always the things you don’t. A last glimpse of June walking away. Then she’s with her cluster of soldiers, and I keep walking.

Lara and Jessan are here, along with two other AIS agents. Then there are a handful of Antarctican soldiers. They give me wary looks as I join them. Guess they must’ve heard enough about my reputation to be nervous. Good.

“There are a number of supplies missing from one of the factories on the city outskirts,” Jessan says to me.

“Weapons?”

She nods grimly. “I don’t think this is just an operation to destabilize the city. Hann is ready to start a war with us.”

That’s where Eden and Pressa are right now. I grit my teeth, pushing the thought back, and nod down toward the intersection. “I know wars,” I reply. “He should be careful what he wants.”

Moving stealthily with all these gadgets strapped to me is always a strange feeling. I’m used to finding my footing on my own—running and hiding with the help of nothing but a sturdy pair of boots. If I’d had all this equipment with me on the streets of Lake, the Republic might never have caught me at all.

It’s the work of a moment for me to scale the top of a shuttered shop and slide my way inside its second story, then weave in and out between the windows until I’m perched at the vantage point I need. From here, I get the perfect view of the street. Down below, the others are slowly getting into position—crouched in the shadows of alleys that branch off down the street, hiding behind parked buses and stations.

June should be in position now too. I look at my watch. It’s almost time. My heart thuds. My head feels light. I keep imagining Hann’s cold, lean figure walking up the street, using Eden again as his hostage. What if we’d overestimated his desire for Eden’s work on his project? What if he’s already guessed what we’re doing?

The seconds drag by. The time comes for Hann to show up.