Page 52 of Blue Arrow Island (Blue Arrow Island #1)

I could describe Agentic State Theory to someone who doesn’t understand it. But all my previous understanding came from textbooks and professors. The reality is significantly more disturbing.

- Excerpt from the journal of Dr. Randall McClain

“You can talk?” I stare at Olin, stunned.

He nods, an apology in his brown eyes. “I can, yes.”

“But ...” I shake my head, confused.

“When you’re ready, I’ll explain.”

Marcus looks at his wrist, pretending to check a watch that’s not there. “Now’s good. You’re obviously hiding something.”

Olin holds his gaze. “I’d rather just talk to Briar.”

“No.”

I frown at Marcus. “Why is it up to you?”

“You’re not the only one he deceived.” He looks from me to Olin. “Give me five minutes and we can talk somewhere private.”

He assigns tasks to everyone on the command teams, like head counts of our people and the insurgents, damage assessments and securing the places we entered the camp on ladders.

“A couple days ago, we lost all electronic controls except red level,” Nova tells him. “There’s no power in the kitchen and no one’s room door lock works.”

Marcus nods, his brow furrowed. Nova turns to me.

“Briar, thank you for what you did for all of us.” Her words are thick with emotion. “You saved a lot of lives today.”

I’m taken aback because Nova has always been quiet and stoic around me. Finally, I manage to say, “You would’ve done the same.”

“Nova.” Marcus inclines his head toward the Sub entrance.

She follows, and Olin joins us. The Sub entrance door is already open, probably because the lock doesn’t work and there’s no point in closing it.

Olin and I walk beside Marcus and Nova. I take his hand and squeeze it.

“Thank you. That was the second time you saved my life.”

His lips curve up a fraction, but he doesn’t answer. In the few days he’s been here, his skin has taken on a better color and his cheeks are a little less sunken. His hair is still a wild riot of curls.

I’m still in shock that he can speak. There were so many times at Rising Tide he made me believe he couldn’t. He made everyone believe it.

Marcus takes us into a room that used to be someone’s office, gesturing for Olin to sit behind the desk, which has nothing on it. He carries another chair into the room so he, Nova and I can all sit down across from Olin.

There’s a tense silence in the room, everyone seeming to wait for someone else to speak.

“So,” Marcus finally says. “Why the mute act?”

Olin sighs softly, looking like he’s considering his answer.

“Rona said Pax cut your tongue out,” I say.

Something like amusement gleams in Olin’s eyes. “I started that rumor. It worked out well.”

I pinch my brows together, confused. “How do you start a rumor when you don’t want anyone to know you can talk?”

“I told someone Pax threatened to cut out my tongue. So when I stopped talking, the rumor spread that he’d done it. He never corrected anyone, I think because he thought it made him look like a badass.”

“He’s such a fucking idiot,” Marcus mutters.

“Why?” Nova asks Olin.

He folds his hands in front of him on the desk. “I was sent here three years ago by the ILF—the Idaho Liberation Front. My assignment was to gather intelligence on Whitman’s secret island.”

My mouth drops open. Olin gives me an apologetic look.

“I couldn’t tell anyone. I’m the fourth person the ILF tried to send, and the first one to make it. One person was killed in jail and the other two—we don’t know for sure, but they probably died on the boat or the beach trying to get here.”

“What’s the Idaho Liberation Front?” I ask.

He shifts his shoulders in a shrug. “I guess we’re the rebellion. One of them anyway. When I left to come here, we were the largest. Our goal is to eliminate Whitman’s regime and restore democracy to the United States.”

I sit back in my chair, a lump of emotion welling in my throat. There are people fighting back. They’re organized. Maybe we can join them somehow.

“How many people are in the group?” Marcus asks.

“I don’t know. And that’s deliberate. We operate in small cells and very few people know everything.”

“How does your silence factor into all this?” Nova asks, sounding skeptical.

“I was only eighteen when I got here. Very green and eager to prove myself to the ILF. I asked too many questions. Raised some suspicions. So I decided to play a role. I became the clueless kitchen guy who couldn’t even talk. I was practically invisible.”

He’s not wrong. Everyone at Rising Tide overlooked and dismissed Olin when I was there.

“So why tell us all this?” Marcus asks, crossing his large arms over his chest.

“My work at Rising Tide is done,” Olin says simply.

“I’m only still here because I wanted to find out about the Dust Walkers.

” He gestures to us. “I can’t go back and tell the ILF there’s a rival faction at the base where experiments are conducted, but I don’t know anything about it.

Briar asking me to come here was the in I needed.

” He focuses on me, frowning. “I’m sorry.

I guess I lied, but I hope you understand why. ”

“It’s okay. I’m just ... thrilled to know people are working against Whitman. I’d join the ILF if I could.”

Marcus flicks a quick glare at me.

“Olin, you said you can’t go back without information about us for the ILF. So now that you have it, how do you get back?”

“I can request evacuation when I’m ready.”

My pulse flies into overdrive. Evacuation. Maybe I can leave this island with him—and get to Mae.

“How does that work?” Nova asks.

A corner of Olin’s mouth quirks up. “I’ve said as much as I’m willing to.”

My excitement screeches to a halt. Why is he being cagey all of a sudden?

Marcus clears his throat. “So what will your report about us to your group look like? What have you figured out?”

“This was a base of some kind. Probably where people with aromium were monitored.”

After a few seconds of silence, I look at Marcus. He’s giving Olin an expectant look.

“That’s it?” Marcus says.

A flash of annoyance passes over Olin’s expression. “It’s enough.”

“Enough for what?”

Marcus’s casual question isn’t really casual at all. Olin thought he was holding all the cards, but Marcus is showing him he’s wrong.

“Enough to file my report,” Olin says dismissively. “Don’t get the wrong idea—I’m not your enemy. I didn’t have to tell you what I did. And I didn’t have to save Briar, but I did.”

I swallow my urge to speak. Marcus has questioned people many times, and I’ve never done it. He knows what he’s doing.

“We appreciate what you’ve done,” Marcus says. “But there’s so much you don’t know.”

“Like?” Olin arches his brows.

“Like how to fight aromium. How to end it.”

Olin’s expression is a cross between smug and sympathetic. “If you guys knew how to do that, you would’ve done it by now. Rising Tide is a major thorn in your side.”

“Ask Briar,” Marcus says.

I give him a puzzled look as Olin says, “Ask her what?”

“Ask her if there’s a lot you don’t know. Information that would change everything for the ILF if it wants to destroy the experiments on this island. She won’t lie to you.”

Olin’s gaze turns to me.

“He’s right,” I say. “There’s a lot you don’t know.”

Olin sits back in his seat, looking troubled. “What then? I tell you how I’m going to get evacuated when I’m ready, and you tell me more about aromium?”

Marcus shakes his head and stands. “You can leave anytime you want; we won’t stop you.”

“Then what do you want from me?”

“Work with us,” Marcus says. “Earn our trust. From what you’re saying, it sounds like we all want the same thing.”

“Your shield’s going down, isn’t it?” Olin asks.

“It’s not down yet.”

“What happens when it goes down?”

“We switch everyone’s aromium back on and defend our camp.”

Olin’s brows shoot up. “You can turn it back on?”

“Take some time to think about it,” Marcus says. “You’re welcome here if you’re willing to earn your place, respect everyone in our camp, and not lie to me. Again, I mean. We’ll clean the slate.”

Olin’s shoulders slump. “I don’t need time. I’ll stay.”

“For now, everything that was said in this room stays in this room,” Marcus says.

He walks over to the door and opens it, meeting my eyes.

I’m still dazed as I leave the room and walk back out of the tunnel beside him. I thought Olin being able to talk was a shock, but finding out about the group he’s part of hit me much harder.

“Any sign of McClain?” Marcus asks Niran, who’s standing near the tunnel exit when we walk out.

“He’s gone. So are two of the prisoners Ray freed.”

All that work we did to find McClain, and he’s gone. Now, even if we find the flower, we don’t have him to make the stabilizer. This island is the definition of one step forward, two steps back.

McClain said things are “too far gone.” Maybe they are. Maybe trying to get Olin’s group to rescue everyone in our camp is our new best option.

That option makes my chest tight with aggravation. Virginia would still be free to receive boatloads of prisoners to make her robot soldiers. There would be no consequences for everything she’s done.

When Niran and Marcus are finished talking, Niran walks away and Marcus turns to me. His mossy eyes are tortured, his face lined with worry.

“What’s wrong?” I ask softly.

I think he’s going to answer, but instead he looks away. “I need to go take care of some things. See you tonight?”

My heart sinks. He’s shutting me out, and I don’t know why. I’ve done everything I can to show him I deserve his trust.

“Yeah.” The word is barely a whisper.

He walks away without another word.