Page 76

MARA

“ D etonation of the bombs blew our cover early,” Krous announced. We were in the War Room, the sun long gone and replaced by the shroud of nightfall. “We must act, and we must act now .”

The discussion had been going on for almost an hour.

Krous sat next to Marissa, as usual, to Wes’s left side.

Sasha, Giza, my mother, and Javier all sat on the opposite side of the table.

Javi, Wes, and I were exhausted. Our injuries had all been treated.

Stitches, bandages, antibiotics, some good pain killers, and one sling for my shoulder had us patched up for now.

We were emotionally and physically spent—emotions raw from Matias’s loss, and our bodies aching from a fight we nearly lost.

But we were here.

“Unfortunately, yes,” Giza said. “Last intel from our operatives has confirmed that Raúl has already begun the process of rebooting the system. We lost contact with everyone within the city shortly after the information came in, but I believe it is prudent to assume that whatever temporary advantage we had with Apex being down has been lost at this point.”

“Fuck,” Wes muttered under his breath, slouching back in his chair.

“My concern, Mr. President,” Krous said, as he twisted in his chair to face Wes, “is that we’re not going to get another chance. Raúl won’t make the same mistake again.”

Sasha clasped her hands on the table, poised as ever. “It’s true, I’m afraid. Whatever hope we had of disabling the nanochips has been lost. Raúl will redirect his efforts towards creating a failsafe, ensuring he never loses control of the technology again.”

The room grew silent—the deafening shroud of a bleak future coming over us all. The virus had been our only hope. To lose this advantage meant—

“Then it’s over,” Nora said, her face slackening. “Raúl will take us out one by one until all of the UFA is under his command.”

Wes’s hand found mine under the table, interlacing our fingers with a firm and reassuring squeeze as he placed our joined hands on his thigh.

I watched him, pensive and stoic, eyes swirling like molten gold and liquid amber.

His thumb ran tight little circles over the top of my hand, offering comfort.

But no matter how much the connection between us sizzled, my mind wouldn’t let go of the grim truth laid before us.

Was this really it? Was it really all over? I had lost my brother and one of my best friends only to find myself facing this final conclusion?

“No.” We all faced Sasha as she curled one hand on the table into a tight fist. “I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this. I had hoped that we could overpower Raúl somehow and salvage the Telvian citizens. But it seems fate has stripped us of that choice.”

“What are you thinking, President De’vor?” Marissa asked, her expression thoughtful. “What do you suggest? ”

Sasha swept her gaze across us all. “I think it is time to discuss something we all had hoped never to even consider. I think it is time to discuss extermination.”

Wes stiffened, his thumb stopping abruptly.

“Excuse me?” Nora curled her lip in disgust. “I hope you’re joking, Sasha, because there’s no way we would ever consider—”

“She’s right,” Krous interrupted, shaking his head. “I hate to admit it, but she’s right.”

What was happening? I didn’t know what extermination meant or what it entailed, but I could guess. And everyone’s reaction told me it was definitely awful.

Sasha held her head up high. “We are left without options. With NIT-V2, Raúl has become too powerful. He will continue to decimate Northern forces and annihilate Dissenter camps.”

“It’s just a matter of time before he strikes the North with everything he has,” Krous confirmed.

“Intel is already suggesting an imminent attack from the west. I’m afraid President De’vor is correct.

If we wish to save our people from a fate far worse than death, I think we need to consider extermination. ”

“Un momento, senores y senoras,” Javi interrupted, lifting a hand. “Wait just one minute… Are you proposing that we take out the city?”

My entire system iced over.

“That’s exactly what they’re proposing,” my mother spat out, wrinkling her nose in disgust. “And you’re all insane to even think of it. To even put it on the table as a viable option—”

“And what would you have us do, Nora?” Marissa challenged. “Allow Raúl to consume the rest of the UFA?” She rolled her shoulders back as she swept her gaze across the room.

Wes let go of my hand and rested his arm on the table as he leaned forward. “There has to be another way.”

Marissa twisted to face her son. “The North is the only thing that stands between Raúl and the East, and we all know that President Laurence lacks a spine. If he captures the North, not only will our own people be subject to modification, but the East will fall as well. The entire UFA will be under his control.” Marissa placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Remember the towns we visited. Remember all those graves—the graves of children, my darling. These are our people, Wes. Your people.”

He closed his eyes, grimacing as he listened to her, and I knew what she was saying was cutting him up, bleeding him out.

“Evacuate the city,” Javier said, leaning forward across the table. “You want to bomb the entire thing? Fine. But at least evacuate the city.”

“How do you propose we do that, Lieutenant?” Krous challenged.

Javier glared as he pointed a finger at Sasha. “You have Dissenters stationed in Telvia, don’t you? Have them evacuate the city. Use your fucking tunnels and get the people out—”

“If you remember what the Sergeant Major said earlier, Mr. de la Puente, I have lost all contact with my operatives within Telvia,” Sasha said, too damned poised as she cut Javi’s idea down, “and even if I regained contact with them, they are too few to evacuate an entire city on their own without alerting Raúl.”

Javier pushed back his chair, the legs screeching along the floor. “?Esto es pura mierda! Total fucking bullshit!”

No. No, this could not be happening. This couldn’t be our only choice. I shook my head, the sour taste of revulsion embittering my tongue.

“You guys can’t be serious,” I said. Everyone looked at me.

“My father might be a monster, but Telvia is more than just one dictator.” I looked at each person in turn as I continued to speak.

“These are people . Normal, regular people —human beings!” I emphasized.

“I get that you want to save the rest of the UFA, but if you destroy the city, you’ll take innocent lives! How is that any better? ”

“Because the alternative will cost more lives, Miss de la Puente,” Krous urged. “War is never easy, and it often requires making choices between only distasteful options.”

Arguing ensued once more, but it all became nothing more than muffled sounds as I shook my head and lifted my hands to my ears. I couldn’t be hearing this. This couldn’t be what was happening. I refused to let this happen!

I slammed my hand on the table, snapping everyone’s attention back to me.

But I ignored them all, swiveling in my chair to speak to one person and one person only.

“Wes, please ,” I urged. Our eyes locked, and I felt the whole world melt away.

“Don’t do this. Don’t let them do this.” Jaw clenched, his golden eyes swirled and shimmered and flickered.

“Please,” I begged, “there has to be another way.”

“There is no other way, child.” I spun to face Sasha, her aging eyes and frowned lips looking upon me with pity. “I love the Telvian people—I always have—and I have done everything in my power to liberate them. Understand that this is not a decision I take lightly—”

I curled my hand into a fist, hitting the table again as tears flooded my vision. “There has to be another way,” I persisted. “If you do this, the future you’ll be creating…it’ll only be more of the same, built on a foundation of death, Sasha.”

I looked at everyone again. “The fabric of the new world begins with the choices we make today, the choices we make right now ,” I insisted, punctuating my words with a stab of my finger on the table.

“You want a better future for the UFA, right? Well, that doesn’t start tomorrow after the war is won.

It starts right now with how we claim our victory.

It starts with choosing a path that honors life over death. ”

I pivoted to face Wes once more, capturing his gaze. “It starts with choosing compassion, Wes. It starts with choosing love ,” I said as I reached for his hand and gripped it. “Please, I’m begging you…don’t do this. Don’t listen to them. ”

Wes held my gaze, and I swore they weren’t eyes anymore but glittering coals and embers burning so hot, I might go up in flames at any moment. And when his lips parted to speak, I held my breath, feeling as though a vice had clamped down on my lungs.

“I’m sorry, Mara. But I can’t.”

My entire world shattered.