The Gender Plan (The Gender Game #6)(63)

My eyes paused over Margot, her stillness drawing my attention amid the rush of people. Her eyes and face were vacant, staring at a fixed point on the road in front of her. She still held her gun in her right hand.

I quickly switched channels. “Violet, tell Amber’s team to move up with the guard team.” I quickly excused myself from Mags and Alejandro.

“They’re on their way now,” Violet replied as I weaved through the bustle of refugees and rebels toward Margot. As soon as I was close enough, I gently reached out and took her by her arm, leading her off to the side. She gave me a confused look, and then seemed to realize she was standing in the middle of everything, her gait increasing until we were out of the way.

“Are you okay?” I asked, looking deep into her eyes.

Her lips twitched, and she hesitated. “Not really. You?”

I thought about it. The adrenaline surge that I had gotten during the battle had departed, and now I felt shaky and raw. A lot of things had happened during that fight—things my mind hadn’t had time to process in the moment, things that were suddenly pressing in, trying to flood my mind with a horror I hadn’t registered earlier. I pushed it back slowly, and then shook my head. “Me neither,” I admitted, and she smiled.

It wasn’t a big smile, but it counted. It counted because, just for a moment, it had chased some of the haunted look from her expression, leaving her looking just a little bit more innocent than she currently felt. Still, it faded, and I was left with an uncertain feeling as to what I should do about Margot’s emotional state.

I frowned, the image of Margot’s two children flashing in my head. I couldn’t even contemplate how she was feeling right then and there. What could I ever tell my children about what I had seen? What I had done? The enormity of it all hit me as I stared at the lost look that had returned to Margot’s face.

“Do you want to stop here?” I asked her, needing to give her an out. “It would be okay. No one would judge you.”

She thought about it. Her mouth opened, and I could anticipate the ‘yes’ that was already forming. But then she hesitated and looked away. I followed her gaze, and saw Cad helping to right one of the less damaged barriers that had been in the path of the harvester.

“No,” she said softly, dragging my attention back to her. “No, thank you. I have family in the city, and… I just can’t let him do this alone.” Her tone was pleading, raw and naked, and I saw that she expected me to be disappointed in her for some reason. I couldn’t fathom that, couldn’t even relate.

“Margot, don’t be silly,” I chided her, and she gave a surprised laugh. “I totally get it. If it were Violet, I absolutely would not let her go in alone.”

And she would’ve come to support me, too, if she weren’t injured, I thought to myself, smiling. Margot stepped in and threw her arms around my waist, giving me a quick hug. “Thank you, Viggo.”

“Oooooohhhh, I am telling Violet and Cad about this. They are going to be heartbroken.” I rolled my eyes at Amber’s childish taunt, and turned to see her standing behind us, her arms crossed, one auburn eyebrow arched in challenge.

“Hey, Amber—any trouble getting the vehicles through to the city?”

“Are you kidding? Cruz wrecked the place. But Cad and a few others are almost finished making a path. We’ll get them in.”

“Our checkpoint is secure. Vox and I are ready to proceed to the next objective,” radioed Ms. Dale.

“Roger,” replied Henrik. “Keep an eye on those street cameras, and be careful. We may not have a lot of time, but there’s still a little wiggle room, so play it safe.”

I looked at Amber, and she nodded. “We got this. We’ll finish getting everything set up.”

Hesitating, I looked around and took in all the work that had been done, trying to gauge how vulnerable I would be leaving her. “Five more minutes,” I said. “Then we’ll go.”

“Right—I’ll go help everyone speed that up so we can get this over and done with.” Amber turned to go, and Margot stepped forward.

“I’ll help,” she announced, squaring her shoulders.

I watched them go, and then went to find Mags and Alejandro. Within a few minutes, I had pulled them off their jobs, and we’d gathered around the handheld and a map of the city, checking the nearby streets via Thomas’ cameras and charting the optimal route to the plant.

“It’s a little bit close to the Porteque territory,” concluded Mags, “but it really is our best and fastest option. You sure you don’t have any cars to spare?”

“If only,” I lamented. She chuckled and began folding the map. I watched her for a minute, and then leaned a hip on the car. “Why didn’t you tell me who you were during that meeting?” I asked.

She looked up at me and smiled. “Two reasons. One, it would’ve taken away from the issue at hand, and two… I didn’t want you to try to pull the family card if your plan sucked and I called you on it.”

I snorted out a laugh, and then turned to start collecting our people. We had a really long way to go.





22





Viggo





“Logan, hold up. I’m detecting thermal signatures on the street ahead of you.”