Chapter Thirty Three

The next morning, the heat of summer did not squash the villagers' high spirits. Even Frederick was more jovial than the last time I worked with him. I jogged back to my room rejuvenated, knowing my days at the village would come to an end. When I arrived, Noah lounged on a chair outside. 

I slapped his shoulder as soon as I approached. "What's going on?" 

"They had another planning session. The others are heading to the city before us. We will link up with them tonight." 

I shrugged. "OK. I'm going to shower and take a nap." 

"They said the most efficient way to the city is through their underground passages. Wouldn't it be quicker to travel above ground?" 

I leaned back on the wall next to him. "Yes. I have done it once. We can go the same way if you want." 

"Good. Just thinking about being down there makes me sweat. Aren't you bothered that they are making these plans without you?" 

"No." I glanced at him. "In the past, it may have, but I'll do whatever I need to in order to leave this place. Then I'll worry about what I'm caught up in." 

"Do you hear yourself? Since when do you blindly put your trust in anyone?" 

"Can we go inside and talk? The humidity is giving me a headache." 

He followed me inside. The cool air was refreshing. 

I poured a glass of water from the refrigerator. "Thirsty?" 

He shook his head and hopped up on the kitchenette counter. "So you like him?" 

"Who?" Although I knew of whom he spoke. 

"Ari." 

I pulled a fresh pair of shorts and shirt from my bag. "Sure. Why do you ask it like that?" 

"How well do you know him?" 

"Not too well. I have spent more time here than with him." My face tightened as I slammed my clothes onto the bed. "What are you getting at?" 

He crossed his arms. "He gave me a bad impression. He kinda reminds me of Timmy." 

"Timmy the addict, the womanizer who overdosed?" 

He nodded. "What do you see in him?" 

My body temperature spiked. "He... He's usually infectiously positive. No matter how bad things seemed to me, he tried to find a way to make it better." 

"Rose said he threw a tantrum about not being involved and now he will be at the factory with her." 

Were they judging him based on that? "Gimme a break, this is a high-stress situation. I have never seen a selfish, egotistical bone in his body. In fact, he went out of his way to play soccer with the underprivileged kids." 

"Maybe I'm wrong." 

I took a deep breath to calm myself. "You are." 

"I'm just looking out for you." 

I sighed and plopped down on the bed. "I know." 

"So, did you tell him?" 

I rolled my eyes. "About what?" 

"About what happened out west? Texas, Dakota, Chico..." 

"Noah, don't." 

He tossed his hands up. "I think he should realize what..." 

"Stop. If it comes to that, I'll tell him." 

He gave me the 'if you say so' look. "Chico told me you won him a lot of money in Dante's." 

"Yeah." 

"He said you fought all the way to the top." 

"Yeah, so?" 

He tilted his head to the side. "How did you do it?" 

"I had help." I crossed my arms and eyed him furtively. 

His nose wrinkled up. "Obviously." 

"I met some people who sold me some software mods." 

"Show me." 

I sighed dejectedly. "I wiped them before I came here." 

He rolled his eyes. "Of course." 

I knew he would believe me without proof. My body stiffened at the thought of the scars on my torso. "I did not think you would believe me. Why do you think I did not bring it up?" Besides, it was not something I wanted to think about. I needed to change the subject but Noah beat me to it. 

"What aren't you telling me?" 

My blood pressure elevated. "I did not just reach to the top." I paused and licked my lips. "I also made it to the bottom." 

He snorted. "Ha! Now, I really don't believe you." 

"Believe what you want," I said, hardening my voice. "So what have you been up to? Have you been able to talk to Electra?" 

He grinned from ear to ear. "Right before I left she let me meet him." 

I returned the smile. "That is awesome." 

"Want to see a picture?" 

"Yeah." 

He hopped down and pulled out his holo-phone from his back pocket. After a few clicks, a photo of him holding a 2-year-old popped up. Noah and Electra were smiling, but the boy did not seem too sure. 

"Poor kid has your ears." 

He smacked my arm and smirked. "She named him Andrew." 

"After your father?" 

"Yep." 

My eyes widened. "Huh. I can imagine Max's reaction." I caught a glimpse of his phone again. "I'm sorry." 

"What are you apologizing for?" 

"You finally got to meet your son and then you came back here." 

"The reason why I saw him was because of you." 

My breath hitched in my throat. That did not make any sense. 

"Electra was the one who showed me your death photo. She wanted to make sure I came personally to verify if it was true," he explained. 

"I'm a little surprised." 

"Because you threw the fight with her? Yeah, she's still pissed. I heard ALL about it but she still cares. Chico wasn't happy about me leaving, though." 

I frowned at him. "You were working with him again?" 

"Lily, I'm clean. No more drugs." 

"I can tell you're clean," I answered, closing my eyes and pressing my hand to my temple. 

"I funnel all my money back to Electra. I keep hoping it'll show her I'm sincere about being a father." 

I looked back up at him. "Do you think she can convince Max to let you come around?" 

He sat at the table and staring at his phone screen after a dejected sigh. "No. She would have to move out on her own." 

"Too bad." I shook my head. "I shouldn't have left." 

"I disagree. I think you needed to go off on your own." 

I made my way to the other chair and sat across from him. "I made some wonderful choices and ended up here." 

"If you weren't here, who knows what kind of mess these people or my family would be in." 

My gaze averted to the floor and leaned my head on my hand. "I guess." 

"If anything, I should have contacted you months ago, as soon as the notes stopped." His voice cracked as he answered. 

I slumped back in the chair and forced myself to look at him again. "Don't blame yourself. I got myself into this. So when and where are we meeting up for this little operation?" 

"The university at ten, tonight. Were you serious about taking a nap?" 

"Yes. At least lay down for a few hours. I'm not in great shape anymore." 

He reached a hand up and rubbed the back of his neck. "Forgot about that. Well, I'll leave you alone." He pushed back on the table and stretched. "I'll come knock on the door when it's time." 

"Thank you." 

He walked over and bent down to give me an open-armed hug. As I stood, he grabbed my bun and started pulling on the tie, spilling half of my hair onto my shoulders. I whipped around and kicked at him, but he already escaped to the door and was half way through. 

"Jerk." 

"I'll always be too quick for you." 

I shooed him away. "Brat. Get out of here." 

"Talk to ya later, imouto." 

The door shut behind him. A smile formed on my face. I was glad he still thought of me as a sister because he was the only brother I wanted. It did not matter that we were not blood-related. I finished pulling my hair out and crashed onto the bed. But I could do without the childish pranks. I closed my eyes, thinking about what to do next. Eventually, I dozed off. 

***

At eight o'clock, Noah showed up with some baked chicken and vegetables. We ate together in relative silence. 

"Are you sure you're up for this?" he wondered as we walked into the warm night. 

I nodded. "I made this run a couple days ago." 

He furrowed his brow. "Alright. If you need to slow down, just signal me." 

"Stop worrying. I'll be fine." 

We walked down the main street. Dorothy watched from her deck. When she spotted us, she disappeared. The rumblings of a diesel engine faded into the night. 

"More than likely that was Rose. Supposedly it takes almost two hours to take the roads around the city," Noah said. 

"I don't know the roads so I can't tell you if it is true or not." 

"Why not?" 

I shot a look at him. 

He flinched away with his hands up. "I am kidding. Calm down." 

We reached the southern border of the village. Footsteps echoed behind us. Noah peeked over his shoulder and then stopped. I turned to discover Dorothy moved toward us. 

"You're not going to run away are you?" she asked in an accusatory tone. 

Noah tensed up. I stuck my arm out. In the moonlight, I saw the puzzled expression on his face. 

"So you still don't trust me after I have done everything you've asked. I even saved Ari and brought him back. And you treat me like I'm a criminal who is going to stab you in the back,” I said.

"I know your kind." 

"If you haven't figured out that all I want is this to be over so I can leave, you don't comprehend much at all." 

She reached her hands out, revealing two small objects. "Here." 

"What are those?" Noah demanded. 

"Flashlights, so you can navigate through the woods." 

Noah didn't move, so I took them from her. "Thanks." 

She spun around, creating a whirlwind of hair and trotted off. 

I placed a flashlight in Noah’s hand. "Come on." 

"There are probably tracking devices on them." 

I shrugged. "I planned on ditching them before we reached the city anyway." 

"Alright. Lead the way." 

We sprinted off. Halfway, I had to slow down a bit. I guessed the adrenaline spike I had when chasing after Ari let me go quite a bit further. As we reached the end of the trails, we tossed the flashlights into some brush. 

Noah glanced up at the full moon. "How much further?"

"About 12 miles. You grew up here. Don't you remember?" 

"No. It has been a long time and I tried to forget." 

We took the most direct route through the middle of the city. Not surprising, the streets were empty so close to curfew. We only had to stop once and wait for the bus to pass. When we neared Mrs. Spencer's neighborhood, I caught Noah looking in that direction. 

"When did you decide to move them out of here?" I asked quietly. 

"Right before you walked into the meeting. I overheard that woman talking about taking over the city." 

"Do you think they'll go?" 

"I'm not going to give them a choice. Once we're done at the factory, I'll tell them to go pack and return the next day to pick them up." 

"Good thing you left your truck with the Andrews." 

"Yes, a very good thing." 

We spied Frederick, hunkered down in an alley a block away from the University.  He jumped like a rabbit when we arrived. 

"There are guards all over the campus," he said in a huff. 

"What?" Noah said. 

My jaw dropped. "How would they realize we were coming?"

He rubbed his face repeatedly before answering. "I don't know."

I searched up and down the street to verify it was still empty. "Come on." 

The flashlight fell from his hands and hurled to the ground. Noah caught it seconds before it banged on the cement. 

"You're not really going to go in there?" 

I slapped him on the back. "Don't lose hope yet. Let's get a better understanding of what we're working with." 

"I agree. There aren't many places we can't break in and out of undetected," Noah said. 

Frederick ogled at us. 

"You didn't report that we couldn't get in yet, did you?" I inquired. 

"No. I don't want to be the one to tell them that." 

"Excellent. The administration building is off by itself in the back. That's where the dean's office is," I said. "Noah, did they give you a comms device?" 

"No." 

Frederick lifted his right hand up. "I can communicate to everyone." 

"Tell the others in the vicinity to keep one eye on the campus and other in the streets." 

Frederick straightened up and nodded. We sneaked through the alleyways to the back of the campus and squatted behind the same bushes where Jefferson and I paused when we tailed Ari. 

"Coast is clear," Frederick said, moving to stand up. 

Noah snatched his arm and yanked down. "No. There is someone watching the staircase under the tree over there." 

"How can you see that?" Frederick asked. 

"Night vision lenses," Noah said matter-of-factly. 

I wished I had mine. I had left everything in Yabacon. 

Noah turned to Frederick. "Is there someone close by who can take care of that guy?"

"Uh, I'll find out," Frederick said. 

We waited in a strained silence. My legs ached from squatting. 

All of a sudden, Noah grabbed the both of us and lurched forward. "He moved away, let's go!" 

We dashed up the stairs and around the corner to the office, hugging the wall. Noah held his hand up as soon as he peered into the window. All of his fingers except for one dropped. One guard inside. He turned to me, gestured to himself and made a slashing motion across his neck. 

Frederick waved him off. He placed his left ear piece in my hand before slinking back around the corner of the building. 

I put it in just as Frederick spoke. "I gave you the audio-only piece. I'm going to create a diversion to draw him out." 

I stepped toward where Frederick vanished to stop him, but Noah latched onto my arm and shook his head. He gestured to his ears. He hadn't heard it. 

I pointed to my eyes and then back toward the window. Once again, we stayed still. 

Ten minutes later, an earsplitting siren wailed inside. 

Frederick's voice returned. "I tripped the alarm on the lab. Aaron and Nate, if I don't make it out, do not wait for me. Continue to the rendezvous. Oh, yeah and Lily can hear you." 

Aaron's voice was next. "Fine job. They're all running inside. We'll see you soon, Lily." 

Noah tapped me and we moved quickly to the patio French doors. He tried the doorknob but it was locked. Instead of breaking out his lock pick, he rammed a foot through the glass and opened it from the inside. 

I wanted to smack my hand on my forehead for a second, but then realized it was the quickest way. He darted inside and I turned to watch the vicinity for more guards.