Whispers of the Diamond: A Romance of Memory and Desire

Chapter 18 - Terra

I couldn't calm myself as I tore through the streets, my whole body ablaze with adrenaline. The feeling of his skull colliding with the car was unnerving, to say the least. Alex would forgive me; after all, I only did as he told me to, something I quite enjoyed. I shook the thoughts from my mind, opened the cover, and climbed down, sliding it into place. There was no way I'd make it out of North in one piece now.

I climbed all the way down into the sewers, my body still aching from the intensity of my encounter with Alex. The memory of what happened left me shuddering as I fumbled for my torch. The resistance had long marked these sewers for navigation, and we'd updated the routes after relocating to our new HQ following the breach of the old one. Alex had first found me there, where we had been using the CTT machine while Rebbi worked on upgrading ours.

I walked for hours alone, lost in my thoughts. Jakob was going to be pissed that Alex was there, but I didn't care. It was the right choice to ensure that the Transcontinental Government's (TG) wrath didn't fall upon the Lowlanders or anyone else they might decide needed to be punished for our actions. That wasn't fair this was our fight but they needn't be collateral damage, and almost everything the TG did led to collateral damage.

I sighed as I climbed back up onto the street, slowly eyeing the area before sliding through an old fence and then back down into the underground. Walking along the tracks was a stark reminder of our reality. I dropped through another tunnel and then through a large metal door to access our headquarters. I smiled at the memory of how close Alex had gotten before my well-placed distraction.

"How the fuck?!" barked Jakob the moment he laid eyes on me.

"Hunter was slow," I chuckled in reply. "Bounced his head off his own car, left him in a pool of blood."

"Didn't think to put a bullet in his head? Considering the shit storm he caused, he took out more of theirs than we did, but we'll be the ones who get the blame!" He was pissed and also correct.

"He's a Hunter; you know their allegiance is to themselves," I shrugged as Joseph joined us. He looked troubled, his eyes settling on me. It was as if he was searching for something. Joseph knew me as well as anyone in my current life.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say his allegiance was to you," Joseph began. "Alice said you left with him."

Alice. That was a reminder of where the hell our mysterious leader was in all of this. A few moments later, Alice appeared in the frame of the door. Her piercing green eyes and white hair flowed into the room with a grace that was hard to ignore.

"You left in his custody?" Her words were a challenge.

"No... we knew each other a long time ago, but I left him unconscious," I shrugged in reply.

"I see. Why not execute him? He is the one chasing us, isn't he?" Alice's voice carried a tone I had never heard from her but knew well from my father—the tone of disappointment for failing them. I felt my heart crack in that moment.

Alice was the one who'd found me after my attack, scanned my brain, and then brought me back to the resistance. From that moment on, we'd been friends. She was as close to family as I had in this world, and the thought of having hurt her was crushing. But Alex had been my world before that, and even now, my loyalty was torn. She had taught me everything I knew about survival, while he had taught me everything about living.

"He's good at what he does. Give me time, and I can bring him to our side," I said, trying to find a way through, anything to keep the man I loved from the path of Jakob and his trigger-happy pals.

"You think you can turn a government lapdog?" Jakob scoffed, and I shot him a glare.

"I think he's smart enough to know not everything is so fucking black and white Jakob, that people can make choices, and that he pulled me out of the fire fight where the fuck were you?"

"Busy dealing with government forces!" he snapped back.

He had a point. It was clear that Alex had brought the full force of the TG to ensure we failed. I was grateful for that. He had stopped us from doing something monumentally stupid. Crippling them is an idea, a great plan in theory, but they'd just get worse while their big toys weren't available. They'd deploy every cop and enforcer onto the streets of every district in the world. The suffering would be so much worse. We wanted to affect change, not make it worse, and nothing we'd done had helped change the balance of power. Only pissed off the higher ups.

"I can turn him; I just need time," I restated, forcing every ounce of belief I could into my words. Alex wanted me, to be with me, and the only way for that to happen was if he came to our side. The truth was, I wanted him too. I needed Alex in my life—his strength, his wisdom, his view of the world.

"Very well. That's our next operation. Jakob, you continue your training and do as you see fit. Reiko, finish the third generation of our CTT. Joseph, you'll run ops with Terra. Terra, you have one month to bring him to our side. Failure to do so, and you will kill him. Do I make myself clear?" Alice was in no mood for negotiation or further arguments. One month was my window, and if I could make significant headway, it might give me more time. It wasn't an easy task; I knew Alex and loyalty was everything to him. I had to hope his loyalty to me was stronger.