Forged(51)

“Clipper?” Harvey says, giving the boy the floor. “It was your idea after all.”

Clipper glares at Harvey, arms crossed, looking angry enough to tear someone apart with his bare hands.

“I guess I can tell—”

“We override AmEast’s alarm systems,” Clipper spits out, “and replace the standard sirens with the overture. Any domed city is bound to trip the alarm when a staged attack occurs, and then we’d be broadcasting the overture across speakers in every government building, public square . . . pretty much the whole of the cities.”

“Please tell me we can override the system from here,” Sammy says, but the tone of his voice suggests he knows this won’t be possible.

“I can prepare from here,” Harvey explains. “I’ll write a virus that will trick the alarm system into playing our audio, but it has to be uploaded to Taem’s network manually, and then sent to the other domed cities as well.”

“Manually meaning in person? From Taem?” Sammy’s face is growing paler by the second.

Harvey nods.

“This won’t help with Forgeries stationed beyond the domed cities,” September points out.

“True,” I say. “But most of them are in the cities, and given what I learned in the Compound, they’re shipping more out as we speak. This could eliminate the majority of the forces in one fell swoop, giving us a huge advantage. And rounding up any surviving Forgeries later shouldn’t be too hard.”

“We’ve got undercover forces already preparing in most domed cities,” September says. “And I’ve been prepping people here in Bone Harbor. Bleak’s ready to spring on the Order folk in Pine Ridge soon as we give the word, and Heidi’s heading for the borders.”

“Am I the only one who thinks this plan is absolutely ridiculous?” Bree straightens in her chair. “We can’t do a test run, because we don’t have a copy of the overture. But we’re still going to get back to the most secure city in AmEast without being seen, while Gray’s face is strung up all over the country and Harvey is probably the Order’s most-wanted resource. And then, what? Ask to have a go at their alarm system? Take a few minutes alone in the labs?”

“We’ve done something like this before,” I say. “When we stole the vaccine in the fall, there were nearly as many risks.”

Bree turns to Harvey. “Let me guess. The only person who can manually upload this virus is you, right? Because it’s complicated. And will need some fancy, superhard coding work at the last minute.”

Harvey looks wounded. “It would be easiest for me, yes. Clipper could probably handle it, but if we only get one shot at this, I think I should be the one at the wheel.”


“Of course you do,” she sneers. “Of course.”

“How do we even get back there?” Sammy cuts in.

“The same way we did last time,” Harvey explains. “It’s Gray’s face on the wanted posters now. I’ll escort him into Order custody and—”

Bree is out of her seat in a flash. She throws an elbow into Harvey’s jaw, then wrenches his arm behind his back.

“You think anyone here is going to buy that?”

“Bree!” I yell.

“I’ve dislocated your shoulder before, Harvey,” she says, adjusting her hold on his arm. “I can do it again.”

“Dammit, Bree!” I have to use so much force to pull her off, I know she’ll end up with a bruise on her bicep from my grip.

“You believe this?” she says, turning on me.

“It’s the best opportunity we have.”

“It’s the worst! There’s no guarantee they’ll bring you to Taem when they pick you up. You could end up back at the Compound or dead in a ditch. And even if you do get dragged to Taem, how convenient that Harvey is the only one who can execute this plan. Maybe the overture won’t do a damn thing. Maybe it will make the Forgeries stronger. Maybe he’ll put a bullet in you on Frank’s behalf and then march into Union Central a hero.”

Harvey wipes at the corner of his now-bleeding lip.

“He’s been helping us, Bree,” Clipper says. He looks almost annoyed that he’s forced to defend Harvey so soon after their argument. “He’s good.”

“And I’ve been alone downstairs with him,” I add. “If Harvey had it out for me, he could have slit my throat several times by now. Plus, if this does work, you realize what it means, right? Harvey will die helping us do this. He won’t survive the overture.”

Eyes narrowed, Bree wheels on September and Sammy. “What about everything Adam and Vik were planning with Ryder before we lost contact? Our conversations with Heidi and Bleak last night? We just throw it aside?”

“The way I see it, this can only improve our chances,” September says. “We do it in conjunction with the existing plans. Plus, I finally heard from Vik this morning. I was waiting to tell everyone, but Elijah reported from Crevice Valley. They were hit. Hard. Nearly everyone’s dead except for the few who made it into the underground fallout shelters. Ryder’s alive. We’re still waiting on a list of survivors, but based on what Elijah relayed, it sounds like no more than a hundred made it.”

Clipper sinks to the floor, his hand on his bracelet.