The Price of Rebellion by Michael C. Bland

Author:Michael C. Bland
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: World Castle Publishing, LLC
Published: 2022-12-15T16:43:57+00:00

Chapter Twenty

We backed away as the two buses drove off, our kidnapped clan subdued—though Valor appeared again in a window. She fought but couldn’t shake off her captors, her voice breaking as she shouted my name.

Seconds later, the buses disappeared around a bend.

“Come on,” Jex said. Only he, Raven, Anya, and I were left.

He shepherded us back into the woods. Once inside the relative safety of the forest, he crouched down and sighed.

Raven plopped down beside him. “We’re fucked, aren’t we?”

We didn’t have Garly’s gadgets, didn’t have any protection other than the branches over our heads. I worried about the rest of our clan, especially Nataly with the way Lafontaine had looked at her, but so long as they kept their cool and he didn’t turn on them, they should be fine. Raven, Jex, Anya, and I were not.

“I can’t get Lafontaine’s smug expression out of my mind,” Anya said. “Just leaning against that tree like we were his playthings.”

“Leaning against a tree?” Raven asked.

“Yeah, when everyone was sliding down the embankment. He almost had his arm around it.”

Jex and I shared a look. “Does he strike you as the leaning-against-a-tree type?” I asked.

We scrambled up the short, steep hillside and hurried to the tree Anya pointed out. A small device clung to the bark, a tiny light blinking among the covered electronics.

“It’s a simple-band broadcaster,” I said.

“You know what it’s gotta be broadcastin’,” Jex said.

Raven paled. “Dad’s implant codes.”

I pulled out my ion knife and destroyed the broadcaster.

“Why would Lafontaine set you up to get caught?” Anya asked. “Your implant can reveal their faces.”

“The Agency already learned what everyone looks like when they invaded the mountain,” I said.

“We’re gonna have company real soon,” Jex said. “What weapons do we have?”

We did a quick inventory. He and Raven had pistols, and I carried the machine gun along with the energy absorber and a few other items, though we only had two full clips between us. “My pack only has medical supplies,” Anya said apologetically.

Three weapons with limited firepower.

“We need to move, use the terrain in our favor,” Jex said.

A noise drew my attention: an electric vehicle approaching.

We hurried away from the tree Lafontaine had used, moving through the forest to circle around the edge of the parking lot before stopping. Jex pulled Anya back behind a tree while Raven dropped to her stomach, aiming her pistol with her left hand at the clearing, her bandaged right hand keeping the weapon steady. I dropped beside her and extracted my machine gun right before a black SUV with tinted windows appeared. The vehicle stopped in the middle of the lot, and four Agency soldiers jumped out, poised for attack. They each carried machine guns, their uniforms Kevlar-reinforced and biometrically synched with a central command, an additional level of monitoring the Founding Fathers had discovered during an encounter outside of Oakland.

The soldiers scanned the area, their movements coordinated and efficient, then headed toward the hillside, bounding up it effortlessly.

We had seconds.

“Which way you wanna run?” Jex murmured as the men disappeared.

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