Thunder (31 page)

“Selah!” Cleon screamed. She was gone. He turned to Bodhi. “Why didn't you watch her? Why did you leave her?”

“She was beside me when I ran!” Bodhi yelled over the din.

The watcher ignored both of them. He slid on a helmet fitted with a headset and long-range vision goggles, engaged a strap harness mechanism around himself, and hung out the door with his hand wrapped in a stationary hook.

Cleon could feel the transport traveling high. It swung around and moved back to the JetTrans station side of the Mountain. Two team members leaned out with laser-sighted guns, projectiles mounted on the ends. As they moved over the area, both fired. The ground below exploded with fire, a flash, and huge dust clouds.

The transport slowed its forward motion. Cleon was sure they were going to set down and get Selah. The watcher was yelling into his headset now.

The transport started to move off. The watcher slid the door closed and unhooked himself, throwing the helmet to the side.

Cleon grabbed him. “You can't leave her. They'll catch her.”

The watcher pried himself free. “Not now.” He charged
to the back of the transport. Cleon felt like beating the man to a pulp for leaving his sister behind. Bodhi too.

The watcher ran to the back side of the cargo bay, opened the latches holding a thick bulkhead door, and tossed the door aside like it didn't weigh the hundred pounds Cleon knew it did. The watcher grabbed a containment ring with both hands and guided a cable up and over the winch mounted above the open doorway.

W
hat? Why did you let that happen?” Bethany screamed into her mouthpiece. “Rank incompetence!” She ripped off the headset and flung it across the room. She turned to the tech manning the scanner. “Tell me what kind of vehicle just left the Mountain and get a laser cannon tracking its movement. It should be far enough from the Mountain in a few minutes to get a clear shot at it.”

The scanner tech scrambled to assemble the info. “Ma'am, it was a JetTrans, but I don't have an identa-marker for it.”

Bethany spun to face him. “All JetTrans have identa-markers. You must be mistaken.”

“No, ma'am,” the tech said as he pointed at the screen. Fear registered in his eyes.

Bethany stepped to the screen. The identa-marker box was blank. “Well, apparently we have a secret operation going on inside this Mountain. I will find those dogs later. Launch a prison JetTrans to bring that transport down.”

The tech pointed at the screen again. “They just went dark. I don't know their direction.”

Bethany seethed. “I repeat! Get one of ours in the air and find them!”

In the harness trailing behind the swift-moving transport, Selah clutched Amaryllis tightly to her chest. The force of the wind against her face stripped away every attempt to regain her breath after she'd run to catch the lowered harness. She buried her head in the child's hair, thankful the girl had been running toward all the noise rather than away from it.

She forced her head up. The doorway to the transport was almost within reach. The watcher reached out, hooked himself to their harness, and pulled them into the cargo bay.

Selah clung to Amaryllis as they moved away from the open door.

The girl jabbered like a magpie. “I knew it. I just knew you'd come out of that Mountain. I stayed close by the fence. And all that shooting scared me, but I knew it was you getting away. I knew it!”

Selah was so relieved to have found her swiftly that the nonstop talk was enjoyable. She needed time to thaw. So many things had happened so fast in the last week that her emotions were stunned into a frozen state other than immediate, instinctive responses. Being pulled through the sky at the end of a rope would hit her later.

She reached to hug Cleon and Treva. Cleon clutched her tightly, cutting off her air as he attempted to hide tears. Bodhi
extricated himself from the children. They let him move away but huddled together, staring at him.

Bodhi hugged her fiercely, then held her face gently in both hands and gave her a light kiss on the forehead before moving back to the children. It gave her pause. Then she noticed something else.

“Where's the other boy?” She swung around, counting heads in the open transport. All were visible from her position in the back.

Bodhi bit down on his bottom lip. She didn't understand. He mouthed, “Dead.”

Selah gasped. Tears welled in her eyes. She looked at Cleon. “And the three missing Landers?”

He set his jaw, closed his eyes, and shook his head. The rest hung their heads. The children hid their faces against each other.

She collapsed back into the seat. Silent tears formed tracks down her cheeks. She tried to be brave and strong and act like she could handle everything, but she couldn't. The thaw had come. Amaryllis slid onto the seat beside her and rested her head against Selah's shoulder. The child's warmth comforted her broken heart.

Her head hurt from people probing it. Her heart hurt from the losses. Mother, Raza, her father, and now people she was trying to save—lost because of her. Maybe she didn't deserve to live, to come through this, to find the life Mother talked about.

If she'd listened to Mother and not gone to the beach, time would have passed her by like a wave slipping back into the ocean without getting her wet.

Tears clouded her vision.

Suddenly Bodhi was on her other side. He slid his arm around her shoulder, looked at her tenderly, and gave her a hug. She buried her head in his shoulder and sobbed.

“It's my fault they're dead,” she murmured.

Bodhi tipped up her chin. “If it weren't for you and your tenacity, none of these people would have been saved.”

“I should have saved them all. That poor boy, and those Landers. They lived through all this and I got them killed.”

“Sometimes there are casualties of war.” Bodhi rubbed her back.

Selah looked up at him. She rubbed the backs of her hands across her eyes. “What war?”

“The constant war of good against evil,” he said. “I remember somewhere in your country's history it talked about man's inhumanity to man. There's nothing new under the sun.”

Their watcher, who had moved forward to talk to Mojica, headed back to them. “Commander Mojica says we will be landing in a few minutes.”

Selah tried to look out the side window over Amaryllis's head. All she saw was forest. “Where are we?”

“She'll explain when we land.” The watcher grabbed the overhanging straps and threaded his way forward again.

“Did anyone tell you where we'd be dropped off?” Selah moved to the window, trying to get a bearing on the lands below.

“No,” Bodhi said, looking down at himself. “I think we need other clothes. We can't go around in these uniforms without people getting suspicious.”

“I was hoping we could take off these hoods by now, but I see the watcher still has his on. Maybe we'd better wait.”

The transport slowed its forward movement. Selah felt it lurch as it moved toward the ground. The Landers and children became animated. It was curious to watch the children touch heads without words. Selah resigned herself to the beginning of a new life.

A soft thud announced the transport landing. The door slid open and team members hopped out and set up a perimeter. Selah hadn't liked their dark and brooding presence when the operation began, but now she felt a certain level of panic at being left without them.

Cleon and Treva scrambled down from the open side along with the Landers. Selah waited as Bodhi lifted Amaryllis down and herded the children out. The boys still moved as a single unit. They held hands and waited at the side of the transport until all were together before moving away.

Selah hopped down, taking in the scenery. This was a strange place. She could see forest in the distance, but this land had been deliberately cleared of trees. She recognized the work as something her father and brothers did often to make new pasture for the horses and cows.

Why would land be cleared here in the middle of nowhere? This wasn't that far from the Mountain. She wrung her hands and tried to finger her scar through the uniform.

Mojica came around the side of the transport, pulling her hood off as she walked. Her dark hair flowed freely, covering her shoulders and flowing down her back. She shook her head and agitated her hair with both hands, making her look more like a princess than a warrior.

Selah grinned. “We can take these hoods off now?”

“Yes, you're free from the covers,” she said. She motioned
to one of her team, who hopped up in the transport and slid out a large canvas bag. “Here are your clothes. I'd appreciate getting our uniforms back so we can leave before we're spotted. Our unit is running in stealth mode, so as long as there are no visuals of us, we're back in the Mountain, home free.”

Selah smiled. “Thank you for the foresight. I hadn't thought how we'd get out of these.” She dropped to her knees, opened the bag, and fished out her stuff. Relief flooded her. A part of normal life reclaimed. She darted for cover in the trees while Bodhi and the others pulled out their clothing.

When she emerged, Mojica was leaning against the transport with one foot on the rail. Selah dropped the uniform on the deck of the transport and glanced around. Amaryllis moved to her side and took her hand. Selah noted how the child stayed close by since they'd been reunited. It made her smile.

“Where are we?” She looked at the sun's position, figuring which way was north.

Mojica swept her hand out across the view. “In the next few months this is going to become a community in exile of the Mountain. We've gathered from all areas of society to build this new life in the fresh air.”

“You said ‘we.' You're part of this?”

“Yes, I'll be the head of security and defense,” Mojica said with a half smile. “Over there are the beginning phases of the town square.” She pointed to the left.

Selah peered in the distance. About a thousand feet away, foundation stones created a rectangle shape jutting from the ground.

“Who's doing all this? I grew up to believe no one ever left the Mountain and very few ever came outside,” Selah said.

Mojica pursed her lips. “Well, I guess you can know, since you won't be going back inside. This is the ground where Charles Ganston's going to make his mark in the world.”

Treva walked up to the transport, uniform in hand. She added hers to Selah's. “Did I hear you right? This land belongs to my uncle?”

Mojica kicked at the dirt. “You can't repeat this when you go back inside.”

“Don't worry. I'm not going back in,” Treva said, her voice firm.

Selah let go of Amaryllis's hand and pivoted to face her. “Are you sure? Your whole life's in there. No one knew you were part of our operation. You could sneak back in with Mojica and no one would be the wiser. Don't you think you might regret leaving it and everything you owned?”

Bodhi and Cleon arrived. Bodhi looked at Selah and Treva. “Did something happen?”

Cleon approached Treva. “What'd we miss?”

“You missed her saying she's not going back in the Mountain,” Selah said.

He looked at her and reached for her hand. “Are you sure? Your uncle is still in there. He's the only family you have.”

Treva pursed her lips. “Hopefully Uncle Charles will be out soon. But the only things I'm giving up are the drugs and lies I've been using to cover up.”

Bodhi slid his arm around Selah's waist. She found comfort in his embrace, but now she was worried about her new friend. Drugs? Did she have some kind of an addiction? Selah
had heard about people with that kind of problem, but she'd never met any.

Cleon bit his lip. Selah knew that look. He was afraid to speak.

“Treva, what kind of drugs? Tell us what we can do to help.” Although Selah didn't have any idea how to help someone on drugs. She decided she could at least be supportive. This girl had risked a lot to help them.

“Yes, you can help me,” Treva said. “Help me learn how to deal with this.” She reached for the neckline of her shirt and pulled it down enough to expose the wing imprinted below her collarbone.

Selah's legs gave way. Bodhi gripped her waist and for a second she was suspended in his arms. “I don't know what to say. How is this possible?”

Bodhi's mouth opened. “How come I couldn't feel you?”

“That's why I've been taking drugs. A few years ago I came up with the formula to effectively mask it.” Treva looked at Selah. “Are you all right?”

Selah beamed from ear to ear. “All right! I'm ecstatic. I've got someone like me. We can learn together. The only thing better would have been if I'd gotten to meet my father.” With Amaryllis, Cleon, and the rest, she would start a new family. She'd never forget the others, but this would help soothe her losses.

She saw Mojica nod to one of her men. She figured with their work finished, they'd go home. The uniformed group approached the transport, and she moved from the opening to get out of their way.

Mojica put her hand on Selah's shoulder. “I'm hoping
you'll forgive me for this, but it was the only way I could ensure your safety once I understood.”

Selah furrowed her brow. “Why would I need to forgive you?”

Mojica pointed to her team. The men in the front separated and her watcher moved forward. As he pulled off his hood, Selah saw the mark on the left side of his temple and forehead. “He's a Lander! Why didn't we feel his presence?”