A Different Divergent: A Better Tomorrow

~one-hundred and two~

Chapter 102

I could have sworn that I just heard Drew confirm under truth serum that someone other than Molly came up with the plan that is wreaking havoc on our lives right now. But whose plan could it be? Drew? No, he's too stupid. Olivia? Seems doubtful that she would target anyone other than me. Ethan? I know he wanted Tyler and Tessa back but killing my friends seems like an unreasonable way to achieve that. Ruth? Please, please, please don't let it be her. Marcus? He seems like the most likely candidate, although how would he even know who Molly and Drew were to set up a scheme like this. I find myself holding my breath waiting for who the culprit is.

"Let me get this straight, Drew," Tobias sternly says, "you're telling us that Molly isn't the mastermind behind the plan that's left three Dauntless members dead, including a leader and two others injured."

"She's not smart enough," he blurts then his eyes widen and his cheeks flood with color. I think that was a truth he didn't realize he held.

"If it wasn't Molly then who was it?" I can tell Drew doesn't want to answer. He fights hard against the serum, his face twisting in pain but then he hangs his head and groans.

"It was Porter." Porter? That son of a bitch. Why? How? I never thought that this would cross my mind but I think Porter Hayes is worse than his son and that is saying a lot.

"You're telling me that Peter Hayes' fatheris the one who came up with the plan?" he asks.

"Yes," Drew says, looking crestfallen. I think the serum has finally gotten the best of him.

"How is that possible? He's been in lockdown for months now."

"Niles let us in to see him a few times, and he passed messages back and forth for us," he says and Jack mutters an expletive under his breath. I know how he feels. It's hard to learn that someone you trust completely stabbed you in the back.

"I need you to start from the very beginning and tell me every detail you know of how Porter's plan came to life," Tobias says. I knew after learning he helped his son kidnap me that he was evil personified. What kind of person would do that? And now all this. He must really hate me.

"One week after Porter was sentenced to jail, Molly and I received a message from him. It instructed us to dress in Candor black and white and go to the faction long-term holding cells just after sundown for an important meeting. We contemplated not going. We thought it might be a joke or an elaborate rouse to get us into trouble but her curiosity won out so we decided to hedge our bets and we went. When we got to the holding cell area, we were surprised that Niles was the one who greeted us." I see Tobias pull the notebook out of his pocket and jot something down while Drew rattles on. "He took us to Porter's cell and waited with us, making it look like it was a legitimate visit. Porter wasted no time in explaining what it was he wanted, Tris Prior's total destruction. He explained that Tris was the one responsible for Peter's death, which Molly and I already suspected." I shake my head at their stupidity. "He made it perfectly clear he wanted her dead, too, but first he wanted her to suffer unimaginable pain. That's when he laid out his plan.

"The first phase was to contact a woman at Erudite who gave us a formula for a new serum. She also gave Molly the codes to the door closest to the serum vault so we could sneak in and steal the necessary samples from storage but I don't remember her name. She doesn't like Stiffs and was eager to help when she heard the serum would be used against one of the traitors who stopped the war on Abnegation." Typical Jeanine lackey. They just keep popping up. It's too bad we can't eradicate them all. "The second phase was for us to infiltrate Dauntless and get around undetected, which we easily accomplished for weeks. No one looked at us twice ... until Sam saw us talking with Lauren that morning. The third phase was to enlist people to help us. Dauntless members were preferred because of their close proximity to you and Tris but anyone who was willing to help was okay. Lauren took some convincing but Olivia jumped at the chance to ruin Tris the minute we asked her. She hates her nearly as much as Molly does, maybe even more so. The final phase was targeting those closest to Tris. We were to start with her colleagues and friends then move on to her extended family and finally you and the kids. He wanted her to have to live with the guilt of knowing all those people lost their lives because of her before she was our final victim." My eyes shift to Tobias, and he's already staring at me. I wish I was standing next to him, our hands linked. I think my father senses my need or gets some sort of unseen sign from my husband because he slides over next to me and offers his hand, which I grip tightly between mine, ignoring the ache in my palm.