Chapter 27

Training Center Tower, Level 10

"Remind me why you need Artemis's control disk at a bloody one in the morning?" yawned Beetee cynically.

Katniss had perked up significantly at the mention of Peeta's plan. Now she was sitting bolt upright on the couch, her eyes bright and wild with a strange fire none of them had seen since before the death of her sister. "We're going to give it back to Artemis and help her finish what we stopped."

Beetee stared at the girl on fire, a smile tinting his lips. "Yeah. I like that idea."

"So can you give us the control disk?" blurted Peeta.

"No," said Beetee. "There are still too many unknowns about this piece of technology. We have not determined how she would be using this device and what for, though she claimed her motives were pure. We may be placing in Artemis's hands the key to the victor's crown."

"Are you saying that you haven't even –– "

"No, we haven't," said Beetee without hesitation. "We're a little busy with the Games, if you haven't noticed. So no, we haven't been able to find anything else out about it."

Peeta seemed to want to say something, but was physically incapable of saying it. He flailed his arms around in the air in gestures meaningless to everyone present except him, which all of those present had seen both Haymitch and Plutarch doing at various times and supposed that Peeta had picked up on the habit. Then he burst with surprising force and violence, "Then we send it to her and let her figure it out!"

Beetee sighed and rubbed his temples. "This is a bad idea."

"A good bad idea," offered Katniss.

"She might kill them all."

"She might save them all."

"This might be illegal."

"All the more reason to do it, then."

The technician sighed once more. "All right. Come with me."


He led them down to the Control Room, which was empty except for a half dozen Gamemakers, all of whom looked half asleep as they slouched in front of their holoboards. Beetee glanced at them, nodded once, and pressed his index finger to his lips in the universal gesture for silence. Then he sat down at a vacant holoboard and started tapping away. Katniss and Peeta stood behind him and watched. When he was satisfied, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black pouch, handing it to Katniss.

"Place that on the pedestal," he instructed.

"What pedestal?" she asked. Beetee pointed across the room to a silver pedestal with a base like a large cylinder. Puzzled, Katniss made her way over to the pedestal and placed the control disk flat on the surface.

"There's a little keypad on the top," he said. "Type in the coordinates N 7, W 12, Sector 9."

Carefully, Katniss did so. "Next?"

"Step back and watch," said Beetee, tapping the send icon on his holoboard.

The black pouch, with the control disk inside it, lowered into the pedestal and disappeared. Beetee directed their gazes towards the screens, some of which were now switching to images of Artemis. She was sleeping on the ground in the clearing of her camp, inside a sleeping bag. Her allies were scattered around her. The three spectators expected to see a small silver parachute descend within the next few seconds.

Nothing happened.

They waited.

Still nothing.

"Katniss?" said Beetee slowly.

"Yes?"

"Are you sure you punched in the right coordinates?"

"I'm positive," said Katniss, then her face screwed into a frown. "No."

Beetee looked down at his holoboard and started tapping away. His eyes widened, and he leaned back in his chair with his hands covering his mouth. "Oh no. This is not good. Too late to cancel the order –– "

"What?" Peeta and Katniss both yelped at the same time.

"You punched in the coordinates N 7, W 12, Sector 19."

Both of them were still confused. "What's wrong with that?" inquired Peeta.

"Not what," said Beetee. "Who."

"Who's in Sector 19?" asked Katniss.

Beetee took a deep, shaky breath. "Male District 4 tribute. Caius Adrian Angelico."


Haha! EVIL CLIFFHANGER! Didn't see that coming, didja?! Haha!

Deja vu...

If you are reading this, you should review. There are currently 9 people following this and at least 1 guest... so I should get at least 9 reviews...