“We were deployed to turn around a losing operation against these rebels.” I am thinking back on the briefs and reportsMason showed me, the veracity of which I did not question. Maybe if I hadn’t been so lost in my grief, I would have paid more attention to any discrepancies or oddities. “I figured she sent us here to die, but I didn’t think she lied about the war itself.”
Roxana tilts her head and scrutinizes me as Lucy slides her hand on top of mine and grips it in a gesture of comfort. “In comparing intelligence, it would appear some of the more egregious tragedies—the bombing of Derry, the fire that nearly engulfed a third of Atlanta, the surprise attack at Bordentown—were perpetrated by the UR and made to look like we did it. There are several instances of events blamed on our group that we had nothing to do with.”
This information sits in the room heavy—the air is thick with shock. Instinctively, I look at Mason. He is grim, but unsurprised. He and I fought alongside these people—our people, our citizens—that Roxana is alleging are being killed by their own leader.
“Are you saying Theia is intentionally killing our soldiers?” Cassie inquires in a small voice. The bold girl who threatened Lucy is gone, in her place a scared teenager who has never seen combat. “She’s…faking this war?”
“That is how it appears,” Delilah replies solemnly. “We suspected as much but couldn’t confirm it without knowing the movement of Roxana’s soldiers. With these suspicions confirmed, it is more urgent than ever that we remove her from power.”
“She will not go down quietly. Theia has never been fond of a contrary voice.” Roxana crosses her arms over her chest. Again, the familiarity strikes me as odd. That’s precisely what I said—how could Roxana know Theia that well?
“No, I imagine not. We are preparing to take the capital by force, though we would prefer a diplomatic resolution.”
“Are you kidding? You’re going to let her step down peacefully, after everything she’s done?” Lucy scoffs loudly. “Why didn’t my father get a chance to step down? Or the Reeds? Or McGovern’s fucking kids?”
“Right, I forgot Blondie Senior here is a kid-killer,” Captain Finley interjects.
“I did not kill Leader McGovern’s children,” I shoot back.
It was my first assassination, the one Hunter and I had planned meticulously. Mason would drive the boat. I would take the children into custody. Hunter would assassinate the leader and his wife. Instead, I had to do everything by myself because Hunter was gone and I worried about Mason being a Black man alone in the Southeast, so I made Theia keep him back too.
“The night I arrived, there was a coup at the mansion. I killed the leader as he was fleeing alone. His wife and children burned alive inside. I…I tried to go in for them, but the flames had nearly engulfed the entire home.”
While most of the room looks rightly horrified, Captain Finley remains suspicious. “How come nobody else heard that story? I’m from here, all right? I grew up in Alabama, I know all about shitty McGovern. Every person who was around that night said the family were murdered and then Order soldiers ransacked the house and burned it down.”
“Theia encouraged that story, yes. It helped the optics of our operation to be taken seriously within circles such as yours, or other underground rebellion efforts. We would rather be seen as ruthless and efficient than lucky and messy.” I shove my hands in my pockets. “Believe what you want, but that is what happened. I do not have any reason to lie to you.”
“Except you don’t want your lover to think you’re a kid-killer,” Captain Finley replies. “Or your disciple over there.”
“I would rather be judged for who I am than appreciated for who I am not. Lucy and Private Frank know who and what I am.If you want to make a different judgment, go ahead. I truly do not care what you think of me.”
The tension in the room breaks as Captain Finley snickers and shakes her head. “Yeah, okay, I see why you like her, LP.”
Delilah looks to Roxana. “I would like you to come with us to New York. Your ‘surrender’ alongside the pressure from other councilors I believe will give her more incentive to step down peacefully.”
“In the meantime, what? We keep getting slaughtered by Greens who don’t even know who the fuck they’re fighting?” Captain Finley raises her voice and crosses her arms, clearly incredulous. “This is a big ask from a group that’s done nothing but indiscriminately murder my friends for months.”
I roll my eyes. “Clearly, you’d pull your people back as best you can. Spread out, don’t hoard everyone here because that makes a target. Get somewhere safe for the time being.”
“So, hide like cowards.” Captain Finley huffs.
“That should not be hard for you. An ambush from behind on a civilian road, sending an assassin into an unarmed ballroom, amateurishly derailing a train and setting fire to the local ecosystem—you are excellent in cowardice already.”
Captain Finley barks out a laugh and glares at me over the table. “You must be exhausted from the hoops you gotta jump through to look like the good guy.”
“One of your people shot an innocent woman in a ballroom. She died in my arms. Your pointless ambush cost Mason his arm.”
“The grenade he threw back at us cost him his arm,” Captain Finley replies harshly. “And I don’t know anything about an assassin in a ballroom. We’re too busy fighting for our lives to attend your cute parties.”
“I never sent anyone to a room full of civilians.” Roxana’s light eyes move from me to Delilah. “If they claimed to be one of us, they were lying.”
Lucy puts words to the thought I cannot speak aloud. “Theia sent her.” She laughs like Captain Finley, sarcastic and short. “Of course she did. She sent someone to kill me. God, she sucks. Have I mentioned lately that she sucks? Maybe I’ve been too light on telling everyone how much she sucks.”
“I can’t believe she’s killing our soldiers.” Cassie’s sad, faraway voice cuts through the tension in the room. “Our friends, our families. Not to mention the poor people simply trying to live their lives. The people we thought we were helping and protecting.”
“I don’t believe there is a depth of depravity too deep for Theia,” Roxana remarks quietly. “That has been my experience, anyway.”
Another reference to an unexplained history. Delilah locks eyes with me, and I know she knows I suspect there is another layer here. This game of hide-and-seek information tests my patience.
