“Among other things. I hate to be the one to tell you this, Cass, but the world as you’ve known it since you joined the Initiative is a lie. You control the repo, but the archon controls you.”

  Cassidy didn’t say anything. He didn’t know how to process something so fundamental to his existence in a handful of seconds. “Why would the Initiative do that? Why would Unity do that?”

  “Because there’s a war going on,” Garrett said. “A war Unity doesn’t want you to know exists, because if you did you might want to join the other side.”

  “I’m trying to understand. This is…”

  “I know it’s hard, Cass,” Jessica said. “We’re secure here. You don’t need to figure it all out in a few minutes. And I’m here for you.”

  “Me too,” Garrett said.

  Cassidy sat in silence for another minute. “Okay, so I can see the UMI now. What did you do to me?”

  “We extracted you,” Jessica said. “And re-imprinted you without the archon.”

  “We set you free,” Garrett said.

  “How?” Cassidy asked. He had a million questions, but rapid-firing them wouldn’t help him get a grip on things. There was only one place to start. “Let’s pick this up at the beginning.” He looked at Jessica. “Our beginning. You know what happened at the Hell Motel. How can that be?”

  “There’s something else you need to know before I answer that,” Jessica said. “Another question you need to ask first.”

  “What question?”

  “Who is Mason Garrett.”

  Cassidy looked at Garrett. “I saw your file.”

  “You didn’t see everything,” Garrett said. “Only the parts they thought you needed.”

  “You mean the data missing from the Dome?”

  “No,” Jessica said. “I did that. But I wasn’t hiding it from you.”

  “The bureau?” Cassidy guessed.

  “Yes. We’ll get to that.”

  Cassidy was still looking at Garrett. “Hall didn’t know either of you. Or if he did, you aren’t triggering anything for me, with or without an archon.”

  “We never met Hall in person,” Garrett said.

  “Then how did he get involved?”

  “Leonidas,” Jessica said. “Or rather, our efforts to create a second, secret network that piggybacks on Unity’s airwaves.”

  “Your movements around the planet,” Cassidy said, drawing the answer from Hall. “They weren’t random.”

  “The order is important,” Jessica said. “Because of how the signals travel and the requirements and limitations of the technology.”

  “But it wasn’t your idea, was it?” Cassidy asked Garrett. “You’re Unity’s target, but you aren’t the mastermind.” He looked at Jessica again. “He’s drawing the attention for you while you work in the shadows.”

  “Not all that different from how you do things,” Jessica said. “Hall was handling Mason’s case from the beginning, before it ever got kicked down to the Initiative. The UDF put him in charge of locating Mason. He was the one who figured out the sightings lined up with encrypted bursts emitted through the UnityComm towers. It was pretty impressive work.”

  Cassidy felt some of Hall’s pride siphon through. He couldn’t hold back his smile. “When he registered his findings, the Special Investigations sent him to Dorne?”

  “Not right away,” Garrett said. “They planned to grab me before I could make any contacts here. They sent a hundred agents to meet the cargo barge Weeping Willow when it arrived at the Docks. Except I wasn’t on it.”

  “You were tipped off?”

  “Yes.”

  “By who?”

  Mason smiled and pointed at Cassidy.

  “How did you get Hall on your side?”

  “After he submitted his report to SI, I reached out to him,” Jessica said. “This was about eight months ago. And months before Mason ever made his way to the city. You can imagine, he was very surprised to hear from me.”

  “I thought you never saw him in person?”

  “I didn’t. I broke into his apartment and left him an encrypted ClearPhone. He didn’t believe I was who I said I was at first, until I mentioned you and the Hell Motel.”

  “Which I still don’t know how you remember,” Cassidy said.

  Jessica smiled. “You wanted to start there, but we’re jumping around a bit, aren’t we? Should we get back on track?”

  “No, keep talking.”

  “I convinced Hall that we were on the right side of history, and we hatched a plot to get you out of the Freezer and back into play. The problem was that he didn’t have the clearance to make sure you were chosen for the job.”

  “So he went to Dorne. But why would Dorne decide to be part of this?”

  “Because Dorne created me,” Jessica said. “In a way, he’s responsible for all of this.”

  “Not all of it,” Garrett said. “The war’s been going on for longer than any of us have been alive.”

  “But Dorne saw something Unity didn’t want anyone to see. The same thing Cass and I saw.”

  “I don’t remember it,” Cassidy said.

  “A glitch in your archon,” Jessica replied. “Proof that even the Shades are being manipulated and lied to. Proof that we’re all slaves to Unity. I didn’t start the rebellion, Cass. But with your help, I think we can finish it.”

  “I don’t think I’m ready to get that far ahead in this yet,” Cassidy said. “Anyway, Dorne didn’t pull me out of the Freezer. Nevis did.”

  “That’s the thing about systems, Cass,” Jessica said. “Once you figure out how they’re set up, you can start to predict how they’ll act in the future. Dorne hand selected the Shade that would be assigned to capture Mason and then tipped us off to their identity. He had to break from the Initiative to do it, but the end result—”

  “It looked like the liaison completely blew the mission,” Cassidy said, catching on to the scheme. “And Dorne went missing. And Garrett was an increasing threat. So Nevis turned to me and Hall, hoping I could lead her to both. Then when she scrubbed Hall, she saw that he was in on your plan. Only it was too late by then because he was prepped and ready for imprint and I was already thawed. And since I didn’t know anything about all of this, she figured she could use Hall to her advantage.”

  “Which she ultimately did,” Jessica said.

  “She did? How?”

  “She learned about the existence of Leonidas. She used it to track down Dorne when he contacted you and she took him out of the equation. We knew it was a risk, but we’ve reached the point where we have to take risks if anything is going to change.”

  “But you weren’t sure about me,” Cassidy said.

  “No. We thought Nevis might guess what we were up to and switch Shades. We had to be sure it was you. Dorne was supposed to do that, but Nevis took him out before he could report back.” Jessica smiled. “I wasn’t expecting you to send a criminal go-between to set up a meet between you and Mason. An unorthodox maneuver, and highly efficient.”

  “After what Dorne told me, I figured I needed to speed up the timeline,” Cassidy said. “Between that and what happened to Hall’s family, it put enough doubt about the truth in my mind that I wanted to hear what you had to say.”

  “Ever since I remembered what happened, you’ve been like an invisible guardian angel to me, protecting me whenever things got rough. I thought I would know you in an instant.” She smiled. “But reality doesn’t work like teenage daydreams. You wear Hall well, Cass. I wasn’t sure until the Dragons showed up. I can’t believe you’re really here.”

  “Which brings us almost full circle,” Cassidy said. “How do you remember me?” He looked at Garrett. “Who is Mason Garrett? Why am I so important to your cause? And what exactly is your cause?”

  Jessica opened her mouth to respond. Before any words could spill out, all of the maintenance lights in the warehouse suddenly went dark.

  “Shit,” she hissed, her ClearPhone providing just enough light to dimly illuminate the inside of the container. “I don’t know how, but they found us.”

  Chapter 35

  “We have to go,” Jessica said, moving to the end of the shipping container as a loud clang sounded from high above. “Leiana, Mason, grab our gear. Hurry”

  “Jessica, wait.” Cassidy slid off the table as Leiana and Mason ran from the container, leaving Cassidy and Jessica alone.

  “Cass, we don’t have time to waste. The UDF is here.”

  “They’re here for you, not me.”

  Jessica looked at him as though she couldn’t believe he was hesitating to join them. Regardless of the fact that he had shadowed Jessica twenty years earlier, he didn’t really know anything about her. The story she had presented was both outrageous and complex, not something easily digested or accepted within a few minutes.

  “Cass, please,” she pleaded, her eyes sinking into his. “We have to get out of here. We can finish our conversation when we get somewhere safe.”

  “You said this place was safe,” Cassidy replied.

  “I know. I don’t know how they found us. It doesn’t matter.”

  “It matters to me. Jessica, you’re asking me to turn against the only thing I’ve ever known and you haven’t even told me why.”

  “I did tell you why. We’re fighting a war, Cassidy.”

  “And only I can stop it, is that it?”

  “Not alone you can’t, but we do need you.”

  Leiana and Mason returned, Mason coming to stand in front of Cassidy. “Here’s your raincoat and holster. “The NG is reloaded,” he said. “You’re full up.”

  Cassidy took the offered items, holding them in his hands as Mason passed Jessica her coat and an assault rifle. “I don’t know about this. They’re just UDF agents doing their job. And you expect me to shoot them.”

  “Cass, what do you think is going to happen if they know you had a chance to stop us and you just let us walk away? How is that going to go for you?”

  “I’d rather spend the rest of my existence in the Freezer than be a traitor. That’s what you’re asking me to do, Jessica. Betray the oath I took to the UDF. And I don’t even know why. I get it, Unity made me see things. It kept me under control. But maybe that isn’t a bad thing. Maybe it had its reasons to manipulate me. How can I make that decision based on what little you’ve had time to share?”

  “You should be dead right now, Cassidy,” Garrett growled angrily. “I could have killed you.”

  More noises echoed from above. Then the large loading elevator began to move, rumbling along its tracks. Closer to them, the heavy maintenance access door moved aside. Jessica tapped on her ClearPhone.

  “I understand what you’re saying, Cass,” she argued. “I wish we had more time. The only argument I can make is that Dorne believed in what we were doing, enough that he gave his life for it. So did Hall. Enough that he sacrificed his son to move you closer to us. I know you don’t know me as well as I think I know you. But you did know them. Don’t trust me. Trust them. At least until you hear the rest of what I have to say.”

  Cassidy glared at her. He didn’t have much time to make up his mind. He could hear the footsteps on the floor of the warehouse, coming their way. The upper level was already blocked off and he was sure there were more UDF soldiers outside.

  His thoughts left the moment, an image of Nicholas on the rooftop of the apartment unit flashing through his mind, his body bloody and lifeless, his mother lying dead beside him. On top of the image, he heard Dorne telling him it was all a lie. That his original body had been destroyed the moment his master had been recorded. He knew Dorne well enough to know he hadn’t lied to him. The UDF had betrayed him fifty years ago. Maybe Jessica was right. Maybe he didn’t owe them a damn thing.

  “How did they find us, Jess?” he asked. “Your device is supposed to be secure. I don’t have mine. How could they know we were here?”

  “I don’t know,” she answered. “We can figure that out later.”

  “No, we can’t,” Cassidy replied. “If we don’t figure it out now, however we were discovered, that same leak goes with us.”

  “Cass, I don’t know,” Jessica insisted. “Are you coming?”

  Cassidy’s eyes danced from her to Garrett to Leina. “On one condition.”

  “What’s that?”

  He pulled his needlegun from its holster and shot Leiana in the head. She toppled to the ground, her pack falling beside her.

  “That you won’t hold that against me,” he said, nodding at Leiana’s body.

  “You bastard!” Garrett shouted, eyes narrowing, fists clenching as he made to charge Cassidy.

  Cassidy turned the needlegun on him, but Jessica stepped between them, knocking the needlegun aside as she blocked Mason’s path. “He has a point, Mason.”

  “A point? He just murdered Leiana!”

  “Who turned us in if Leiana didn’t. I didn’t call it in and I know you didn’t.”

  Mason’s anger drained away on a long breath of air. He reached up and rubbed his fingertips over his forehead before he looked up again at Jessica. “She’s been with us since the Dome, Jess. She wouldn’t turn us in. Not now.”

  “How do you know?” Cassidy asked. “Has she been here in the container with you the entire time?” He already knew she hadn’t been. He remembered her returning from somewhere while Garrett was taking him to the container. Garrett knew it too. He stared back at Cassidy stone-faced.

  “Mason, let it go,” Jessica said. “We don’t have time for this.” A second or two later, he nodded, and Jessica relaxed. “Cass, can you grab her pack?”

  Cassidy took a step forward, his knees nearly locking up on him. He put his hand over his wrist again, stabbing himself with the stim ring a second time. Jazz had told him to be careful with the stuff, but now wasn’t the time to worry about side effects. The warmth spread quickly through him, the pain in his knees evaporating as he bent over and retrieved Leiana’s dropped pack.

  “They cut the power to the lights through the control software, not physically,” Jessica said. “I can override it. The good thing is, they’re probably using night vision. When I turn the lights back on, they’ll be momentarily blinded. So will we, but not as badly.”

  “I can manage,” Cassidy said.

  “Me too,” Garrett agreed.

  “Try not to kill them if you can avoid it,” Cassidy added. “If what you told me is true, they aren’t really the enemy.”

  “They are in this, Cass,” Jessica said. “They’re trying to stop us, and this is bigger than them.”

  “Just try,” Cassidy pressed.

  “Copy that,” Garrett said.

  Cassidy could tell by the pattern of the approaching footfalls that the incoming UDF forces had spread out and would come at them from every side, hoping to trap them in the container. More important than shooting the enemy when the lights came back on would be to get past them and into the maze of containers stacked everywhere around them.

  If they could even the odds a little bit on the way, even better.

  Garrett grabbed one of the doors to the container, pulling it closed to give them limited cover.

  “They’ll toss gas in,” Cassidy said.

  “We won’t be staying long once they do,” Jessica replied.

  All three of them ducked behind the door. Jessica turned her device off, casting them into pitch black. Cassidy closed his eyes to better concentrate on his hearing. There were at least two units out there. Probably three. Another three upstairs blocking their escape through the hangar, and at least five more outside. Would the UDF send in drones as well? It depended on how secretive they were trying to be.

  He opened his eyes when he heard the thunk of the first canister launching toward the container, followed by the metallic clang when it hit the back wall a moment later. It immediately began spewing tranquilizing gas.

  Jessica activated her ClearPhone. A single tap, and all of the lights in the warehouse went back on at full power.

  The result was nearly as blinding to Cassidy as he knew it would be to the UDF agents, whose eyes were no doubt shrouded by night-vision goggles that couldn’t adjust quickly enough for the sudden flare. They burned and teared up as he fought not to squeeze them closed against the light, instead charging out from cover behind Garrett while Jessica brought up the rear.

  The agents were dressed in all black—light body armor covering their chests, arms and legs. Tactical helmets and goggles shrouded their faces. The armor was impervious to most small arms, but Cassidy’s needlegun was another story. He gritted his teeth as he followed Garrett up the middle, taking aim at the agents on their left flank and putting well-aimed rounds in their thighs. Garrett matched him up ahead, the Sliver in his eye helping him put rounds into their hands and arms, leaving them unable to hold their weapons but keeping them alive. Jessica wasn’t as accurate on her side, expending a lot more ammunition to knock down her targets of opportunity.

  The whole thing only lasted a handful of seconds, and then they were past the offensive line and breaking around one of the container stacks. They left a handful of groaning, injured UDF agents behind.

  “They’re trying to turn off the lights again,” Jessica said, shouldering her rifle to return to her ClearPhone.

  “Don’t let them unless you can switch them back on. If they want to keep playing that game, they’ll lose.”

  “It’ll be temporary while they get someone to shut the building down from grid control,” Jessica said. “They do that, we’re blind.”

  “How long?”

  “Five minutes if they’re slow.”

  “So we have three. What’s our route out of here?”

  “Up,” Jessica said. “I’ve got a roto incoming.”

  “Still a great trick. Can you get the elevator incoming too?”

  “Negative. They’ll pick us off like targets at a gun range if we use the lift.”

  “So how do we get up top?”

  Jessica continued tapping on her phone. “Working on it. Mason, angle for the closest beltway.”

  “Copy,” Garrett said.

  Cassidy didn’t know what a beltway was. He didn’t ask. He followed Garrett across another pair of container rows before the former Marine pulled them to a stop. He used hand signals to indicate agents down the next row.