Page 149 of Blue Arrow Island
Marcus looks at his wrist, pretending to check a watch that’s not there. “Now’s good. You’re obviously hiding something.”
Olin holds his gaze. “I’d rather just talk to Briar.”
“No.”
I frown at Marcus. “Why is it up to you?”
“You’re not the only one he deceived.” He looks from me to Olin. “Give me five minutes and we can talk somewhere private.”
He assigns tasks to everyone on the command teams, like head counts of our people and the insurgents, damage assessments and securing the places we entered the camp on ladders.
“A couple days ago, we lost all electronic controls except red level,” Nova tells him. “There’s no power in the kitchen and no one’s room door lock works.”
Marcus nods, his brow furrowed. Nova turns to me.
“Briar, thank you for what you did for all of us.” Her words are thick with emotion. “You saved a lot of lives today.”
I’m taken aback because Nova has always been quiet and stoic around me. Finally, I manage to say, “You would’ve done the same.”
“Nova.” Marcus inclines his head toward the Sub entrance.
She follows, and Olin joins us. The Sub entrance door is already open, probably because the lock doesn’t work and there’s no point in closing it.
Olin and I walk beside Marcus and Nova. I take his hand and squeeze it.
“Thank you. That was the second time you saved my life.”
His lips curve up a fraction, but he doesn’t answer. In the few days he’s been here, his skin has taken on a better color and his cheeks are a little less sunken. His hair is still a wild riot of curls.
I’m still in shock that he can speak. There were so many times at Rising Tide he made me believe he couldn’t. He made everyone believe it.
Marcus takes us into a room that used to be someone’s office, gesturing for Olin to sit behind the desk, which has nothing on it. He carries another chair into the room so he, Nova and I can all sit down across from Olin.
There’s a tense silence in the room, everyone seeming to wait for someone else to speak.
“So,” Marcus finally says. “Why the mute act?”
Olin sighs softly, looking like he’s considering his answer.
“Rona said Pax cut your tongue out,” I say.
Something like amusement gleams in Olin’s eyes. “I started that rumor. It worked out well.”
I pinch my brows together, confused. “How do you start a rumor when you don’t want anyone to know you can talk?”
“I told someone Pax threatened to cut out my tongue. So when I stopped talking, the rumor spread that he’d done it. He never corrected anyone, I think because he thought it made him look like a badass.”
“He’s such a fucking idiot,” Marcus mutters.
“Why?” Nova asks Olin.
He folds his hands in front of him on the desk. “I was sent here three years ago by the ILF—the Idaho Liberation Front. My assignment was to gather intelligence on Whitman’s secret island.”
My mouth drops open. Olin gives me an apologetic look.
“I couldn’t tell anyone. I’m the fourth person the ILF tried to send, and the first one to make it. One person was killed in jail and the other two—we don’t know for sure, but they probably died on the boat or the beach trying to get here.”
“What’s the Idaho Liberation Front?” I ask.
