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MARA

T he man was on his knees, hands behind his head as Nora held her handgun to his forehead.

“I swear, I just panicked,” the man explained. He stayed calm, but I noticed his voice had climbed an octave or two.

By the time I had popped out of the tunnel—in a pantry no less—Javi was already two seconds away from murdering the guy before Nora intervened.

Now he was stroking Liddy’s hair, asking her over and over again if she was all right.

Apparently, Nora and Lin had started sweeping rooms for occupants.

The man was hiding in a cupboard and attacked Liddy from behind.

That was the scream we heard. He hadn’t been expecting her to fight back the way she did, only for Javier to break onto the scene moments later and nearly annihilate the guy.

When I showed up, the man blinked several times and recognized me, acknowledging me by name.

He looked familiar, and minutes later, it all snapped into place when I realized he was the same agent I had met back at Dissenter Base Camp.

The one that had reported missing Telvians in District 3 and how my supposed death was being used as a rallying cry for my father to gain sympathy from his citizens.

“Ben, right? That’s your name?” I asked, standing beside my mother .

He nodded vehemently. “Yes, yes. I’m not one of them. I work for President De’vor.”

“Why did you stop reporting in?”

The man darted his gaze back to my mother, eyes zeroing in on the barrel before him. “The REG has cut off all transmissions in or out of the city. I’ve tried to get word out, but none of our tech was able to do it.”

Nora’s eyes widened for a moment and then narrowed. “Javier.” It was all she said, but my cousin responded, knowing exactly what she wanted.

He messed with his tab for a moment, and then a grim look came over his face. “He’s right. The tab doesn’t work.”

“I’m telling you the truth,” Ben insisted. “All Telvia’s dark. Not even the tabs between the citizens are working. Only the REG has the ability to communicate with one another.”

My face blanched. “He’s making sure Sympathizers can’t organize from within.” It made total sense. I may not have been some hardened military strategist, but I could put the pieces together enough to figure that out.

Ben nodded again. “I don’t know what you all did—if anything at all—but everything flipped a day ago. People started rioting, and…” he faltered. “And hounds. The damn hellhounds started running the streets. It’s been nothing but chaos.”

We all exchanged looks. How could I forget that Raúl was using hellhounds within the city? Wes and I had nearly become dog chow all those nights ago when we broke into the Admin Building to retrieve my brother’s location.

Javier cursed under his breath.

“NIT-V2,” I whispered. “Apex controlled most of Telvia, right?”

“Yes,” my mother nodded, finally drawing back her weapon. “Raúl’s lost control of the city. ”

“Lost control?” Ben snickered. “It’s been madness !

That’s why I panicked and attacked,” he continued to explain.

“Nobody’s safe out on the streets right now, not from anyone.

Telvian Enforcement has been trying to regain control of the citizens, but”—he shook his head—“it’s of no use. Everything…everything’s unraveling.”

NIT-V2 is still down.

The thought clicked on like a flashlight in the dark.

Raúl rebooted the system, but the nanochips still weren’t working.

Either the virus had caused some sort of permanent damage to the tech, or the system was taking longer to reboot than we all suspected.

With NIT-V2 still down, we had a chance.

The chaos would allow us to make it to the Presidential Palace with less resistance. But we were running out of time.

“If things have been so bad, why didn’t you leave?” Nora asked, raising her stunner to his head once again. “How do we know you haven’t been modified?”

Ben shook his head. “I haven’t, not yet. The REG started with District 3 citizens first, and then to District 2. District 1 was supposed to be next, but the Telvians have managed to take over so many Northern bases—”

“He pushed back modification of District 1,” I finished for him.

Ben nodded. “Exactly. As far as Raúl’s concerned, District 1 is primarily loyal supporters. It was more important for him to retrofit known enemies. And with the lower districts all modified, the few Dissenters hiding in District 1 would be of no consequence to him.”

I blew out a breath. Damn .

“You still haven’t explained to me why you didn’t leave?” my mother pressed.

“He can’t,” Lin said, still huddled in Javi’s arms.

“Why?”

“Because the tunnels need an access code and the codes are new every time,” I explained. “If you don’t have a code, then the doors don’t open.”

“It’s how they ensure the tunnels remain uncompromised,” Lin added .

My mother looked back at Ben, causing him to nod. “It’s true. And with all communication down, there was no way for me to request access. I’ve been stuck here.”

Nora’s eyes could have melted titanium, but with a heavy sigh, she holstered her stunner. “All right. Tell us everything you know. We’ve got two and a half hours before this whole city burns to the ground.”

Ben’s eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. “Why? What’s happening?” he asked as he got to his feet.

Javier stepped forward, running his fingers through his black hair. “It’s a long story, and I don’t know if it has a happy ending.”

***

WES

Bing!

I groaned. There was no way it was time for me to wake up yet. I hardly slept. It felt strange not having her with me. She was angry, and I couldn’t blame her.

Bing!

“Fucking tab,” I groused under my breath, rolling over to silence it, my vision blurry. My hand patted the nightstand, searching for it when I felt something cool.

Cold.

Metallic.

Round.

I curled my fingers around it, brought it within my sight, and fucking shattered.

I shattered into shrapnel and broken glass.

I shattered into splinters of wood and shards of porcelain .

I shattered into crumbled stone.

Her ring. Mara’s fucking ring was on my nightstand.

There was no breath in my lungs, no electrical pulse through my veins, no beat to my heart—her ring .

Bing!

What did it mean? Did she…?

Bing!

“Fucking hell,” I growled, snagging my mini-tab and resisting the urge to launch it across the room. Sitting up, I looked and saw several messages from Edith.

Edith: Wes? Do you know what’s happening?

Edith: Wes, are you ignoring me or are you actually sleeping?

Edith: Fucking get up, Romeo! Your Juliet is about to get herself killed!

Edith: Damn it, Wes! Mara’s gone into Telvia! Where the hell are you?!

What? “Fuck!”

Wes: What do you mean she’s in Telvia?

Edith: You freaking idiot! She left! Her, my sister, Javier, and her mom…they all freaking left because you dumbasses are making the big freaking mistake of blowing the city!

Wes: When? How long ago?

Edith: Lin messaged me less than 30 minutes ago that they were loading up on a plane.

Wes: A plane? Whose fucking plane, Le? Because I sure as hell didn’t authorize a flight.

Edith: Take one big guess, genius. Who has that kind of authority and enough balls to go behind all your backs because it was the right thing to do ?

“Giza,” I muttered. My tab binged again.

Edith: You’ve got to convince Sasha to call off the airstrike. There’s no way they’ll accomplish their mission in time. You’ve got to do something now!

“Fuck, fuck, fuck !” This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t be happening. And then I was gone, giving orders on my tab—trying to reach Mara, trying to reach Giza, trying to reach Krous—racing through the damn halls of my house.

This couldn’t be happening! I had to stop it.

***

“What are you doing?” My mother raced at my side, her lavender satin robe trailing behind her.

Bag in hand, I was marching down the hall. “You’re in command while I’m gone,” I ordered.

“You can’t be serious. You can’t possibly— Wes !” She grabbed my shoulder, and even though there was no way she was strong enough to stop me, I allowed her to. I looked at her. “You can’t do this. Mara made her choice, but you can’t—”

“ What , mom? I can’t what ? Go after her? Save her?”

She grew quiet, pursing her lips.

I was already dressed in the mission jumpsuit, my hair pulled back tightly in a bun at the nape of my neck. I had tried. Holy fucking christ, I had tried. But nothing I did or said convinced Sasha to cancel the airstrike.

“We can’t condemn the rest of the nation to save a few,” she had answered. “I am sorry. Trust me when I say that I wish there was another way. Nora and Mara mean more to me than you’ll ever know. ”

The airstrike team were Dissenters, not Northerners.

If they had been mine, this whole thing would have been going very differently.

As it was, it was taking every restraint within me to keep from ordering Sasha’s arrest, but my mother wouldn’t allow it.

Arresting Sasha without reason would create an entirely different problem—one where I became another version of Raúl.

The funny part was, I kind of already was.

“Wes,” my mother spoke again, softer this time. “My darling, please , I beg you. I can’t lose both of my sons. I know you love her, but be reasonable—”

I yanked myself from her hold. “I refuse to stand by and do nothing. Last time I waited too long, and it almost cost me her life. I’m not making the same mistake again.

Not this time.” I stepped toward her, brows drawn forward, and I watched as her eyes widened with grief.

“You want me to live? Then do everything you can to delay the strike.”

Then I was marching again, and I could hear her quiet sobs as I left her behind. And it pained me to cause her grief, to make a choice that very well could lead to her losing another son.

But I was doing this.

I was going after her.

Because losing Mara would be the death of me if I didn’t. And I refused to stand by and watch. I refused to stand by and do nothing.

I was going.

Because I would follow Mara into death if I needed to. My life just wouldn’t be worth living otherwise.