INSURGENT: Tobias

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Jack Kang's decision echoes in the large room, still hanging in the air long after he spoke. The former Dauntless are the last to leave and probably the most upset with the decision. It's unsettling, though, how little everything seems to affect the Candor. But it's not surprising. They see in black and white, this and that, right and wrong; no gray areas. They're blind to the threat that Jeanine poses. Even more so, they're blind to what Jeanine is capable of and ignorant to what she's not capable of.

Jeanine Mathews is not capable of negotiating a peace treaty. And Jack Kang is going to figure that out when it's too late.

I decide to confront Jack in the privacy of his office. Maybe he'll be open to seeing reason when he's free from prying eyes. I resist the urge to linger in the room. I haven't spoken to Tris in so long. It seems like every time we have the opportunity to really talk to each other, one or both of us end up mad at the other. I swallow down the lump in my throat.

As I walk out of the room, I look back. I can't help it. Tris's blue eyes pierce into mine from across the room. I suck in a breath and look away, my heart fluttering in my chest.

The Candor compound feels like more of a maze than the Dauntless compound, but I know it's just because I've had years to get used to Dauntless and I've only just been thrown into Candor. I don't admit to myself that I'm terrified of what's to come. The future seems like an abstract thing, something that isn't really accessible. When I try to picture myself in the years to come, there isn't much that I see. Even the idea of Tris and I together in some faraway future is blurring from my mind. I can't see it as clearly anymore. The edges are fading, stretching, changing. Gone.

Somehow, I find myself in front of Jack Kang's office door. The door is all glass, transparent. Like the minds of the Candor. I can see Jack through it. I think about knocking, but then decide against it and walk into the room. He doesn't seem particularly surprised to see me in his office.

"Tobias." He says. "What brings you here?" Jack stands behind his glass desk. Is everything glass? His eyes follow me as I move to stand on the other side of the desk. His black suit is staggering in a room composed solely of white and glass. But I suppose that is his intention. To look strong, a force to be reckoned with. The truth shall set you free and all that crap.

He doesn't fool me.

Jack Kang cares about the well-being of his faction above all else. I'm sure the overall survival of the other four factions concerns him, but only to an extent. The cold, hard truth is that he would give us up, the Dauntless refugees, to ensure the safety of Candor. Even if that meant making a deal with Erudite.

Jack needs all of the facts before he can make a decision. It's in his nature. And that would be fine if he wasn't putting all of us in danger by giving Jeanine the benefit of the doubt. She doesn't deserve that.

"Jeanine is not trustworthy," I say. He sighs audibly, as if he was waiting for this confrontation.

"There is no evidence that clearly classifies her as such, Tobias."

"No evidence?" I snarl at him. "What about the attempted assassination of the entire Abnegation faction? That doesn't count as evidence?"

"We have no substantial proof that Jeanine was the head of the operation that put the Dauntless under that simulation."

"Tris and I both have eyewitness accounts that confirm Jeanine's responsibility for the Abnegation assault," I say through gritted teeth, knowing that he won't believe me.