The Gender Plan (The Gender Game #6)

She turned to me, empty bucket in hand, and smiled. “It’s okay. I thought he was kind of sweet. It’s hard to explain why… Maybe because he’s just confident or something, but he’s got a certain... charm.”


“I thought he was kind of a jerk, myself.”

Lynne laughed, unaffected by my grumpiness. “A lot of people are jerks when they’re threatened. And I’m sure you have no idea why any guy would be threatened by you, Viggo.”

I shrugged and crossed my arms, choosing not to rise to that bait. “He’s going to have to work with me a lot if he joins up. So he’ll have to get over it.”

“Well, he seemed sincere in wanting to help,” Lynne said thoughtfully. “Maybe we just need to give him a chance.”

I thought about this. “You’re probably right,” I said. “But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be cautious. He was working with the Matrians not too long ago. He gained their trust enough that they let him walk around the station unattended. And that worked out very poorly for them. I can’t just trust him blindly. Too much riding on it.”

The woman nodded. “That’s true.”

For now, if he got the digger working and helped control the fire, I would keep the guy around. But he was going to have to prove himself. Not just to me, but to all of us.

“Thanks for your input, Lynne,” I said. “I can’t spend too much time on this—gotta catch up with Ms. Dale. Can you just watch him for me for now?”

“I got you, Viggo,” she replied, giving me a warm smile. “I’ll keep an eye on him.”

“Thanks,” I said sincerely.

She gave me a mock salute and then turned to the rest of the men, who had been keeping the wet line going behind her, already telling them to take a break—they had another plan to implement. I turned and headed back to where Ms. Dale was standing in front of the bound emergency crew, the light of the video causing their faces to glow. It was nearing the end of the message, from what I could tell. Sure enough, she reached down and clicked it off.

“I’m sure this is a shock to you, and I understand that. Give it a minute to percolate. And while you do, I want you to consider this: in a few minutes, I’m going to let you go. You’re free to take your vehicle and go wherever you want. You can also feel free to alert whoever you want. We won’t be here when you get back. However, if you believe in what you just saw in that video, then you’ll know we’re not your enemies. We’re here to help. You have the choice to stay with us, if you want, but we won’t force you.”

I stopped, content to let Ms. Dale continue with this crucial job; she had this under control. I moved away as she continued to speak, heading for where Amber, Thomas, and Jeff were standing near the front of the ambulance. “Any word from Tiffany?” I asked, referring to our spy still in the city.

Jeff shook his head, his mustache drooping sadly. “No. We keep trying to reach her, but she isn’t picking up. Do you think…?”

I met his eyes, noting the shimmering fear lurking in the shadowed recesses of his gaze. “We don’t know anything yet, and before we left, the place was turning into a madhouse. She might be on the run, or trying to hide—we just don’t know. Make sure whoever’s on guard duty knows to keep the handheld on them at all times, and get one of us if she calls.”

Amber nodded. “I’ll handle that.”

“Excellent. Now, do you mind if I use that thing to call Violet? I want to let her know we’re all right.”

Thomas extended the handheld he had been holding. “I didn’t do it yet. It occurred to me that if I did I would be denying you an emotional outlet.”

I smiled, resisting the urge to pat him on the shoulder. I wasn’t entirely sure how he’d react to that. “Thanks.”

Tapping the screen, I selected the handheld designation that connected to the one they kept at our base and waited for the call to connect. Amber shifted, catching my attention. She had a bemused expression on her face, her finger tapping the corner of her eye. I gave her a confused look, and her smile grew, her finger still tapping… I reached up and touched my eye, thinking something was stuck there, and my fingers were brought to a halt by the spectacles I was still wearing. I snatched them off just as the handheld connected. I shoved the glasses into a pocket and looked down, surprised to see Dr. Tierney’s heart-shaped face filling the screen.

“Dr. Tierney? Where’s Violet?”

Dr. Tierney frowned, a crease forming in the middle of her forehead. “She left. I thought you knew.”

I froze, trying to process what she was saying. “What do you mean, she left?”

“Owen came for her. Said Thomas sent him information on where Tim could be. That he was going to go looking and Violet could join. I think they went out around five, five thirty. Was that not… Viggo?”

I wasn’t looking at the screen anymore, which was probably why Dr. Tierney was calling my name. I didn’t care. Thomas shifted under my gaze, his posture screaming his discomfort to me. “You sent it to Owen?”

“I thought it would be best,” he replied defensively. “That he was the best choice, all things considered.”

“Owen’s brother just died, Thomas. He isn’t exactly thinking straight.”

“But he wouldn’t do anything crazy. He probably just took her to look.”

“Yes—in the countryside, where sightings of other people become slimmer every day, and… more importantly, we have soldiers who are going to be hunting for us very, very soon, if they haven’t started already.”

“I see.” Thomas frowned pensively, his eyes shifting back and forth as if deep in thought. After a moment, he squared his shoulders. “I may have miscalculated, although to be fair, I asked Owen to check it out and hold off on telling Violet, as you asked me to.”

I blinked, absorbing this information. “Then why would he take her?”

Thomas shrugged, looking completely baffled. “I have no idea.”

The wrongness of everything about this was causing my gut to churn. “I’ve got to find them,” I said.

Looking down at Dr. Tierney, who was still trying to get my attention on the handheld, I bade her a quick goodbye and shut the device down. “Send me the coordinates to those sightings and keep things going here,” I said to the assembled group, then turned toward the cars. “Try to get out in an hour or less—any longer and we’re pushing it. I’ve got a radio in my bag. I’ll be on channel three.”

I shouted the last part behind me, breaking into a jog, and then a run, across the dew-soaked grass toward the group of cars we’d brought here from our home base. I checked my watch. It was seven thirty. She’d been gone for hours, and it was dark. Something was terribly wrong—I wasn’t even sure how I knew it, I just did.

Throwing my bag into the backseat, I leapt into the driver’s seat and started the engine with the keys that still dangled from the ignition. It turned over with a dull roar, and I threw it in reverse. Turning so I could see behind me, I started to accelerate, when the sound of the passenger-side door opened and Ms. Dale hopped in.