United, page 7
part #4 of Protectorate Series
“She told me to make accommodations for some extra guests. Outside of yourselves, of course. So I would deduce that the person she is bringing forward does in fact want to defect, but she made it very clear she wants to return to the Northwest once is all done. That is why the exchange will be handled solely between Jessica here and the handler.”
“It is my understanding that this defection is a very delicate one,” he finished. “Though I don’t know the defectors or even their identity, I do know the handler. If she trusts these defectors that they do have pure intentions, then I do as well.”
“You keep saying defectors, so more than one. Clearly someone high risk to go through all this trouble. This is all very strange if you ask me. Not to mention, my mother and I were under the understanding that I would be present for the handoff,” Jake said, disgruntled.
“It’s not my call,” Greg said in a gentle, diplomatic tone. “These are the terms I have been given and lay before you. It is up to you four, as Ursula’s representatives, to determine if you will continue with the exchange.”
I was fairly certain now that it was Jess’s mother. Neither Jessica nor her mother would ever do something to harm the other even if they were on opposing sides of this war. Greg would clearly know Katrina just as he had known Jessica.
I didn’t like the idea of Jessica going alone any more than Jake did, though for a very different reason. We really had no assurance that this wasn’t a trap outside of the hope that a mother wouldn’t harm her daughter. It could easily just be bait Reynolds was putting out hoping to take down some of Ursula's closest confidants.
It truly was in our best interest to allow Jessica to go alone as she didn’t have the sort of information about Freedom Fighter infrastructure and tactics that Jake would should he be taken.
I knew Ursula well enough to know she would weigh the risk of the trap against the possibilities that success came with. Jessica may have been a member of the Freedom Fighters, but she was also someone Ursula would be fine to part with if things went south.
If it came down to being Ursula’s representative here, I knew just as well as Jake that she would have willingly taken the risk of losing one Fighter for the chance at a tantalizing mystery defector high up in Protectorate government. Even Greg was most likely expendable to her.
To send Jake would be too much of a personal risk as well as a tactical risk. Even sending me, though I am sure she would be happy to be rid of me personally, would hurt her cause in the end.
If I was captured by the Protectorate, who knew what they would do to me—most likely publicly—to boost their moral and hurt the Freedom Fighters? Ursula and I may not have gotten along very well, but she couldn’t risk the blow to her cause if I were taken.
“And you are sure that it’s Katrina?” I blurted out with all the scenarios rolling around in my head. “You’ve seen her face to face? It could just be someone posing as her.”
Jessica may have been expendable to Ursula, but she wasn’t to me. She was one of the few friends I had. I wasn’t going to let her go into any unnecessary danger if I could help it.
“How did you know?” Greg said, his brown eyes widening and his square jaw clenching. It was a very military look.
“Oh, sorry,” I said, realizing that I had said her name out loud. “I just assumed by what you said. Someone inside the Community. They would have to have ties to Jessica and be emotionally invested in her safety. Plus someone who wanted to stay within the walls. It all pointed to Katrina.”
“And Katrina is?” Jake asked, never liking to be out of the loop.
“My mother,” Jessica said softly.
“I’m sorry, Jess,” I said quickly. “I didn’t mean to blurt it out.”
“It’s okay,” she replied, patting my hand and giving me a soft timid smile so unlike her.
“I’ve spoken with her face to face,” Greg assured me. “It was a few weeks ago, when the package first went into hiding and wanted to reach out to Ursula. The defectors knew that Katrina had the connection to the Freedom Fighters. It was when the negotiations started. I don’t think she is attempting anything underhanded, if that gives you any assurance,” he said to me.
“You know my mother,” Jessica added. “She is proud of her station, the fact that her ancestors worked their way up to it and kept it. She would never give that up. But she also understood why I left after what happened.”
I knew what Jessica was referring to. Her place to take over her mother’s business had been given to another. A Cream family that had a sibling with nowhere to go. Regular life just wasn’t acceptable to someone like that. So instead the position was taken from Jessica and given to Amelia. It had been a sensitive situation for me. Unknowing to Jessica, Amelia had been the only person I had grown close to among the Creams, outside of Theo.
I wondered if perhaps the “package” was Amelia. She would have had the connection to Katrina working under her. But I had no idea what information Amelia could have that would be of use to Freedom Fighters or who would be with her.
Begrudgingly I agreed with Greg and Jessica that her mother would never cause her harm and this was the best situation for all since Greg was sure it was Katrina.
Later that night, as I laid awake in my cot, I couldn’t help but wonder over who the package could possibly be. I was still awake when the early light started to seep through the window, and I heard Jessica rise from her bed. The soft snoring of our other companions told me I was the only one to be awake. I waited till the soft knock on the door came before slipping out of my own bed.
It was Greg, still with the morning crust in his eyes, but alert at least.
“Hey,” I whispered, padding over barefoot to the two of them at the door.
I tripped and stumbled over Jake’s shoes lying haphazardly in the walkway. It didn’t help that it was early morning light.
Both of them shushed me as I stumbled and regained my balance. I murmured that Jake was a slob before crossing the last bit of length to the door.
“I think I should come too,” I said, getting to them. “For protection,” I added for good measure.
Greg looked at me with a lifted brow.
“Sorry. I don’t think Ursula would want to risk Venus Verticordia. You're a beacon to a lot of people,” Jessica said. “But I know Greg. He is a good soldier. I promise we will be fine if anything goes wrong.”
“You should take her,” Jake said, sitting up in his bed and rubbing his face.
We all turned in surprise to face him.
“What?” He said looking at our shocked faces. “You think I could sleep with that elephant stomping around?” he motioned to me with a half smile that told me he was teasing.
“Maybe if you cleaned up after yourself I would be quieter,” I shot back.
I couldn’t help but feel a little relief that after the passing of the night we were finding our way back to being friends.
“Whatever,” he said with a chuckle. “Anyway. It would be a good idea to take her along. Ella can take care of herself and, if things go bad, keep you all alive.”
Both Jessica and Greg exchanged a questioning glance.
“You’ll just have to trust me on this,” he said, coming to standing.
Jake stood and stretched. I realized for the first time that he wasn’t wearing a shirt. It wasn’t the first time that I had seen Jake shirtless. I knew he had the strong physique of someone who was used to hard labor, but it was the first time I didn’t blush at the sight.
Still, I looked away out of embarrassment as he stretched with his cloth pants barely hanging around his waist. I realized that Jessica had gone red all over.
“Alright fine,” Greg said, taking no notice of what Jessica was feeling. “You can sit in the transport and wait. If anything goes wrong, I’ll radio in.”
He added that last part still a little confused as to why I would be of any help at all. He looked down at the watch on his hand. Clearly they were on a tight time table and standing here and arguing about who got to go wasn’t scheduled in.
We rode silently in the transport. It didn’t take us long to exit the Settlement, and I found the ride to be a lot smoother with Greg at the wheel than when Jake had driven. Though it hadn’t looked like it the first time we arrived, there did seem to be a relatively clear path that led from the main gate of the settlement. I could easily see that we were driving south out of the thick forest. As the trees thinned, the sun was just coming up on our right side.
The Northwest Community was getting closer and closer, and I was beginning to worry that it was getting a little too dangerously close. I realized as we turned to the east I knew precisely where we were going. It was the caves that I once lived in.
It gave me a little relief knowing that we weren’t going to be right up against the Northwest Community. There would be Guardian patrols out here for us to be on the lookout for but nothing as dangerous as directly around the Community.
I waited in the transport a few hundred yards from the entrance to my first home. I could easily see Greg and Jessica walk almost the entire distance before turning the corner around an exceptionally large granite boulder. I knew it well. On the other side was a crescent dust bowl clearing that served as the opening to the cave in the side of the foothills.
The hardest part was the waiting. Without any word from Greg, I had no choice but to sit and hope everything was going fine. It couldn’t have taken more than twenty minutes for the exchange to happen and the “package” to be transferred over—whoever that was.
I saw their elongated shadows coming around the bolder before they actually appeared. I sat up straighter, anticipating who could be such a tantalizing morsel for Ursula to go through all this trouble.
I made out four distinct shadows walking back towards me. This piqued my interest even more. Was the “package” two people, or was Katrina returning back with us after all?
I realized that for Jessica’s sake I hoped the latter. Nothing was worse than having a family member on the other side of the battle.
My mouth dropped open as the group came in to view. Greg must have recognized them but maybe didn’t know the implications. Jessica shared my same sense of utter shock as she walked, wide eyes on the ground, hair nervously twirling in her finger as she marched back beside them.
I got out of the car and stumbled forward for the second time today. This time instead of Jake’s shoes tripping me up it was my own wonderment.
“Mother? Father?” I stammered out. I swallowed hard, realizing that I probably shouldn’t call them that anymore. After all, they weren’t my real parents. Ursula probably wouldn’t have liked to hear me have such sentiments to a unit forced on me by the Protectorate.
The satisfaction in the woman’s eyes hearing me speak those words were more than enough to reassure me that it was right to still give them that title.
“What are you doing here? You can’t be the ones…” I stammered out again, still not understanding what was going on.
Charles Blakely came to stand before me, a soft smile on his lips and his hand resting in a fatherly manner on my shoulder as he had done so many times in the months after my adoption.
“We are,” he said assuredly.
I realized how dirty and tired they looked. They weren’t wearing the usual cream-colored suit and dress I had always seen them in. Instead, they were wearing rags no doubt borrowed from someone here in the Outskirts.
Virginia stepped forward and took both my hands in hers.
“Our loyalties lie with our family now,” she said softly. “You, Ella. You are all the family we ever wanted, so it is with you that we will stand.”
CHAPTER TEN
JAKE CLEARED HIS throat and shifted in his seat awkwardly for the third time. He had been just as surprised to see our new guests as I had been. I never in my entire life would have considered that Charles Blakely would turn his back on the Protectorate, let alone give over information to its enemies.
Charles and Virginia sat calmly in their seats across from the four of us. Jessica, Greg, and I, who had returned from the hand off, and now Jake. They had been given time to clean up and were now sporting extra Freedom Fighter uniforms. I think seeing a cat in a three-piece suit would have made more sense in my mind than the image before me.
“Maybe there are some questions you would like to ask Mr. Blakely?” Greg finally said, encouraging the meeting to move along.
“Yes, of course,” Jake said, shifting and clearing his throat again.
His purpose here was to be Ursula’s voice. He was to receive the information and determine if it was worth it to bring them back with us.
Charles was probably one of the closest High Councilmen to President Reynolds. I could only imagine what information he had on Protectorate weaknesses or even on Reynolds himself.
“We were told you have some information that might have some worth to us. If it does, we would be willing to give you sanctuary,” Jake said, straightening to his full height.
He was clearly enjoying how the tables were turning for the Blakelys. They were, in essence, begging for asylum. Walking away from his life in the Community was practically suicide. It was only going to be a matter of time before they were found. Even in the Outskirts, they would have little chance of hiding. Their only chance of safety would be to return to the headquarters with us.
For such a dire position, Charles wasn’t even breaking a sweat. I had to admit that Virginia looked a little worried, but then she always seemed so delicate. More delicate than Virginia really was. When it came to the protection of her people or her family, she was willing to risk it all and stand up to anyone who got in her way.
“President Reynolds is a brilliant man,” Charles started. “He had his fingers in many different enterprises and made sure to always keep them separate from each other. That being said, he could only do so much himself. Often he had to entrust the running of these various…let’s call them corporations, to others. We would report back to him. For example, I had no idea there was land in the Outskirts that was habitable,” he said, turning to me with his green eyes.
I knew what he was trying to tell me with those eyes. He would have never allowed people to live in horrid caves around the Northwest Community if he had known about places like the one we were in now.
Charles was always a sensible man. He knew that the Protectorate had problems from the start, but he had faith in the governmental system that the Protectorate had built. Charles was sure there were safeguards like the assemblymen to ensure that life was good to all no matter what circumstances they were born into. It wasn’t perfect, but he thought it was his responsibly as High Chairman to move society closer to productive and livable circumstances for all, one generation at a time.
I watched him run a hand through his slicked-back black hair, still wet from cleaning up. He patted his coat pocket absently before setting it down again. I knew what he was looking for. He always carried a cigar in that pocket. Never to smoke, Virginia wouldn’t allow such a thing, just to have and roll between his fingers or put in his mouth from time to time.
“So what were you entrusted with?” Jake asked coldly.
“Experimentation for the purpose of improving and curing. It was called EPIC for short. I am aware you are familiar with one of our…their…facilities.”
“The labs where Defectives are made and tortured before being released out to prey on the Outskirts,” Jake said by way of correcting him.
I could see his jawline tensing. I couldn’t tell if he was excited about what information Charles was going to divulge or angry to see the man who headed such a horrible program.
“Yes, that was a small part of the enterprise,” Charles replied coolly. “You see, we found that simply infecting them and waiting for their genes to mutate and progress into more advanced forms of DNA, what we called Natural Born, wasn’t enough. Evolution is as much nature as nurture.”
“What does that mean?” I asked dryly.
“Basically,” Charles said, turning to me and explaining patiently much like when he showed me the inner workings of a Community system. “It wasn’t enough to create them for an evolutionary change. You see, we are shaped by our environment just as much as by our genetic makeup. It was the influences of the Outskirts on Defectives, and others alike, that molded and shaped their genetic makeup over time. It could be the exposure to the elements, we know that the ozone has only minimally repaired itself. Or it simply could be that there is no bubble holding them back.”
“Bubble?”
“Yes, the Community system is, in essence, a bubble halting any evolutionary process. There are small changes as Chosens were introduced, but certainly not on the level in the Outskirts. We theorize that it was the mixing of Outskirts, Defectives, and Chosen that created the right primordial soup, as it were, to make these fascinating natural borns.”
“But as I said, it was just one portion of the whole enterprise. We were seeking many different venues to cure the infertility problem as well as many other medical advancements. It was my least favorite, if truth be told, but in the end, I am an overseer and nothing more.”
“But it is these natural borns that Reynolds wants,” Jake said, his eyes flickering to me just for a moment.
“Yes. That was the scientific venue that panned out, unfortunately. It is really the key to our survival first, but secondly, it is also a means for a super powerful weapon of the Protectorate.It is within their DNA that Reynolds was able to create a substance that gives a man the attributes of a Defective for a short time and in a more controllable way.”
“The controlled Defectives. Yes, we encountered them not long ago,” Jake replied. He wanted Charles to see that he too had some classified information.
“When you announced the open settlements,” Charles said, referring to me, “I was just as shocked as everyone else. President Reynolds decided not long after that he would execute his first batch of superior guardians or Super Soldiers, as he called them. I spoke up my opposition to this plan. I understand that change takes time and isn’t always neat, but this was far beyond the moral mark.”
