I clutched the rifle, wishing I wasn't carrying it. I still felt fuzzy inside, but most of the side effects had worn off. I mentally probed my shields. Scholar had helped me and so far they were holding. As long as I kept some of the drug in my system I should be fine. He'd assured me of that. But I wasn't fine. I was sneaking down a deserted street on a rainy afternoon with a rifle in my hands.
Paltronis signaled from farther up the street. I slipped out of the doorway and ducked behind a tangle of broken furniture. I saw no sign of anyone at all in this section of the city, except for the two of us and the squad that supposedly was behind us.
The squad stayed back. I wasn't surprised. Nobody wanted to come anywhere near me, except Paltronis and Scholar. The rest of them heard what had happened at the government building. I was haunted by frightened, suspicious looks. Paltronis had argued with Rian, enough to keep the resistance people from throwing me out altogether. But not enough for them to accept me. Not now, and not ever.
Paltronis checked another doorway and waved me forward. I checked the windows above me and the alley next to me before moving. Other than a rat scurrying away, nothing moved. I ran across the road, through the tangles of broken furniture, to join Paltronis.
"I don't like this," she muttered when I reached the shelter of the doorway. Water dripped overhead.
"Why does she suddenly trust us?" I asked.
"She doesn't and that's what has me nervous." Paltronis leaned out of the scant shelter just long enough to check our backtrail. "They're hanging too far back, as if we're bait."
"Or suckers," I said, leaning against the wall. The rifle was heavy in my hands.
"Can you feel anyone out there?" Paltronis asked me.
"I'd have to lower my shields to know."
"Forget I asked, please." We both knew what would happen if I let go of my tight shields for even a few moments. My sanity was balanced on that slim margin the shields and drugs bought me.
"How much farther?" I asked. We were supposed to scout the buildings in this area and report back. So far there hadn't been anything worth reporting.
"Another six blocks and we can turn back," Paltronis answered.
I wiped water off my rifle, checking the charge levels. These fired pellets, more dangerous than a blast rifle because these would wound without necessarily killing. I hated the rifle.
"I could almost believe you really are Patrol," Paltronis teased.
"You helped me corner Lowell into making me an Admiral. Until he signs the release papers, I am Patrol."
"I'm sorry I ever did it, Dace."
I shook my head. "It wasn't your fault. None of it." She still blamed herself that she wasn't there on Trythia to rescue Tayvis. I'd been there and it hadn't made any difference. Tayvis was still dead.
The rain chose that moment to pick up. Water beat a tattoo on the street, splashing up the sides of the buildings.
"Does it ever do anything but rain or snow here?" Paltronis grumbled as she picked her way out of the doorway.
We moved silently, ghosts in the rain. That block was clear and so was the next.
We ran into the trap on the block after that in a warren of apartments with a central covered courtyard.
Paltronis approached it warily, every sense on alert. She must have smelled something. I slipped behind her as she studied it from one of the numerous doors that opened into it.
"This is the building Rian said we had to check. She was very specific." Paltronis searched the area with her eyes and ears before she entered it.
"I trust her as much as she trusts us," I said.
"Go back and see if the others have caught up."
I nodded and turned back, rifle still at the ready.
The hall we'd come through had several sharp corners and lots of doorways. The doors themselves lay shattered on the floor. I made it to the first corner. I stopped and peeked around the corner. Shots peppered the wall next to my head. I jerked back into the relative safety of the hall. Paltronis lunged back into the other end. Shots rang against the cement floor behind her.
"It's a trap," she shouted over the continued sound of weapons.
I didn't answer. I was fighting myself. I needed to shoot the rifle. I didn't want more blood on my hands. Once I started shooting I wasn't sure I could stop until they were all dead.
My hands shook, my knees wobbled, with the strain. All of it affected the shields on my mind. I could feel them cracking. I had to do this as quickly as possible, before I lost control.
I took a deep breath, pushing the awareness of bullets shredding the wall next to me out of my head. I took another breath, finding my center. The rifle barrel came up. Shooting exercise, I told myself. Just like at the Academy. Another deep breath. I spun around the corner, the rifle up and aiming down the hall. My stance was perfect, I could feel the balance in the weapon in my hands.
I fired a dozen shots, each one striking the target I aimed at. Some of them had time to scream, but not many. Within a few heartbeats, they were dead or hiding.
I let out my breath in a long sigh, lowering the rifle. I glanced back. Paltronis was swearing. Blood ran down her leg but it didn't slow her reflexes. She squeezed off another round of shots.
"You have more ammunition?" she called. "I've just about used mine up."
I came wordlessly down the hall.
Shots still echoed in the courtyard area. I listened for a moment.
"Eight," I said quietly.
Paltronis shook her head. "Ten, possibly eleven. There's one hiding on the third floor, behind a railing."
I nodded. Another breath in, find my center, turn and step into the courtyard. Shot after shot rang out in quick succession. Nine people died. The other two escaped because they were hiding and my rifle jammed. I ducked back into the hall.
Paltronis watched me with an inscrutable look. "Remind me not to get you upset, especially when you have a rifle."
"I missed two," I said as I stripped the rifle down. The feed pins were bent. It was useless for anything but beating people like a club.
"Take mine." Paltronis tossed her rifle to me.
"How's your leg?" I asked as I transferred the pellets from my rifle into hers.
"Not bad," she said as she poked the bleeding hole in her thigh. "Blasters are worse."
I heard the other two creeping up on us. I stepped near the door.
"Go away and I won't have to shoot you," I called.
We both heard the footsteps pattering away across the tiled floors.
"Interesting technique," Paltronis commented. "What's to stop them from ambushing us again later?"
"Me," I said grimly. "Let's go find out where our backup is."
It was my turn to carry her. She leaned heavily on me, limping badly on her injured leg. She grimaced in pain but kept going as we picked our way back outside. Neither of us commented on the bodies sprawled in the halls. Most of them had been shot through the left eye. We made it to the street before Paltronis said anything.
"Lowell said you were good. He didn't say how good."
"After Xqtl, I hoped I'd never have to shoot anyone again."
She didn't say anything more. She limped in silence down the street, her arm over my shoulders.
We saw no sign of our backup patrol until we reached Rian's headquarters. They looked very surprised to see us. We didn't miss the looks they gave each other as we limped through the door.
"Rian set us up," Paltronis muttered. "They're trying to get rid of us."
"All they have to do is ask," I said. "And let us into the port."
"I think we know too much."
"Scholar definitely does."
I helped her sit on one of the few chairs that still had all four legs. She stretched out her bloody leg, wincing as the muscles pulled. Fresh blood welled up. I peeled back the fabric of her leggings.
"The pellet needs to come out," she told me. "There's a medkit here somewhere."
"And people who know how to use it." I stood. "I'm going to find help. And then I'm going to find some answers."
I looked around the crowded room. No one would look at me, it was as if I didn't exist. I felt my temper rising. I'd had enough of them and their rebellion and their world. I'd had enough a long time before.
"Where's the medic?" I asked.
She hurried from a back room, a tall willowy woman with hair chopped short and gray eyes that had seen too much lately. She knelt beside Paltronis without acknowledging I was even there.
It was as good as I could hope for.
I crossed the room to the inside door. People moved out of my way, as if my touch were poison. No one tried to stop me as I climbed the stairs inside the old orphanage. Rian had taken over the director's rooms on the third floor, the largest bedroom in the place. I went to the door and opened it without bothering to knock.
She stood at the window, watching the rain fall. She didn't turn around. I stepped in and shut the door in her guard's face.
"Yes?" She stared out into the rain, her hand playing with a medallion she wore around her neck.
"We were ambushed," I said sharply. "And the rest of our team seemed very surprised to see us come back alive."
Rian turned to face me, her dress rustling around her. "And you think I planned it?"
"If you want to get rid of us, all you have to do is let us into the port."
"You are much too useful. Your legend is growing. The daughter of Lirondalla Muberretton, the doomed leader of the first rebellion. Her daughter is proving much more formidable. A warrior of the Patrol, chosen one of the Forest Spirits of the mountains, hero to the villagers and the common people, avenger of past wrongs. You carry powers within you that none have ever believed possible."
"If I'm such a hero, why do they avoid me? Why do they watch me with fear and suspicion?"
"Because they are uneducated. They can't appreciate the promise you bring." She smiled a secretive smile. "Shadowing knows your value to the cause. What happened today was a mistake."
I shook my head. "It was deliberate, Rian." I rubbed my head, trying to ease a sudden pounding headache. "Just let us go. Fight all you want, but I don't want to be part of it."
"But you are. You've been part of it since you first set foot on Tivor again. If you didn't want to be part of the rebellion, why did you come back?"
"Because I wasn't given a choice. You aren't giving me much of a choice either."
"You can leave whenever you choose. But you won't make it to that ship alive."
The threat hung in the air between us. My headache grew worse. I felt her emotions eating at me.
She sensed her triumph and gloated in it. She stepped towards me and put a hand on my shoulder. "Our victory is almost here. Don't despair. Don't doubt. Shadowing has led us to victory. Within days, Kuran will fall, along with the other tyrants who would rule by force. Tivor will truly be free then."
I stared at her, wondering if she'd gone loony. She smiled again, a brilliant smile of love for everyone. Or so she wanted people to believe. I wasn't sure if it was fake or sincere. She blinded me with her other tangles of emotions.
"Isn't that what you taught?" she asked. "Zeresthina, the true leader of our revolt. We should make a statue of you. After all this is over. You were the one who taught us about freedom and equality."
She pushed me back to the door as she talked. I let her. She was definitely a few wires short of a circuit. She was scaring me.
"I will speak with the others," she said as she pulled the door open.
I didn't comment. I escaped while I could, at least from her room. I resolved to find Scholar and Paltronis and run away as soon as we could. Rian was a fanatic. Kuran was just as bad. Between them, they would tear Tivor apart and nobody would be left to enjoy their new freedoms.