“Stop the attack,” he ordered. “I will not take responsibility for this.”
A few seconds later, the bombardment stopped. There was no more distant thunder. Was it coincidence? The immediate danger seemed to be over, but the reality of a new danger was right in front of me. Part of me wanted to run, but I was tired of running.
I opened the door that led into the cashier’s room.
Jon was huddled on the floor under the counter, speaking into a small black device.
He hadn’t been talking to himself.
When he saw me, there was a frozen moment when neither of us knew what to do. He then jumped to his feet and jammed the device into his pocket.
“Tucker!” he called out with a more familiar, vulnerable voice. “Are you okay? Where is everybody? I heard this was the way down to safety, but I only got this far when the bombs started falling and—”
“Shut up, Jon,” I commanded.
That was all I needed to say. Jon knew I had heard his conversation. He stood up straight. That one small move made him look like a different person. He was always someone who blended into the woodwork. Someone who didn’t stand out. A real meek geek. Not anymore.
“I like you, Tucker,” he said, once again sounding like the confidant guy who had been barking orders into his phone or whatever it was. “I was hoping you guys would make it through this.”
“What’s the deal, Jon?” I asked. “Were you always with them? Or did somebody get to you and force you to join?”
“It was my mission,” he said with a shrug. “I guess you’d call it cleanup duty. We’re everywhere, you know.”
“Like termites,” I said aloud, thinking back to Granger’s words.
“Termites?” Jon asked.
“You’re a traitor,” I said, seething.
“No, I’m actually very loyal. What I am is an infiltrator.”
My anger took control. I made a move for him but…
Jon pulled out Tori’s gun and leveled it at me.
I stopped short.
“You’re the one who killed him,” I said. “Charlotte’s friend.”
“He wouldn’t leave me alone,” Jon explained, as if it was a justifiable excuse for murder. “I had to complete my mission. Besides, what’s one more death?”
My anger flared.
“It’s not just one more death,” I growled. “It’s a life. A person with a past and a family and now… no future.”
“Just as well,” Jon said casually. “He probably wouldn’t have liked his future anyway.”
Without thinking, I grabbed a snow-globe that was on the desk and whipped it at him.
It surprised him, and he flinched, giving me enough time to attack. I grabbed his gun hand and wrestled him for the weapon. I’m not a fighter, but I was driven by rage. We had trusted Jon. Taken him in. Taken care of him while he was betraying us at every turn.
It wasn’t a contest. I twisted the gun out of his hand and nailed him in the face with my elbow. Jon grunted in pain. I hit him again with my fist, using all of the pent-up frustration and anger that I’d been holding in since day one. So many images flew through my mind. Quinn’s death, Granger shooting an unarmed civilian, my mother crying on the far side of the prison-camp fence, the burning skeleton of a pilot in his crashed plane, the dying Mr. Sleeper. So many horrors came flooding back, and they all rushed out through my fists.
“Whoa, easy!” Kent said and pulled me off of Jon.
Kent had entered the cashier’s booth. Olivia stood in the doorway, watching.
“It’s him!” I declared. “He’s a traitor!”
Jon scrambled away and got to his feet.
“He’s crazy!” he cried, sounding like the old Jon. “He just started going nuts on me! He thinks I shot somebody in the head when all I did was hide in here!”
I spotted Tori’s gun on the floor and went for it.
Jon went for it too, but I beat him to it. I backed away, aiming the weapon at him, trying to keep my hands steady.
“Look!” Jon shouted. “He’s lost it! Now he wants to shoot me!”
“What’s the deal, Tucker?” Kent asked nervously.
Charlotte and Tori entered the room.
“Jon’s a Retro,” I said with a shaky voice. “He’s been playing us from the get-go. He’s probably been telling them everything we’ve been doing. Even back at Faneuil Hall. Remember? He’s the one who warned Campbell that we were going to escape.”
“That’s crazy!” Jon cried. “If somebody got shot, it must have been Tucker who did it. He’s the one with the gun.”
“Charlotte,” I said, trying to keep my voice calm and reasonable. “You want to know how the Retros found us here? It was Jon. He called in the air strike. But he had to get away from your friend Tom to do it. That’s why he shot him.”
“Tucker!” Olivia cried. “How can you say something like that?”
“You guys know me,” Jon protested. “I’ve been in just as much trouble as you. Just as much danger. Heck, I’m the one who told you about the radio broadcast! Tucker’s just looking for somebody to blame this on.”
“Check his pocket,” I said. “He’s got some kind of communicator.”
All eyes went to Jon.
“Empty your pockets, Chadwick,” Kent said.
Jon licked his lips nervously. He reached for his pocket. “I don’t know what he’s talking about,” he said. “If there’s something in here, then Tucker planted it, and I’m not gonna—” Jon rushed me. I was so surprised that I didn’t have time to shoot. He knocked me back and went for the door, but it was futile. Kent’s instincts took over, and he tackled him as Charlotte pounced. There was a short scuffle before she was able to grab Jon’s arm and twist it behind his back. The linebacker and the sheriff had done the job.
While keeping his arm twisted with one hand, Charlotte used her other hand to dig into Jon’s pocket. She pulled out a small black device that was no bigger than an iPod shuffle and held it in front of Jon’s face.
“What is this?” she demanded to know.
She was being professional, but her anger was bubbling close to the surface.
“I have no idea,” Jon replied. “Tucker must have put it there.”
“He was talking into that when I found him,” I said. “He was telling somebody to call off the attack because everyone had already taken cover. He said they were supposed to wait for nightfall.”
Charlotte gave me a worried look.
“That’s what he said? They were supposed to wait for nightfall?”
“Yes. They’ll be back. Tonight, when those light weapons can wipe out this whole city. There won’t be anywhere to hide, not since they know so many people are here. They’ll evaporate the buildings until they root us out.”
Charlotte nodded gravely. She twisted Jon’s arm.
“Where did you get the gun?” she demanded.
“It’s mine,” Tori said. “I dropped it in the car when we were shot in the Valley of Fire.”
“So then where did you get it?” Charlotte insisted, twisting Jon’s arm further.
He winced but didn’t complain.
“Once I passed your silly interrogation, I had your friend take me to our vehicle,” Jon said through gritted teeth. “What was his name? Tom? I told him I had to get my medicine. That it was a matter of life and death. I wasn’t lying. It was a matter of life and death. Tom’s.”
He gave Charlotte a twisted smile.
Charlotte wrenched his arm so violently I thought it would break.