“Too bad.” Sarcasm laced my words. And when the silence lengthened, I asked about the Pit.

Before he could reply, the door opened. I braced for their “last try” by clamping my lips tight. But when Riley stood there with Sloan, a little yelp of surprise escaped me.

Riley turned on Jacy. “What’s this?” He gestured toward me. “You said you were going to talk to her. Let her go. Now!”

Not what I had been expecting. Maybe Riley’s anger was part of the ruse.

“She thinks we’re the saboteurs,” Jacy replied mildly. “How was I supposed to get her to sit down with me for a nice conversation?”

I noted the use of “we’re.” Nausea rose in my empty stomach.

“That’s why I wanted to be the one to convince her,” Riley said.

“You’re needed elsewhere. We’re running out of time.” Jacy jumped to his feet. “This has been a total waste of precious time. Sloan, take her to the Pit. We’ll manage without her. Riley, are the wires in place?”

“Not yet.”

“Then go. Get it done. They’re already attached to us. Sloan’ll deal with Trella.”

Riley didn’t move. He met my gaze. “Did Logan find a way around the Outsiders?” he asked.

I might not trust Jacy, but despite Riley’s belief, I did trust him. I should have trusted him with the bomb, and I should have tried to figure out what he’d been doing all these weeks. But my own hurt feelings had kept me away from him. Now though, if Riley thought Jacy’s gang was doing the right thing, then I had no qualms. “No. Not yet. We think we have one last chance, but it would require a coordinated effort from a bunch of people.”

Jacy and Riley exchanged a look.

“I have the manpower,” Jacy said. “We can combine our efforts?”

That last bit sounded like a question. “I thought your sources dried up when you joined the Committee.”

“Things have changed.”

Riley knelt in front of me. “Will you help us, Trell?”

Looking into his eyes, seeing the concern on his face, I couldn’t resist him. “Yes.”

Free at last, I stood and rubbed feeling back into my muscles.

“What do you need from us?” Jacy asked me.

“We have to confirm that our plan can work first, and then we’ll need a few workers we can trust from every system.”

“Okay, I’ll find you three for each. Is that enough?” Jacy asked.

“Yes.”

He nodded and turned to leave.

“Jacy, you said you needed me. What do you want me to do?” I asked.

He glanced at Riley. “You might as well tell her everything. Then get back to those wires.”

Riley gave him a mocking salute. “Aye-aye, Captain.”

Jacy smiled and left the room.

“Can you tell me in the cafeteria?” I asked. “I’m starving.”

“No,” Sloan said. “You’ll have to be rescued by maintenance. I’ll go get everything set up and come back for you.” He shot me a sour look before leaving.

“I have a feeling I’m not going to like this,” I said.

“I don’t like it at all, but it’s our best chance,” Riley said.

“Just start from the beginning.” I sat on the table in the place Jacy had cleared. No way I would sit in that chair again.

“Here’s the condensed version. Bubba Boom is working for the Outsiders. He built those bombs and attacked Logan. We don’t know how he contacted them, and we don’t know who else is helping him. We suspect Hank, but have no proof. Jacy and I are trying to bypass the Outsiders by building another computer network independent of the existing one. Then we’ll switch controls over to the new network. But we can’t do that if Bubba Boom is just going to hijack the new network. We need to know more.”

I connected the logic. “You want me to get closer to Bubba Boom and find out how he is communicating with the Outsiders?”

“You’ve been hanging out with him so…yeah.” He didn’t look happy about it.

“He’s supposedly helping me with finding the active link to the Outsiders. And searching for Sloan and company. But he doesn’t know about Logan.”

“That’s good.”

“Yeah. I guess he wanted to make sure I didn’t join Jacy.” Fooled me big time. Why was I so easily convinced? Perhaps because I had lost faith in my own judgment.

“He did save your life,” Riley said.

“So did you. I’d never have washed off the chemical so fast.”

He shrugged. “If you had trusted…never mind.”

I grabbed his arms and forced him to look at me. “I do trust you. I would have told Jacy to go recycle himself if you hadn’t come in here. I didn’t trust myself. I now know I made a mistake by listening to Bubba Boom. A big…huge mistake and I paid dearly for it.” I huffed. “That’s why I didn’t want to be in charge. What if I make another wrong decision?”

“Then we’ll deal with it. I’d rather have you make a mistake then have Outsiders tell us what to do.”

“Are you sure? I’ve made some doozies.”

“I’m positive. Besides, you’re not the only one to mess up. Jacy screwed up your recruitment, I’ve done and said things I regret and your mother has had a couple lapses in judgment. Hopefully, Bubba Boom and the Outsiders will make mistakes that we can take advantage of.”