Recompense

Betrayal sneak peek: TWO

Ethan and I land at the Epson City airfield three hours later and take an autopod to a nearby burger joint. Before leaving, we both traded our uniforms for clothing that won't stand out in a crowd.

"Where did Jewel say she'd meet us?" Ethan asks as we take our meals to an outdoor table. Epson City is farther south and at a lower elevation than Axis headquarters. The sunshine feels downright pleasant.

I give him the coordinates and he punches them into his holoband. "She said it's a parking garage on two major crossroads. Shouldn't be too difficult to find."

The location pops up on Ethan's holomap. "It's in the Warrens," he says. "Not far from the fire damage. Must be she wants to show us around."

"I wanted to see it for myself anyway."

"We've got an hour. Shall we walk it?"

I agree and bite off the end of a french fry. "Ethan, why is Macron so afraid of Jewel?"

"She sees her as a threat."

"But why? Jewel just wants the Lowers to have the same rights as the other castes. That seems fair to me."

"Macron doesn't want to change the rules."

"It wouldn't hurt her to ease up on some of the restrictions. It's been forty-seven years. Most of them don't serve a purpose anymore."

"She won't. It's the caste structure that gives Macron her power."

I frown. "How?"

Ethan sets his burger down and wipes his mouth with a paper napkin. "You see, the Uppers are very pleased with the system. They're Macron's greatest supporters. And the Middles don't have it so bad that they can't also be appeased. That leaves only the Lowers who are unhappy. But someone has to be on the bottom for someone else to be on top, right? So the Military was created to keep them in place. It's worked for forty-seven years. Macron isn't about to upset her balance of power now."

I ponder this for a moment. "I'm not sure Governor Macron realizes how angry the Lowers are. How quickly this could spread to the other cities."

"I think she understands exactly. That's why she's acting so quickly to quell it. The Lowers are the largest dynamic in Capernican society. Macron is terrified of waking that beast. If Jewel and Berg don't stand down, I have a feeling they're going to incur some very harsh reprisals."

His prediction makes the back of my neck tingle.

We finish our meal and stroll toward the old district, carrying our drinks with us. Our route takes us down some of the streets we jogged during our undercover assignment, and my thoughts turn back to the faces and events of that week. My cross country team—the season should be finishing up in another week or two. The afternoon I spent playing Galaxy Quest with the gaming club. My stomach twists as I think of Emerson Price, whom I associate with both memories. I try not to think of him lying broken on the valley battlefield only days ago. There's still too much personal failure wrapped up in that image. And of course I think of Markay.

Has she heard that Emerson is dead? She must know by now that he was the one who kidnapped her. I can only imagine her confusion. Her heartache. A years-long friendship and a new romance turned so terribly wrong. And I wonder if she has put me together with any of it. Jewel said she never mentioned my name the night we rescued the girls from the Chemistrad plant, but Markay's no fool. She would have heard my description from the other victims. And when I never showed up at school again, she would have held suspicions. But no matter what she has heard, no matter what she guesses, she can't possibly understand the reason behind those kidnappings. No one outside of Axis does.