Page 116 of Anarchy Chained: Alpha Thomas

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX - SADIE

“I have him,” Sheila says through the helicopter headsets. Case, Iziah, Lincoln and I are crammed into the small space. I’m practically sitting in Iziah’s lap. Lulu and Molly had to stay at home. They only have one helicopter after some crash a few months ago. So no room. “He’s in a warehouse in the Merchant District.”

“Motherfuckers,” Lincoln says. “That’s my hood, goddammit.”

“Well, it’s theirs at the moment,” Sheila replies. “There’s hundreds of people in there with him, and I’ve got to tell you, just from my limited view from a security camera mounted inside, I think we might have a big problem.”

“What are they saying?” Case asks.

“No sound,” Sheila replies. “But Uzi and Thomas are addressing the crowd and… oh, shit.”

“What?” Lincoln asks, banking the helicopter over the top of the last mountain we need to clear before Cathedral City comes into view.

“That DA, Randy Shultz, is there with them.”

I shudder at the name. Randy.

“Shits, you mean,” Case laughs into his headset.

“It’s not funny, Case. He’s dressed in black too. And…”

“And what?” Lincoln says.

“And he’s wearing our logo. The anarchy symbol. It’s like… he’s a—”

“Fuck,” Lincoln says.

“What?” Iziah asks, just before I can do it myself.

“He’s one of us,” Case finishes for Linc.

“He’s Prodigy,” I say.

“How do you know that?” Lincoln asks.

“I know that name,” I say. “He came to the…” I almost say school, but that’s not what it was. “He came to see me. Uzi made me…”

Iziah puts a hand on my arm. I don’t know if he knows what Uzi was making me do while they were controlling us, but I appreciate the gesture.

“He made me turn into someone for him.”

“Well, I, for one, have no clue what that means,” Lincoln says. “But fuck that guy. Sheila, how long do we have?”

“Three minutes until initiation,” she replies.

“In three minutes, we’ll have control over the entire city,” Lincoln says. “We didn’t plan it this way, and it sucks that we have to do it, but we gotta use everything available to get Thomas back. Prodigy cannot have him again. Ever.”

But they already do. They have him and Sullivan too.

The helicopter dips suddenly as Lincoln takes us south towards the Merchant district. My stomach flips, and not just because of the quick descent.

Something is very wrong here. I can feel it.

Then the letters start flashing across my vision.

Sadie, Sadie, Sadie. Come closer, Sadie. We’re waiting for you.

But it’s not Thomas and it’s not Sullivan.