The Gender Game by Bella Forrest (historical books to read txt) 📗

mask, thick gloves… and the egg, safely stowed in one corner. He had come prepared for The Green.

I grabbed the flashlight and the backpack before closing the seat and resuming my sitting position. Switching on the light, I unzipped the main compartment and began to rummage in search of the key. Within it was another knife, a box of matches, a loop of rope, an unlabeled white tube of pills that looked suspiciously like Benuxupane, a compass, a camera… and then two photographs. I removed the compass and placed it in a small holder that was fixed beneath the gears. Then I picked up the photographs and shone my light down on them. My breath hitched. One of them displayed an all-too-familiar sight: the table in the queen's library, etched with the words "FOR THE BOYS OF MATRUS". The second displayed a different message. "FOR THE MEN YOU WILL DECEIVE" was scratched into the tinted windshield of a shiny gold sedan. It looked like King Maxen's vehicle. Perhaps Lee had scratched that message while it was pulled up in the lab's parking lot, after the blast. We had parted ways on the ground floor.

What does all this mean?

What about the boys of Matrus?

Fear surged through me as I recalled Viggo's speculation. No. They can't be killing the marked ones. They can't be.

As I dove deeper into the backpack, my fingers closed around a crumpled piece of paper. I pulled it out and flattened it. It was covered with smudged black handwriting. My mouth fell open as I began to read.

"Desmond,

I regret what I will have to do. To Violet Bates the criminal. Chris Patton the engineer. Duncan Friedman the arms specialist. Seb Morrissey the camera technician. Jacob Venn the immigration officer. But when we have the egg and its key, I will remember that each served their purpose.

Sacrifices must be made.

I imagine the furor I will have created in both nations tonight. I can't be sure that King Maxen will be killed, but Patrus' prize lab will be shaken, and on Matrus' side, the queen and Alastair will be wiped out.

And neither nation will have the egg.

It's possible Patrus will piece together the puzzle and discover that the terrorist was not Viggo Croft. Even if they consider my and Violet's sudden absence a casualty of the explosion, we will have hardly left a hole-free trail. It doesn't matter. I don't give a damn whether a war sparks between the two nations on the back of my actions.

Every step I've taken to "conceal" Violet's and my tracks and place the blame on Viggo has been mostly a front for Violet so that she continues to trust that I'm in line with Matrus' wishes, as well as to satisfy Alastair, who continues to hound me for updates.

Alastair intends for me to assassinate Viggo after he shows up at the lab. Make it look like he committed the crime and then claimed his own life as some kind of statement. That would ensure Matrus' involvement being ruled out of the picture. But I won't bother with that.

Because, again, I don't care.

As I've sensed Violet beginning to get more out of control, however, it's been important that I rein her in. She is still of use to me, and I need her obedience. I've tried to command it with affection (albeit half-heartedly). That's had no effect on her. I've had to control her by other means, like monitoring her with the tracker. And I'll feed her a pill. I think that will be needed in order for the night to run smoothly.

God knows, I've had enough obstacles already. But it will all come through in the end. I know it will.

Patrus believes me to be Patrian. Matrus believes me to be Matrian. They don't know that I belong to neither.

I am a man of no nation.

Many people see that as a curse. But for me, it's a gift. It's allowed me to perceive the world in a way that others can't. Others who are too embedded in the two systems to even consider a life beyond that which has been chalked out for them.

I'm not sure how far back my discontent has dated with the two societies. Perhaps as early as eight. But I remember the day I finally decided I needed to escape.

It was only recently, soon after King Maxen's ascent to the throne. By some twist of providence, two incidents I haven't been able to ignore occurred within the space of a few days. I discovered the real reason King Maxen commissioned Benuxupane, and the truth about the marked boys of Matrus.

Since the two incidents, it's simply been a matter of waiting for the right opportunity. If I am going to escape, I want to leave with a bang, so to speak. I want to leave a mark on both nations—one neither will forget in a hurry.

When the egg went missing from Matrus, I saw my opportunity and seized it.

The truth is, even I don't know what's within that sleek metal egg. All I know is that anything both governments want can't be a good thing for anyone, no matter how many self-serving lies they spout.

And so, with this mission, I will be able to accomplish both objectives in one strike. Mark, and flee.

Just as I will leave a note for Matrus, I will also leave one for Patrus.

I don't know where I will head, or if I will survive. If there is anything at all beyond that mass of forest.

But even if The Green is indeed as endless as people believe, if my aircraft gives way before I manage to cross it and I never live to discover what lies beyond the trees… I don't care.

I will have lived a fuller life in the past twenty-four hours than in all of my twenty-five years of living.

I will die a free man.

Not a pawn in someone's game.

Lee."

As I finished reading, my hands were trembling so hard I could no longer hold the