Champion

Page 38

I pause at the final leap, then make my jump. My body hits the crevice and slides snugly in. Instantly I pull out the tiny bomb, open its clip, and plant it firmly into place. My headache makes me dizzy, but I force it away.
Done.
I slowly make my way back along the beams. By the time I swing down onto the stairs again, my heart’s pounding from adrenaline. I spot Pascao along the beams and give him a quick thumbs-up.
This is the easy stuff, I remind myself, my excitement giving way to an ominous anxiety. The hard part’s going to be pulling off a convincing lie to the Chancellor.
We finish with the first base, then move on to the next. By the time we’re done with the fourth base, my strength is starting to give way. If I was fully in my element, this suit could’ve made me damn near unstoppable—but now, even with its help, my muscles ache and my breaths sound strained. As the soldiers now guide me into a room in the air base and prepare me to make my call and my broadcast, I’m silently grateful that I don’t need to run any more ceilings.
“What happens if the Chancellor doesn’t buy you?” Pascao asks while the soldiers file out of the room. “No offense, pretty boy, but you don’t exactly have the best reputation for keeping your promises.”
“I didn’t promise him anything,” I reply. “Besides, he’ll see my announcement go out to the entire Republic. He’s going to think that everyone in the country will see me switch allegiances to the Colonies. It won’t last. But it’ll buy us some time.” Silently, I hope to hell that we can figure out the final cure before the Colonies realize what we’re doing.
Pascao looks away and out the room’s window, where we can see Republic soldiers finishing up the last few bomb placements on the base’s ceiling. If this fails, or if the Colonies realize the surrender’s fake before we have time to do anything about it, then we’re probably done.
“Time for you to make your call, then,” Pascao mutters. He locks the door, finds a chair, and pulls it off to one corner. Then he settles down with me to wait.
My hands tremble slightly as I click my mike on and call the Colonies’ Chancellor. For a moment, all I hear is static, and a part of me hopes that it somehow can’t trace the name that had called me before, and that somehow I’ll have no way of reaching him. But then the static ends, the call clears, and I hear it connect. I greet the Chancellor.
“This is Day. Today is the last day of your promised ceasefire, yeah? And I have an answer to your request.”
A few seconds drag by. Then, that crisp, businesslike voice comes on the other end. “Mr. Wing,” the Chancellor says, as polite and pleasant as ever. “Right on time. How lovely to hear from you.”
“I’m sure you’ve seen the Elector’s announcement by now,” I reply, ignoring his niceties.
“I have, indeed,” the man replies. I hear some shuffling of papers in the background. “And now with your call, this day is looking to be full of good surprises. I’d been wondering when you would contact us again. Tell me, Daniel, have you given some thought to my proposal?”
From across the room, Pascao’s pale eyes lock on to mine. He can’t hear the conversation, but he can see the tension on my face. “I have,” I reply after a pause. Gotta make myself sound realistic and reluctant, yeah? I wonder if June would approve.
“And what have you decided? Remember, this is entirely up to you. I won’t force you to do anything you don’t wish to do.”
Yeah. I don’t have to do anything—I’ll just have to stand by and watch while you destroy the people I love. “I’ll do it.” Another pause. “The Republic’s already surrendered. The people aren’t happy about your presence, but I don’t want to see them harmed. I don’t want to see anyone harmed.” I know I don’t have to mention June by name for the Chancellor to understand. “I’ll make a citywide announcement. We got access to the JumboTrons through the Patriots. It won’t be long before that announcement hits all the screens in the entire Republic.” I kick in a little more attitude to keep my lie authentic. “That good enough for you to keep your goddy hands off June?”
The Chancellor claps his hands once. “Done. If you’re willing to become our . . . spokesman, so to speak, then I assure you that Ms. Iparis will be spared the trials and executions that come with an overturning of power.”
His words send a chill through me, reminding me that if we do fail, then what I’m going to do isn’t going to save Anden’s life. In fact, if we fail, the Chancellor will probably figure out that I’m behind all this too, and there goes June’s . . . and probably Eden’s . . . chances at safety. I clear my throat. Across the room, Pascao’s face has turned stony with tension. “And my brother?”
“You need not worry about your brother. As I mentioned to you before, I am not a tyrant. I will not hook him up to a machine and pump him full of chemicals and poisons—I will not experiment on him. He—and you—will live a comfortable, safe life, free from harm and worry. This, I can guarantee you.” The Chancellor’s tone changes to what he thinks is soothing and gentle. “I can hear the unhappiness in your voice. But I do nothing except what is necessary. If your Elector imprisoned me, he would not hesitate to execute me. This is the way of the world. I am not a cruel man, Daniel. Remember, the Colonies are not responsible for your lifetime of suffering.”
“Don’t call me Daniel.” My voice comes out low and quiet. I am not Daniel to anyone outside of my family. I am Day. Plain and simple.
“My apologies.” He actually sounds genuinely sorry. “I hope you understand what I’m saying, Day.”
I remain silent for a moment. Even now, I can still feel the pull against the Republic, all of the dark thoughts and memories that whisper to me to turn my back, to let it all crumble to pieces. The Chancellor can gauge me better than I would’ve thought. A lifetime of suffering is hard to leave behind. As if she can sense the dangerous pull of the Chancellor’s spell, I hear June’s voice cut through this train of thoughts and whisper something to me. I close my eyes and cling to her, drawing strength from her.
“Tell me when you want me to make this announcement,” I say after a while. “Everything’s wired up and ready to go. Let’s get this whole thing over with.”
“Wonderful.” The Chancellor clears his throat, suddenly sounding like a businessman again. “The sooner, the better. I will land with my troops at the outer naval bases of Los Angeles by early afternoon. Let’s arrange for you to speak at that time. Shall we?”
“Done.”
“And one more thing,” the Chancellor adds as I’m about to hang up. I stiffen, my tongue poised to click my mike off. “Before I forget.”
“What?”
“I want you to make the announcement from the deck of my airship.”
Startled, I glance at Pascao, and even though he has no idea what the Chancellor just said, he frowns at the way my face has just drained of color. From the Chancellor’s airship? Of course. How could we think he’d be that easy to fool? He’s taking precautions. If something goes wrong during the announcement, then he’ll have me in his grip. If I make an announcement that’s anything other than telling the Republic people to bow down to the Colonies, he could kill me right there on the airship’s deck, surrounded by his men.
When the Chancellor speaks again, I can sense the satisfaction in his voice. He knows exactly what he’s doing. “Your words will be more meaningful if given right from a Colonies airship, don’t you agree?” he says. He claps his hands once again. “We’ll expect you at Naval Base One in a few hours. Looking forward to meeting you in person, Day.”
THE REVELATION ABOUT MY CONNECTION TO THIS PLAGUE changes all of my plans.
Instead of heading out with the Patriots and helping Day set up the airship bases, I stay behind at the hospital, letting the lab teams hook me up to machines and run a series of tests on me. My daggers and gun lie on a nearby dresser, so that they won’t get in the way of all the wires, and only one knife stays tucked along my boot. Eden sits in bed beside me, his skin sickly pale. Several hours in, and the nausea has begun to hit.
“The first day’s the worst,” Eden says to me with an encouraging smile. He speaks slowly, likely from the medication the lab team gave him to help him sleep. “It gets better.” He leans over and pats my hand, and I find myself warming to his innocent compassion. This must be what Day was like when he was young.
“Thanks,” I reply. I don’t speak the rest of my thoughts aloud, but I cannot believe that a child like Eden was able to tolerate this sort of testing for days. Had I known, I might have done what Day originally wanted and refused Anden’s request altogether.
“What happens if they find out that you match?” Eden asks after a while. His eyes have started to droop, and his question comes out slurred.
What happens, indeed? We have a cure. We can present the results to Antarctica and prove to them that the Colonies deliberately used this virus; we can present it to the United Nations and force the Colonies back. We’ll have our ports opened up again. “The Antarcticans promise that help is on the way,” I decide to say. “We might win. Just maybe.”
“But the Colonies are already at our doorstep.” Eden glances toward the windows, where our enemy’s airships are now dotting the sky. Some have already docked at our bases, while others loom overhead. A shadow cast across our own Bank Tower building tells me that one is hovering over us right now. “What if Daniel fails?” he whispers, fighting back sleep.
“We just have to play it all carefully.” But Eden’s words make my gaze linger on the cityscape too. What if Day does fail? He told me as he left that he would contact us before his broadcast to the public. Now, seeing how close the Colonies’ airships are, I feel an overwhelming sense of frustration that I can’t be out there with them. What if the Colonies realize that the airship bases are all rigged? What if they don’t come back?
Another hour passes. While Eden falls into a deep slumber, I stay awake and try to will away the nausea rolling over me in waves. I keep my eyes closed. It seems to help.
I must have fallen asleep, because suddenly I’m awakened by the sound of our door opening. The lab techs have finally returned. “Ms. Iparis,” one of them says, adjusting his MIKHAEL name tag. “It wasn’t a perfect match, but it was close—close enough that we were able to develop a solution. We’re testing the cure on Tess now.” He’s unable to keep a grin from crossing his face. “You were the missing piece. Right under our noses.”
I stare at him without saying a word. We can send results to Antarctica—the thought rushes through my mind. We can ask for help. We can stop the plague’s spread. We have a chance against the Colonies.
Mikhael’s companions start unhooking me from my tangle of wires, and then help me to my feet. I feel strong enough, but the room still sways. I’m not sure whether my unsteadiness is from the tests’ side effects or the thought that this might all have worked. “I want to see Tess,” I say as we start heading for the door. “How quickly will the cure start working?”