“One more word out of you Perry…” Duncan Roth began, pointing a warning finger at Flynn, “and you’ll be joining the Departure List! Winner of the Trials or not! Is that clear?”
Flynn opened his mouth to speak, but Madison grabbed his elbow and squeezed.
“Stop!” she hissed in his ear. “You’ll ruin everything!”
“Get away from me!” he hissed back and pulled his arm free.
“I know how to save them all!” she whispered through her teeth.
Although her words were barely audible, Flynn heard them well. He threw a quick questioning glance at her and saw Madison nod her head. He looked back at Duncan Roth. Had the man heard her? Flynn hoped not… The Rottweiler’s expression had not changed, his finger still pointing at Flynn, waiting for his response. “Is that clear, Perry?” he asked again.
“Yes, sir!” Flynn straightened up, throwing his shoulders back. “For the Greater Good, sir!” he yelled.
The corner of Duncan Roth’s mouth twitched as he lowered his arm. “Now, let’s get going. I have your first Scavenging task for the day,” he said, addressing everybody.
But Flynn wasn’t listening. His heart was still pounding hard against his chest. Madison had stopped him from getting into serious trouble with Duncan Roth, but the die had been cast… Flynn knew that sooner or later, he would clash with that man again. There was a time when Flynn had looked up to Duncan Roth, and he had wanted to be like him… But the last twenty-four hours had changed everything. Now, he hated the man with a vengeance! Duncan Roth had allowed poor Tony to go on the List… And his father had been right all along… Those rumors about Ann Baxter were most probably all true, Flynn thought… He was sure that the Rottweiler was responsible for her death… If only Flynn could make the man pay for all of this! And then a thought struck Flynn like a bolt of lightning… He was going to rescue his father and Tony… and then kill Duncan Roth! That would be his revenge.
The section of Twenty Third Canal, between Fifth and Sixth Avenue Canal had not yet been scavenged properly. The mountain of mangled, rusting vehicles still littered the submerged street. This was quite an unusual sight for this stretch of Midtown Bay, at the edge of the Lower Side, where most cars, buses and trucks had already been salvaged and lifted up to the surface. Flynn had swum deep into the bowels of the large hardware store and was filling up his mesh sack with cans of adhesive glue, tubs of epoxy cement, vacuum-packed screwdrivers, pliers and power tools.
The Free Scavengers were on their assignments, following orders… Duncan Roth had sent them to this specific location with a long list of items to be gathered, and the teams were checking them off that list at a good rate. Nothing unusual about that job, Flynn thought, except they were to deliver the scavenged goods not at the officially designated holding port, but to a far-out spot in the Hudson Bay… He couldn’t care less where Duncan Roth wanted his stuff. It didn’t matter… What mattered to Flynn was to lay low and not draw any attention on himself. For the first time in his life, Flynn had made an effort to listen and to obey. Flynn knew he had to hold back his anger and save it for later… He couldn’t afford to raise anybody’s suspicion and spoil the plan.
The Plan!
Yes, they did have a plan… It was Madison’s, of course… Clever Madison! Flynn had trouble accepting that… accepting her back on the Seeker, but he had to give her credit for being so ingenious. Madison had found out a valuable piece of information about the Departure Ceremony. According to her, Duncan Roth would take the Departure raft with all the people on the List out into open waters and set it adrift… and Duncan Roth would do that alone! He had been doing this for the last couple of years… No guards, no one else around… The opportunity was unique… All they had to do was wait for the Ceremony to finish then trail the Rottweiler… Once away from the Archipelago, they would strike him down, grab his father, Pharrell’s parents and Tony… then hide them in one of the underwater air-pocket shelters Flynn had found on one of his dives…
Nobody had ever dared to carry out such a rescue mission in the history of the Archipelago! It was a good plan, though. All thanks to Madison, Flynn thought again… Madison had details about the Departure Ceremony known only to a few select members of the Government. Flynn tried hard not to think about how Madison had extracted all this information, but he was sure it all came from the mouth of Leo Van Zandt… Again, he felt the stab of jealousy… He knew he was now picking at a scab that had grown over a recent cut… yet Flynn couldn’t stop himself… Why would he be jealous? There was never anything serious between him and Madison… Just that one little kiss! She wasn’t even his type! For a brief moment in time, he had been in love with the girl, but not any more… Flynn had to stop thinking about her that way… and focus on his work.
He scooped up another can of glue from the shelf. Getting low on oxygen and with his mesh sack full and weighing him down, Flynn kicked his feet and turned to go. He swam between the aisles of the hardware store and out through the broken glass window toward his diving bell. Once inside, he took a breath to check the air quality. It was fresh. Madison was doing her job to perfection. Flynn knew she was working extra hard to impress him… trying to regain his trust… As much as he didn’t want to admit it, he was enjoying her efforts…
As far as Flynn was concerned, Madison had done her bit… He suspected that it was her way of trying to save face. Everyone knew that she was now Leo’s property. She had told him how the two of them would be paired after the Departure Ceremony… The Van Zandt boy had agreed to let her work as a Crew Mate on the Seeker until then, only because Duncan Roth had requested it. In fact, his father, Marcus Van Zandt, had ordered Leo to let her go… for the Greater Good of the Archipelago…
Flynn rested for another minute inside the bell, took a couple of deep breaths and went back out. Pharrell was also scavenging the store shelves below, his diving bell swaying close to Flynn’s. Pharrell and Clay were in on the rescue plan, and Flynn wondered what had made Pharrell take the risk. Whatever the reason, Pharrell had done something remarkable… Shortly after Duncan Roth had left them with their assignments, he and Clay had agreed to join in and follow Flynn. And Flynn was grateful for that. He would have gone alone, but the chances of succeeding had improved greatly with the two boys by his side… He wasn’t counting Madison in on the action, though… she had done her part, but she wasn’t one of them anymore.
Using his powerful dolphin kicks, Flynn began his rise back to the surface. The shadow of The Seeker was right above him now, no more than thirty feet away. Flynn screamed to let the last bit of air out of his lungs, and surfaced with a splash. After the peaceful underwater silence, the sounds of the outside world rudely blasted at his ears. The buzz of the early evening boat traffic, the shouts coming from the nearby fishing nets, the screaming of the Archipelago’s hungry seagulls… He heaved the sack on top of his raft and fell back in the water, spreading his arms wide, letting his body relax and float. He looked straight up at the sky, so that his ears dipped under the water to muffle the noises for another few more minutes of peace and quiet. The sun was low and the sky was a beautiful swirl of purple and orange.
With the corner of his eye, Flynn caught a glimpse of Madison. She was standing at the edge of the raft, her backlit silhouette towering above him like a bronze statue, her skin glistening. Damn it, she was beautiful, Flynn thought… Even with all her hair chopped off… She was talking to him, saying something he couldn’t hear. Flynn was listening to his own voice which was screaming loudly in his head… Madison was Leo’s girl! And no matter how Flynn fought it, the idea of these two being together really hurt… But there was nothing he could do about it… Saving his father and Tony were his top priority… He wouldn’t allow any of his feelings toward Madison to cloud his mind and jeopardize his mission… It was much easier to hate her, he thought. Happy with this decision, Flynn lifted his head out of the water.