The Gender Game 5 by Bella Forrest (uplifting novels .txt) 📕

at the end of the table, I allowed myself a brief moment of hope. With a group of people like this, looking at me with those naked emotions, I could accomplish something. In fact, they looked like they were actually ready to hear me.

I let out a breath and started to talk.

“Look, I understand this is all coming as a shock to you. I’m certain, like Amber and Owen, you were all recruited personally by Desmond. She’s been a source of hope, and empowerment, to you all. I’m guessing you don’t know what to make of this, or what you can even do about it. But here’s the thing… Just because Desmond has been lying to you, it doesn’t change the fact that there are some pretty major fundamental flaws in our nations. Both of them. Our governments have either been indifferent, or robbed us all of something precious. They have used their agents to filter out any of you who would protest, and then used you to work to their own goals.”

Several people nodded as I spoke, and I heard the murmured conversations growing more animated.

“You can’t change what has happened to you,” I went on, “but you can choose how to handle it now. We”—I used my hand to indicate Owen, Amber, and myself—“have chosen to fight. Not for ourselves, and not for our survival, but rather for the people who are caught in the middle. People like your families, your sons, your brothers.

“But I have to tell you, the odds are against us. They have been from the start. Elena and Desmond have spent years putting this in motion, consolidating resources and personnel. But you and the rest of the Liberators have things we need. You have people who have been training to fight for years, but most of all, the spirit to make a difference. We need that—our soldiers are refugees who have barely held a gun, let alone thought of using one, before now. But they share the same feelings you have. They’re also fed up with our governments. They also have taken it upon themselves to make a change in the world around them. You and they have a lot in common. There’s a lot you could teach them, if you wanted.”

Silence reigned for several heartbeats, and I looked around the table at each person here, trying to gain some evidence, some inkling of proof that I was getting through to them.

A woman with a short brown pixie cut leaned forward, resting her hands on the table, her green eyes studying me. “That’s a very pretty speech, Mr. Croft, but frankly, why should we even bother to get involved? It seems more like a death wish than anything else.”

“Erin!” Meera gasped, her brows drawing together. “How can you say that? Your son is out there.”

Erin speared Meera with a reproachful look, shaking her head. “I will never give up on my son,” she said. “Malcolm is my world. But if you think for one minute that means I’ll blindly agree to consign the rest of our people to a war against Desmond, you are mistaken.”

“Erin has a point,” announced Lynne, one of the few Liberators I knew by name, from across the table. I glanced at her, and she gave me an apologetic shrug. I guessed her flirting days were done, though I didn’t consider that a loss when she’d never stood a chance against Violet. I wondered if she’d gotten in trouble for the stunt we’d pulled borrowing the harness to spy on Desmond in the Facility, but pushed the thought aside.

“We would be going up against trained wardens, controlled by Desmond,” Lynne continued. “She knows where our base is, and she’ll notice if something is up.”

“Exactly. Our position here, in The Green, was given to us by her. We would have to move everything to enter a battlefield that, frankly, we have little reason to be involved with in the first place.” Erin shook her head, her lips a thin, flat line. “No, I’m sorry, but we need a better reason than that.”

“So you’re saying you’d rather stick with Desmond?” I asked, my heart sinking.

The look Erin gave me was shrewd. “Not even remotely. But going to war isn’t a solution to our problem. Finding our boys is.”

“We’d have a better chance finding them with Mr. Croft,” said a woman I didn’t recognize. Her hair was blond and braided around the top of her head in a long, thick rope. “My brother was taken twelve years ago, and, from what I’ve been able to piece together, Mr. Croft and his team have done more to try and help our boys in the past three months than I have been able to do for all that time. I remember his training program for the boys… back in the Facility… I finally thought we were going to get them back…” Her voice trailed off in emotion, and the woman next to her patted her on the shoulder, while around the room I could hear noises of acknowledgement. And anger.

Thomas had been right—these people had recently lost their boys again. Finally, the blond woman continued, “That was the first time I saw some progress with our boys. And I think that, while our goals aren’t exactly identical to Mr. Croft’s, they do run along similar lines. Mr. Croft’s fight extends to all citizens, while we are only invested in our families. Perhaps we need to re-examine that.”

Erin gave the other woman a considering look and then sighed, shaking her head.

I couldn’t help but jump in at that point, circling back to what she’d first said. “So the Matrians… they really have control of the boys again?” I didn’t bother to hide the frustration that coursed through me at the thought. It sounded like a nightmare. I knew everyone in the room was on the same page about that.

Grimacing, Erin looked at Lynne, who met my gaze and sighed, the expression on her face mirroring what