alert him. But I can’t even be that optimistic. I’d say we have a couple days at most before they tip him off. Scary. Could we find him? It would be difficult, but we have a better chance.
“No,” Mom says. “I’m not sitting here waiting for orders. They’re skeptical about the HoLFs, which means they’ll debate it to death—our death most likely. No. We’re boots on the ground, in the thick of things, and have the most at stake. Drs. Carson and Zhang will continue to construct the null weapon and we’re still going to the other pits.”
Go Mom! Radcliff opens his mouth to, no doubt, protest, except the rest of the room agrees with my mother. Especially the officers.
The meeting breaks up soon after that and most everyone files out.
“Get your ass to training, Recruit,” Elese says before leaving.
But Beau and I remain behind with Niall, hovering halfway between the door and the table.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Beau asks.
“That DES will botch the job, alert Jarren that we breached his blockade, and we’ll be neck deep in looters within seven days?”
“Yup.”
Niall returns to the table. “You’re not thinking of doing something rash?” He’s really asking me, although he addresses us both.
“Don’t worry, Junior. We’ll clear it with the boss first,” Beau says.
“What’s it?”
“Your girl here is leagues above what any DES expert can do. Now that we can get past the blockade, we can find Jarren’s physical location for them and send them the info.”
“Can you really?” Niall asks me.
“We can. And this is going to sound like I’m bragging, but we can also reconnect those other Warrior planets to DES.” If anyone is still alive.
Beau bangs his fist on the table. “Damn straight.” Then he hops to his feet. “I’ll talk to Radcliff, see if we can start this afternoon.” He bolts.
But Niall is still frowning.
“I remember my promise,” I say to him. “Actually, it’s safer for us if we search for Jarren. I really don’t think DES fully understands just how skilled he is. He’s managed to fool them for so long. And his alarms are almost impossible to spot.” And because worry lines crease his forehead, I add, “I won’t do too much in one session. There won’t be a need to carry me back to my room.”
This earns me a half-smile. “I don’t know about that. You’re already late for training. Elese is going to run you into the ground.”
I groan.
“Get moving, Recruit. Chop chop.” Niall hits his palm with the edge of his other hand, making a chopping sound.
“You’ll pay for this later, Toad.” I sprint past him.
“Looking forward to it, Mouse.”
Every muscle in my body is sore by the time I report to Beau’s office. Niall wasn’t kidding—Elese made me pay for being late. Neither Radcliff nor Morgan are around, which is unusual, but not oh-my-stars alarming. As soon as I enter the back room, Beau shakes his head.
“Radcliff said no. We can’t search for Jarren.”
I plop into my chair. The room smells of lemon and pine—a major improvement over yesterday. There’s a shiny new trash can in the corner.
“What about helping the other silent planets?” I ask.
“That’s a no as well.” Beau rubs his face. “He said, and I quote, ‘That we are all employed by DES. They own the base and we will abide by their decision.’”
Steepling my fingers, I lean back. “Did he also add something uncomplimentary about my mother?”
Beau waves away my question. “There might have been some other comments. It’s not relevant.”
“Uh huh. So what are we supposed to do?”
“You’ll like this. We’re supposed to keep testing Jarren’s blockade so he thinks we didn’t find a way through.”
“Oh joy.”
Beau presses a hand to his chest. “My stars, girl, contain your enthusiasm.” Then he peers at me. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking Radcliff is going to need to be convinced.”
“I know one way you can do that.”
“Really, how?”
“Take him with you into the Q-net. Show him the maze of Jarren’s programs you navigated to reach DES. If that doesn’t change his mind, nothing will.”
It’s worth a shot.
Except Radcliff is too busy sending information to DES to “waste his time” worming with me. My frustration builds with each day. And my fear. Any little noise sends me to the ceiling, convinced Jarren is attacking the base.
But there is some good news. Four days after we reestablish communication with DES, they message us diagrams for the null wave emitter. The design is easy to read and uses supplies we