State of Emergency

“Upstairs. The last door on the right. You?”

“In the back of one of their trucks.” He offers a weak grin. “I guess they figured if they put me in a room I’d just break the windows out.”

“You’re good at that,” I agree, resting my head against his shoulder. He smells sweaty and bloody, but honestly, I don’t care. I don’t think I’ve ever missed another human being so much as I have in the last few days. Solitary confinement does things to you.

“They’re going to kill us no matter what we tell them,” Chris says at last, tilting my chin up. “You know that, right?”

I nod, swallowing a thick lump in my throat.

“I figured,” I answer, shaking. “So we might as well keep our mouths shut.”

“No. We escape.”

“Excuse me?” I sit up straight, his arms still around my waist. “How?”

“Just trust me.”

“But Chris –”

“-No buts, Cassidy,” he says, placing one hand on each side of my face. “Just trust.”

He runs his finger along my bruised eye and frowns, leaning forward.

“I should kill him,” he mutters, something sparking in his eyes.

“You? I’d like to kill him,” I correct. “He’s got a serious ego problem.”

Chris chuckles, resting his forehead against mine. We just sit there for a minute, holding on to each other in the middle of a gross hotel office, closing our eyes. The uber-loud ticking clock eventually tells us that we’ve got sixty seconds left before Keller comes back in and demands information. Chris brushes my hair back right before he presses his lips against my forehead. It’s a short, lingering kiss that takes me by surprise, but I’m not complaining.

“I’ll take care of you,” he says, thumbing my cheek one more time. “Okay?”

I nod, loving the way his hands are warm against my face.

Ding.

The little bell on top of the office door jingles as Keller walks in on us. He’s got his AT trooper hacks with him, and they look like they just walked into a candy store. Which means they’re probably pla

Some people get a kick out of the weirdest things.

“How sweet,” Keller says in mock sugariness.

Chris stands up, pulling me to my feet. I’m still suffering from malnutrition and a possible concussion, so I lean against him for support.

“Aw, thank you,” I purr. “Almost as adorable as you and your cronies?”

His face turns ashen gray, like I’ve just made the ultimate insult.

“You’re going to wish you hadn’t said that,” he replies, irritated, “before the night is over.”

“I don’t think so,” I muse. “Seeing the expression on your face just now was pretty priceless. Like a Kodak moment. Does somebody have a camera I could borrow?”

Chris smirks, hiding his grin in my hair as he tightens his grip around my waist. “If you touch a hair on her head,” he says, calm, “I will make your death long and painful.”

Keller rolls his eyes.

“You’re both so theatric,” he complains. “I take that as a sign that you’re not going to tell me what I want to know?”

“Nope,” I reply. “All of our secret information is going to go with us to the grave.”

“It’s your coffin, not mine,” Keller spits. “Fine.”

“Cassidy,” Chris says, looking at me. “Duck.”

“Hmm?”

What happens next happens so fast that I don’t have time to do anything other than what he says. Chris pulls me to the ground and all of the sudden the two of us are lying on our stomachs with our hands over our heads. Something — it sounds like it’s only two feet away — explodes big time. I can feel heat on my skin as orange flames blast the office. Keller and his hacks are thrown forward, totally losing their footing and crashing into each other. I raise my head and look around, everything moving in slow motion.

I can see a giant fire outside — way bigger than the bonfire that the soldierswere hanging around earlier. It looks like some of the vehicles have been turned upside down from whatever detonated.

“Come on!” Chris yells, wrapping his hand around mine. “We have to move!”

Well, obviously.

I get up, forgetting about my health issues thanks to a rush of good old-fashioned adrenaline. Chris throws open the door and I’m hit in the face with a wave of heat. Man, it’s hot. I cover my face from the flames that are shooting up from the bonfire, which is now big enough to cook a jumbo jet.

“What happened?” I shout, following Chris’s lead through the wreckage. Two Humvees are completely flipped over, and as far as I can see, some officials seem to be stuck underneath, pounding on the windows from the inside. I feel guilty for not stopping to do something, then I remember that these people are trying to kill us, so that pretty much destroys my instinct to help them. AT trooper guards that are still upright are hobbling around like they’re drunk, still shocked from the explosion.

You and me both, pals.

Chris and I run to the other side of the motel. There aren’t any bad guys over here, because there’s no light or cars. Except for one. It’s a Humvee with anOmega insignia on the side: The O that doubles as a white globe.

And leaning against the Humvee with a pair of keys in her hands is Isabel.

“Took you long enough,” she complains, looking cocky.

“What did you do?” I demand, crossing my arms. Shocked. “How are you here?”

“I just put a little gasoline on the fire,” she shrugs. “Right, Chris?”

Chris nods.

“You did a good job, kid,” he says, slapping her on the back. Then he takes the keys and opens the door. “Get inside. Now.”

“I’m totally in the dark here,” I say, climbing across the console in the front seat. Isabel jumps into the back, which is nothing but a storage area of guns, ammo and emergency supplies. “Holy crap! We hit the jackpot!”

“It’s Keller’s car,” Isabel grins.

“No way?” I laugh hysterically. “That idiot.”

Chris turns the key in the ignition. For one scary second I think it’s not going to start, but the engine turns over and we’re home free. “Yes!” Isabel whoops. “It works!”

Chris looks pretty stoked. I can tell because he stomps on the gas and we charge out of the motel parking lot at illegal speeds.

“How did you know to come into camp?” I ask Isabel, turning in my seat.

“I saw where they took you,” she replies. “I found Chris, and the truck had a window. I snuck over and talked to him and he told me that they were going to question both of you in the main office.” She smiles devilishly. Pretty frightening, considering the fact that she’s only twelve. “He told me to throw one of the gas canisters in the fire and run. It worked. That was the best explosion ever!”

“Unbelievable,” I say, reaching around to hug her. “I am so glad we found you! I knew you’d come in handy. I told you, Chris.”

He rolls his eyes.

“I believe the gas canister was my idea.”

“Yeah, but she pulled it off.”

“Thanks to me.”

“People, the road!” Isabel screams.

Chris swerves to miss a car that’s sitting long ways across an intersection. We’re racing full speed through the dark streets of whatever county this is, one orchard after another flashing by. It’s dark, but not as foggy as it was the other night. I’m glad. Foggy enough to hide us, but not too foggy that we can’t drive.

“They’re going to hunt for us,” Chris says. “They have our stuff. They’ll try to figure out where we were going.”

“Why?” I say, kicking the door. “We never did anything to them!”

“We’re anomalies,” Chris shrugs. “They think we’re trying to fight against the new regime.”

“Maybe we are,” I say bitterly, the adrenaline starting to wear off. The uncertainties — and the headache — are all coming back to me now. “How did Keller know we had the Mustang? How did he know who my dad was?”