She shakes her head.
“They are!” I hiss, stepping toward her. “Ask Deckard!”
“It’s true,” Deckard says calmly. “I’ve overheard them myself.”
Carly turns to him, and I can see that this time she understands. Apparently people trust Deckard way more than they trust me, which is nice to know.
“There seems to be some kind of organized program,” he continues, “designed to prevent the growth of communities and towns on the island. Any time a location becomes too big, too well-planned, it gets torn down. Harold and his friends are in regular communication with someone on the mainland, most likely part of the government, and Steadfall is not the first community that they’ve targeted. Based on what I’ve overheard lately, I think at least three other towns have been destroyed in the past.”
“Why?” Carly asks, clearly shocked. “Why would they do that? The government said they wouldn’t interfere with the island!”
“They were lying,” I tell her. “They’re addicted to the idea of control. The thought of leaving the island untouched probably makes their skin crawl, so they’ve sent a little gang to keep us under their thumb.”
“But everything Harold said—”
“He was right about me,” I continue, surprising myself. “I was making mistakes.” I glance at Deckard. “You were right, too. I should have accepted more help and delegated responsibility, I shouldn’t have tried to take the burden of the entire town on my shoulders. I was irrational, but that’s a separate issue right now. We need to focus on Harold and his plans, and we need to work out exactly how he’s planning to bring Steadfall down. The diseased canopies have clearly caused fear to spread, but from what Ben was saying when we overheard him, it sounds as if Harold has something else in mind. He’s the ring-leader, he has to be stopped.”
“He’s been talking a lot about threats from the outside,” Carly explains, as if she’s slowly coming around to the idea. “He says we need to bolster our defenses.”
“That’s just to get you all on his side,” I tell her. “He must be planning some kind of endgame.”
“He’s set up a kind of police force,” she continues. “Just four or five members, but he’s given them a lot of power over everyone else. They report to him, of course, but apart from that they have free reign over the entire town.”
“He’s starting to divide the community,” Deckard suggests.
“But why would he do it like this?” Carly asks. “If what you’re suggesting is true, why wouldn’t he just kill everyone and get it over with?”
“Because he enjoys his work,” I tell her. “That’s what Ben was saying earlier, anyway. Harold seems to get a kick out of slowly tightening the screw, and I guess he figures there’s no risk involved. If everything goes wrong, he probably has a back-up plan to kill everyone quickly enough.”
I wait for Carly to reply, but she seems lost in thought, as if she’s still struggling to believe that I’m right.
“What we need you to do,” Deckard says firmly, taking a step toward her, “is be our eyes and ears in the town. We don’t have long to come up with the rest of the plan, but it’s vital that we know what Harold is telling everyone. Carly, can you come back out tonight and give us an update? As soon as the sun has gone down, meet us right here, near the caves, and tell us everything you know.”
She still seems unable to answer, as if she’s torn.
“Please, Carly,” I add. “Even if you don’t trust me, you have to trust Deckard.”
“I suppose so,” she says cautiously.
“So you’ll help us?” I ask.
She hesitates for a moment longer, and then slowly she nods, albeit with a hint of uncertainty.
“You should hurry back to town,” Deckard tells her. “Keep your ears open and take note of anything that seems even slightly out of place. Then come back and meet us later, and let us know exactly how things are developing. My guess is that he’ll be starting to put his plans into action soon.”
“Okay,” she says, taking a step back. “I… I mean, I’ll try…”
“And Carly…” He pauses. “It goes without saying that you mustn’t tell anyone about this. We have no idea who we can trust in Steadfall right now, so keep this arrangement to yourself. Can you do that?”
She nods, although she still seems extremely nervous, as if she’s not entirely convinced.
“Now go,” he adds. “There’s no time to lose.”
As she turns and hurries away, I can’t help feeling as if this plan isn’t going to work. Of all the people in Steadfall I’d choose to help out with something like this, Carly is pretty low down on the list. When I glance at Deckard, I swear I can see doubt in his eyes too.
“Do you really think we can rely on her?” I ask.
“I think there are three possible outcomes,” he replies. “The first is that she’ll do what we’ve asked, and we’ll learn more about what Harold’s planning. The second is that she’ll betray us and lead them straight to us. And the third is that she’ll try to help, but she’ll be utterly conspicuous and she’ll lead them to us by accident. We have to be ready for all three eventualities. We need a plan for each of those eventualities.”
“What kind of plan?”
“For one thing,” he continues, “why do you think I specified that she should meet us right here?”
“I don’t know,” I reply. “Maybe—”
Suddenly I realize what he means, and I turn to look at the nearby caves.
Chapter Thirty-five
“She’s late,” I whisper, as we sit several hours later in the mouth of the largest cave, watching the moonlit clearing where we’re supposed to meet Carly. “Maybe they found out what she was doing and they killed her.”
“It’s possible,” Deckard replies, “but I’d say it’s more likely that she simply had trouble getting away. You know how—”
“There!” I hiss, spotting movement in the distance. Sure enough, a figure is heading this way through the forest, and a moment later I see that it’s definitely Carly. She looks terrified, constantly glancing over her shoulder, as if she’s worried she’s being followed. “I think she’s alone.”
“We can’t be sure of that,” he mutters darkly. “Do you remember the plan?”
I nod. “I still think I should be the one to go down and talk to her,” I tell him. “Let me take the risk.”
“I think she’ll be more talkative if it’s me,” he replies, getting to his feet. “No offense, Asher, but there’s a danger you’ll just spook her, and she seems to trust me a little more. Remember to give me a signal if you see any sign that she’s got company.”
“Be careful,” I whisper, watching as he makes his way down the sloping incline that leads away from the caves and down toward the clearing. Looking toward the forest, I keep my eye out for any sign that Carly has been followed, although so far it looks as if she came alone. A moment later, I hear her and Deckard talking, although from this distance it’s not easy to make out exactly what they’re saying. Carly sounds agitated, though, and nervous, as if she’s got bad news.
For the next few minutes, nothing changes. Deckard and Carly continue to discuss the situation, and I remain in place, constantly watching the dark tree-line in case there’s any hint of movement. Finally, however, I see Deckard heading back this way, while Carly remains loitering in the clearing below. As Deckard gets closer, I get to my feet, waiting for him to let me know the latest news.
“She says more people are sick,” he says as soon as he’s close enough. “It’s up to ten cases now.”
“But do—”