Jay Budgett - The Indigo Thief

He had a point, but I still shrugged. “You could’ve tried.”

“We tried with Bugsy.”

“But it didn’t work.” I remembered his conversation with Vern. “So you killed him.”

“We didn’t kill him! I can’t believe you’d even suggest that. I don’t know who you think we are, but we’d never kill one of our own. We did things differently with Bugsy than with you. We told him the truth about our world—the truth about Indigo and the Carcinogens—too soon. He became unstable. Started screwing things up on missions. Forgetting where he was in the middle of raids… To be honest, I don’t think he died by accident during the Pacific Northwestern Tube’s accident. I think he… killed himself.”

“He wasn’t ready for the truth,” I said slowly.

“It devoured him whole.” Phoenix’s eyes got watery. “I don’t think he could admit Indigo’s reality to himself. He wasn’t ready to look away from the light and see the darkness that was around us all along. It was easier to keep pretending things were all right. The truth—it broke something inside him.”

The fort was burning. Chunks from the ceiling rained down around us. Phoenix knocked me to the ground to get me out of the way.

“Why did you tell Vern you’d kill me?”

Phoenix stared at where the ceiling patch had fallen. “You heard that? I thought someone was there… You were in the contact closet, weren’t you?”

“Contact closet?”

“Blue things, they look like eyes. Contact lenses. All along the shelves. The closet door was cracked open, but I thought I saw it shut quickly when Vern and I entered the hall.” I nodded, but still wondered what exactly a contact lens was.

“The Caravites wear contacts instead of getting vaccinated,” he explained. “It used to be that when the Feds caught an unvaccinated adult, they could see immediately that he was a Caravite, which assured they received a slow, tortured death. So the Caravites started wearing blue contact lenses to avoid that outcome. As long as a person has the blue eyes, the Feds don’t know the difference, and they receive a quick death. Bullet to the head, best-case scenario. The Federation doesn’t have room for ‘vaccinated’ criminals. But brown eyes in an adult—that’s a sure sign of terrorism. And terrorists are tortured for a long, long time when caught.”

Bertha barreled into the room, cuddling a shotgun in one arm and a rocket launcher in the other like babies. “Oh, for Christ’s sake. Are you two just gonna sit here and braid each other’s hair over brunch? Or do you wanna—I don’t know—help us fight and LIVE?”

Phoenix smiled. “Brunch sounds lovely, thanks.” Bertha nudged him with the butt of the shotgun. He pointed to the door. “Go ahead, Bertha. A merry welcoming party awaits you.” He ran a finger over the shotgun’s barrel. “Sawed off the end, did you? A woman after my own heart.”

She grinned and ran out the door. I watched her fire into the sky. A helicopter plummeted into the ocean. She fired again at the burning rubble that floated on the water. Phoenix looked on like a proud parent. My heart still pounded in my chest.

A projectile struck Bertha from behind and she fell. I pulled Phoenix’s arm. “They shot her! We have to get out there before they kill her!”

He crossed his arms. “Doubtful. They’re almost certainly firing at us with Dummy Darts. We can’t stand on trial if we’re dead, and they’d like to make this whole affair look remotely democratic.” He paused. “How many of us does he think he’s getting?” he said quietly.

He knew I’d talked to the chancellor—that I was the one who’d given him the coordinates.

“Four,” I said, wiping the sweat from my forehead.

“Kindred and Sparky are safe, then?”

“I hid them in the control room.”

“The control room’s walls are made of reinforced steel. There’s maybe a fifty-percent chance they’ll make it even with the explosions.”

“That’s reassuring,” I said weakly. A copter landed on the beach and soldiers leapt out to wrap Bertha’s limp body in a cellophane net.

Phoenix watched as they dragged her away. “I’m not mad at you, kid. You did what you thought you had to do.”

“But I—I was wrong.”

He glanced at my ankles. “You’re wearing cheeseburger socks… Not the kind of kid I would expect to make every shot he took.”

“I thought you liked the socks?”

He winked. “Only on you, kid.”

God, he was cool.

Dove and Mila hurried to join us in the hall, armed with more of Bertha’s guns. They peered out as the men dragged Bertha’s body into their copter’s cabin.

Dove aimed his gun. “Balls,” he said, clicking off its safety.

Phoenix pushed Dove’s barrel down and shook his head. “We’re done.”

“WHAT?” Mila shouted. “What the hell are you talking about, Phoenix?”

“We’re done, Meels. Put your hands up and your head down when you walk out.”

“But—”

“C’mon, Meels.” He pointed toward the door. “Hands up.”

The Dummy Darts struck her and Dove almost instantly. I felt sick to my stomach. I had done this to them. I was the one responsible for their deaths.

Phoenix put a hand on my shoulder. “Well,” he said, offering his hand, “this is it. I’m the last one left. They won’t stop bombing the fort until I’m gone.”

I watched as another copter with black and green stripes landed. “You don’t have to go, Phoenix. We—you—could think of plan, and we could escape.”

“Revolutions aren’t fought with elegant plans, Kai. They’re fought with instincts.”

“Instincts?” What was he trying to tell me? What did he want me to do?

He nodded. “Revolutions are fought with instinct, not eloquence,” he said again. “You followed your instincts, and now I’m following mine.” He gave me a small smile. “Good luck, Kai Bradbury.” He stepped toward the door. “I’m afraid you don’t have much time left to save your girl. For that, and many other things, I apologize.”

My face went white. “How—how’d you know about her?”

He laughed. “It was the look on your face when Gwendolyn asked about her.”

Crap. “Was it really that obvious?”

“Painfully so, I’m afraid. Fifteen-year-olds aren’t particularly renowned for their ability to mask their emotions.”

The bombs stopped, and Chancellor Hackner stepped out from black and green copter. He strode past the destruction toward the fort.

“Besides,” said Phoenix. “I’ve known for a while that you were searching for something. After the incident with the megalodon, you seemed determined to stay with us. I should’ve known from the beginning it had to do with a girl.”

I laughed nervously. “Er—doesn’t it always?”

The chancellor was gone from the beach. Phoenix looked me in the eyes. “I hope he keeps his word.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I hope the chancellor keeps his word and gives you the girl.”

“How did you—?”

Phoenix smiled. “Because that’s what you want most.” He held his left hand to his eye. “The Lost Boys’ salute,” he said. I held my hand to my eye—my thumb resting on my jaw’s corner and my index and middle fingers against my brow—in response. “It reminds us to keep our eyes, ears, and hearts open when seeking the truth.”

“You’re not terrorists,” I told him. “Or anarchists. Or even Indigo Thieves. You’re revolutionaries.”

He grinned. “I’m glad you think so, too.” He started toward the door. “And, kid—I know what you heard me tell Vern, but you should know I never meant it. It was just something I said to get the Caravites’ help with the raid. I was never planning to kill you. Not in a million years.”