The Gender Plan (The Gender Game #6)

“Cad here. We’re approaching the harvester from the right side. Did any backup get to you?”


“No,” I said as I approached the huge bulk of the harvester and slowed, the sound of gunfire disappearing completely. Pressing my back against the wheels of the hulking red behemoth of a vehicle, I slowed to a crawl, caution overriding my need to move into the city street beyond and put a stop to all this insanity. “If you are heavy on that side, I’ll take what I can get.”

“Sending people over now,” he said.

I waited, and two refugees and a Liberator crept around the rear of the harvester. Margot flinched when they appeared, and I pressed a hand on her arm. “Wait here,” I told her, and she nodded, clutching her gun in a tight-knuckled grip. I waved the others forward and began to move.

The corner loomed ever closer, the gap between the front and sides of the harvester and the wall of the building seeming to grow as I moved forward. I caught a glimpse of the tail of the vehicle and came to a stop, collecting myself. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes, taking a moment to picture Violet’s face.

My nerves settled down a bit, the tension easing as I tricked my body into a slightly calmer state. I needed to focus. At last count, there had been six wardens left. Five on the ground around the vehicle, and one on the machine gun.

Then I opened my eyes and stepped forward, dropping down into a low crouch as I neared the gap, the enemy vehicle waiting somewhere in the street beyond. I peered down my sights and eased inches forward as the corner, and then the tire of the enemy vehicle, drew into view. Twenty feet back, judging from the narrow view provided. I eased forward a few more inches, knowing that once I could see them, they could see me—and not even my bulletproof vest was going to stop these bullets.

Just as a leg in Matrian uniform was coming into view, rapid gunfire caused me to jerk back, and it took me a minute to realize the gunfire wasn’t at us. It was at them.

“Who is that?” whispered Margot, and I turned to see her pressed behind Cruz and Harry, their faces pensive.

“Viggo, hold your fire—those are Mags’ people.”

I let out a breath at Violet’s news. Then I stepped out and approached the gap more confidently. Three women were already dead, their bodies on the ground next to the truck. I stepped out as a woman broke off, running for the gap, and she faltered. A bullet from behind caught her in the shoulder, and she fell, screaming. I kept my rifle up as I moved forward, dropping another woman as she popped up to fire on the street behind the truck.

The last one’s hands shot up, just above the bed of the vehicle. “I surrender!” she cried, and I lowered the gun.

“I got her,” said Harry, slipping around me and heading over toward the truck. My people began to creep in around the vehicle, and I noticed Tim and Gregory heading over to me.

“Don’t fire!” I shouted down the road, and I watched as men and women began to creep in cautiously from the neighboring buildings and the alleys between them. A short, curvy brunette pushed forward through the crowd, and I recognized Mags from our handheld conversations as she made a beeline toward me.

Turning, I nodded to Gregory. “See what you can do to straighten this up for the guard team,” I ordered quietly, and he gave me a thumbs-up.

I turned back in time to see Mags only a few feet away. I opened my mouth to say something, but then froze when I saw a familiar, slightly bowlegged figure behind her, a cap perched on top of his disheveled gray hair, his mustache turned up in a smile.

“Heya, boyo,” Alejandro greeted me, his blue eyes sparkling. “Long time no see!”





21





Viggo





I pulled Alejandro into a tight embrace, surprised to find tears welling in my eyes. I’d had no idea he was coming, no idea he was there at all… no idea he hadn’t died fighting fires in the weeks of Matrian-dominated chaos.

He hugged me right back, his hand thumping on my shoulder blades. “Oh, my boy, my boy!” he kept repeating. I laughed, and we broke apart, but my hand was still on his shoulder and his on mine.

“What happened to you? Is Jenny with you? Is she okay?” I asked, the questions pouring out of me. I looked around and realized we had a bit of an audience, but I didn’t care. I was elated to see Alejandro again. I had worried endlessly about him since our parting, and now, seeing him here, I just had to know what had happened to him.

“Jenny’s fine. She’s back with the others, holding down Mags’ fort.” He nodded at Mags, who was standing patiently to one side, a hand on the strap of her rifle. Her blue eyes sparkled in amusement as she watched both of us, and I did a double take, staring from Alejandro’s eyes back to hers. They were definitively similar, and Alejandro’s grin widened. “Oh, come on, boy—don’t tell me you haven’t put it together.”

“She’s…” I trailed off as it clicked. “She can’t be.”

“The very same,” Mags replied, smiling broadly, and I let go of Alejandro and immediately pulled her into a hug as well, laughing heartily.

My command line beeped, and I switched to hear, “Viggo, what the hell is going on, and why are you hugging that woman?”

I laughed harder at the sound of Violet’s voice coming through my earpiece and pressed my fingers together. “Because she’s family,” I announced, pulling away from Mags and looking up. “She’s Alejandro’s niece! I haven’t seen her since she was, what? Seven years old?”

“What? Really! Alejandro’s there?”

“Sorry, guys, gotta cut the family reunion short—Thomas! Where the hell is Vox’s team? We’re pinned down out here.” Ms. Dale’s sharp retort cut through the rest of the chatter on the command line.

“He’s almost there, according to the thermals. Just hold on.” The line went silent, but I was immediately sober. The transmission we’d just heard meant that Ms. Dale still hadn’t captured her position yet, meaning she and her team, people we all cared about deeply, were still in great danger.

I turned to the two rebels in front of me and dug around in my backpack, producing twelve sets of handhelds and earbuds. “These are for you and a few of your men. The rest need to get to Drew’s team. We have two channels, but you’ll only need to worry about the team ones for now, although we might need you on the main channel from time to time. We also have backup channels in case these are compromised—your team leader will brief you on that when you get connected. We don’t have enough to go around, so we separated our men into teams with leaders who receive orders.”