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But I guess that’s the biggest problem…I should have feared. Because how can you not when you’re walking into the belly of the beast?

32: The Processing Facility

Hewasn’tkidding.Oncethose pills took effect, I felt absolutely nothing. And I was incredibly grateful too, because the rest of the hike through the woods was no picnic. I knew it couldn’t have been that long, but climbing fallen logs, moving through prickly brush, and watching out for those damn slippery rocks, felt like hours. But a quick look at my tab told me it had only been thirty minutes.

I think the worst part was that we walked in silence. Wes led with Chelsea, throwing up hand motions from time to time, telling us to stop, go, slow down, or move faster. I recognized a few of them, but I still didn’t understand them all, so I kept a close eye on what Chelsea did and mimicked her.

Matias hiked right behind me, close on my heels. Every time we stopped and crouched down, he would settle right at my side—so close I could feel the heat radiating off him. And I knew this wasn’t the time for this, but every time I felt him next to me, my heart fluttered and a creamy heat like warm milk pooled in my veins. The result was a desperation to look at him, reach for him, touch him even. But I remembered how things were left between us, and though I was still angry, I desperately wanted to talk to him about it. But every second I thought I might get the chance to whisper “sorry” to him, Wes had us hustling again.

It would have to wait.

As the hour climbed, so did we, moving upward as the earth reached skyward. Once at the top, we were at the edge of a cliff, looking down at a clearing not too far from us. We dropped to our bellies, staying as low to the ground as we could, army crawling to the ledge. And once there, we peered down and took in the view.

It was breathtaking. The sky was clear, with a full moon that lit up the landscape better than any flashlight could. The clearing itself looked like it was manmade with the stumps of hundreds of trees littering it. And in the center was a huge concrete building, probably five-stories tall. It had to be the processing facility headquarters was talking about. Surrounding it were several smaller buildings in size and height. Industrial work lamps had the whole place lit up.

“Shit,” Wes grunted. “They got this place more heavily guarded than the REG office, I bet.” I thought he was exaggerating a little, but then again, maybe not. Because as I looked around, I only spotted more and more Telvian soldiers. They wereeverywhere!

“Look there,” Chelsea pointed. To the right of us, burrowed deep into the hill, was a cave. And funneling in and out of that tunnel appeared to be workers wearing hard hats, pushing carts filled with some sort of rock out of the cave while others pushed empty carts back in. “What the hell is that?”

“Looks like they’re mining something.”

“Yeah, but what? And why?”

Matias faced me. “Mara, did your dad ever talk about mining anything? Do you have any idea what this is?”

I shook my head. “All they ever talked about were the reeducation camps. I never heard anything about a processing facility or a mine.”

“I can tell you this,” Chelsea cut in, her voice sharp. “That’s no reeducation camp. Been there, done that, wouldn’t recommend it.” I felt the sting in her words, and guilt washed over me. But I tried to shake it off. Now wasn’t the time.

Wes typed on his tab. After a moment, he filled us in. “Giza wants to see if we can figure out what they’re mining and why. If we can get a sample, even better.”

Chelsea snorted. “Did ya tell him the place is more fortified than the freaking Presidential Palace?”

Wes shot her a quick glare. “I don’t question orders.”

She snorted again. “That’d be the first.” Wes’s eyes narrowed further, but he didn’t respond.

I glanced at Matias, watching him as he gazed out pensively. His eyes darted from one thing to another. “The carts are going to that main building in the middle.”

“Storage?”

“Maybe. It’s big though. I bet that’s the processing plant. I think that’s our best bet.”

“We’ll have to get in somehow,” Wes said.

We all stared at it, trying to determine our best way in. I scanned the grounds, noting all the potential access points and number of guards. My peers mumbled away to one another, but I kept my focus on the facility, and then a thought occurred to me. “What about the back?”

“What?”

“What about the back? I mean, this place has got guards everywhere, but it makes sense. You’ve got all these workers walking around with those carts. Maybe the back of the facility has less security?”

They looked at one another, calculating, before Wes spoke up. “That’s an idea. Let’s circle back and see what we’ve got on the other side.” He wasn’t even done talking before he was shimmying away from the ledge.

We followed his lead, and once we were deeper into the woods, we shifted right, got up, and hiked north. After we walked several yards, we turned to the left and hiked west toward the facility once again. As we got closer and could see the clearing, we were back on our bellies, army crawling the rest of the way until we were on the other side of the complex. The bright light of the moon still had the facility lit up, but it was darker on this side without all the industrial lamps everywhere. And, to our delight, it was a lot less guarded.

“There,” Matias pointed to a single door guarded by one soldier. “You think it’s locked?”

“Probably,” Chelsea frowned, but her mood appeared to lift a second later when she pointed out, “there’s an open window there. See it?”