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ABE WAS TEN MINUTES AWAY FROM landing his jet safely in Cairo when his ring buzzed with a phone call.
He tapped it and answered the call, then let Siluk adjust the screen so both of them could see.
“What’s up, Imara?” Siluk asked.
With his eyes focused on flying, Abe couldn’t look at her for too long. Even still, he felt right away that she was hurting. Not physically, though there seemed to be some of that too. No, this was more emotional.
“We have to join the taggers,” she said.
Siluk laughed.
Abe would have joined in if he hadn’t noticed Imara’s face first. She pursed her lips as she let out a sigh through her nose. Her serious face. Exactly the same face she wore hours earlier when she’d told him she had to go home.
“Why?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Takara sent the drones after the taggers—well, after everyone. The drones are attacking anyone they see, and the taggers aren’t happy about it. But they were unhappy before too. They hate what Takara has done.” She gave a little sigh, and it made the curls on her forehead rustle. “We couldn’t find any gangsters to join us, and we don’t have enough people to break into the council chambers. We need more people, and I think we have to ask the taggers.”
Siluk shrugged. “Sounds good to me.”
The fact that Siluk agreed so easily made Abe want to smack him. Abe had spent a lot of effort in the catacombs to help Imara realize how harmful the taggers were. He wasn’t about to let all that go to waste. “They want to brand people,” he said. “Ruin them.”
“I know.” She brought her hand over her heart and pulled the fabric of her shirt into a fist. “I know, Abe,” she said with a small shake of her head. “I’m not saying we should agree with them.”
Her head fell into the palm of her hand. When she looked up, she had a spark in her eyes. The special spark he only saw when she had her best ideas. “This is the only way we can take Cairo back. But I think...” Her voice trailed off.
For a brief moment, she made direct eye contact with him, and the tiniest hint of a smile tugged at her lips. She looked at him exactly the way she had when she finally let herself fall for him completely.
“We have to believe we can help them understand why tagging is wrong,” she said. “With Professor Santini, everything was gray. She hid all the bad things underneath good things. At least with Takara, they can tell she’s evil. It’s black and white again. We have to believe they’ll listen to logic now that Professor Santini isn’t here to muddle it.”
Marco’s head popped around Abe’s shoulder, and he spoke the first words he had said the entire trip. “You’re right,” Marco said. “My sister’s hila was truth seeing, but her greatest strength was manipulating the truth. Her followers would probably follow her to the end of the earth if she asked. She always gave just enough truth that no one questioned the lies.”
Siluk squinted one eye before he shrugged. “I guess, in a way, it’s better to have Takara than Santini. Either way, I’m in.”
Imara ignored him, keeping her eyes on Abe. He had to focus on the sky ahead of him, but he felt her eyes searching his face. He kept his mouth shut mostly because he couldn’t figure out what to say.
Finally, she asked, “What do you think, Abe? I know working with the taggers seems stupid, but we have to believe they can change, right? If you convinced me, maybe together we can convince them. Do you think it’s worth it?”
The fact that she asked him specifically did lift his spirits a little. Although, maybe it wasn’t because his opinion meant more to her; maybe it was just because she knew he was the one she had to convince.
After chewing on the thoughts, he decided she was right. “Do it,” he said. “And don’t go for the council chambers until we get there. We’ll be there in five minutes.”
* * *
IMARA TAPPED OFF HER ring and gave a little nod to Husani and Keiko. Now, they just had to find a tagger and hope her idea wasn’t as crazy as it seemed.
The crying man was gone now, but a tagger woman stood near a store opening, her eyes shifting up and down the road.
A moment later, a drone zoomed toward her, and the woman screamed. Before the drone could extend its arms, Imara threw a magnet into its propellers. The drone veered to the side and crashed within moments. The tagger woman was left with her mouth dropped open.
“Here,” Imara said, handing her a magnet. “Just aim for the propellers. It throws them off balance and causes them to crash. Once it’s down you can pull the magnet off and use it again.”
She stooped down and pulled her magnet off the broken drone. When she stood up again, the tagger woman’s mouth was closed, but now she was glaring. The woman said, “You killed our leader.”
Imara sighed and shoved her hands into her pockets. “I actually didn’t. I tried to save her, but she wouldn’t let me. Do you want to help us?”
The woman took a step back. “Why would I ever help you?”
“Look,” Imara said pointing down the street at the chaos. “Is this what you want? I disagree with you about a lot of things, but I know we both think this is wrong.”
The woman looked down, but there was something about it that almost seemed like a nod. “Takara will kill us if we help you,” she said.
Keiko snorted at that. “She’s trying to kill you right now. What difference does it make at this point? Besides, Takara is gone. She’s not even in Egypt. As long as we get to the council chambers and reinstate the real council members in an hour or so, we can have control of the city before she gets back.”
The woman looked at them both with widened eyes.
Imara stepped forward and used the most soothing voice she could find. “Inside the council chambers, there’s evidence against Sef and his gangsters. If you can help us get inside, we’ll reinstate the real Egyptian Council and finally be able to take down Sef for good. If you and the other taggers help us, the council won’t be looking to arrest you.”
It took almost a full minute, but eventually the woman swallowed with determination in her eye. She tapped her ring and started a phone call. When a face appeared on her hologram screen, she said, “Takara left Egypt. We’re going to break into the council chambers and take down Sef and all his stupid gangsters before she gets back.”
Hope spread out from Imara’s heart. She pulled a handful of magnets from her pocket and said, “Keiko, take these to headquarters and give them to everyone there. Husani and I will round up any taggers that want to help us. While we’re at it, we’ll use the magnets to take down as many drones as we can—hopefully all of them. And then, we’re going to the council chambers and end this.”
