39

BRIDGER

APRIL 5, 2147

We abandon the shuttle a little after seven-thirty in the morning. Alora’s father had to take over flying after Grandma told us that she’d been shot in the leg by the perimeter guards. Alora and Shan made a tourniquet and led her to one of the passenger seats, where she passed out after instructing us to stay on course to New Denver.

Once Grandma woke up and realized we were being followed by two shuttles from the military base, she insisted that we land immediately.

That’s where we are now, on the edge of a field ten miles north of the Academy.

Our problem right now is that she refuses to come with us, and she’s decided that Shan needs to stay with her as well. “We’ll slow you down,” she says after I beg them to come with us again. I hate the idea of separating.

Shan scowls at her. “I can keep up with them.”

“But I could use the company, Shan. You wouldn’t want your poor grandmother to stay out here all alone, would you?”

Heaving a sigh, Shan says, “Fine, I’ll stay.”

“But you need to get to a med center,” I say to her.

Grandma laughs. “The soldiers who are following us will be here soon.” When she sees the alarmed expression on my face, she laughs again. “Don’t worry. They’re not going to hurt us. That idiot back who shot me is probably being punished as we speak. They’ll get me to a med center and I’ll be fine, and I won’t let them hurt Shan. You, Nate, and Alora, on the other hand, need to get to the DTA building and find that bioweapon. Do whatever it takes.”

I lean down to kiss Grandma on the forehead. “Are you sure you want to do this? We can carry you.”

Alora says, “I can shift to a med center right now and have somebody out here in a few minutes.”

“Absolutely not. I want all three of you to stay together. Is that clear?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I reply. Alora does the same.

“Nate, take care of my grandson. Please. You owe me.”

He offers a genuine smile. “I will.”

We start to leave, but Grandma calls out, “One more thing. You do whatever is necessary to stop that bioweapon from going off. Do you understand? Whatever it takes. Don’t let sentiment cloud your judgment.”

I know what she’s talking about, but I’m not sure I’m ready to go there. I realize the cloned version of Dad isn’t stable. But he’s been brainwashed by General Anderson. Maybe that means that there’s hope—that there’s some good left in him. Some way to make him see reason.

On the walk over, Alora comms her mother to make sure she left the city. She said she did, as well as Everly and Tara’s families. But Elijah’s parents refused. Adalyn begged Alora to shift to her now, and Alora had to end the call in tears.

“I hate doing this to her,” she says, swiping at her eyes. “I’m all she has left.”

Nate wraps his uninjured arm around her shoulders. “I promise, you’ll see her again soon. Who knows? Maybe I can convince her to give me another chance. Or maybe not. But no matter what, we’ll still be a family. Always remember that.”

Damn, that nearly makes me tear up. I still feel a little bit of resentment toward her father, but at least I understand why he did what he did.

My dad is the one doing something unforgivable.

My DataLink chimes. It’s Professor March. When I accept his comm, he lets out a loud sigh. “Good God, Bridger, I’ve been trying to track you for hours. You just came back into my viewing area. What are you doing north of the Academy?”

I give him the brief version of our ordeal.

He runs his hands over his head. “Anderson is certifiably insane. I’m on the way to the banquet now. I’ll meet you there. You might need help getting past security.”

I shake my head. “Professor, you should get out of the city. You’re a Dual Talent. If we fail, you’ll die.”

“I don’t care. Alora and her father are with you, and there will be other Dual Talents at the banquet. I can’t abandon you or them. I have a feeling it’s going to take all of us to make things right.”

A half hour later, we reach the Academy first and take a shuttle to New Denver. By the time we get to the downtown area, it’s ten minutes after ten in the morning. The banquet will take place at twelve o’clock sharp. Our objective is to get inside the building and find the bioweapon before it starts. The fewer people there, the better it will be for us.

Upon arrival at the DTA building, we discover that it’s crawling with high-level security assigned to protect the president. The few guests to arrive this early are submitting to being scanned and searched.

We discuss our options and Alora comms Professor March. “New plan. We can’t get inside from down here. We’re more than likely on the wanted list for the feds.”

“Then what are you going to do?” he asks.

Nate interrupts. “I’m going to shift to the rooftop and secure it. Alora and Bridger are will steal a Pod and pilot it to the roof. We’ll enter that way, so keep an eye out for our signal.”

“Is there anything I can do in the meantime?” March asks.

“I know President Tremblay will be the guest of honor. See if you can locate Anderson and my father,” I say. “We need to find them if we want to locate the bioweapon.”

Nate fixes me with an intense look. “You take care of my girl, Bridger. Understood?”

“Yes sir,” I respond.

But Alora isn’t having any of it. “Oh, come on. I can take care of myself.”

Nate gives her a kiss on the forehead and shifts from view. With him gone, Alora and I don’t waste any time. We take off running back the way we came. We passed a white Pod a block before we reached the DTA building. I just hope it’ll still be there.

Alora and I don’t get very far before someone to my left shouts my name. Emerging from a nearby alley is Ellis.

I split off and run in his direction. Sighing heavily, Alora sighs follows me.

When I get to Ellis, he hisses, “What are you doing here? You were supposed to be in the bunker by now. Away from the blast zone. Safe.”

“You said you were going to take me to a safe place. You never mentioned that I’d be forced there by General Anderson and an insane version of my father. And there’s another thing you never explained. I still don’t know why you want to save me, Alora, and the rest of my family. What makes us so special?”

Ellis pauses for a moment. “There’s no point in hiding anymore, I guess.” He then removes the gray cloth covering his face. I almost fall to my knees. Even though his face is thinner, and his hair is a little darker, he looks very similar to my dad. I take a closer look. Ellis has a faint scar trailing through the stubble on his cheek. I gasp. “Shan?”

His face lights up. “For a second there I didn’t think you would recognize me.”

I’m speechless. I glance from him to Alora, not sure what to say.

Alora’s brow furrows. “Why are you calling yourself Ellis? And why bother hiding your identity?”

“I didn’t want to change things. Besides, if I’d told Bridger earlier who I was, and that The General and The Clone were the ones responsible for destroying the country, he would never have believed me. And as for going by Ellis, my name is really Leithan Shan, so L. S. became Ellis. I thought it was appropriate to take on a new identity since I’d lost everyone I’d ever loved—everyone who made me who I was.”

“What am supposed to call you now?” I finally manage to ask.

“Just stick with Ellis. I’ve been going by that for so long, it would be weird hearing someone calling me Shan.”

“All right,” I reply. It’s hard to believe that this man, the same one I’ve been so angry with, is my little brother. The same one who used to be such a mama’s boy, all grown up and taking charge. Trying to save the world. I reach over to hug him. “Even though I wanted to kick your ass the other day, I’m proud of you,” I say. Then I wrinkle my nose. “But you need a bath.”

He looks pained. “Bridger, that’s a luxury in the time I’m stuck in. Having a decent meal every day is a luxury. It’s hell there. That’s why I want to prevent it from ever happening. And that brings me back to my original plan.” He points at Alora and me. “You two shouldn’t be here.”

“Why are you so insistent on that?” I ask. “If you’re successful, we’ll be fine.”

“That’s the thing,” Ellis says. “In my timeline, all of you died in the blast. I figured that if you went to the bunker this time, that would change everything.”

“Maybe we need to change the strategy,” Alora says. “What went wrong?”

“I don’t know the exact details. After you guys split from me and Grandma, we were found and taken back to the bunker and locked up again. What I know is that The Clone was the key. I was told later by the base commander that the bioweapon was synced to a device that monitored his heartbeat. That way, if he had died prematurely, it would have detonated right away. From the comms that came back to the bunker, we learned that Bridger was threatening to kill him if he didn’t deactivate the weapon.”

My jaw drops. How could it be possible that, in his past, I was even considering killing my dad? “Are you serious?”

“Yeah. That’s the last thing we heard before the blast. Anyone within a half-mile radius died immediately. The Clone, Anderson, both of you, Alora’s father, Professor March, and thousands of other people. Then all Talents, and most of the Gen Mods, started dying within the following days and weeks as the virus infected them.”

“Holy. Fure,” I say, running my hands over my head. It’s not every day you learn how you’re supposed to die. “So, Grandma survived with you?”

Now Ellis’s shoulders sag. “Only for the first six months. She insisted on going out on a scouting mission and was killed in one of the European Coalition’s bomb raids.”

“I thought the war was worldwide,” Alora says.

“It was, eventually. As the virus spread across the globe, more and more countries started turning on each other. Sending in bombs to try to wipe out infected populations. Nowhere was safe after a while.”

We’re all silent as the implications sink in.

Finally, Alora asks, “What makes you think we can change anything this time?”

Ellis gives us a half-smile. “You have me to help.”

Fifteen minutes later, I maneuver our stolen Pod onto the DTA’s roof and park it between two much larger shuttles. We step outside and see Nate leaning against the doorway leading inside.

“It’s about time you got here,” he says while inclining his head to a small pile of stunners and guns near his feet. “Help yourselves. The previous owners are out cold for the time being.”

While we stuff weapons into our pockets, Nate notices the new addition to our crew and asks, “Who is this, and why is he here?”

“This is Ellis. Well, Shan, but from the year 2155,” I say.

Nate gives Ellis a closer inspection. “I bet you have one hell of a story.”

Alora checks her DataLink. “Hey, it’s almost eleven o’clock. Remember, the banquet starts at noon.”

As we descend the stairs and make our way to the banquet hall on the top floor, I give him the short version of Ellis’s role in getting us here. When I’m finished, Nate looks at him with admiration. “That’s a brave thing, coming back here to try to change things. Have you thought about what will happen to you, though?”

This startles me. What will happen to Ellis if we succeed?

He shrugs. “Doesn’t matter. What does matter is that the bioweapon must not detonate.”

I shake my head. “It does matter. If we change things, you won’t be you anymore. You could cease to exist.”

Ellis stops walking and fixes me with an almost desperate stare. “You can’t think like that. The entire world’s future is at stake. And besides, if we’re successful, I’ll still live. Right now, my younger version is on the way back to the bunker.”

When we reach the stairway leading into the lobby of the banquet hall, we find Professor March waiting for us, wearing his black dress uniform.

“Where have you been? The president just arrived with his entourage. We have to get in there now and stop this thing.”

Nate moves next to the stairway door and motions for us to follow him. He peers through the small rectangular window and says, “Okay, two Space Benders are posted by the main entrance to the banquet hall. March, how many more are inside? And do you know the locations of Creed and Anderson?”

Professor March answers, “Six more guards posted around the room as of now. Three on each side. But I was told more will be posted soon. General Anderson is at the table on stage with the President Tremblay. As for Leithan, I haven’t seen him.”

“How many guests are in there?” Nate asks.

“Forty or fifty. But more are on the way. We need to do this quickly.”

No joke. Once we stun the people inside, they’ll only be immobilized for around ten minutes. That means if it takes longer than that to find the bioweapon, we’ll have to deal with all of them coming after us.

Nate turns to look at us. “Alora, I want you to stay in the lobby and guard the doors.”

“Oh no you don’t. You’re not going to make me sit this out. It’s going to take all of us to shut down the security and find that bioweapon.”

“That’s true,” Nate says. “But I do need someone to guard the door. They’re going to call for back up.”

“And the backup will simply shift inside. You know they will be Space Benders. I can handle this,” she says.

I understand why Nate wants to keep Alora away from where the main confrontation will take place, but I agree with her. We’re massively outnumbered. It’s going to take all of us to get through this mess. “Stay close to me,” I say to her. “That way we can watch each other’s backs.”

“That’ll work,” she says, eyeing her father.

He ignores both of us. “I’ll shift directly into the banquet hall and start taking out the security detail near the guest of honor table. The rest of you come on through the door and work your way up. Concentrate on taking out security before civilians.”

“Okay, let’s do this,” Professor March says as Nate hands him a stunner and pistol.

Before Nate can shift, Alora leans over and enfolds him in a hug. “Please be safe, Daddy.”

They cling to each other, as if they don’t want to part. Nate gives her one final squeeze and whispers, “I love you, sweetheart.”

Alora steps away so he can shift. He looks at us one more time. “Remember, use stunners first. Resort to your guns only if you have no other choice. We don’t want to kill innocent people.”

Then he shifts. Alora tries to put on a brave look, but her eyes flick to the door leading to the lobby, and I know she’s worried for herself and her father.

It suddenly hits me—she’ll be going in there fighting alongside her father, while Ellis and I will be going in there to fight against ours. I never thought I’d be here. I thought I would do anything for my father.

I should have known a clone of my father would never work out. It doesn’t seem fair, though, that whatever meds Nate is taking to keep himself stable seem to work, but drugs have failed my father.

Ellis catches my eye. “Stay safe, brother.”

“I’ll see you on the other side,” I reply.

Professor March flings open the door and runs into the lobby, firing his stunner. He takes out both guards stationed outside the banquet hall. Screams filter out from the room as I hear Nate begin firing, too. We follow behind, aiming our stunners at anybody inside who moves too quickly, even the guests who arrived early just to mingle. You can’t be too careful—anyone could have hidden weapons.

I rush to nearest column, my eyes searching the people trying to get to the exit. I fire at whoever is close to me, trying to find the security guards. They should be in dark gray uniforms like the guards posted in the lobby, identifying them as military Space Benders.

Queasiness settles in my stomach as I keep stunning one person after another. Innocent bystanders. I knew I had to do this, but it’s harder than I thought. And where are the furing guards?

Normally we would be no match for anyone in the military. The main thing we have going for us is that we’re attacking without warning.

I glance behind me. Alora is just across the hall, crouching behind the column closest to me. She fires a shot and takes out one of the security guards, then hits three guests in rapid succession.

I’m impressed.

I turn around to find one of the space-bending guards standing in front of me. I brace myself for the electric surge of her stunner. But before she can fire at me, Ellis takes her down.

“Eyes on targets, Bridger,” he says as he pauses at my column.

Before I can thank him, Ellis takes off, trying to make his way to Nate’s location. He stops to crouch by a column in the midsection of the banquet hall.

I wish he could have stayed with me a little longer.

By now, there aren’t many people moving around the room anymore. Most of the guests are immobilized on the floor. Some have managed to escape. I fire a few more shots to take down some of the last guests. It doesn’t feel right—they’re both older men and look completely harmless.

But I’ve learned the hard way that you can’t trust who you think you can.

One of the security guards is still active. He’s hiding next to a covered table near the wall. Since he’s closest to me I keep trying to take him out, but I can’t get a clear shot. Professor March advances on the other side, hoping to sneak up from behind. But before he can make it, a new Space Bender appears and stuns him. Then two more Space Benders appear.

Air rushes out of my lungs. No, this can’t be happening. I was hoping we could get to Anderson before more Space Benders arrived. With Professor March immobilized and backup arriving to stop us, our odds of finding the bioweapon in time have dramatically decreased.

Suddenly a voice booms through the hall. “Tell them to leave, Tremblay,” Nate yells. With most everyone around us being stunned, the hall is mostly silent, and Nate’s voice echoes eerily. I peer around the column. At the same time, Alora gasps.

Nate is standing by the guest of honor table now, with his good arm curled around President Tremblay’s throat, and his stunner pointed at his head. I don’t see General Anderson anywhere.

“Tell them to leave now, and I don’t want any more Space Benders to shift in here. Do you understand?”

The president, a short man with light skin and blond hair, lifts his DataLink and gives the order for all military personnel to stand down. The Space Benders who just arrived shift away.

My heart begins to race. This could still go our way. I start to stand.

Suddenly, a slow clapping sound comes from the direction of the banquet hall’s kitchen. I peek out from behind the column, toward the right side of the room as Dad pushes through the double doors, carrying a large black case with a handle. He’s dressed in his black DTA uniform and smiling.

He stops when he reaches the center of the room. The center of all our attention.

“I have to admit, you’re tenacious. I wasn’t quite ready to bring out the big surprise.” He sets the black case on the floor and calls out, “Bridger, you’re not even supposed to be here. Especially not with that girl.” He makes a tsking sound. “And to think, you always were my favorite. But I guess that’s all changed. If only my other son were here. Oh, that’s right, he escaped from the bunker, too. At least he and my mother had enough sense to let my guards capture them.”

I exchange a glance with Alora. Dad has completely wilded out. This man is no longer anything like the father I knew. Now I understand why Ellis refers to him as The Clone.

Ellis steps out from behind his column, and Dad says, “Well, look who we have here. From your handsome looks, I’d have to say you’re Shan. Right? An older version of my Shan, back from the future. Care to give your father a hug?” he asks, spreading his arms wide.

Ellis draws his pistol from his jacket pocket and aims it at Dad. “The Shan you knew no longer exists. He died a long time ago, just like my father did. And I’m here to make sure you don’t unleash hell on Earth today.”

Dad laughs and wags his finger back and forth at Ellis. “That’s not going to happen. It’s only designed to take out certain undesirable people. Then our country will be free of those who are trying to destroy it.”

“I’m from your future, so I know what’s really going to happen. You’re going to kill just about every single Talent and a huge segment of the Gen Mod population in this country, all within six months. And then it begins to spread globally, which leads to all-out war. I can’t let you do that.”

“Aren’t you worried about contaminating your timeline?” Dad asks, completely unfazed by what Ellis just told him. “You know that’s against the law. Just ask your brother. He tried to do it and failed miserably. Why don’t you join me, Bridger? Both you and Shan. It’s time for another Creed family reunion!”

My skin crawls, but I find myself itching to move, or maybe to say something.

Alora shakes her head at me, telling me not to go. But I can’t hide back here. Somehow, Ellis and I both have to stop Dad. He’s our responsibility.

Holding up both of my hands, I step out from behind my column.

Dad chuckles. “And there’s my no-longer-favorite child. Well, to be honest, neither one of you are really my favorites right now. No offense, Shan, but you’re too much like your mother for my liking.”

Ellis flinches. And in that moment, it hits me just how far gone Dad really is. A part of me, even now, had hope that we could bring him back. When Dad talked to me the night fourteen-year-old Shan was shot, he seemed reasonable. This man is far from that. He’s becoming unstable at an incredible rate.

“Did your Clonitin stop working?” I ask. “Or has Anderson brainwashed you that much?”

Dad’s eyes grow cold. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. Now, I’m going to give you five minutes to get out of here. There are plenty of shuttles on the roof. Take one and get back to the underground base. That’s your only chance to survive.”

“I can’t do that,” I say.

Immediately, Dad springs toward Ellis, and they struggle for a few moments. I watch in horror as Dad tries to get the gun from him. Finally, Ellis drops the weapon, but Dad fumbles and gives Ellis time to knock it clear. I lunge for the gun and grab it, only to find that Dad has a pistol of his own out now.

Movement behind him catches my attention. In the chaos, Alora must have shifted. She snatches the gun from Dad’s hands and shifts again, appearing next to me.

“I’ll admit, Alora, I’m impressed. Your mother would never have had the nerve to do something like that.” Dad takes a step back, spreading his arms wide. “Go ahead, shoot,” he yells in my direction. “Kill your own father. But let me warn you, the instant my heart stops beating, the bioweapon goes boom. So what’s it going to be? Detonation now? Or will you go back to the bunker, where you should be, and let the detonation take place as planned?”

I glance at Ellis. He swallows a few times, looking nervous. This his eyes flick to the case with the bioweapon, still in the center of the room. Suddenly I understand what he wants to do.

As Ellis dives toward the bioweapon, time seems to slow.

Ellis’s arms extend toward the case.

Someone yells for him to stop.

Dad extracts a second pistol from his jacket.

The sounds are deafening as he fires it two times.

Ellis’s fingers almost touch the case, but the bullets rip into his body before he can reach it. First his back, then his head.

By the time his body comes to a rest, Ellis’s eyes are fixed in my direction.

But I know he can no longer see me.