Masked by Nicola Claire Page B

give it one final, futile chance.
    But hope is mercurial. Wisdom is more reliable.
    "No," Paul replied, the word heavy. They knew. "But Si has something he wants to show you."
    "And the President?" Alan asked.
    "Hanging ‘round like a bad smell."
    "In the tech-room?" Alan pressed.
    "Si tried to keep him out, but Tan wanted to see what was happening on the streets. And those Cardinals are holding big fucking guns."
    "What's our vision?" Alan asked. It was so easy to see him leading the rebel army.
    And yet so hard as well.
    I leaned back against the mirrored wall of the lift and concentrated on breathing through the dull ache in my chest.
    "Not twenty-twenty," Paul advised. "Street-cams were mostly operable for the first few hours post the fall, but more and more went off-line as the day progressed. Si doesn't think it's by chance," he added.
    The lift doors dinged at that moment, adding to the heavy weight that hung on the air. My eyes found Alan's. A wealth of unsaid words were shared.
    We had enemies at every corner. And some staring us right in the eyes.
    I stepped off first, noting the Cardinals dotted down our penthouse floor. Their positioning couldn't have been random; one stood outside each apartment door, as well as the emergency stairwell. I was relieved to note our apartment received no more attention than the others, and the safe-room and armoury access hadn't been located at all.
    I walked towards Si's apartment, knowing that's where I'd find Tan. The need to go to our home, the home I shared with Trent, was all consuming. But drawing attention to my father's Shiloh unit was not a wise move at present. We'd need it, of that I was certain. But flicking the switch, as Trent liked to call it, was not possible. For more reasons than one.
    The Cardinal on the door opened it for us; an action that surprised me. They'd seemed so militant, not moving unless under command. But then, perhaps our egress had been granted. Permission needed - and given - to enter our own building, our own homes, our own tech-room.
    This had been a mistake.
    Simon sat in front of the vid-screens once we’d crossed the room’s threshold; blond hair still cut in a model fashion, looking so out of place on the rebel. He would grow it again, I knew. But the rebellion of that action no longer counted.
    His eyes met mine and then immediately flicked to Alan. His acting leader. The one who’d decide how we progressed from here.
    Tan stepped forward catching my attention, his face a mask of concern. I would have gone to him, let him hold me as he'd done so often over the years. But anger fuelled my words.
    "What have you not told us?" I demanded.
    He halted in his approach, the mask falling and then morphing into something else. President Tan looked back at me.
    Fine. I crossed the space between us and slapped him hard across the face.
    The cacophony of laser guns whirring to life drowned out Alan's and Si's shouts of warning. Tan looked at me as if he didn't know me. A taut moment stretched between us. Like fine silk it threatened to tear.
    Then he clenched his teeth, the pink on his cheek where my palm had landed whitening, and said, "Stand down."
    The Cardinals obeyed the order, reminding me who’d I’d actually struck. I darted eyes over his security detail, noting their compliance was ingrained in them, but their fingers still rested on the triggers of their guns.
    The room was now a powder keg waiting to explode.
    "Well?" I said with as much venom as I could muster. Every Elite instinct in me roared for self-control. For model behaviour. I quashed it all, held firmly to my resolve, and took a step forward.
    Tan stood his ground. The Cardinals froze. Alan and Simon had stopped breathing.
    Deep inside I felt dead, but my body told me it was alive. My heart still beating.
    "You know something," I accused. "You knew something at Parliament House. You wanted Trent's help. Under the radar, you said. So what you know, you don't want to get