Page 91 of Kingdom of Tomorrow
“I bet I do too,” I replied without heat. I’d picked this path, and I couldn’t complain about it now. “Thank you for the vote of confidence.”
He scowled at me.
“Focus up,” Roman snapped.
I obeyed. He really was a good leader. Someone who took control of every situation and never cracked under pressure. But I might. As minutes ticked by, my final hour at the mine neared its end without the emergence of a cart.
I shifted from one foot to the other.
“Eager to see your sugar bear?” Juniper teased softly. She’d taken my previous spot.
My head fell forward, and I groaned. “You guys heard that?”
“Everyone on base heard, but only because none of us kept quiet about it.”
“I was joking,” I whined.
An intermittent, high-pitched squeal registered at last, and I stilled. A mine cart! I readjusted my stance, stealthily reaching into my pocket to free the transmitter from its case.
“Switch,” Roman called. We’d reached the end of the hour.
My knight stalked to his next position. Another switch. No, no, no. I hung back.
Roman noticed and clapped his hands. “Put some hustle in your steps.”
Juniper and her knight approached me. But the trolley wasn’t close enough.
“Oops.” I bent down and fiddled with the tie of my boot, keeping my concentration on the squeak. Almost ... Now! I leaped to my feet and darted to the side, as if chasing my knight. Meanwhile, I moved right in the trolley’s path. We collided, and I purposely fell, stopping the motion-sensitive hauler in its tracks. Good so far. Pretending to use the transporter to help myself stand, I covertly adhered the disk onto the cart’s rim.
“Do not touch,” an automated voice announced, spurring two knights to rush over to intervene.
“Apologies,” I muttered, hightailing it to my next post. I tried not to trip as elation mixed with trepidation. I’d done it. I’d succeeded with step one.
I’d all but thrown myself into the fire now. There was no going back.
As the next hour passed, my trepidation reached new heights. If that transmitter was spotted,Curedwould track it to Cyrus, then me. Had I destroyed both of our lives?
Odds were low the transmitterwouldn’tbe spotted. As low as the odds Victors hadn’t set me up for a trap.
By the time I reached my fifth post, my knees were knocking. I began to wheeze my breaths. No, no, no. Not a panic attack. Not here, not now. I’d done so well. Had grown so brave. But, but ...What had I done?
I needed to think, but I also needed to breathe, and breathing was becoming more and more difficult. In, out. In. Why couldn’t I breathe in? Lowering into a crouch, I ducked my head.
“Take five, Arden.” Roman’s directive penetrated the panic.
Yes, yes. Five. This would probably cost me the top-soldier title, but I didn’t care. I seized the chance to watch the camera feed. To see everything was fine. I would calm and come up with a plan to retrieve the camera.
Oh, dang! The camera. Retrieval. A step I hadn’t considered.
I launched from the room, certain of only one thing. My life had been forever altered by my actions today.
In the locker room, I sealed myself inside a shower stall. Inhale, exhale. In. Out. Okay, I could breathe. In, out. In, out. Maybe there was a chance what I’d done wasn’t such a big deal. I mean, if the pritis mines were on the up-and-up, no one should care that I’d seen inside one.
Fighting tremors, I adhered the tiny transmitters behind my ears.Inhale. Exhale.I pressed the correct button inside the case and started playback. Suddenly, the gray stall walls vanished, superseded by the camera feed. The building that housed the mine formed around me. Sweet goodness, it was as if I had become the mine cart, watching myself glide along the track.
I saw Roman marching on the dais with his gun at the ready. Spread out around him were other teammates in the process of assuming new positions. I continued moving, exiting the room through a tunnel door. The world blackened, all light snuffed out, and I pressed my hands over my mouth to silence a spontaneous protest. I could seenothing.
A high-pitch squeak sounded, and I jumped. But no big deal. It was just the cart’s wheel. I increased the speed of the feed, swallowing a whimper of relief when the cart cleared the tunnel. Light flooded in. Too bright! I flinched, pressing into cool tile. The feed glided forward, an unnerving sensation made worse as I logged my new surroundings. A room with two workers. An oil-smeared mechanic and a tech girl.
