25

Selah watched the guard’s sneer evaporate into a blank stare. He crashed facedown on the floor. The light skidded off to the side and illuminated the doorway.

A tall silhouette replaced the fallen guard in the doorway as a person walked forward into the light. Bodhi!

“Are you hurt?” He reached out a hand.

Selah dissolved into tears as she rushed into his arms. “No, just my dignity for being so stupid to run into a dead-end room. I couldn’t find you.”

His trembling hand pulled her head into his chest. The strength of his arms made her feel safe.

Don’t scare me like that again. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you.

Startled by his thought, she looked into his eyes.

Weapons fired. She disengaged, grabbed up her hood, and slid it back on. She needed to think about what he’d just said. But not now.

“If you stayed where the watcher left you, there would have been no danger.” He ushered her out of the room and forced the door shut as they exited.

Selah turned. “I’m sorry. I panicked. Are Cleon and Treva safe?”

“Your brother’s been injured—”

Selah scrambled from the room. Her watcher stood guard at the door. He led her into the entrance hall with Bodhi following. Weapon fire rang out again. The fighting had moved down a corridor out of sight.

She spun, surveying the wounded. At first glance they all looked the same in head-to-toe black. Bodhi pointed out Cleon. The slight female figure beside him had to be Treva. She stood with hands to her mask, sobbing.

Selah darted to their position. “How did this happen? Where is your watcher?”

Cleon shook his head and pointed to tube-shaped bags in a short pile against the wall. “He didn’t make it. He took a shot for me, but the laser bounced off him and got me in the shoulder. It’s just a flesh wound. I’ll be fine.”

Selah could tell his attempt at bravado was fake—his eyes spoke differently. He was just trying to impress Treva. A bandage was evident through the hole in his combat suit.

Selah turned to Bodhi. “Fix him!”

Bodhi tipped his head. “I don’t understand.”

She grabbed his arm. “Fix him like you fixed Amaryllis after the snake attack.”

Cleon raised his good arm. “I’m not sure what mumbo jumbo you’re talking about, but I’m fine. I don’t need help from a Lander.”

Selah noticed a hurt and fearful look come over Treva at his words. She’d have to explore that later. Right now she wanted Cleon healed.

Bodhi shook his head. “My abilities don’t work for treating actual wounds. I can only do cellular reorganization—”

“I said I don’t want anything from him.” Cleon struggled to get up. Treva hurried to help him.

The medic nearby packed up his kit. “I’ve used Cell-Gel on him. He’ll be good as new in an hour or so.”

Selah looked from Bodhi to Cleon, shrugged, and turned to the medic. “I know this probably isn’t the time to ask, but what’s Cell-Gel? Won’t he bleed out if he moves around?”

“The product is an artificial version of extracellular matrix. It creates connective tissue as it dries and heals the wound.” The medic slung his pack, clipping it back to his waist.

Selah’s watcher put his hand on her shoulder. “We have to move forward. Commander Mojica is ready to infiltrate the Prison Unit. We’ll need Bodhi to reassure them.”

“Are we going to get shot at again?” Cleon asked. He grimaced as he tested his shoulder. “I’d really like a weapon to defend myself, especially since I lost a watcher.”

“We’ve had more casualties than we expected. There are exponentially more guards here than we knew were in service. Everyone has been pulled forward to battle,” the watcher said.

“So what does that mean?” Selah asked. She had failed with her father, but she didn’t want to fail the rest of his people. “Are we going to be able to free the Landers?”

The watcher nodded. “The team trained for this kind of mission. There’s obviously more going on here than people know about, but they can handle it.”

Treva leaned forward. “Common Mountain people don’t know there is such a thing as a Lander. Only security, the Science Consortium, and the executives know of their existence. But I agree. Nothing we thought was going on here would warrant this level of active security presence.”

Selah’s heart sank. “What are we missing?”

Treva wrapped her arms across her chest and shook her head.

The watcher’s ComTex chirped. He looked down at it. “We’re being summoned to the infiltration force in the Prison Unit. They need Bodhi.” Glancing around, he pointed at a laser dart under a desk. He motioned to Cleon. “Pick that up. I’ll pretend I didn’t see you with it.”

Cleon scooted under the desk to retrieve the weapon.

Selah grimaced as she watched Cleon swell with pride. He used other weapons at home, so his handling it didn’t worry her. It was just that now it made her brother more of a target.

Bethany stormed into the large triangular Prison Control Center. “What do you mean there’s been a breakout in the Lander section? Who’s in charge down there?”

From the doorway, the room fanned out and was staggered with work stations as it sloped downward to the large data screens covering the front wall. She pushed the guard away from the first console and began flipping switches on the right-hand wall section, which was divided into prison pod areas.

As a teenager, she’d spent a lot of time at consoles like these when she followed her father around, and he’d given her mock assignments to prepare her for the future she never wound up following. She could still run this operation with her eyes closed.

“I don’t know, sir—uh, ma’am,” the rattled guard sputtered. “No report from the section station. The incursion came out of nowhere. There has to be at least two dozen of them from the images we got before communications went down.”

Bethany banged at the terminal. If those Landers got free, the rest of the Mountain might find out what was actually going on right under their noses. The guards had been issued her extermination order—maybe it had been completed before this started.

No ComTex. No visual feeds, just white static. She raged at the console. “Why can’t I see anything?”

“They’re jamming communications.”

“Work around it!” she yelled. “If they get out of this Mountain, I’ll have your heads.”

The control room went silent. Eight men stared at one another before scrambling to meet the demands of their new boss.

Bethany pulled up a schematic of the area and pointed at the map. “Get me a squadron of guards at the northern section of the prison wing to block their exit.”

Bodhi fell into step beside Selah. He wouldn’t be leaving her side again until they were safely out of this place. They hurried to catch up with the security team, who’d forced the guards into retreating to the northern section of the wing.

They wove their way through the overturned furniture, around several dead guards, and over piles of digital file storage containers from an overturned data bin. The sounds of fighting grew closer.

Selah’s watcher moved out in front with Cleon beside him. He looked back at Bodhi. “Can you tell which side of the section they’re on? Without facial navigation to find hot bodies, we’re working blind here.”

Bodhi stopped. He opened his mind, traveling on the air currents that carried the luminescence and clouds of smoke, winding through the halls at the speed of sound to the minds of his own people. Hovering over them like a feather in a breeze, he lowered himself to tap the first one. He made contact. This one was closing himself off . . . hiding . . . trying to get away from the confusion. But he couldn’t. He was locked in a cell. Fearful.

“I found them,” Bodhi said. He pointed to the next section of hallways off to the left. “They’re in there. Both sides of the room. It’s two long rows of cells.”

The watcher spoke into his ComTex, then turned back to the group. “Commander Mojica wants you four to stay back until they’ve pushed the guards past the next section.”

Bodhi winced and grabbed his head. “Fear. Several are trying to talk to me at once. I think they’re trying to say a guard is killing Landers.” All the voices talking at once overwhelmed him, like crabs climbing over one another in a barrel.

“We can’t let that happen. Not now when we’re so close.” Selah stormed into the hall with Cleon and Treva right beside her.

Bodhi motioned for the watcher to follow. The man was speaking into his ComTex again.

Bodhi fumed. Selah needed protection. The watcher had neglected to stick with her before and she’d almost died. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, he was falling for her and he wasn’t going to take a chance on losing her now.

He dashed into the prison section. The mechanical scream of laser shots rang out. Inside the door, facedown, lay the black uniform–clad body of one of their team. He couldn’t tell whether it was a man or woman as he bent to feel for a pulse. Whoever it was, the person was dead. He darted into a wide corridor and screeched to a halt.

Twenty feet down the hall on the left, Selah, Treva, and Cleon hid behind a partition jutting from the main wall. Another twenty feet or so beyond stood a Lander. The shaggy, dark-haired man in white tunic and pants was being held hostage by a guard, who had him tightly around the neck with a laser dart at his head. Bodhi cringed. He could see the man’s mark. The first sight of another in this land and he was about to be extinguished.

“Throw down your weapon and you won’t be hurt!” Cleon yelled. He took aim.

“I’ll kill him if you come any closer,” the guard said, his eyes darting wildly.

Selah started to move into the open.

Bodhi wanted to run to her position to shield her, but he feared moving closer and scaring the guard into firing. Cleon pushed her back without taking his eyes from the guard. Bodhi breathed relief.

“There’s no way out. If you kill him, you won’t have a shield and I’ll shoot you,” Cleon said.

Bodhi stared at him. Could Cleon really kill someone after what had just happened to his brother?

The watcher snuck into the doorway beside Bodhi.

“I’ve called for help. There’ll be reinforcements overrunning this place in short order,” the guard said. He tried to back away with the struggling Lander.

Bodhi stared at the captive Lander, trying to make contact. The man finally turned his eyes to stare at Bodhi.

“No, you didn’t call for help. We jammed communications before we entered this section,” the watcher said. “Now let the prisoner go!”

At that moment a cell door across the way flew open and another Lander dove at the guard. The guard fired three shots at him. The Lander dropped, crimson invading the front of his tunic.

Bodhi passed a thought to the captive Lander. Pretend you’re passing out and drop to the floor. Now!

The Lander relaxed his body and slipped from the guard’s arm to the floor.

The watcher rushed in. His footfalls caused Cleon to turn in his direction. The guard took aim at Cleon’s exposed back.

Grab his legs! Bodhi yelled to the Lander.

The Lander tackled the guard as he fired. The laser shot sliced into the ceiling. The guard went down.

The watcher disarmed him and handed Cleon restraints from his hip pouch. “We’ll leave him for his people to find.”

Cleon secured the guard while Selah and Treva ran to the shot Lander. They turned away. Bodhi could see that half his head had been blown off.

There’s another guard hiding here, the voice permeating Bodhi’s head said.

Where is he? Bodhi asked.

I’m not sure, but there were two of them a few minutes ago, came the response.

“A voice is telling—” Bodhi began.

Two cells down, another door flew open and an armed guard charged out. Treva fled and the guard turned to fire at her. Cleon hurtled himself at Treva, dropping her to the ground. The shot missed.

The watcher took aim and shot the guard. The man slammed into the open door and slid to the floor, leaving a trail of blood and bone fragments on the door frame.

Bodhi checked and disarmed the dead guard, then approached Cleon. He patted him on his good shoulder. “That was really brave. Are you all right?”

“No. Owww! Now my shoulder hurts,” Cleon said. The girls doted on him as he sat up.

Bodhi glanced around nervously. They needed to keep moving and free Landers from the cells. He looked down the hall. At the other end, the corridor turned off to the right. The flashes of light told him the immediate fighting was going on down there. His hope was fading. He wasn’t sure how they were going to get everyone out of the line of fire.

He systematically began opening doors. The Lander who’d feigned unconsciousness helped. Shaggy-haired Landers filtered into the hall, all in white linen, some with bare feet. They clung to one another. Several stood by themselves as though ready to run. They stared at the rescue team as though they were the enemy, their voices growing louder.

The watcher raised his hands for silence.

Selah helped Cleon to his feet. Bodhi watched as she scanned the faces of the Landers.

“Hold on.” She touched the watcher’s arm. “They’re afraid of our masks. Imagine how you’d feel looking at people dressed in all black with hoods.” She reached up to take hers off. “There’s nothing—”

“Wait!” The watcher pulled her hand away from her mask and came in close to whisper, “We are not to take off our covers in this environment. We don’t know if there are cameras we’ve missed. It would be putting your life in jeopardy. They’d have your picture and it could lead to others being caught.”

Selah balked. “They’re scared. What can we do? We need them to trust us.”

Bodhi stepped forward, putting his hand on the small of her back. She turned and looked up at him. He smiled softly. “Let me do it.” He walked forward with both hands raised. I’m the one who’s been talking to you. We’re here to give you freedom.

The sudden barrage of fifteen minds at one time drove Bodhi to his knees. He clutched at the sides of his head and wailed in pain.

“Stop!” Selah screamed at the group. “You’re going to kill him.”

The intensity in their eyes faded. They backed off.

Bodhi’s head pounded. He propped himself up on one knee. Selah reached down, wrapped her arm under his armpit, and helped him up. He staggered a few steps before regaining his composure. Flinching, he said, “Let’s try this another way. Do you have a spokesman among you?”

All eyes turned to a man standing off to the side by himself. He looked at each of them in turn. Bodhi felt the conversations, but since they weren’t directed at him he couldn’t hear.

The man stepped forward. He probed Bodhi’s mind.

Why do you seem foreign to us? the man asked.

I’ve only been in this country a few days. I’m not completely acclimated, Bodhi said.

How can you understand our fears and the torture we’ve been through?

I know some of it through the Lander child.

The man’s eyes widened. There is one of our children here?

Bodhi turned and motioned Selah forward. She hesitated but stepped up beside him. He wrapped his arm around her waist. Her father was Glade Rishon. She is novarium.

The man looked around at the others, then back at Bodhi. Was? What do you mean?

Bodhi felt the nearness of Selah’s pain. He pulled her tightly to his side. She glanced at him with questions in her eyes. He passed a calm feeling to her and she relaxed.

Bodhi straightened. Her father was killed by Dr. Everling earlier today.

The man tipped his head, glancing around again, confusion on his face. Murmurs passed through the group. They were closing Bodhi off from the conversation. He’d never had anyone do that before. With the status he’d enjoyed at home, it bordered on being rude.

The man turned back to Bodhi. She is a true heir.

Selah touched Bodhi’s arm. “What’s going on?”

“They recognize you as novarium,” Bodhi answered.

The watcher interrupted. “We need to get out of here. The fighting has moved to the next section. Commander Mojica says they can hold them off till we get out on the old ramp up to the JetTrans terminal. Her team cut a hole in the fencing around the area to make it look like you broke into the Mountain there. It will afford you an escape route into the forest.”

Selah smiled at each of the Landers. Their expressions had seemed to soften when Bodhi announced she was novarium. She needed to find someone with a better explanation of the term when they got out of here. She felt like a lamb going to slaughter and everyone was waiting for the meal.

She marveled at so many marked people. They were all tall, at least six feet. Some were blond, others dark-haired, but all shaggy from long confinement. The mark stood out on the left side of each temple and forehead. All marks looked the same, no matter the shape or size of the head or their apparent age differences. She’d have to remember to ask Bodhi how the age thing worked. How long did it take to show age? He still looked twenty.

The watcher finished another call to Mojica and turned to them. “We need to get moving. We’re going to the ramp. Everyone, follow this way.” He started toward the corridor opposite the fighting, then looked back at Bodhi and Cleon. “I need one or two of you in the back of the group with weapons, just in case.”

Bodhi picked up the weapon from the first dead guard and handed Selah the one from the guard who’d charged out the doorway. She handled it like it was a dead rodent. He knew the last thing she wanted was a weapon.

One of the Landers in the front of the group stopped them. “What about the others?”

Movement came to a grinding halt. Bodhi hurried back. “What others?” The Landers murmured and he grabbed the man’s tunic. “What others?”

An older-looking Lander gently removed Bodhi’s hand from the man’s clothing. “The ones they keep in the corridor behind us. We know they’re there but they’ve never broken rank to communicate with us.”

A barefoot Lander farther back piped up. “They ignore us. We’ve tried to make contact with them, but we’ve only seen one and he ignores us. Acts like we aren’t here even when he’s looking right at us.”

The watcher, Bodhi, and Selah looked at each other in confusion.

Selah shook her head. “We didn’t come this far to leave anyone. We have to get them.”

“Since that’s in the opposite direction, how about we leave Cleon and Treva here with these and we go?” Bodhi looked down the corridor they needed to traverse for access behind this cell block.

The watcher agreed.

Cleon already held a weapon, so Treva rushed back to the entrance and retrieved one from the body of a downed team member.

Bethany stormed around the Prison Control Center wearing a communication headset. Every few seconds she tapped a link on her ComTex to connect to another unit on standby. Fighting inside was fierce, and casualties were mounting. She didn’t understand how insurgents could have been so well prepared.

“Ma’am, once units go inside the area, we have no communication with them. We can only talk to those who remain outside the perimeter. Don’t you think it’s time to contact Mountain security?”

Bethany spun to face the man. “If you contact them I’ll break your hands.”

The man pulled away from the console and put his hands in his lap.

“The Prison Unit is autonomous. We do not allow security inside for any reason. We have enough of our own guards and air support without bothering them,” Bethany said. Noah had always felt Mountain security was compromised. He didn’t trust the people in charge. Too many of them reported to the executives.

“I want JetTrans units ready on this side of the Mountain, and get me contact with Control for the laser cannons. I want them ready and waiting. I don’t know how these people intend to get out of there, but they are not getting away with this. Not in my unit.”

Selah stuck near Bodhi as they hurried down the far corridor to cells on the other side of the wall. Slinking in with weapons drawn, they peered over counters and around doorways for hidden guards who hadn’t joined in the fight but would defend their own territory. None were found.

Bodhi and the watcher tried cell doors. Unlike on the Lander side, these doors didn’t automatically open. They were discussing explosive charges to open the doors.

Selah noticed the guard had forgotten to secure the keypad. “Guys, maybe this will help.” She reached over the counter and pushed on the button. One by one the four heavy cell doors clicked.

She hurried over as they pulled open the first door and peered inside. Light filtered into the cell from behind them. She ran back to the console and flipped illumination switches, and light inside the cell spilled out the doorway.

Bodhi stared. Selah gasped. The watcher stumbled back against the doorway.