Page 61 of V-Day
Cristián leaned against the tree beside her. They watched the unit go about their silent business. Everyone seemed to know what to do without being told. It was eerie.
Parris had one boot on a root, her laptop balanced on her knee, as she frowned down at the screen. Locke moved over to look at the screen, too. He frowned. The two of them looked at each other.
More silent understanding. With a jolt, Chloe realizedthiswas what the Academy had tried to teach her, all those years ago. This was deep fraternity in action. The way Locke had shadowed her, propping her up. The bag of jerky which was offered every time she was hungry, even before she knew she was hungry. Parris monitoring her exhaustion and doing something about it the moment she could pause. The way everyone got on with things, while also keeping an eye on each other. The group-think they shared.
Knowing this made it easier to understand why anyone would throw themselves on a grenade. Until just now, the logic of such an action had defied her understanding.
Parris put the laptop away and moved back to the trunk.
“News,” Cristián guessed.
Parris nodded. “The drone circling Washington veered away as soon as the Pascuallita base lost contact with it, heading on a south-west trajectory.”
“Heading forwhere?” Chloe asked.
“And who the hell is controlling it, if the Insurrectos aren’t?” Cristián asked.
“As far as they can tell,” Parris said, “they think someone planted a secondary directive in its chip, to take over as the primary guidance if manual control was lost.”
Cristián pushed himself off the tree. “Whereis it heading?” he demanded, his voice tight.
Parris sighed. “Lozano Colinas,” she said. “It’s moving at full cruising speed, best altitude. It’ll be there in seven hours.”
*
PRESIDENT COLLINS SLAPPED HIS HANDon the top of the tin desk, making it shudder and rattle. “Who gave the order?” he shouted.
Everyone in the bunker flinched. No one spoke.
“Bergen?” Collins barked.
Rosa shook her head. “I don’t have that level of access, sir, even if I wanted it.”
Collins rounded on his heel to look at his staff. “All of you have the authority to give that order and have it obeyed. There were six of you in my office when I indulged in wishful thinking. One of you gave the order to have the drone turn and fire upon the Insurrectos, thereby breaking about a dozen international treaties, international laws and basic human decency!” His jaw flexed.
Still no one spoke.
“Whoever it was,” Richard Collins said evenly, “they had better rescind the order and have the drone drown itself in the Marianas trench where it can harm nothing but fish. I want that thing turned aroundnow. We are not playground thugs!”
Rosa cleared her throat. “Mr. President?”
He spun to face her once more. “What?” he barked,
She held out the flimsy with details about the drone’s course and projected target. “Los Alamitos doesn’t have control of the drone. It switched off its communication module.”
Collins turned to his staff. “You’re fired. You’re allfired. Get out!”
*
“READY TO MOVE?” CRISTIÁN ASKEDChloe softly, as the rest of the unit hefted their packs and settled them on their shoulders.
Chloe sealed the app, attached it to a text and sent it. “Now I am,” she said, putting away her phone.
Cristián put his hand to his jeans pocket as his phone buzzed.
There were similar slaps and reaches as the phones of the unit also buzzed and vibrated and chimed.
Everyone pulled out their phones and looked at their screens. On Cristián’s phone, Chloe could see the big, gaudy numbers taking up the entire screen.
6 hours, 32 minutes.
And underneath it, in glowing script:Get out of La Colinas!It was repeated beneath in Spanish.
As Cristián studied it, the “2” digital rolled up and a “1” took its place.
He looked at her. Everyone else was, too.
Chloe shrugged. “I figure we should keep our eyes on the time.”
Parris nodded and put her phone away. “Let’s go. The minutes really are ticking now.”
