Page 39 of Silver Elite

The controller station in Hamlett is a modest brick compound about a mile from the town square. It houses Controller Fletcher’s office, a small dormitory for visiting soldiers, a conference room, and a handful of cells and interrogation rooms. It’s so strange to be back here, driving down the narrow roads where I used to ride my bike. The square looks tiny now. Maybe I’ve outgrown it. Which is ironic, because it’s not like I’ve been exploring the great wide Continent all these months. I’ve been isolated on the base.

Yet Hamlett feels smaller now.

Insignificant.

Cross meets us outside the compound, but rather than provide a single detail, he and Xavier march away to talk between themselves. My anxiety is only heightened as I’m forced to stand there and wait, not knowing why we’re here.

Despite my nerves, I can’t help but notice how good he looks. Command fatigues and a black T-shirt cling to his tall frame, and the sweat glistening on his brow speaks of how hot it is tonight. Summer’s over, yet Hamlett is always scorching well into the fall.

When the men return, Cross addresses me in a clipped tone. “How well do you know Griff Archer?”

The blood freezes in my veins. I consider how to best answer that, but I don’t have much time to think it through.

“He owns the pub. And he’s my best friend’s father.”

“Right. Your friend. Tanya, is it?”

“Tana.” I grit my teeth. “What the hell is going on here? I thought you needed backup.”

“We do. We’ll need a team once we break Archer.”

It feels like an icy explosion just blew into my chest. I take a steadying breath. My hands feel weak. “What do you mean, ‘break’ him?”

“We’ve been questioning him all day.”

My gaze darts to the building. “Why?”

“Archer and his daughter tried to run. They managed to dodge our surveillance a few nights ago and somehow made it out of Z without detection. Last night they were stopped at a checkpoint in S, where Archer tried to mow down two Copper soldiers with his truck. We brought them both back to Z for questioning.”

Guilt pulls at my insides. This is my fault. I’m the one who warned them about Silver Block being here. They must’ve made plans to escape right after I spoke to Tana.

My stomach churns, bile burning my throat. I thought I was helping her with the warning. And now…

I might actually throw up.

“We believe they got out using a tunnel.”

It takes extreme effort not to react.

“We’ve been searching for it for weeks now, with no results. We even conducted several flybys with thermal imaging. Couldn’t find a single heat signature belowground.”

Yeah, because the entire tunnel is reinforced with steel. Thermal imaging can’t see through metal.

I’m surprised, though, that Command Intelligence is unaware of a tunnel that was built by Primes. Granted, it was a hundred years ago. Records get lost. Maps get burned. Mods take advantage of ignorance.

I gulp through my queasiness. “Where is Tana?” I ask Cross.

“She’s being held at the inn.”

“Who’s serving as sentry?”

“Booth.”

Anson? No. No fucking way. I don’t want that creep anywhere near my best friend.

Panic threatens to overwhelm me, but I take a breath and think through my options. I need to make contact with Tana. Right now.

But my attempt to link yields no response. She’s being watched, then.

“Let’s go inside,” Cross says. “Tyler and Hadley should be finishing up with Archer.”

My legs tremble with each step. I hope my attempt at masking my terror is working. I think it is, because nobody gives me a second look or asks if I’m all right. Although once inside the station, I receive a funny look from a young man who’s vaguely familiar to me. It takes a moment to place him. He assists the controller.

“Wren!”

Speaking of the controller.

The big, bearded man lumbers into the lobby and surprises me by giving me a hug. Fletcher and I have never been close. I don’t think we’ve ever shaken wrists, let alone hugged.

“We were worried about you,” Fletcher says.

“?‘We’?”

“Everyone in the village. You never responded to my comms.”

“I didn’t receive anything from you.”

I resist the urge to glare at Cross. Because if anyone from the outside world had tried to contact me through proper channels, then he’s the reason I never got their messages.

“I’ve been training in the Program,” I tell Fletcher.

“So I’ve been told.” His wary eyes shift toward Cross. Fletcher clearly doesn’t trust him. “Anyway, it’s good to see you.” He squeezes my shoulder. “I’m glad you’re all right.”

“Can we save this reunion for another time?” Nobody misses Xavier’s sarcasm.

Leaving Fletcher and his people in our wake, Cross leads us to a small briefing room, where Tyler and Hadley fill him in.

“He still won’t give up the location of the tunnel,” Hadley reports.

I maintain a neutral face. I know exactly where the tunnel is. I used it to leave this very town when I went to rescue Jim. I could probably draw them a map of the entire system.

“He’s not talking at all,” Tyler says. “If he’s a silverblood, he’s not using his gifts. We made sure his arms aren’t covered. Same for the girl.”

I feel sick again. Tana is alone at the inn. With Anson watching over her with his creepy snake eyes. His revolting leer.

I reach out to her again, hoping maybe Anson stepped out to urinate, but her link remains closed.

“Let me talk to Griff,” I blurt out, cutting Tyler off midsentence.

Cross arches a brow. “No.”

“I’ve known him since I was eight years old. If he’s going to talk to anyone, he’ll talk to me,” I insist. “I promise you, if there really is a tunnel, he’ll tell me.”

“Or,” Cross counters, “we use the daughter as leverage to make him talk.”

I glower with indignation. “You’re not using my friend as leverage.”

His expression sharpens like a knife’s edge. “These people are part of an Uprising cell. These are not your friends.”

“I get it. I understand what you’re saying to me.” I clench my teeth. “But I’ve known them almost my whole life, and if you’re right and they are working for the enemy, I can get them to talk. If I promise Griff that Tana will be safe, he’ll tell me whatever we want to know.”

“Who says she’s going to be safe?” Xavier drawls.

I level him with a deadly look. “You’re not hurting her.”

“It’s not your call. They’ll both be sent to the Tribunal for sentencing.”

“ No, ” I implore Cross. “Please, if I can get him to give up the location of the tunnel, can you promise me they won’t face the squad?”

From across the room, Hadley speaks up in typical stern fashion. “Aiding the enemy is treason, Darlington. It’s punishable by death.”

“Sometimes people go to labor camps,” I shoot back. “Sometimes they’re more useful alive than dead. Like your mother.”

His breath sucks in.

“Yeah, I heard all about your Aberrant mother,” I say coolly, enjoying the way he blanches. Then I refocus my attention on Cross. “Why can’t Tana and Griff be sentenced to labor?”

“Because we don’t know the extent of their crimes yet.”

Cross is visibly losing patience with me, but I give him one last push.

“If I get him to reveal where the tunnel is, will you spare their lives? Can you make that deal?”

He hesitates.

“Please.”

After a beat, Cross caves. “Let me talk to the General.”

—

The fact that Griff isn’t restrained tells me he hasn’t put up a fight. He wouldn’t, though, not with his daughter’s life at risk. He’d never take any chances with Tana’s well-being or safety.

He’s shirtless. They want to be able to see his arms if he uses an ability, which is a waste of time because Griff isn’t Modified. But they don’t know that.

He watches me approach the table, and although his square jaw remains tight, I notice his expression softening.

“It’s good to see you, kid.” Griff’s familiar baritone voice makes my heart ache.

“Are you okay?” I ask him. “Did they hurt you?”

“No.”

I don’t care that our conversation is being recorded, that we’re being watched. Touching the prisoner isn’t a standard interrogation technique, but I still squeeze his hand as I sit in front of him.

“I just got here,” I say. “They said Tana is at the inn. She’s okay.” I hope.

“Have you spoken to her?”

The question has a double meaning. When I shake my head, I know he understands that her link is closed. It’s going to be impossible to have this conversation with everyone listening. There are too many things I want to say and can’t.

“It’s over,” I tell Griff.

Surprise flickers in his eyes.

“Whatever you guys are doing here, it can’t continue. We’re going to find the tunnel.”

I say “we.” But he knows I mean they, or at least I pray he knows. I pray he trusts me enough to believe I would never betray our side.

“I got my captain to promise that if you give us the information we need, you and Tana won’t be harmed.”

His loud snort reverberates off the walls. “Yes, kid. I’m sure the General is going to let a couple of suspected network cell operatives waltz out of here.”

“No. But his son is willing to deal.”

His bushy eyebrows soar.

“Captain Redden,” I clarify. “He’s out there right now. And he gave me the authorization to offer you a deal. It’s a real one. You know I would never screw you over.”

I squeeze his hand again.

“It’s not a trick. It’s not a trap. I just stood out there fighting on your behalf. But if you don’t help them—us,” I hastily correct and hope nobody noticed the slipup, “they’ll send both of you to the Tribunal. And you know the Tribunal’s favorite sentence is the firing squad.”

I see the pain in his eyes. He knows what his daughter is, and he knows what will happen if it’s revealed that she’s Modified.

“Labor, huh? You think I want my daughter slaving away in a salt mine for the rest of her life?”

“At least she’ll have a life. Please, Griff. Cut a deal. Tell us how the Uprising operates here in Hamlett. In Z Ward. Give us the location of the tunnel they use to smuggle the Aberrant, and I promise you, your life and Tana’s will be spared.”

“Wren!”

Her voice slices into my head so abruptly that it catches me off guard.

For a second, I’m unable to hide my surprise. The last time someone linked without me explicitly allowing it was when Wolf thrust himself into my mind as a child.

“Are you okay?” Griff asks, frowning.

“I’m fine.” I swallow the lump of fear in my throat. “Sorry, I was just thinking about Tana. I don’t want anything to happen to her, Griff. And the only way it won’t is if you talk to me.”

“Wren! I need you.”