The Gender Plan (The Gender Game #6)(89)

I opened my mouth to say something new, but Solomon was clearly done, and he stood up in a fluid motion, so abruptly that it took me by surprise. I took in a sharp breath, trying not to move a muscle, worried that he might have reverted back to that angry, screaming monster that wanted to hurt everything around him.

Instead, he vaulted easily over the barricade into the city, cutting through the long shadows, leaping up on the side of the trailer and then over the harvester and disappearing into the city on the other side. I watched him go, half of me still startled by his sudden movement, the other half relieved for so many reasons—but all of me worried about what Solomon would do in the city.

Owen moved away a step and waved to Morgan and Lynne, letting them know it was safe. They pulled up quickly, and I moved to the car, sparing one last look at the rooftops, hoping to see Solomon lurking up there. Then I got in behind Lynne on the passenger’s side and fastened my seatbelt.

“Catch us up with Desmond,” I told Morgan as she put the vehicle in gear, navigating us around the burning harvester and back onto the road into the city.





31





Viggo





“Give me just a minute, please,” said Jeff over the line, polite as ever.

“We don’t have many to waste right now,” Henrik warned in return. I lifted the binoculars back to my eyes, staring up the grassy park slope at the dark facility from my position on my stomach. In my sights, four women dressed in olive green and moving in formation approached the hill on foot, and I watched them as they began inspecting, their flashlights cutting across the curb-less road, and then across the grass on either side of it.

We were hundreds of feet away, but there was no telling what other equipment they had on them. I scooted back slowly, dead leaves shifting under my body as I backed away from the tree line. “How’s it look?” asked Alejandro as I eased back into line with him.

“Four guards at the top of the hill—a patrol. Jeff better get here soon. If they come down that hill, we’re going to have to take them out.” A new apprehension surged through me. Combined, Mags’ and my group still had around thirty men and women, the largest force out of anyone, and it still didn’t feel like enough, even with Thomas’ assessment that there were actually only twenty women milling around outside of the plant.

My apprehension stretched as Henrik immediately came on the line. “All right, kids, this is it,” he announced gruffly, and I could tell he was feeling it too. I couldn’t blame him. It was his plan, after all. That was a lot of pressure to put on one person, and every life lost on our side was something he was going to carry with him for a long time.

“Jeff, are you ready?” Henrik asked. Jeff confirmed, and Henrik continued, his voice firm and commanding. “You start your run in five, four, three, two, one.”

I held up my fingers and began counting down as he did, raising my hand up high enough for my team to see. When I made a fist, nothing happened, at first.

Then I felt the wind shift, and shielded my eyes at the dust the heloship kicked up as Jeff piloted it low to the ground, the weird whirring noise growing as the ship moved above us. The tips of the trees we were hidden in swayed under the force of the air displaced by the massive propellers, and I moved my binoculars back to the plant’s defenses in time to see one woman pointing up, then running back, disappearing behind the horizon of the hill.

“Hold your position,” I reminded everyone, speaking loudly, since the wind from the heloship would mask any sound I made. “Don’t move until we see Drew’s team.”

“Targets acquired,” Jeff broadcasted. “Lighting them up.”

There was a small, barely discernable hum, and then a thunderous roar went off as the gun mounted to the wings of the heloship activated, cracking through the silence like a never-ending roll of thunder. Even though I knew exactly where he would be—to the left of us, hovering over some trees—I still couldn’t see him until the flash of the guns caught my eye, revealing the heloship’s boat-like underbelly. Something exploded just over the hill, the roll of smoke and fire illuminating the hillside in a bright orange flash, dragging my attention to the battlefield.

“Fuel tank hit,” said Jeff. “Moving to secondary target.” I watched as Jeff adjusted the line of fire, expending every last bit of ammo we had left on the heloship. The line of bullets cut right, and then left, and several other explosions rocked the night.

“Yeah, get ‘em, Jeff!” Amber crowed triumphantly over the line. “You are handling that thing beautifully.”

“Just doing my part, Ms. Ashabee,” he replied, but I could hear the reluctance in his voice. Jeff didn’t enjoy violence, so this had been a compromise for him: hit the fuel reserves that helped supply the emergency generators of the plant, and hopefully stop some of the inner workings of the plant without setting it back so far that it would no longer be able to supply Patrus with water. This had the added benefit of making the Matrian forces pull back a little bit, and giving our assault team a chance to move in—before they realized how small our forces really were.

“Good work,” announced Henrik. “Drew, bring your team in now!”

“Roger,” replied Drew’s low voice. My heart began to thud, knowing our time was close, and I tried my best to move past it, settling into the cold and analytical feeling of true battle. I looked down the line, assessing, and saw that several of my people had let go of their rifles to cover their ears, trying to dampen the loud roar of the heloship’s guns. I tapped Alejandro on the shoulder, pointing down the line at them. He nodded, and turned to tap the next person down the line, alerting them to grab their guns.