Kayden Richardson's Arc

Chapter 3 of 4

Kayden left the beast tied in a stand of pines and walked into the city on foot. He pulled worn clothes from his pack and buried the blue jacket at the bottom. A cap covered his shells. His identification card said a false name. Every road had watchers now, but a man alone had no chance against the Overseer. He needed someone inside. He knew only one such person, and trusting him could end everything. The records library rose above the square, tall and grand. Inside, quiet halls smelled of dust and old paper. Kayden moved past the public shelves toward the back stair. That was where the trusted staff worked. That was where Jacob would be. Jacob Dean stood at a reading table, sorting papers into stacks. The regime's crest gleamed on the right of his chest. They had grown up together on the same street, thrown rocks in the same creek. Now Jacob served the men who erased Kayden's family. Kayden's stomach turned as he stepped into the light. Jacob looked up. His face did not move. "You shouldn't be here," he said. "I had nowhere else," Kayden said. "I have proof. Signed orders. I can't reach him alone." Jacob's eyes went to the door, then back. He set his papers down. "They watch me too," he said. "But I've been watching them longer." He slid a thin folder across the table. Inside were pages of dates and times, months of them, written small in Jacob's hand. "Their schedules. Where the Overseer goes. When he's alone." Kayden stared at the pages. His oldest friend had built this in secret, page by page, while wearing the enemy's badge. "Why?" Kayden asked. "You'd have done it for me," Jacob said. He would not say more. A door opened at the end of the hall. Boots struck the floor. A younger officer walked toward them, dark curls, the crest pinned lower on his chest. Kayden froze. Jacob did not. "He's cleared," the officer said. He did not look surprised to see Kayden. He set a small cage on the table. Inside sat a fluffy gray mouse with a coat like curled wool. Kayden's throat tightened. It was his own courier, the one he had sent away with the evidence before he fled. "It reached me," the officer said. "I kept it safe." He met Kayden's eyes and said nothing about who he was. Kayden did not know this man. But the man knew him, and had guarded his proof. Two people inside the regime were already helping him. He was no longer alone. Jacob tapped the folder. "Take it. Leave the same way you came." His voice dropped. "Don't come back here. Next time they'll be waiting." Kayden tucked the schedules and the cage into his pack. He had allies now. He also had two people who could hang for him, and a plan the Overseer would soon smell coming.