AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Zion was supposed to be a party place, owned almost entirely by my father. Two years after the Change, it’s collected the brightest minds in the field of genetic engineering and biochemistry. This requires high security and surveillance. And now it’s requiring too much of my time.
“Then,” Raven says in that same voice like he is giving the most boring report of his life, “we should really try to find out what the deal with Milena Tsariuk is. You said that girl, Katura, is looking for the info. She is an amateur, I assume.”
“She has her methods. Her dad is not.”
“Who’s her dad?”
I briefly explain to Raven. “He is getting intel about any red flags in contractors’ files.”
Raven is quiet. Suspicious—I know Raven.
“Alright,” he says. “Let that girl do her job, see what her father can find. If there’s nothing in the security employee files, we’ll take a different kind of action.”
“What action?”
“The spring-breakers, once again.”
“Right,” I say irritated. “I know the Deene people. Everyone else—females—there are only thirty or so of them. Besides the ones my dad sent here before the attacks. Shit. Right. Those ones.”
My head is already throbbing from this Tsariuk business. The only good part about is that it brought the beautiful spy to Zion.
“I’ll look into it,” Marlow says, getting up. His restlessness is suspicious. “Well, as soon as I sort out the move with the Outcasts.”
“Right.” I nod, tensing up at the mention.
That’s the new development.
The Outcasts had a meeting with Maddy and Bo and voted—or whatever they call that silly procedure—to come to Ayana. That’s the true power—letting someone believe they have a choice.
“I don’t want to be any part of it. It’s all on you, Marlow,” I say.
It’s happening in two days. And though I tell myself that I don’t care, I clench with unease every time I think about it. This is just one more headache. But that also means Droga is gonna be by my side.
“The move,” I tell Marlow, “and the arrangements. You have clearance to all the info and their financial records. I won’t show my face to them for the next several days. I don’t want to, and I don’t need any more drama.”
“Understood, Arch,” Marlow says.
In a minute, both he and Raven are gone, and I stand by the window, watching the dark-blue night sky pushing the pink strip of sunset into the horizon.
I understand Marlow’s anxiousness. He is excited about the Eastsiders. I, on the other hand, want them all gone. Except for Droga and his girl. Ty and his lady are fine, too. Maddy and Bo—I need them. The rest can fuck off from my island.
I know one thing that would make this island and my life safer and stop the attacks on the surveillance.
I failed once, but it doesn’t hurt to try.
So I call Dad.
43
ARCHER
Calling the Secretary of Defense,even on a private line, even being his only son, is a struggle. It’s the sad truth. It takes two hours for him to call me back.
If he were a normal dad, we would’ve had a chat about random stuff.
“How are you doing, son?” he does ask.
But as soon as I say, “I’m alright. How is it going?” he is already talking to someone else next to him, not listening to me.
