The Girl Who Dared to Lead Read online

  “She will if you order her to.” She eyed me, daring me to argue.

  “She would,” I agreed amicably. “But if she complained and it got to the council, then they’d demand to know why I was pairing a girl with a stolen net with a Knight Commander for an investigation. And I’m not sure they would buy whatever story we came up with.”

  “Then tell her the truth: that I’m an undoc with skills that she doesn’t have!”

  “It’s a risk to even do that,” Maddox said. “You have an adult net, remember? She’s going to question how we got that for you, and if she is our enemy, she’ll use it against us. Besides, Dylan’s a Knight Commander and doesn’t want to take care of a child. She’ll refuse the job.”

  “Then tell her I’m a consultant!” she snapped back hotly. “An informant among the undocs who has contacts that can help in her investigation.” She looked at me and gave me a pleading look. “Liana, I know I can do this, and I know you can make it work. You’re good with lies—you make things believable. Please.”

  I stared at her for a long moment, suddenly reconsidering my initial stance against the idea. Tian had an answer for everything, and so far, they weren’t answers I hated. If anything, it showed that she had put a great deal of thought into this. Her imagination had run away with her, sure, but I was confident that was just Tian. I knew she could take care of herself, and if she thought she could do this in a way that would tell us who Dylan was, then who was I to doubt her? She’d proven herself more than capable before.

  And she knew the Tower. If anyone could track down the people we were looking for, it was her.

  I thought about Dylan and how she would feel being paired up with a child, and decided that, ultimately, it wasn’t Tian I needed to worry about, but what she might do to Dylan. Still, the picture in my head of Dylan hog-tied—with Tian sitting on her back—was amusing, and I smiled.

  Tian’s blue eyes darted right to it, and she smiled gleefully before sticking out her tongue at Maddox.

  “Wait, seriously?” Maddox asked, giving me a shocked look. “You’re thinking about it?”

  I nodded slowly, my smile growing. “Surprisingly, yes,” I said with a smirk. “Not that last part—that was crazy. But the rest of it… the rest of it I can work with.”

  19

  I was sitting on one of the couches in the conference room, my legs propped up on the small table in front of me, when Dylan and Maddox entered. Dylan whistled slightly as she emerged from the hall, spinning around in a slow circle as she checked out the room.

  “I always wondered what it looked like,” she said wistfully, a smile tugging at her lips. “This isn’t quite what I expected.”

  “That’s because the walls change,” Tian chirped from next to me. I gave her a quick glance and saw that she was perched on the arm of the sofa, her legs folded under her, watching Dylan with curiosity. She’d never met our competitor-turned-teammate, and I could tell she was curious.

  “They do?” Dylan asked, giving Tian a wide-eyed look of surprise. Tian and I both nodded, and she looked impressed. “That’s really nifty.”

  I strained to hear whether there was any undercurrent to her tone—some thread of jealousy or resentment—but there was nothing. If it was an act, it was very convincing.

  “It is,” I agreed amicably, deciding to put my best foot forward. Metaphorically speaking, I thought, as I shifted my weight slightly, trying to relieve some of the pressure on my knee. It felt fine, but it was still awkward, and twinged occasionally, even when I wasn’t moving it too much. “So what happened?”

  Dylan’s face hardened. “They got away,” she said, hostility radiating off of her. “Adams and Hanson—the two Knights I sent after them when we first arrived—lost everyone except the lead guy. I managed to catch back up and rejoin the pursuit several floors above where it started, but the bastard had some special control to the Cogstown doors. And the system wouldn’t accept my override code at the one he disappeared through. I tried to coordinate with the Cogs’ security unit, but by the time we got in, he was long gone. I’ve got a sweep running, but I figured it was a dead-end anyway.”

  It probably was, but I didn’t let anything reflect on my face. For all I knew, she had helped him get away, and had directed the sweepers elsewhere. “So you’ve got nothing?” I asked lightly.

  Displeasure settled on Dylan’s face, followed by a burst of pride that had her straightening her spine. “I didn’t say that,” she replied tartly. “I actually have a lot.” She reached into her pocket and produced a data chip. I had a moment of confusion, wondering if she had recovered it from my attackers, and then she approached the screen hanging on the wall. She paused long enough to look over her shoulder, seeking my permission, and I nodded, curious to see what she had.

  A moment later, the screen blinked to life, and she took a step back, revealing a double helix that was clearly a DNA chain. I looked at it, and then at her, raising an eyebrow to indicate she should explain.

  “This blood was recovered at the scene of your attack. I coordinated with another team and had them come in and collect samples before the humidity degraded them too much. They submitted them to testing with the few Knights we cross-trained in the Medica, and we got a match.”

  “You did?” I asked, leaning forward. “What’s his name?”

  “I don’t know,” she replied honestly. “All I know is that it matched the blood found at the scene of Devon Alexander’s death.”

  The scene of Devon Alexander’s death. In the Medica. Where those two men—Baldy and Plain-Face—had been talking with him. Excitement coursed through me, and I edged forward some in my seat. I had just been telling the others we needed to try to track those two down, and now one of them had reappeared! To kill me.

  I racked my brain, trying to search through the litany of faces that had been on the catwalk today, but none of them matched up with what I remembered of those two men. No one had been bald—although I supposed he could’ve let his hair grow out. Plain-Face was different, though: his features had been so nondescript that it would’ve been easy to overlook him, especially if he had melted back into the crowd.

  At least now I knew why they wanted me dead. They were legacies, and were no doubt trying to kill me to free up the position of Champion. I was going to have to be more careful coming and going in the future.

  “Champion?” Dylan asked, looking at me expectantly.

  I blinked, and realized I had been thinking too hard and missed the rest of her report. “Sorry, repeat that last bit. I was trying to remember if I saw either of the two men who were in the room with Devon on the catwalks today.”

  “Did you?” she asked, her eyes brightening with excitement and intrigue.

  I shook my head, and the disappointment on her face rivaled my own. “I had some time to evaluate them before they attacked, but none of them looked familiar.”

  But one of them sounded familiar, my brain reminded me, and I paused. My initial reaction was to dismiss the thought, as the man who had spoken to me had sounded nothing like Baldy—who had been the one doing the talking in the Medica. And his face had been completely different in a thousand countless ways.

  Unless… was it possible he was a twin? My brother and I had different DNA strands, but that was because we came from two different eggs and two different sperm. Identical twins, however, split from the same fertilized egg, which meant they had the same DNA.

  But if he was identical, he would’ve looked like Baldy. Identical twins differed somewhat in features, but overall, tended to fiercely resemble each other. I supposed that maybe if it was a twin (or even if it wasn’t), he could have been wearing makeup to try to confuse the sensors. It worked sometimes, and I’d even utilized it.

  “I think we lost her again,” Tian whispered loudly, and I realized I’d drifted back off into my thoughts.

  “Sorry,” I said, this time with a determined and final note that was mostly to myself. I did not want to repeat th
at a third time, especially in front of Dylan. I pictured what this must look like in her eyes, and felt a flash of embarrassment as I realized it made me appear woefully unprofessional. “Please continue, Dylan.”

  She grinned at me, and then took a deep breath. “Look, I’m not entirely sure what happened in that room with Devon, and you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, but I think those two men were secretly working with Devon, helping him conduct whatever plan he had to harm the Tower. I’m not sure what that plan was, but it seems to me that it didn’t die with Devon. If anything, maybe they’re still trying to accomplish whatever it is they were doing.”

  She squared her shoulders and stepped toward me, as if what she was about to tell me was deadly serious. I was already rendered speechless at how accurate her intuition had been regarding the scene in the Medica, and was curious to hear what she was going to say next.

  “I think these same men were responsible for interfering with the Tourney,” she said. “I hesitate to bring it up, because I know it could be viewed as a potential conflict of interest if I were to investigate this line of inquiry, but hear me out first.” She paused, and then nervously added, “Please.”

  I felt the urge to chuckle at that, but bit it back, recognizing that the effort had cost a lot. So I just nodded.

  “I think they murdered Ambrose,” she blurted out. “Even though you were stealing some of his thunder, he was in contention for the Tourney, and I think they targeted him. Maybe because of you, I’m not sure.” I blinked at her, but before I could begin to contemplate her words to figure out whether there was truth in them, she hastily added, “I don’t mean it like that… I meant because you killed Devon. Like a retaliation.”

  I nodded and relaxed some, allowing her to continue. It made sense that she had gone there, and it was possibly true. I’d never stopped to consider that those two men knew my face, my identity, everything. And I was supporting Ambrose for Champion. That made him a target to them—and a way to get back at me.

  “Go on,” I told her, wanting to see if she had any more.

  “Well, whatever they’re doing, it’s clear the Champion’s position is key, somehow. That means they might have still had people in the Tourney even after Ambrose’s murder. It also might mean that they are responsible for the sentinel’s malfunction, although with those records being sealed, I can’t really determine that. And now they’re trying to kill you to initiate another Tourney—and to try to get their own person into the position.”

  My eyebrows reached high into my hairline, and I looked at Maddox. Her green eyes were narrowed, but her head was cocked, and I could tell she was thinking the same thing I was: Is she genuine, or is this a ploy to get us to let down our guard and let her in on what we know? And, for the life of me, I couldn’t tell.

  But I wanted to believe that she was genuine. That she had somehow put the pieces together on her own, and stumbled into this. Although, if that were the case, I felt bad for her. Because this wasn’t anything resembling fun. It was scary at the best of times, and downright horrifying at the worst, and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. Save my worst enemy, mind you.

  Given the grim determination in Dylan’s eyes, though, I could tell that she knew it wouldn’t be easy, and that it could take her into a dark place, but that she was resolved to do it anyway. I sucked in a deep breath, and then decided to go forward with my plan. Maddox might not be happy, but she wouldn’t fight me.

  “You know that makes you a suspect, right?” Maddox said abruptly, and I paused, my mouth already open, and then swallowed the words back. Maddox had made a valid statement, and I was curious to hear the answer.

  “Yes, I do,” Dylan said resolutely. “I know it does. But I don’t care. These bastards have messed with my department, and I’ll be damned if I’ll let them corrupt something that I love! Something that my aunt gave her legs for, and something I’d be proud to lay down my life for. If there’s someone trying to hurt us, I’m going to stop them.” Her volume rose as she spoke, her tone becoming sharp and passionate, and I had to admit, I found it very believable.

  “So do you plan to investigate the other candidates?” I asked. “Including me?”

  “I’ve eliminated you, due to the fact that this man tried to kill you,” she said dryly, a smile growing on her lips. “And I’ll submit to whatever questioning you want, if it’ll help you believe I had nothing to do with what is going on. The faster we do it, the sooner I can go about tracking these guys down.”

  I smiled. “No questions,” I replied. “You’re the only former candidate standing before me, and I have to figure that if you were working with someone else, you wouldn’t be here trying to help me track down the men who attacked me.”

  “Unless she’s trying to lure you into a trap,” Maddox suggested, and I gave her a look and grinned. Dylan, however, frowned, clearly offended by the insinuation.

  “I really am not,” she stated flatly. “I understand we might not have gotten off on the right foot in the Tourney, but I’m assertive—not a terrorist. I may have competed with Liana, but I stand by the results of the Tourney. I am not contesting them. The Knights wanted her, and that means she deserves to be here, not me.”

  I blinked at her, surprised and impressed by her easy acceptance of the results. Again, I recognized that it could be a ploy, but I didn’t think so. She seemed so sincere—and maybe I just wanted to believe her.

  “Does my Lieutenant have a suggestion for how we can avoid a potential trap?” I asked lightly. I gave Maddox a pointed look, signaling I was letting her take the reins on this. It was on her to decide if Tian would go with Dylan.

  Maddox stared at me for a second, switched over to Tian, and then finished on Dylan, her green eyes revealing nothing.

  “I do,” she said, finally, and I could hear the slight sound of defeat in her voice. “Dylan, meet Tian. Tian, meet Dylan.”

  “How do you do,” Tian said primly, bouncing off the couch and heading toward Dylan, her hand already outstretched.

  Dylan eyed it for a second, clearly lost, and I had to bite my cheek to keep from laughing. This was going to be great.

  “Um… Hi, Tian,” she said, reaching a tentative hand out to the shorter girl. Tian grabbed it and shook it vigorously. As she did, Dylan looked over at me, her eyes desperately asking for help. “What’s going on?”

  “Tian’s going to help you look for these guys,” Maddox said, folding her arms across her chest. “She’s really good at finding hidden spaces that don’t show up on the sensors.”

  “Uh…” Dylan gently extracted her hand from where Tian was still shaking it, flexing her wrist as she did so, seemingly testing it to see if it was still attached. “Champion? Are you seriously going to allow a child to aid in an investigation?”

  “That ‘child’,” I said, with no small amount of humor, “was formerly an undoc. She knows how to hide from the sensors and how to navigate around them to avoid attracting any attention, and has already been instrumental in the defense of the Tower. If there’s a secret terrorist group hiding inside the Tower, then she’s the one to help you find them. You’re going to need her.” I didn’t mention the net, but Tian and I had cooked up a fake blocker that we could fix to her skin to explain the discrepancy. It would explain how she was able to maneuver around the Tower freely without the restriction of the child’s net being activated, and Dylan should buy it. If it even came up.

  “An undoc?” Dylan sputtered, and suddenly she was looking at her hand as if Tian had somehow infected her. “Are you joking?”

  I opened my mouth to admonish her, but Maddox beat me to it. “She’s not even a true undoc,” she said dryly. “I was born outside of the system; she merely fell out of it when her parents died of disease. Is that a problem for you?”

  Dylan’s eyes grew wide and her cheeks turned ruddy, her embarrassment visible. “I… Well… Your story is…” She swallowed, and then nodded her head at Maddox and Tian. “I’m sorr
y. You’re right, I shouldn’t have reacted like that. It’s not your fault that you were undocs, and all that matters is that you’re committed to the success of the Tower.”

  “Success of the Tower?” I asked, cocking my head. I’d never heard anyone refer to the Tower as being a work in progress. As far as I knew, it had been built, and it worked. Accomplishment achieved, and subsequently finished.

  Dylan gave me a dazzling smile. “Keeping humanity alive,” she replied. “If we’re all that remains, then we have to fight every day to keep ourselves alive. The mission isn’t a success unless our descendants survive long enough to leave. That’s when the Tower will be fully successful. Or at least, that’s what my aunt says.”

  That was the most optimistic view of the Tower I had ever heard, and, Scipio help me, I liked it. I liked that she put people first, and counted success by the number of lives saved rather than lost. That she felt the Tower was a mission, one that wouldn’t be determined a success or a failure until the day we could return to the world outside. It was a beautiful thought, and rare, as I really didn’t think anyone ever considered what the outside world held.

  “Well, I don’t know about all that,” Tian said, her voice light and airy. “But getting the jerks who jumped my Doxy and killed Liana’s mother seems like fun!”

  I winced, as her words made my heart ache, but didn’t give in to the pain. There wasn’t any time, and I could keep it together now and cry later.

  “Right, well, I suppose we can go back tomorrow and see what Tian can find in that area?” Dylan said, and I gave her a grateful look, glad someone was changing the subject. “I’ll notify my team and—”

  “No,” I cut in sharply, not wanting her to waste her breath. She might not have put it together yet, but chances were that every personnel decision and order I made was being monitored and reported to the enemy. “I only want you and Tian working on this, which means that you’re doing this in your free time. I have no idea who to trust in the Citadel, and if anyone watching sees that I’ve placed you on a special detail, it could put them on alert to watch you. Your shifts with your squad will remain as they are because I do not want them to know about any of this. Have you shared your thoughts with them?”