The Thrust Read online

  He came with a cry and collapsed on top of her, covering her with his muscular body.

  Somewhere in her peripheral vision, Jenna saw the mouse watching them with tiny, curious eyes.

  “I think we found a winner,” she declared. “Let’s call it home.”

  “All right.” Barker helped her up, pulling up his pants with a grin.

  “But we really should do something about that mouse. It likes to watch.”

  Barker laughed and pulled her into his arms, kissing her. “You know what I want, to make this house really perfect?”

  “What’s that?” Jenna threw her shirt on, rearranging her clothes.

  “To live in it as husband and wife.” Barker paused, as if waiting for her response.

  Jenna laughed, accustomed to his teasing. “No, really, what do you want?”

  Barker frowned and got down on one knee, the old floorboard creaking under him. “I’m serious, Jenna. I love you. You love me. Let’s make it official. We could do it after things get settled with Grand Central.”

  “You . . . you’re serious?” Jenna didn’t know what to think. Of course she wanted to marry Barker—she loved him. But she didn’t realize that was what he wanted to, not until . . . well, right this moment. With him on his knee before her.

  “I’m serious,” Barker said. “Jenna, will you marry me?”

  Jenna squealed with delight and got down on the floor too, so she could tackle him with a hug.

  “Of course! Yes. Yes yes yes.” She pressed her face against his. The enormity of what had to happen with Grand Central, before they could even think about tying the knot, hit her hard. “Do you think . . . is Trent okay? We’re gonna fix this, right?”

  Barker hugged her tightly. “God, I hope so.”

  Back at Grand Central

  TRENT

  Trent tried to blend in with the other soldiers standing against the wall in the main terminal. People were talking.

  He strained to hear the three soldiers standing not far from him who were exchanging news.

  “Do you think we’ll get executed too?” one soldier asked, his voice high with panic.

  Who the fuck got executed?

  Please, don’t say it was Evan.

  “Hernandez was the one who attacked Scar, not us. We were all asleep,” the other soldier said. But he sounded nervous too.

  Who was Hernandez?

  “Lanche hasn’t executed Evan yet, so we have a good chance,” one said. “Evan is just as guilty as Hernandez, from what I heard.”

  Trent breathed a sigh of relief. Evan was alive, but for how long? He didn’t like how the soldier said Evan hadn’t been executed yet.

  Evan was probably locked up, or being interrogated. Trent walked briskly down the corridors until he found the place where Annie said Evan had been held once before. A supply closet they’d turned into a dungeon.

  The door was open. Trent stuck his head inside, grimacing at the stale odor of urine and sweat. Chains lay on the floor, bolted to the ground.

  Fuck. Where did they take Evan?

  Trent had memorized the way to the OCC, so he went there, focusing on not looking anyone he passed in the eye. He wanted to be as low-profile as possible.

  There was no one guarding the door to the OCC. When Trent put his ear to the door, he realized it was because the guards were most likely inside, guarding their prisoner.

  Trent heard a low wail, followed by a man’s deep voice. It had to be the Colonel.

  “Private Hernandez already told us everything. I know you were in on it,” Lanche growled.

  “Where is Hernandez?” a boy responded. Evan.

  “Executed, of course. But I couldn’t do it in public. Can’t have our citizens thinking there’s strife among the soldiers.”

  “He’s . . . he’s dead? You killed him?”

  “Give me one reason not to kill you too, son.”

  Trent stood flat against the door, praying no one would come by and see him eavesdropping. But he had to know what was happening.

  “I didn’t do anything,” Evan said, so softly Trent could barely hear the words.

  “Scar was on top of you when Private Hernandez attacked him. Hernandez told us that Scar raped you.” To Trent’s surprise, the Colonel laughed. “Is that true?”

  “Ask Scar,” Evan said bitterly.

  “I did. He’s doing much better, no thanks to you. Pulled him out of the infirmary so he could see his attacker get justice. And Scar . . . Scar said you invited him to visit you. You drew him into a trap to have him killed, didn’t you?” Lanche screamed, and Trent could only imagine the look of terror on the boy’s face. He felt terrified himself.

  “I swear, I didn’t want Scar to come. I told him to leave, I tried—”

  There was a scuffle, and Evan cried out.

  “Get him out of my sight. I’ll deal with him after dinner.”

  Trent jumped away from the door, rounding the corner so he was out of the way. He could hear the guards—two of them—speaking roughly to the boy as they dragged him down the hall.

  “You’re going back in the hole,” one said.

  Evan didn’t respond.

  Trent would wait, and then he would have to try and get Evan out . . . before Lanche decided to kill Evan, too.

  Letliv, Connecticut

  CLARISSA

  Something didn’t feel right. Clarissa never should have let Trent go back by himself. What if he ran into trouble? What if he needed help?

  There was no way for them to communicate.

  Having him so far away while she was left behind didn’t sit well with her. Not when so much was at stake. And especially not when Trent’s life was on the line.

  She wasn’t sure what they had going between them, but it wasn’t something she was willing to lose. Not by failing to be there for him when he needed her most.

  He needed her now, she could feel it in her bones.

  That feeling . . . she’d had it once before, back when she was working the evening-rush shift at the diner. One of her customers, a woman on what appeared to be a first date, ran into the bathroom, and she didn’t look right. Clarissa had followed her in and realized the woman was choking, her lips turning a sickly shade of blue.

  Clarissa had done the Heimlich maneuver on her and a piece of watermelon from the fruit salad Clarissa had served her only minutes before shot out of the woman’s throat, landing several feet away on the shiny white tile floor. Later, the lady told her that she’d known she was choking, but she was embarrassed and had hoped to handle it herself in the bathroom without making a fool of herself in front of her date.

  She would have died on that bathroom floor, alone, if Clarissa hadn’t followed her gut. Her gut telling her that something wasn’t right.

  Now, she knew something wasn’t right with Trent, either.

  Clarissa went to the market to see everyone, needing to hear what they thought. Soon a proper meeting had set up by the central bulletin board on Main Street.

  Barker agreed with Clarissa. “It couldn’t hurt to take the supply truck down to the camp, have a lookout waiting by the exit Clarissa and Trent used. If Trent escapes with Annie and tells us it will be a while before we should go back, then so be it.”

  Clarissa cut in. “But if he needs us now, there’s no way for him to tell us, other than traveling all the way back here, and then having us all travel back with him. We’d lose a whole day.”

  One of the women spoke up. “What’s one more day? It’s been weeks.”

  “I don’t think we clearly thought through the ramifications of dropping those pamphlets,” Clarissa said slowly. “Colonel Lanche will be looking for someone to blame. And the blame is bound to fall on Annie’s shoulders, since she was my roommate on the Tracks.”

  At the mention of Trent’s sister, a murmur went through the crowd.

  “What if we drive all the way down to the camp, and Trent doesn’t need us?” someone asked.

  “Then we head
back,” Barker answered. “The truck has a full tank of gas. We should be okay.”

  “We shouldn’t have let Trent go back alone,” Clarissa said. “It was a bad decision since we have no way to communicate, and traveling there takes several hours even with a vehicle. I’m just proposing we go for backup.”

  “If the army sees us, they’ll attack,” a man said. “And the Colonel and his men could go into hiding to avoid confronting us.”

  True. It was a risk. But the bigger risk was in letting Trent, Annie, and Evan stay in enemy territory with no backup.

  “We’ll stay out of view of the camp,” Clarissa said. “I’ll sneak in and find him. If we need backup, we’ll figure out a signal. A way for me to tell you guys to come, to be ready to fight. And you’ll be so close by, not three hours away.”

  “We won’t be able to signal you for help if you’re all in Letliv,” Barker added.

  Emily nodded. “I’m in.”

  Mason took her arm and repeated the sentiment.

  “What kind of signal will you use?” Emily asked Clarissa. “It has to be something distinct.”

  A plan formed.

  They would be there to help Trent rescue his sister, and free the people at Grand Central.

  Clarissa just hoped they wouldn’t be too late.

  I can’t lose you now, Trent.

  Grand Central, the closet

  EVAN

  Evan was once again in chains.

  He just kept waiting for the guards to come back for him, for them to execute him—like they had done to Hernandez.

  Did they even know he was the one who’d distributed the pamphlets? Or was this all about Scar?

  There was a sound by the door, and the handle jiggled but didn’t open. He drew back as far as he could in the limited space. Why didn’t they open the door and take him, already? What were they doing?

  Someone’s picking the lock, Evan realized. Not a guard. Couldn’t be. One of the other soldiers? What was going on?

  Suddenly the door opened, and a low moan of terror escaped Evan’s throat. It was a soldier, but he couldn’t make out who. Just the uniform, and the rifle.

  “Who are you?” Evan rasped, pressing his back to the wall.

  “Evan?”

  “Who the fuck are you?” Evan asked again, his terror growing by the minute.

  The man dropped to his knees and peered into Evan’s face in the dim light. “My name is Trent. I’m Annie’s brother.”

  “Holy shit,” Evan whispered. “What’s going on?”

  “I’m going to get you, Annie, and everyone else out of here. But I need to get some information from you first.”

  “You’re from Letliv,” Evan said. God, he wanted to go to Letliv. With Annie. “They’re probably going to execute me soon.”

  Trent froze. “How soon?”

  “I think—Lanche said he’d get to me after dinner. I don’t know why they didn’t do it yet, to be honest—they’ve already killed another soldier who helped me.”

  “It’s almost time for evening rations,” Trent murmured. “Maybe they’re waiting until after, when everyone is back in their sleeping quarters.”

  Evan nodded. “That’s probably it. Less witnesses. Or . . . maybe he just wants to take his time with me.”

  Fuck. He was going to die within the next few hours. Tears streamed down his battered face.

  “I won’t let that happen,” Trent said. “I’ll kill them all first. When they try to execute you, will the Colonel and his men all be there?”

  “Yeah. They’ll be there.” Evan choked back a sob at the thought of dying at the hands of his enemies. After everything he’d done to survive. “They’ll probably pull Scar out of the infirmary to have him there, too, like they did when they killed Hernandez. So he can see his ‘attacker’ get executed.” Evan scowled. “It was self-defense.”

  “I don’t care why you did whatever you did,” Trent said. “You’re important to Annie, and to Clarissa. I’m getting you out of here alive.”

  “They’ll come for me after evening rations, I know it,” Evan said. “There won’t be a trial, they’ll just put a bullet in my brain, if I’m lucky.” He shuddered to think of what would happen if he wasn’t lucky . . . They might decide to torture him for fun first.

  He wouldn’t put it past them. Especially if Scar was in the room.

  Trent looked upset. “I’m not prepared for this. We planned on having our own militia here to help everyone escape, and to take out the Colonel and his men. But—it’s just me.”

  “You’re going to get yourself killed,” Evan said softly. “And then you’ll never be able to free the people. Stick with your original plan. Get Annie out of here, and come back with your militia.”

  “I can’t do that, Evan. I can’t let them kill you. And . . . Annie won’t leave without you.”

  Evan was touched. Really? She wouldn’t? But he couldn’t let her die on his behalf.

  “Please,” Evan said. “Find Annie. Tell her I said I love her, and then she needs to leave with you. That if she doesn’t leave with you my death will be in vain.”

  Trent looked surprised. “You . . . love my sister?”

  Evan nodded miserably. He’d known it for a while now, but the words hadn’t come out. If only he’d had a chance to tell her himself.

  “Please, Trent,” Evan whispered. “Get her out of here.”

  Trent took his lock-picking tools and reached for the chains around Evan’s ankles. “I’m taking you with me.”

  “Don’t,” Evan said. “There might be another way. The soldiers in my bunk, they—they don’t like Colonel Lanche, or Scar. They were ready to back us up. If you can get them on your side, you could all ambush Lanche and his men when they take me away. They’ll all be in the same room, in the OCC.”

  Trent nodded. “Okay. I’m going to get Annie out, and as many of the women as I can. Then I’ll go find your guys.” He paused. “What if we don’t get to you in time? I’ll never forgive myself.”

  Evan shivered. “I’ll stall them for as long as I can by talking about Letliv, is that okay?”

  “Yes,” Trent said. “Tell them that I visited, that I gave you the pamphlets, that you distributed them. Just don’t tell them about Annie.”

  Surely the Colonel would let him live long enough to get more intel, right? This had to work. If it didn’t, he was a dead man. Evan nodded at Trent, trying to put on a brave face.

  Trent shook Evan’s hand. “You’re a good man, Evan. I’m going to save you, for Annie’s sake. I swear I will.”

  Grand Central Terminal, the Tracks

  CLARISSA

  CLARISSA pulled the hoodie over her head, praying no one would recognize her as she walked down the Tracks, searching for Annie’s train car.

  Annie was inside.

  “What the fuck is going on?” Annie asked. Her pretty face was streaked with tears—she’d been crying.

  “We thought Trent might need backup,” Clarissa said, hugging her. “All I have to do is signal and we’ll have Letliv ready to come in.”

  “Trent is missing, and so is Evan. Trent went to find Evan, but I haven’t seen him, I don’t know where either of them are.” Annie pressed her hands to her lips, choking back a sob.

  Trent was missing?

  A bell rang loudly, telling everyone it was time for evening rations. “Let’s go find them,” Clarissa said. “Can you walk?”

  Annie nodded and stood, leaning on her cane for support.

  “Listen, Annie, before we go—I made a recording in Letliv, using Trent’s equipment. It’s playing right now, on the radio, on a loop.”

  Clarissa pulled a small hand-crank radio from her pack, the one that Emily’s friend Samuel had let her borrow. Specifically for this purpose.

  “If it comes down to it, you may need to play this broadcast. Just crank it and turn the volume up. The station is set, ready to go.”

  Annie looked at the radio like it was an alien object. “But
—how?”

  “There’s no time, Annie. Just hide it.”

  Annie wrapped the radio in a shirt and shoved the bundle under her dirty mattress, her eyes full of unspoken questions.

  Together they walked up to the food court, scanning the soldiers to find one of their men.

  Then, Clarissa spotted Trent. He was standing against the wall, looking like the rest of the soldiers. But this was different. He was . . . talking to them.

  Why was Trent talking to that small group of soldiers, when he had been so adamant about avoiding even being noticed?

  Clarissa got closer, close enough to hear. Annie followed.

  “You’re Evan’s bunkmates, right?” Trent was asking.

  The soldiers nodded, looking concerned.

  “I need to speak to you guys privately, for your own safety. I think you know what I mean.”

  Clarissa had no clue what he was talking about, but perhaps the soldiers did, because to her surprise they followed Trent down the hallway, where she couldn’t afford to be seen eavesdropping. She hung back with Annie, straining to hear.

  No one else in the camp paid attention. They were all waiting in line for their rations.

  “I spoke to Evan,” Trent said. “And he’s going to be killed for what happened to Scar. You all know he didn’t do anything, but Lanche is going to execute him after evening rations.”

  The soldiers didn’t seem to take that well.

  Clarissa had no idea what was going on. What had happened to Scar? And why would Evan’s bunkmates know, or care?

  “You’re good guys,” Trent said. “You know what’s happening here is wrong.”

  “Yeah,” one soldier whispered, so softly Clarissa could barely hear him.

  Trent took a deep breath. “Lanche, Scar, Dobson, and the other three guards—they’ll all be at Evan’s execution. We could take them out. Free everyone—including yourselves.”

  Annie covered her mouth, her eyes wide, at the mention of Evan being executed.

  “We don’t know you,” one of the men said. “You could be a spy sent by the Colonel himself. And I don’t want to die today.”

  Trent nodded. “You don’t know me because I’m not a soldier here. I come from Letliv.”