The Gender Fall (The Gender Game #5)

“All right,” I said, settling back into the chair with a slight stretch and letting its back serve as support for my head. I was eager to move on to the next topic. “Thomas—what do we know about Tim?”

Thomas’ head jerked up, his mouth dropping open and then snapping shut. I had caught him off guard, it seemed. He smoothed the front of his shirt, collecting himself, and then leaned forward. “Well, it’s been chaotic with the move and the palace, but I’ve finally had a chance to hack one of the handhelds we collected from the Matrian wardens after their attack on Ashabee’s estate. I’ve gotten just a smattering of information—they’re using a sophisticated data encryption key I haven’t seen before, but I’ve been slowly deciphering the messages. A lot of it is fragmented, but even then… so far, there hasn’t been any description of a captured male fitting Mr. Bates’ description.”

I felt disappointed but unsurprised. It hadn’t seemed likely that answers would just fall in our laps, but still, it would’ve been… nice. “Keep monitoring it,” I said, and Thomas nodded. “What else have you found?”

Thomas leaned forward, excitement shining in his dark eyes. “Well, I’ve got good news and bad news—which would you prefer?”

I gave him a look from beneath my heavy eyelids, but it was Amber who answered. “Bad news,” she said sweetly. Everyone looked at her, and she gave a little shrug. “I like getting the bad stuff over and done with first—makes the good news all the more delectable.”

I refrained from sighing. “You heard the lady,” I muttered. “Give us the bad.”

“Well, I have no idea where the Matrians are holing up. A general call was sent to retreat to a location after the bombing at the palace, but they’re referring to the location by a code name, which is meaningless to us. Any chance we had of sabotaging their retreat or taking out a supply line is out, until I crack the code or they slip up.”

“That might be for the best,” replied Ms. Dale. “The people in this room are the best-trained operatives we have at the moment. I’m working with the recruits day and night, but they are nowhere near ready. Attempting a major offensive right now would be more than risky.”

“I agree,” added Owen. “We aren’t strong enough to hit them directly. Better to look at indirect ways of bringing them down.”

I leaned forward and looked at Thomas. “What’s the good?”

“I’ve decrypted several messages regarding another location and put them together. I think I’ve found where they are taking the men after they separate them from their families.”

“That’s interesting,” said Amber. “Where?”

Thomas sifted through several of the maps on the table, pulling out a big one. “This would be so much better with that hologram projector on the heloship,” he grumbled as he picked up a red pencil and studied the features on the map. After a few moments, he circled an area northeast of our position, about forty miles away. “There.”

I slid the map closer to me and studied it. It took me a few seconds to focus, as the map seemed an amorphous blob to my tired eyes. I blinked several times, trying to make everything come together through sheer force of will. “Why do you consider this good news?” I asked after I had taken a good look at it.

Thomas gave me an incredulous look and then sighed in irritation, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers. “Because they could mean recruits for us! More people to fill out our ranks and make us more formidable.”

Considering his answer, I looked over to Ms. Dale and noticed she had a frown on her face. “What do you think, Melissa?”

She met my gaze and then shook her head. “I don’t think it’s a good idea,” she replied. “We have no idea how accurate that information is—for all we know, this place is just a mass burial site for the people they’ve been killing.”

“What?!” exclaimed Thomas, practically sputtering. “That’s ridiculous—they wouldn’t kill people and then transport them. Too much work, and it has the potential for alerting the remaining population to their true intentions. It’s much more likely they are collecting the men, transporting them to the site, and then executing them. Less chance of witnesses that way.”

“That’s… actually a good point,” Ms. Dale muttered. Thomas beamed, and Ms. Dale went on. “But that doesn’t mean that they aren’t just transporting them there to kill them. However, even if that’s not the case, it’s still not necessarily a good idea to charge in. The camp will be heavily fortified and defended. Besides, our top priority should be addressing what new information Elena is feeding the populace. The tickers are still down, which would cause mass chaos, but we have seen no evidence of chaos. Elena is probably disseminating the news to the population somehow. We need to send an agent into the city to find out how she’s doing it. That way, we’ll have a better idea how to proceed.”

Thomas opened his mouth to launch a counterargument about how his idea was more important. I slowly stood up, keeping a careful ear on the conversation, but also desperate for a cup of coffee—I was on the brink of falling asleep, a sure sign I was overtaxing myself, and I knew getting up would force more life into my limbs, and coffee would help my mind. The debate continued as I rose, and I had to admit, both of them were making good points; both ideas were well reasoned and thought out.

I poured myself a cup of coffee from the metal coffeemaker and took a sip, grimacing at the stale taste, and then forced another sip, needing the caffeine. I moved back to the table, loudly setting my cup down as the argument began to grow heated.

Thomas and Ms. Dale paused, looking at me, and I held up my hand in a silent entreaty. They both shut their mouths and waited, and I was struck with appreciation for how well we all worked together.