Determinant: One choice will change everything

Chapter 36: Tobias - Alarm

Chapter 36: Tobias – Alarm

I follow Marcus back the way we came, in the direction of the stairwell where we met earlier. We walk faster than we should for our disguises, but it doesn't really matter. With the security cameras down, we're less likely to be seen now, whereas speed is more important than ever. Even if no one heard our gunshots in the lobby, it's only a matter of time before some of the other guards in the building make their way there to see why the cameras aren't working. And Caleb won't be able to keep their suspicions at bay forever.

We slow down temporarily as we pass each group of cleaners we walked by earlier. They seem less interested in us this time, now that we're more familiar to them. I'm glad. My father would undoubtedly shoot them if they stared at us too long – even the children. Maybe especially them.

When we pass Christina, Marcus gestures for her to join us. She gives me a cold look as she does so, following us in silence.

We reach Margot next, and this time my father stops so we can all hold a whispered conversation.

"Tobias, where are the other guards in the building?" he asks, apparently trusting that I made the appropriate observations before taking down the security cameras earlier. It's probably the first time he's ever trusted me to do something right, but this isn't the moment to dwell on it, so I simply answer.

"There are a lot more guards than Dan Miter was thinking about in his broadcast. There are the two we knew about, stationed outside the room with the Control Computer, but there are also four others who patrol that floor and another four who patrol the building at large. And there's a grouping of ten soldiers on the twentieth floor. They seem to be guarding something else, so it's possible they won't leave that floor, but we obviously don't know that for certain."

Dead silence greets my words as the others realize there are potentially twenty guards between us and our goal.

My father finally speaks. "Collect Uriah and Peter," he tells Margot firmly, "and go up the stairway at the northern end of the building. Your goal is to clear the eighteenth floor of guards as quietly as possible. If you are unable to eliminate them all, Uriah should attempt to reach the computer while you and Peter lure the remaining guards up that same staircase. Make it look like you're attacking the twentieth floor, to focus attention there."

I can't help but stare at him at those words. What he's suggesting is a suicide mission, but Margot just nods grimly as she says, "Understood." She knows what's at stake.

Marcus glances at me and Christina before he adds, "We'll climb the southern stairs and wait ten minutes for them to succeed before we head to the Control Computer." His eyes move briefly around the group to verify that we all understand and will obey. Margot nods again, her face determined; Christina and I do too, though less emphatically.

"Remember," Marcus hisses, "the mission is to get Tobias to that computer. If we fail in that goal, Uriah must reach it. Everyone else is expendable." The words are like a slap in the face. Margot already agreed to follow his orders to her death if needed; what else does he want? A flat-out statement that the others should gladly die for my worthless hide? But then I realize that he's looking at Christina. He wants her commitment too. The thought makes me sick.

She glares at me for a second before turning back to Marcus, anger radiating from her entire face. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. But just so we're clear, I'll do it for my mother and sister, and for Tris. Not for you. Not for douche bags who beat up girls half their size."

The comment freezes everything inside me, but I certainly can't respond. She's right.

My father, of course, isn't willing to admit that. He glowers at her, and his expression sends a chill up my spine. I know from far too many experiences over the years how he'll respond to her attitude. Abruptly, I feel the need to protect her from those consequences. It seems like the very least I can do.