Year 18

-Chapter 29-

I don't know if it's surprise or disbelief that forces a number of seconds to go by before I identify the voice as belonging to Andrew.

Melinda hadn't told me what to expect at the end of the tunnel. Amy has never offered up much information in regard to her involvement in all of this, especially the specifics. Neither has Kane as of late. Perhaps it was always safer that way, but there's still a nagging feeling in my stomach that part of it boils down to a lack of trust. An even deeper, sharper, nagging reminds me it would be well-founded.

My eyes have started to adjust to the lack of light, and I notice movement in front of Kane as there are sounds of an embrace, arms against a back, beside me.

"I'm glad you're all alright," Andrew's words rush, "you are all well, yes?"

"As much as we can be," Kane's voice is dull. There's a lack of emotion there, both in the fact that we are—for the time being—safe and unharmed, and in that we have been reunited with his brother.

"Took you both long enough," another voice joins us.

Amy.

There is both apprehension and relief at hearing her voice. On the one hand, her grandmother had been nothing but kind, risking her safety for ours. Still, it is hard to fully trust the daughter of the man who has caused us to run in the first place.

"How's mom?" Kane speaks directly to Andrew, "Anya?"

"They're safe," Andrew says. I see Kane's shoulders lower, small amounts of tension leaving his body. "Tommy and the Olsens are with them."

"Everyone else?" Kane asks, sounding defeated despite the sliver of good news.

"There are many we don't know the current whereabouts of," Andrew admits. "However, some have found safe housing for the time being."

"It can't last long," Amy jumps in. "Suspicions are high. My father, the Agents, are going to go after even their most trusted government officials as paranoia rises. We have created something that, if under our control, is exactly what we need. But—"

"If in the hands of your father," I finish, "it will implode."

Amy nods, silent.

The Leader's paranoia has created an equal and shared distrust. He no longer has the ability to assume to hold the upper hand, even if it may be the truth. Still, paranoia comes with casualties. The man who has kept secrets. The woman who is not forthcoming. However, if we can keep hold of the Leader's concerns, we can use them to our advantage. We can anticipate his missteps and react accordingly. At times, we can even create them, expose the weaknesses there. Of course, this is all in theory. The execution will prove to be much harder.

We spend some time talking, catching up on what has happened since we all went our separate ways. We have had limited communication, but nothing that was very telling. We are so deep in conversation that when Andrea arrives, we all jump, our nerves finding their way back to the edge.

"My apologies," she holds her hands up. "It's just me."

I think of the process Kane had to go through to get into this segment of the tunnel, and the area we are now convened in. I notice Andrea sucking at a red dot on her finger and realize she has had to do the same.

"Uncle really took every precaution," she says, smiling at her cousins.

"Where have you been?" Kane asks. It isn't accusatory, just merely a means of gathering an understanding of what exactly has transpired.

"I took your mom, Anya and some others to one of the outlying bunkers."

Andrew had explained earlier that the majority of Mr. Porter's bunkers had been within the city as a means of quick escape. There are only two that lie outside of the city's borders.

"The bunker near Hilkren?" Kane asks.

Andrea shakes her head.

"No. For a while the Agents followed our misleading trails out of the city. As the Agents make their way back into the city, I felt they'd be safest for them outside of it; at least for the time being."

"So you took them out to...?" Kane waits for her reply.

Andrea's eyebrows pull together, stamped with confusion as she says, "I took them to the bunker directly outside the city. It was as far as we could travel with that many of us. We were lucky to get there at all, let alone if we'd tried to go any further."

The duality of perceived relief and apprehension hits me square in the chest. I should feel relieved that they're in a bunker. So should Kane. Yet, it would be impossible to mistake the terror on his face for a look of calm. It's impossible for me to ignore the pounding of my heart in my ears.

Kane had led Paul to that very bunker in hopes of saving him.

My brother, still at the mercy of those that wish him harm; that wish us all harm. The link to his implant may have been weakened, but it was not severed.

Now, Mrs. Porter, Anya, Timmy, the Olsens, they are all secured, trapped within walls they are incapable of leaving.

Now, none of them are safe.

"Let's go," Kane says, not explaining. He doesn't have to.

"We'll go," Andrea says. She understands.

"You're safest here," Andrew says, "both of you."

A helpless feeling seeps into my stomach as I watch them tear away.

This is our weakness that has been forced open.

This is our weakness that can be exploited.

This is our weakness beneath the foot of the Leader.