“I should just go turn myself in,” he said quietly.
Pook spun to face him. “Excuse me?”
“Too many people have died to protect me,” Jed said. “This has to stop.”
“This has to stop, does it?” Pook said. “What are you thinking? Do you think you’re on a buggy ride in beautiful Amish Country, Jed?”
Jed stood silently, his eyes downcast.
Agitated now, Pook squared up with Jed and then poked him in the chest with his finger. “Listen, pal. You’re right. We’ve already lost some good men and my whole antique shop for you. I’m outed, because they now know that I owned that shop. We’re all fully invested in getting you out of town, so you can stop with all that crybaby nonsense right now. Don’t you even think about surrendering yourself. You do what I say, when I say it. I’m not sure I understand all the ramifications of what just went down, but the whole resistance is at risk until we get you into the AZ, do you understand me?”
Jed nodded. “Yes, I understand. And I’ll do what you say. But I didn’t ask for any of this. I don’t even know what’s happening, or why all of this is going down. No one has told me anything.” He looked Pook in the eye. “Just don’t pretend you’re doing this for me. You’re not. You don’t even know me. You’re doing it for reasons of your own, and I can appreciate that, even if I don’t agree with what you do. Once and for all though, I’d like you to get it through your head that I haven’t asked for you to do anything for me. Our people believe that God is sovereign over everything that happens, and if He raises up a deliverer to help us, then that is His business. If you kill someone, or if someone working with you dies, it didn’t happen because of me. Everyone makes their own choices and decisions and has their own motivations, and I haven’t asked anyone to sacrifice themselves for me. I just want to get home, and I would rather not be the cause of anyone else getting killed.”
“God, huh?” Pook said as he took a long draw from the cigarette. “Well, I’m not doing this for him, either.”
“Your call.” That was all Jed could say to that.
Pook shook his head, and spoke again with a softer tone. “We’re going to get you home, Jed. I just pray that all of this is worth what it costs. I’m just a soldier. I take orders like everyone else here. So let’s just all do what we have to do and get this mission finished.”
Half an hour later, the team had pulled several of the tables together to form one long conference table and Pook was addressing the assembled mass of rebels, briefing them all on the plan that was about to unfold.
“I can’t tell you how difficult the next few hours are going to be. Our plan is workable, but flawed. It relies on precision timing, and to be frank with you, there are a whole lot of unknowns and things that can go wrong. I’m going to need you all to listen closely, and to know with certainty what you’re expected to do and when.
“The first thing you need to know is that Hugh Conrad is going to put Jed on a secure airbus, alone. The airbus will exit the city over the river via the bridge air gate.”
Ducky’s hand went up almost immediately.
“They’ve already got an APB out on the kid, Pook.”
“We know,” Pook said. “That means that we need a window of time when the computer doesn’t know that it’s supposed to be searching for him. And if there’s one thing we know about Transport, it’s that Transport officials don’t know anything the computer doesn’t know.”
“Will the bridge even be open, you know, with the offensive going on and all?” Dawn asked.
“The offensive is basically over. It was planned to culminate at first light, and first light is right about now. Still, the bridge will be open to Transport officials only. That’s what we’re expecting.”
“How’re you going to arrange for this blind window?” Ducky asked.
“We’re going to hack Transport. Rheems is going to stay here and use Jeff’s equipment. We know how to do it, and we know it’ll be successful. We just don’t know for how long.”
“What’s the probability that they don’t make it over the bridge before Transport figures out they’ve been hacked?” Dawn said.
“Fifty-fifty,” Pook said.
“That’s encouraging,” Conrad said with a nervous laugh.
“Listen,” Pook said with his hands up in the air. “I’m going to need you all to pipe down for just a minute while I brief you. There’ll be time for questions afterwards, okay?” Pook began walking now, circling the table, looking each man or woman in the eye as he walked. Heads nodded, so Pook continued.
“This thing is going to have to be timed perfectly. Rheems will hack in and try to blind the system for long enough to get Jed on an airbus headed for the AZ. Hugh, once you get him on the bus, you’ll need to make your own way over the river. You’re busted once they figure out that you put Jed on the bus. Don’t get caught on this side of the river after you get the kid on the bus, got it?”
Hugh Conrad nodded his head, accepting the responsibility and the implied danger that came along with his mission.
“We don’t figure he’ll get many miles into the rural zone before Transport figures out what happened. They’ll bring the bus down immediately,” Pook said, “and lock it tight until a Transport team can go extricate Jed from the bus. We’ll have maybe ten minutes to get there first.”
“But—” Ducky started, before Pook’s upraised hand silenced him.
“As you all know,” Pook continued, “the rural zone between the river and the AZ is peopled mostly by gangs and independent salvagers. There’s a strong possibility that they’ll have that bus cracked open in less than two minutes.”
Ducky was nodding his head vigorously. This was the reason he’d tried to interrupt.
“That’s where the gold coin comes in,” Pook said, looking at Jed now. “You all know that private ownership of gold is forbidden. That fact is precisely why gold is the preferred method of payment in the ungovernable rural zones. One gold coin should buy Jed here his safety—and if not safety, then at least some time. You still have the gold, Jed?”
Jed held up the gold coin, but didn’t say a word. He felt like Donavan’s blood was on the face of the precious metal, accusing him.
“Good deal. So Jed will have to do some acting. He should be the only person on the bus, and if he is, then that fact alone will indicate to the gangs that he’s valuable. Nothing else has been moving during the offensive. If the gangs get to him first—and that’s our preferred outcome—he’s in good shape. They’ll be glad to get the gold, and they’ll probably protect and hide Jed until we can form up and get to him. If it’s the salvagers that get to him—”
“—they’ll want to sell him to the highest bidder,” Ducky said.
“Yes. But they won’t know we’re on the way, or that he’s with us. Salvagers are unpredictable and mercenary, but we’re hoping that they think that Transport is their only problem, so maybe won’t be in quite as much of a rush. If Jed can get them talking and delay them, maybe we can get to him before they’re all through the hills and gone.”