The Gender Plan (The Gender Game #6)

Forty-five seconds, then a minute… Still nothing. That wasn’t a good sign. Mags was raising her eyebrows at me, waiting for the sign for the final dash to our rendezvous, but I held on a minute longer, hoping something would come through.

“Tasha, report,” Henrik’s voice cut in finally. Silence greeted us both. I held my hand up to my earbud, clenching my teeth together as Henrik repeated Tasha’s name.

His voice was resigned as he said to everyone, “With no response from Tasha, I am ordering us to go to tango foxtrot. I’ll let Drew know we changed the main channel.”

A sinking feeling in my chest, I acknowledged his order and then switched channels, first to inform my team, then to check in with the rest of command.

Finally, I looked around at my team. “Desmond is coming up on the plant fast, guys,” I said, both to those around me and over the team radio, trying to keep the worry from my voice. “She might already have taken out one of our guard posts. So we need to get to the rendezvous posthaste. Let’s make it count.”

I gave the signal to go, and Mags leapt out the door of the building ahead of me, her face grim. She took the steps two at a time, and I kept close on her heels as she moved down the street, hooking a left into the narrow alley between the apartment we’d cleared and the adjacent building. It was a tight fit. I had to move sideways, but we made it through, the rest of our group silently squeezing in behind us.

Mags ducked low, her weapon in her hands, and led us on, weaving through the cars on the street to the alley on the other side. I hung back, checking the buildings as the team moved past me, with Mags holding her position on the other side, clearing the windows on her side of the street before letting them continue. As soon as the last person exited the alley, I sprinted over to the other side, and then slowed to a jog as I moved past the single line of people who stood with their backs to the wall.

When the next alley opened up, there were no buildings on the street it opened onto, but rather another park, this one larger than the last one. Recalling the images Violet and Thomas had captured of the park just left of the plant, I felt a rush of appreciation toward Mags.

We crossed the empty street at a run, entering through a metal ironwork gate and heading left, following the ground’s gradual slope up. The left side of this park bordered the road leading into the plant. We made our way through the dark trees and over part of a brick wall.

As soon as I saw the trees thinning, I raised my fist, ordering the group to stop. I slipped onto my belly, using my elbows and knees to move through the leaves on the ground. A road slowly came into view as I crept out of the tree line.

I looked up the hill, following the light gray line of the street as it moved several hundred feet farther up a steep incline. I could make out the top of the water treatment plant just above the horizon of the hill, and I moved back into the tree line. Once I was back with my team, I pressed my fingers together.

“We’re in position,” I announced on the main channel. “Ready to go when you are.”





30





Violet





I was sitting in the backseat, leaning in between the front two seats, my body wedged into the gap. “How far are we from the guard post?” I asked, my eyes watching the pavement as it disappeared beneath us.

Owen slowed and downshifted, expertly hooking a left down a paved road. “We’re two minutes out,” he replied.

I bit my lip and leaned back into the seat. From beside me, Morgan cleared her throat, and I turned toward her, surprised to find her pressed between me and the door. “Do you mind?” she asked, holding up her hand and flicking the backs of her fingers at me.

“Sorry,” I said contritely, scooching over a few inches and giving the raven-haired girl some space.

“Don’t worry about it,” she said, her eyes drifting out the window beside her. She folded her arm over her stomach and then reached up with her other hand to press on the skin right under her bruised eye.

“Does it hurt?” I asked.

Her turquoise eyes flicked back to me, and she shifted slightly in her seat. “Like the side of my face has been tenderized, salted, turned into jerky, and then shredded right off my skull,” she said after a minute.

I cringed at the graphic description, but as I reflected on it, I realized it was an accurate account of what it felt like to get punched by an enhanced human. That was a feeling I’d experienced plenty of times in my life, even before… this. “That is a really good way to describe that,” I said in awe, and Morgan gave a surprised laugh.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing,” she said, scrunching her shoulders together. “Just… you didn’t find that disturbing?”

“I mean, yes, but not because it was weird. It was disturbing because it was ridiculously accurate. You have a way with words.”

The compliment caught her off guard, and she looked forward, considering what I had just said. “I didn’t realize Cody could hit that hard,” she said, seeming to ignore the emotional content of the discussion, and I let her, seeing that it was making her feel awkward.

“It’s kinetic energy,” Owen informed us from the front seat. “Cody’s speed doubles as strength, hitting with the force in the speed he’s moving at. You’re lucky you were in an enclosed room with him. He could’ve killed you if he’d had a bigger head start.”

“That sounds like Jay’s super strength,” I muttered.

“It’s not exactly the same,” replied Owen as he hooked another turn. “I think Jay’s muscle fibers are woven together more tightly, giving him more strength than you and I possess. Cody’s enhancement is actually more similar to Tim’s—when Tim’s reflexes kick in, it looks like he has enhanced speed too, but that’s just because the relays between his brain and his muscles move at a significantly faster rate than most of ours do. So he just… reacts in an instant, faster than we can perceive.”

“Either way, it’s not doing my face any favors,” Morgan sulked, still pressing her fingers to her face, and Owen chuckled.

“Don’t worry, Morgan. You’re still as beautiful as ever.”

Just like when I’d complimented her, Morgan didn’t reply, but I noticed her cheeks going darker in the dim light from the console. I looked at Owen, who was obliviously heading down the road, then back to her and the casual way she was trying to hold herself. Realization came like a bullet, and I met Morgan’s eyes in the darkness.