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“We didn’t think we were kidnapping you,” he finally said softly. “Not at the time. Going into it, we thought we were rescuing you. The Sire was certain you’d be pleased to escape the Wasteland. It wasn’t until I met you in the woods that I really understood you didn’t want to go with us, that you weren’t running from that Wastelander you were with.”

My throat felt thick. “You took everything from me.”

He shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t know who he was. But…if it helps you to know, no one on my team reported getting a hit on him, and I sent them a message to move out once I’d found you. Those who survived didn’t stick around to look for him.”

My heart sped up. “So, you think he’s alive.”

“Assuming nothing else got him, yeah.”

Bright, vibrant hope—so beautiful it nearly brought me to tears—exploded in my chest, along with a renewed sense of determination. If John was out there, then there was no point sitting around moping about the past. I was in the fight of my life for my future, one that I could still spend with the man I loved.

“Thank you,” I said quietly. “I know you didn’t have to tell me that.”

He cleared his throat, still clearly uncomfortable. “I’m not your enemy, Ainsley. Don’t get me wrong: my job is partly to make sure that you do yours, and I will. But I don’t like seeing you suffer. So, if you go along with them, at least some of the time…well, I think that’d make both our lives easier.”

I stared at him, not sure what to make of his words. Were they truly well-intended, or was this simply a softer approach at making me submit and give this regime what they wanted? I couldn’t tell, so I decided to move on.

“When is this dinner with Julius?”

“You have a couple hours. If you can charm him a bit, he might actually let you explore the compound with me as escort.”

I forced a smile. “Trying to get out of your dull assignment, Major?”

He held up his hands. “Never. I’m just saying…it wouldn’t kill us to be allowed to leave the premises. You might even find something to like here at the Delta.”

I stood with a sigh. “I’ll consider it, even if I should castrate him instead.”

I swore Hamilton suppressed a smile before he left the room. I did the same, shaking my head. Kimmy’s rubbed off on me more than I thought.

Chapter 8

John

“So, you don’t think you can get us out?” I asked, wondering why the hell she’d wasted my time in that case. “Is it because of the tracker Claire has?” A thought occurred to me. “Wait, how are the trackers not a problem for you? Can’t they tell where you are?”

Ayanna shook her head. “The chips inside our implants are hackable.” She gestured at all the computers in the room. “What do you think all this stuff is for? We’ve deactivated the tracking beacons on all our recruits. Sometimes, we’re also able to hack into the Delta’s media and security systems, though they do their best to keep us out.”

“That’s my job,” Gizzi said, raising her hand. “They’re dickheads, but I get it done, one way or another.”

Hope and excitement were suddenly alive inside me. If they can turn off her tracker, they’ll leave her alone for good. I’d been worried about that this entire time, but I’d pushed it aside as something to worry about later, once I had Claire back. This was a real solution to a problem that may’ve been almost impossible to solve ourselves.

“Alright,” I said, folding my arms as I exchanged a look with Kimmy. I saw the same spark of hope in her eyes, which only encouraged me more. “We’re listening. Tell us what you want.”

Ayanna pressed a button and a projector clicked on, displaying a grainy photograph of a middle-aged guy with greying brown hair, wearing a suit. It looked like it’d been taken on the sly, because he was climbing out of a vehicle in front of the weird black pyramid in the centre of the compound. Maybe I was jumping to conclusions, but I instantly disliked the look of him.

“Who is he?” I asked.

“The Sire,” Ayanna replied, rolling her eyes. “That’s what all the higher-ups call him. He’s the man at the head of the organization who owns all the compounds. At least, all the ones we know of.”

“And you revolted when he took over,” Kimmy said, trying to process everything as much as I was. “Why? I mean, not to be insensitive, but it seems like your former Mayor wasn’t exactly democratic anyway.”

“Right. The problem was that he took over because the Order infiltrated the old administration, trying to take over the way they did at the Cave. And when he did that, he publicly executed a number of people, and he gave permission to the Delta military to kill anyone suspected of association with the Order. As you can imagine, that category was pretty flexible and included anyone who wasn’t totally on board with the whole absolute-use-of-force thing.”

“Wait, the Order is here already?” I asked, fear flooding my bloodstream. “They’re inside the Delta?”

“Unfortunately,” Ayanna said with a sigh. “But honestly, they’re the least of our problems right now. They’re not the ones killing our citizens in the streets or staging attacks. They mostly operate in the shadows.”

“And is Jim J still their leader?”