Chapter 39
A jailbreak. Simple. Only a couple of days ago, they had been risking life and limb to get here, and now they were risking everything again to break out. Even Porter was involved - not a total Charleston convert, then. Luckily, he still had some soldiers on his side who could provide them with weapons and keep a look-out while they got the boy out of lockup.
Zoe and Jeanne offered their help, but Tom and Captain Weaver didn't want them to get in any more trouble tonight. Instead they were given the role of distracting General Bressler and his soldiers - to make sure they didn't catch on to anything suspicious. Grace was sure Zoe could come up with something appropriate to distract the young men from their duties. She was a pro at chatting up the boys at school and taking their focus off their work.
Grace and Dai waited for Hal to give them the all-clear. He was pretending to visit Maggie. It wouldn't be suspicious; he'd visited her before. Grace held her breath and nodded at Dai as they stood either side of the door and Hal made his way through, mumbling something to the guard. A moment later, they heard a whack followed swiftly by a few thuds and then Hal opened the door again to let them through.
"Easy," he said with an annoyingly smug grin.
"Not out of the woods yet," Grace reminded them as they glided down the steps, leaping over the now-unconscious and tied up guard at the bottom.
Dai dug through the man's pockets for the keys whilst Hal immediately gravitated towards a shocked Maggie.
"Are you crazy?" the young woman spluttered from behind bars.
She was in a cage beside the de-harnessed boy who had been placed on his own. He was the same height as Ben, with dark hair and freckles, standing nervously in the corner. Just a kid, roped into something so much bigger than him.
Dai threw her the keys and she fiddled with the lock before swinging the door open and beckoning the boy towards her. He remained perfectly still. Grace wasn't sure if he was scared or just cautious.
"It's okay. I'm Tom Mason's daughter. This is my brother, Hal." She indicated towards Hal, but he was fully focused on Maggie, deep in a romantic speech about how he didn't care what kind of person Maggie had been before the war, he only cared who she was now. They all had an opportunity to start over. Grace couldn't help but smile and Maggie couldn't either. It seemed the speech had impressed her.
"But right now, we are heading into the field," Hal explained quickly. "I'd feel a hell of a lot better knowing you had my back."
Maggie smirked at him. "I'm in."
Hal grinned from ear to ear as he released her from her prison. Grace guided the de-harnessed boy from his own cage as a frustrated voice chirped up.
"Hey, what about us?"
Crazy Lee and Lyle stood in their own cage, hands wrapped around the bars expectantly. There was no sign of Casey or Pope. Grace at least hoped to free her as well and reunite her with Etta. Maybe Manchester had come to his senses and done the job for her.
With no time to argue, Grace and Hal dumped their keys on the floor as Dai ushered them up the stairs, leaving behind the annoyed grunts and groans of their Beserker colleagues. She felt a little guilty, but it soon passed. The aim was to get out and back in without being noticed, and they were sure to notice a couple of disgruntled Beserkers let loose around the place. Even if Lyle and Lee weren't all bad, they couldn't be trusted with this.
Tom and Weaver were waiting partway up their stairs for them, while Porter was at the top stairwell with their weapons. They were almost up the first flight of stairs when a deep voice yelled at them to stop, making Grace's heart leap out of her chest.
She turned around to see Sergeant Miles Wray pointing a rifle at them, standing tall in his combats, the only thing blocking them from their mission.
Confused, she put her hands up. "Miles? How did you..?"
"How did I sneak past your lookouts?" he finished for her, the blue of his eyes narrowing on her. "One of the perks of my job is having the plans to the whole facility, including all the passages and exits no one else knows about. When I heard the truth about you people, I thought you might try something. I just wanted to see for myself."
She shook her head. "The truth? What do you mean?"
He ignored her. "We have orders to take you in. All of you. The Second Mass is a security threat."
Hal scoffed loudly. "What are you talking about?"
Miles looked at Grace, disappointment cloaking his handsome face. "You failed to disclose the alien technology implanted in you whilst you were on the alien ship."
"Who told you that?" demanded Dai.
"Manchester got your people to speak up. He knows about the alien spy device found in your father, the infection that almost killed your captain. He knows everything." He looked again at Grace, but didn't lower his weapon. "People are scared, Grace. You tell me." His blue eyes flicked nervously between her and the de-harnessed boy. "Have they got a reason to be?"
After a brief, horrible pause, Grace risked taking a step towards him. "Sergeant…" She cleared her throat, correcting herself. "Miles…You don't understand. There are bigger things at play here. You said yourself you don't think we're doing enough to win this war. Well, now we have a chance. The rebel skitters are real and they want to help us."
The young soldier narrowed his eyes at her, unconvinced. "You're serious about this?"
"I know how it sounds. But trust me, it's real. My brother is out there fighting with them right now. I know you don't want to be sitting in an office for the rest of your life, hiding from the outside world. Neither do we. There must be someone or something in your life…family or loved ones…that you think is worth fighting for?"
Grace saw a range of emotions in his face after that. Grief, hope? The gleam in his eyes seemed to get bigger. Sadness. Then, he lowered his weapon. Defeat.
"Go," he muttered. "I doubt you'll make it out of the building. But I won't stop you."
Hal, Maggie, Dai and the boy wasted no time thanking him as they rapidly shot up the stairs, but Grace lingered on him a second longer, watching the pain swell in his features, wondering just what buttons she had pressed to elicit this reaction in him.
"Go!" he yelled at her, and she hastily followed Dai and her brother up the stairs, hurdling over step after step until they reached…
Her dad, Captain Weaver, Colonel Porter, all standing with their hands up, their guns already thrown to the floor. General Bressler and his men, including Tector, were standing opposite with their weapons aimed at each of them. Zoe and Jeanne must have run out of distraction tactics.
With no chance of escape, Grace raised her hands too, standing protectively in front of the de-harnessed boy who was now finally beginning to look scared.
She glanced behind her, seeing Miles had reappeared with his weapon raised at them again. Catching his eye, he seemed almost apologetic.
"It's over," Weaver muttered to them with a defiant glare. "Manchester's declared a state of emergency."
"General," Tom pleaded with him. "I saw how you were with Manchester. You know this is the right move."
Bressler gave him a pointed look. "I know how Manchester sees it, too."
"Seems to me you ought to start thinking about these people instead of your position, General," Weaver spitefully advised him.
An annoyed grimace emerged on the general's pale face as he clicked his tongue, deepening the wrinkles around his thin lips. "What the hell do you want from me?"
"Talk to Manchester," Tom said plainly. "Convince him we're right."
A moment of silence passed, Bressler's angry gaze scrutinising Tom's hopeful expression. It didn't take long to see what he was thinking.
"Cuff them and take them inside," he ordered, already walking away.
"Yes, sir."
Grace held her breath as she felt a pair of hands take hold of her wrists from behind. She was expecting pain to quickly follow, but instead her arms were placed gently behind her back as a cable tie was loosely pulled around her wrists. She glanced up at the soldier, seeing Miles was the one arresting her, his gentle touch an odd reassurance she hadn't been expecting.
"Sergeant Murphy!"
She turned her head to see Tector was the only soldier who hadn't moved from his spot.
"I'm sorry, sir. I respectfully refuse." He swiftly placed his handgun on the ground.
A small smile crept up on her lips. Loyal Tector. Back on the right side.
"Take him, too," muttered Bressler, clearly annoyed but not that surprised.
As they were escorted back downstairs, Grace could hear a man's voice on the P.A. system robotically chanting out instructions:
"All members of the Second Mass are to report to the commons area immediately."
Oh god, what was happening up there? She knew Anne and Lourdes were taking good care of Matt, but he must be terrified. They were being rounded up like cattle and lined up for slaughter. As she was squeezed into a cage with Hal, her dad, Maggie, and Weaver, she started to wonder what else Manchester was capable of.
She turned around to face Miles as he locked them in, the look on his face told her he didn't want to be doing this.
"I'll talk to Bressler," he said to her in a low voice. "Maybe I can make him see sense."
"You would trust us?" she questioned, watching him through the thick bars.
"I don't have anyone," he said abruptly, avoiding her gaze. "To answer your question from before…no one to fight for. No family, no loved ones." His voice broke slightly as he met her gaze again. "But I can see you do. And you wouldn't willingly put them in harm's way unless it was for something really important."
She stared at him. Maybe she had him all wrong. He wasn't this obnoxious, cowardly stickler for the rules she thought he was. She was watching that facade crumble away in front of her. He was actually willing to risk his cosy position, his freedom, to help them?
His gaze finally left hers as he retreated back upstairs, passing a couple of his colleagues who were escorting Pope and Casey back into their Beserker cage.
"Casey! Thank God, are you alright?" Grace called out, having to kneel on a crude camp bed to get to the partition in their cages.
She was pale, eyes red and cheeks damp with tears.
"What's wrong?"
"I'm so sorry," she wept as the guard locked her in. "I'm so, so sorry."
"Casey?" Tom approached behind Grace. "What is it?"
She glanced helplessly at them, her lip trembling as her dark strands of hair stuck to her face. "I told Manchester the truth about the bugs. About Captain Weaver's infection."
Grace found herself recoiling. So that's how Manchester found out.
"Pretty nice friend you have there, professor," Pope spat from beside Casey. He had a face like thunder. "Have to be pretty low to threaten a baby."
"He what?" Maggie's furious voice emerged from somewhere behind Tom.
"He threatened Etta," Tom surmised, sitting down gently on the camp bed beside Grace.
"That old bastard," Crazy Lee all but screamed as Lyle and Tector shook their heads with disgust.
"Tom, I'm so sorry," Casey cried, getting as close as she could to the edge of the cage. "I couldn't risk anything happening to her."
To Grace's surprise, Pope put a comforting arm around Casey and she buried her face into him. A literal shoulder to cry on. She hadn't seen him do that for anyone before.
"It's not your fault," Tom sighed. "I would have done the same thing."
Casey wiped her eyes. "We saw them rounding up the Second Mass. This is all my fault."
"I wouldn't lose too much sleep over it," Pope said. " Dirty tricks he was playing, you won't be the only one who said something. This would have happened whether you spoke up or not."
"I agree with Pope," Tom said, and even though she knew he was right, Grace still raised an eyebrow at the statement. "This would have happened eventually. We can't hide who we are and we shouldn't have to. It's clear the Second Mass don't fit in here, but if I can just speak to Manchester, reason with him. We could still make that rendezvous."
"He's beyond reason," Maggie spat.
"Threatening a baby, threatening our people," Hal added furiously.
Weaver shook his head. "Think you've run out of favours with him, Tom."
Grace looked back up towards the steps, hoping for a miracle. She assumed Zoe and Jeanne had been rounded up along with the Second Mass. They'd run out of friends here and now they were running out of time. Her only hope was Miles. The way he looked at her. She knew he was on their side. She could sense it.
It felt like an eternity before anyone came through that door. Everyone looked up to see who was thundering down those steps. It was Arthur Manchester, but not in the way they expected. He wasn't here willingly.
"You can't do this!"
Two uniformed men were escorting him down the steps, followed by Bressler and a couple other uniforms.
"Open the cells," Bressler ordered. "Let them out - all of them."
Grace realised that Miles was behind Bressler with the key. He caught her surprised gaze as he unlocked the door, swinging it open before softly undoing her bonds.
"Think you have somewhere to be," he smiled at her, and she found herself smiling back at him.
"What's going on?" Porter demanded, sharing a nervous look with Weaver.
Grace's eyes returned to Manchester, who was being dragged towards a cage as she and her people were released from them.
"I built this compound! These are my people!" Manchester bellowed as one of the soldiers pushed him in and locked the door.
"Civilian government's been suspended," Bressler explained, his long face void of emotion. "Charleston is now under martial law."
Tom looked back at Manchester, panicked. "Arthur, believe me, I didn't want this."
"Well you've got it!" Manchester spat angrily. "Your damned alliance is going to kill us all."
Bressler approached Tom, glancing up at the clock in the corner. "You want to make that rendezvous with your rebel skitters, I suggest you suck it up - and fast."
"Nice work, boys." Pope's grating interjection was as welcome as a punch to the gut. "Looks like you dropped us all into the middle of a good old-fashioned coup."