Page 45 of Dissent (The Dissenter Saga #1)

H e wasn’t kidding. Once those 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 were everywhere !

“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?”

“Yeah, I see it.” Wes grabbed at his backpack. After a few seconds of rummaging inside it, he pulled out a pair of binoculars. He looked through them while we waited expectantly. “It’s dark.”

“Dark means it’s empty.”

I glanced at Matias, face stern and calculating. “If no one’s in the room, why leave a window open?”

Wes agreed. “I don’t like it.”

“You know, boys, sometimes an open window is just that…an open window.” Chelsea teased with a bite to her tone. She was clearly tired from the night. “I say we stun the guard and sneak in the window.”

“That’s stupid,” Wes snapped back. “We don’t even know what’s in there.”

“What about the other buildings? Maybe we can see what’s inside one of them?” I offered.

“Barracks. We’re too far from Telvia for people to travel back and forth.

They’re probably just sleeping corridors for these people.

I wouldn’t even bother trying to sneak a peek.

That building”—Chelsea pointed out—“that’s the one we want.

” She took a deep breath before looking at all of us.

“So, are we doing this or what?” The guys looked at one another, each one communicating the way they always did with that silent macho stare down crap.

Finally, Wes shifted and broke the silence. “Let’s do it.”

We all moved away from the clearing and back into the safety of the trees. Together we formed a quick plan, running through the minor details once, and then twice, until we felt ready. Of course, I got the boring job of lookout.

“Use your tab to message us if anyone else comes around to the back.”

“I’m not a dummy, you know. I can do more than hide.” This wasn’t what I had in mind when I snuck into the back of the damn truck.

“Hell no,” Wes grunted out. “I can’t have you getting caught. It’s already damn near risky enough. Stay put, stay low, and message us if something weird goes on.”

“But—”

“Mara,” Matias cut me off. Our eyes met.

“Please.” As much as I wanted to resist him, my insides melted.

The look on his face was all but begging me, and I didn’t have the heart to disappoint him.

So I simply nodded. His lips cracked the hint of a smile before he turned back to the rest of the group.

We hiked further downhill until we reached the bottom, and then we made our way back toward the facility.

Through the brush, we could see the building, the door, and the lone guard right in front of us.

It was a direct path; the bunkhouses scattered on either side of us.

They started muttering to themselves again, reviewing the plan once more.

I didn’t understand it much, however. Frankly, it sounded like a stupid plan, but hell, what did I know? I was just the damn lookout.

Wes and Chelsea were going through their gear, making sure they were ready while I just kept staring out at the facility, my thoughts running wild.

What are you doing, Raúl? What are you planning?

Slight pressure on my upper arm drew my attention to Matias.

Tugging on me, he coaxed me to follow him deeper into the brush.

I did. We weren’t far from the rest of the group, but a few bramble bushes gave us the illusion of privacy.

He stopped and faced me, an expression on his face that I couldn’t read in the dark.

But I knew one thing—he was worried. His concern registered within me, setting off alarm bells inside.

“Give us fifteen minutes. If you don’t hear from me or we don’t come back, you run. Got it?”

“Fifteen minutes? That’s hardly enough—”

“You run ,” he emphasized, the hard lines of his face set. “And if anyone comes for you, or we don’t respond, or something goes wrong, you run. Okay? Just run and get back to camp.”

Now he was scaring me. The way he was talking, it was like he really didn’t think he was coming back. “I’m not just going to leave you guys here. Besides, I can help, I can—”

He sealed the space between us, and his presence sent my senses swirling, causing me to drop my argument mid-sentence.

I was overcome by the smell of evergreen and citrusy pine that I recognized as his natural and personal scent.

Dropping his face down, his eyes sought mine, and I was instantly drawn in by their brown depths.

“I promised I’d protect you. This is how I’m going to fulfill that promise. Don’t wait for us.”

No, no. I don’t like this plan. Grasping to collect enough of myself, I placed a hand on his chest. “What if you don’t come back?”

His eyes flickered then, and I saw it. I didn’t know if I truly understood what it was, but I recognized it.

It was the same look he gave me after the mountain lion attack.

The same look I’d caught on him while we were eating, or training, or talking to friends.

It was the same look Chase would give me…

right before he’d sneak a kiss at the corners of my lips.

The knowledge swept through me, sending a shiver down my spine.

The intensity in his eyes had my senses on overdrive, and I couldn’t help but glance at his lips before returning to the cavernous depths of his eyes when he spoke. “I will always come back for you.”

I melted all over again, and I remained as a puddle of nothing as his heady gaze shifted downward.

And I knew he was looking at my lips. He inched himself closer, closing the fraction of space that still sat between us, drawing his face toward mine.

Everything inside me buzzed with an intense fire of anticipation because I knew exactly what was about to happen.

And I was ready for it. I wanted it. I needed it.

His lips came down, a mere inch from my own, and I turned my head slightly, tilting my chin upward to meet him.

“Hey!”

Matias jumped back as I leapt out of my skin. My heart thundered as I spun to see Chelsea, eyes ablaze with jealousy.

“Stop messing around and let’s get this shit on the road.” She was whispering, but her whispers came over me as though she were yelling at the top of her lungs.

I trilled my lips, glancing at Matias as he nodded. He started walking toward Chelsea before turning back to look at me one last time. “Fifteen minutes.”

I sighed, “Fifteen minutes.”

With one more weak smile, he turned and followed Chelsea around the brush, leaving me behind.

I was alone, feeling the oddest mixture of excitement, anticipation, and dread.

Because the boy I think I was falling for had just walked away from me, and I was pretty sure that, despite his promise, he wasn’t coming back.