Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 110757 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110757 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Ingrid plans to ship our people to Island Three in groups for training. She thinks her displays of power and control will impress Whitman.
Over my dead body will she remove even one of my people from this island. Olin’s message to Tyrone started a chain reaction, and once we deal with Ingrid and her men, it will end up being a good thing.
I wouldn’t have Gussie waiting in the grotto if not for that message. Once our camp is secured, Briar and I are taking the sub to the mainland, where I’ll ask the ILF to send more boats to evacuate anyone else who wants to leave.
“... the supply room last night. He said he was inside me, but I couldn’t feel anything. I think maybe he thought he was inside me, but it was like, my inner thighs?”
I cringe, shifting the amplifier away from that conversation. Briar smiles.
There’s guilt from spying on people, but it’s something we need to do. I don’t even want to know which man in camp doesn’t know the difference between a woman’s legs and her pussy.
“...do it, Niran. This is the only way. He’s not himself anymore, and even if he’s just pretending, he’ll never trust you, but I do. He calls you his brother but treats you like a child.”
My blood runs cold. I know that voice. I stand up, Briar trying to pull me back down behind the bushes.
I shake her off because I need to see this with my own eyes. I keep my earpiece on, quietly moving closer to camp and scanning it.
“You’ll never believe in me!” Niran’s voice swells with emotion. “You trust Briar, but how long have you known her? I’m tired of being your fucking dog.”
I’m not being careful enough, but I can’t help myself. I’m racing through the jungle, desperately trying to find them.
Briar’s behind me. She’s listening to all of this, too.
“Do it,” she urges. “We’re dead if she catches us. We have to get rid of him and take out the robo kids before she moves them. Then we get her and turn the shield back on. This is our camp. We need to lead it. Just do it, he knows it’s coming. Make it quick.”
Finally, I find them. Stella and Niran are behind a big storage shed in the garden. I hear someone coming, and when I turn, it’s not just Briar. Amira’s with her, a bow in her hand and a quiver of arrows on her back. I put a finger to my lips.
Clone 6A5’s back is against the shed’s back wall, a gag over his mouth. His hands are tied behind his back and his ankles are bound with wire.
Niran has a knife to his throat. I can make out the naked terror on the clone’s face even from far away.
“I would’ve done anything for you.” I’ve never heard such fury in Niran’s voice. “You’ll never think I’m good enough, will you?”
Briar’s fingers grasp mine, my breath still in my chest as I hold the amplifier, waiting for Niran to kill the man he thinks is me. If I wasn’t watching this with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe it was real.
Niran steps back, opening his hand. The knife falls to the ground. “I can’t.”
“Pussy,” Stella mutters.
She picks up the knife and buries it in the clone’s gut, dragging the blade down several inches.
His insides spill out. Briar turns away.
I can’t look away, though. Niran’s on his knees, his face buried in his hands. Stella wipes the knife blade on the ground, then puts it back into the holster on her hip.
“Come on. We need to get to the kids before the boat leaves.”
43
“One of the brothel workers was beaten to death by a New America prick. The other women told me her body was thrown into a dumpster. I know gathering intel is important, but when will the brutality be stopped? These are human beings.” -- Decoded message from ILF undercover operative Nightingale to ILF handler Hiro Tanaka
Briar
Marcus races through the jungle, Flavius beside him. They jump over tangles of exposed roots and stumps, Amira and I struggling to keep up.
I’m still in shock over what we just witnessed. Stella is one of us, and so is Niran. Their betrayal cut Marcus deeply; it was written all over his face.
We have to help those kids. They didn’t ask to be brought into this hellscape where they’ve been treated as science experiments instead of people. I can’t imagine how traumatizing the volcano was for them. They lost more than a hundred of their own; the kids they’ve grown up with are their only family.
Amira makes an “oof” sound behind me and I stop, turning to check on her.
“I tripped,” she whispers, getting up.
She grimaces, shifting her weight from her right foot to her left.