The Gender War (The Gender Game #4)(81)

Amber frowned and shook her head. “But the Matrian fertility specialists have discovered how to guarantee any gender. I don’t understand—how can Dobin agree to this, knowing that?”

“I’m sure they’ve figured something out,” I said, my mind running over horrible possibilities. “They will probably insist that Tabitha can only use Patrian doctors. Not that it’ll matter. I’m sure Desmond owns the doctors, and all they have to do is implant the embryo. The rest will just be monitoring the unborn fetus.”

It was… smart. As horrified as I was, I could still see that. Right now, Matrus was earning major points with the locals. They had control over the media, so everything looked positive, even though I was sure that right now there were other Matrian squads just like the ones we had killed tasked with similar orders. Elena’s method was quick and efficient. She was taking out large groups of men—culling the Patrians like animals. But propaganda was a powerful tool. My guess was that once the deaths started getting to the ears of the public, they would be attributed to the ‘crazy female terrorists’ executing men who wouldn’t comply with their new world order.

That wouldn’t surprise the people of Patrus—they had been dealing with extremist groups such as the Porteque gang for years. It would garner sympathy from those who had been desperate for the Matrian aid and support after the bombings, and, even if some didn’t believe it, frightened people who only wanted to feel safe again would probably give in. Especially with an identifiable scapegoat.

“Amber, how long do I have to get there? Did Tabitha give you a deadline?” I asked with a renewed sense of urgency.

Amber’s face turned grim and she looked away, seeming to calculate. “By now… a little over two hours,” she replied. “I made my way here as fast as I could.”

I gasped—the palace was over a three-hour-drive away. “I’ll never get there in time!” I staggered back, trying to wrap my head around how I could magically make this work. I’d never driven anything other than Lee’s motorbike before, but I was reasonably certain that I could, after watching Owen in the truck.

But even so, I still wouldn’t make it. Maybe I could find a Matrian unit and turn myself in to them? But there was no guarantee that Tabitha would give my family up after I was captured. If anything, she would torture them in front of me, just to hurt me. To punish me for the deaths of her sisters.

My brain searched for options, but I was finding it hard to operate under the panic rising in my throat. I needed to calm down. No, I needed help making this work, making a plan, making something out of this decision I’d been thrown into.

“Where’s Viggo?”

I had already called out the words before I realized that I had said goodbye to him over an hour ago. Jay answered automatically: “He and Owen are out—”

I swore, even though I already knew the answer. Why had I let him leave the compound? But how could I have known that something like this would be thrown my way?

“They said they’d be back in an hour or two,” Jay said, his eyes wide, his face reflecting that he had no more idea how to help the situation than I did.

“That’s not enough time,” I groaned, my stomach sinking as I realized that I wouldn’t even be able to say goodbye to the man I loved. “I have to get to that palace now. Faster than now.”

I hadn’t even gotten a chance to respond to Viggo’s proposal.

Once again, I raced through my options. But there was no other way that I could see. Trying to flag a Matrian patrol was my best bet, and even with that plan, there was a good chance I would be late. “Amber, can the vehicle you used to get here get me back there?”

I turned back toward her, and she cocked her head at me, her despairing face changing to confusion. “Violet… you have a heloship. Why not just use that?”

“I can’t,” I said, the frustration filling my heart with anger. “We don’t have a pilot.”

Amber smiled bitterly. “I… I can fly it,” she said.

I stared at her, a thread of pure excitement shooting through me. “Are you joking?” She shook her head, and I exhaled, my mind jumping to the new development and accelerating my plan. The heloship would make fast work of the distance, and even buy me a little more time to prepare—to get a plan going, something. Not much, but I could work with it. I might even get a chance to say goodbye.

I gave Amber a questioning look, hardly daring to hope. “You’re willing to go with me? Even… after what you’ve just been through? You don’t want to rest, or…?”

She gave me a determined look, straightening her spine, and nodded. Having the beginnings of a plan seemed to have cleared up most of her panic. “I owe it to Quinn,” she replied. “She just left him bleeding…” Anger hardened her tearstained face. “We need to find him and get him back. And if we can stick it to Tabitha while we’re at it, then I’m all in.”

“All right,” I said, manic energy pumping through my veins. We can do this. “Jay, Tim, I need you to go find a handheld and try to get ahold of Viggo—”

I stopped, realizing that both of them were staring at me intently. “Violet,” Tim began. “Us. With you.”

“We’re coming with you,” Jay chimed in as he stepped closer. He and Tim were both grim and determined, with no trace of the excitement with which they’d usually approached such suggestions. They were dead serious.