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“I’ll need that.”
I press my lips into a thin line and get the string from a pocket in my pants. “Want my shoelaces, too?”
“Amira.”
That was Marcus, and when I turn to look at him, he shakes his head almost imperceptibly.
Fine. I’ll be quiet. I don’t have a good feeling about this place or these people, though. People who anoint themselves into powerful positions rarely handle it well.
Once we’ve all been patted down for more weapons, a bald man in a Hawaiian shirt and shorts approaches us. He puts his hand on Evander’s shoulder and says, “Welcome back, man. You look like shit.”
A smile pulls on Evander’s lips. “I spent a couple weeks in a torture chamber. What’s your excuse?”
The man cackles and grins, the corners of his eyes crinkling. His face and arms are deeply tanned, curls of gray chest hair sprouting through the opening at the top of his shirt.
“You okay for an hour transport? We got flooded out of our base here.”
“Yeah. We’ve got another one of ours in this group, too.”
The bald man’s brows shoot up. He looks between Pax and Marcus, trying to figure out which one of them it is. Olin takes a few steps forward, raising his palm.
“It’s me.”
“No shit?” The man grins, clearly amused.
“Yeah, uh ... no shit,” Olin says, his face flushing.
“Let’s get rolling, then. We’re takin’ the MRAP.”
We’re led to a massive, armored military vehicle with a heavy-duty machine gun mounted on its top. I look over my shoulder, scanning the watery horizon we’re leaving behind.
Blue Arrow Island wasn’t just dangerous—it was downright harrowing at times. I faced off against giant, mutated mantises and survived a volcanic eruption. I fought for my life many times. But I never surrendered the amount of control I had to when I got into that sub, and I feel the same way about this armored vehicle.
Briar is getting in it, though, so I don’t have much choice. I give the guy carrying my bow one last withering glare before walking up the ramp to get inside the armored vehicle.
2
“I appreciate your recommendation of Cara Sylvester for my executive board, but I am unwilling to bring a woman into such a high position of leadership. With only men on the board, we’re more efficient and productive. Our decisions are based on reason and logic, not emotion.” – Electronic message from New America President Soren Whitman to Vice President Aldous Thatcher
Amira
It’s almost an hour before I finally take a deep breath after walking down the ramp of the reinforced tank. The air inside the vehicle was sticky and stagnant, and it smelled like sweaty armpits and bad breath.
We’re inside what looks like a massive warehouse, empty other than a few other vehicles. There are no windows; the space is lit by overhead spotlights.
Briar comes up beside me and takes my hand.
“You okay?” she asks.
I nod. “You?”
Her shoulders lift and fall with a small sigh. “It’s good to be back. I can get to Mae now.”
“You mean we can.”
She squeezes my hand. “Exactly. I’m so glad you’re here.”
Hawaiian shirt guy is talking to Evander, both of them facing away from the rest of us and standing far enough apart that we can’t hear them.
