Retribution (Recompense Book 3) by Michelle Isenhoff

Retribution (Recompense Book 3) by Michelle Isenhoff

Author:Michelle Isenhoff
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2018-03-25T06:00:00+00:00


SIXTEEN

I wake sometime later to a gentle shake. I fight against the intrusion, pushing it away, my eyes still fused with sleep. It comes again, soft but insistent at my shoulder. Ethan’s whiskers tickle my ear. “Jack, I’m going to try to contact Willoughby,” he whispers. “Do you want to come, or shall I let you sleep?”

I moan, but I answer. “I’m coming.”

I slide Lana onto her mother’s lap and leave them my blanket. Ethan pulls me to my feet and steers me through the reclining bodies until we’re free of any obstacles. I hear him chuckle. “Can you take it from here?”

I shrug off his hands. “I’m awake. Where’s Will?”

“Still talking to Leo and Tavish. It’s nearly six.”

I yawn. I couldn’t have slept more than an hour, but it’s been long enough to completely fuzz my brain. I stretch my arms and work out a few kinks as I follow Ethan to the playing field and drop heavily into one of the blue plastic seats. My eyes feel swollen from crying, and my rain-soaked hair has dried in tangles around my head. I gather the strands and twist them into a bun.

Ethan enters Willoughby’s code into his holoband. The signal clicks through and Willoughby’s face appears in the air in front of us. He smiles at us benignly, as if we just left his office. As if I haven’t spent four weeks in a slave camp and Ethan never left Earth. “Ethan, Jack. What a pleasure.”

I smile tightly. I am tremendously relieved at finally getting through to him, yet so many fears and questions are pressing against my skull that I hold stiffly upright.

Ethan speaks them for me. “Willoughby, we’ve been trying to reach you for days. We couldn’t get Padrillo or Opal or Caedmon, either. What’s going on?”

Willoughby holds up a hand. “Just precautions, captain. We’re in the Citadel. Your family is fine, Jack. So are the Ransoms.”

My spine goes weak, and my shoulders collapse in relief.

“A little bored, perhaps, but we’re trying our best to keep them busy.”

“So why couldn’t we get through?” Ethan asks.

“Andromeda has been scouring the area, looking for a way into the mountain. I believe our network is secure, but just to be safe, I temporarily collected all holobands and cut off communications into and out of the Citadel.”

“Then how are you talking to us?”

“I’m not in the Citadel.”

We pause briefly, but Willoughby makes no explanations.

Ethan continues. “The revolution. What’s happening?”

“It is defunct in all senses of the word. Our Truecoats are scattered and in hiding. Our allies within the Military are lying low. And all contact with the Lowers has been broken. We knew our offensive was a gamble, and we knew the consequences. We are now paying the piper, so to speak.”

“And Macron?”

Willoughby looks grimly amused. “She would be the piper, wouldn’t she?”

“Public opinion is still behind her? After the videos and the martial law?”

“Let’s say she has perfected the use of coercion. The only ones who dared to oppose her have been shut down.



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