The sound of an engine puttering to a halt in the street below wakes me. And then Jude Caffrey’s voice. “RONAN!”
Ronan tears out of the room as I crawl off the bed. By the time I get to the window, he’s already with Jude Caffrey, standing next to the buggy. Jude puts his arm over Ronan’s shoulder, and for a moment I imagine it’s Quinn. My nose tingles: Ronan, Quinn, and I have all lost our fathers.
It’s dawn and the buildings draw thick belts of golden light across the street. I step away from the window. I’m really doing this—I’m teaming up with Jude Caffrey.
Footsteps knock on the stairs and Ronan appears. “Ready?” A shaft of light illuminates the top half of his face. His eyes are bloodshot, dark circles beneath them. He must have been up all night.
“Did you tell him?” I ask. He comes to the corner where I’m scooping my things into a backpack and takes my hand. I snatch it away. “Does he know about me?”
“He knows.”
“He’ll help? He’ll protect me and recruit Resistance members to the army?”
“Yes,” he says, and beams. I throw my arms around him, unable to contain my own joy. “Oh, Ronan, do you think we can really oust the Ministry?”
“We’re about to try,” he says.
He pulls several packets of nutrition and protein bars and two spare airtanks from his backpack and throws them on the floor. I frown. “You said some drifters were harmless. They need them more than I do,” he says. He tugs on the backpack’s drawstrings and throws it over his shoulder. We stand facing each other. After today, we probably won’t get many more moments alone, but I can’t think what to say.
Jude calls up from the road, and Ronan looks at the window, then at me, and finally at the door. He fiddles with the straps on his facemask. “Come on,” he says.
Outside, Jude Caffrey looks me up and down and sighs. “Bea Whitcraft . . . I didn’t expect to see you again.”
“You mean you didn’t want to,” I respond.
“No. No, I probably didn’t,” he says. “But here we are.” Jude stuffs his hands into his pockets and rocks back and forth. He looks at my disheveled appearance and then at Ronan. “Sorry I couldn’t get here yesterday. Things are hectic in the pod.”
Ronan shrugs. “You’re here now. I wondered whether you’d come at all.”
Jude allows himself a small smile. “You sure you want to come back?” he asks me, and I nod. “If the ministers get a hold of you, you’re in deep shit,” Jude says. “We’re all in very deep shit.”
“They won’t find her,” Ronan says, leading me to the buggy. “Take the front seat,” he says.
And sit next to Jude for an hour? I shake my head. “I’ll be fine in the back,” I say, and climb in.
Soon the buggy is bumping along the road. None of us talk for a long time. And then Jude turns around and looks at me. “Quinn is alive, isn’t he?” he asks. “You wouldn’t make it up.”
I’ve never heard him speak like this—with feeling for his son.
“He’s alive,” I say. “And he’s coming.”