Free The Push Chronicles (Book 3): Incorruptible by J.B. Garner

need to talk to you and Rachel about something very important."
    Duane ran his hands over his bald scalp with a rueful look.
    "Sure, if you need to."  He moved on to the next part of the exam mechanically.
    "You've been subdued for days now.  What's wrong?"
    "What do you think, Doc?"  Duane shook his head to no one in particular as he checked my eyes.  "Serious shit is going down and this time I don't think we've got the tiger by the tail.  That tiger is mauling the ever-loving hell out of us."
    "Yeah, well, that's true.  Probably more true than I know."  I shot him a cocky grin, even if I didn't feel it.  "Chin up.  I'm here now and ready to roll.  Give me a few days and everything will be fine."
    "Nice sentiment," he said with a snort of laughter.  "It might even be true."  Duane glanced at the charts and sighed.  "I hope it's true.  I'm sick of putting your people back together and being stuck in this place.  I just want to go outside, smoke a cigar, and go to a steakhouse without being thrown into the slammer."
    "Just give me a chance."
    It must have been something in my voice that made him give me a hard stare.  Maybe I was starting to buy into my own bullshit.
    "Alright, Irene.  Look, the rest of this is just a formality."  Duane tossed the clipboard onto a nearby counter.  "Get dressed and let's talk to Rachel."
     
    "You realize that's putting this entire city's future on the line on what is essentially a hunch with only the barest evidence to back it up?"
    Unlike the first meeting I had with Rachel Choi after I had been rescued, the atmosphere was akin to the old days.  Sure, the old days weren't even a month in the past but that was only a technicality.  Instead of feeling like an employee to her 'boss behind the desk', Duane, Rachel, and I were arrayed around a side table strewn with folders of information the Detroit team had gathered while I was out of the picture.  I was going my best to push down my annoyance at all the previous secrets and Rachel was doing the same, looking past her frustration with my bullheadedness.
    "We've seen it happen once and we know some of these folks are obviously not happy with how things are going," I said.  "I don't see any other option that doesn't end in certain bloodshed."
    "You've got a point there, Doc."  Duane stood up and arched his back.  "Christ, even if the military doesn't just go all-out shock and awe on the Crusaders, there's no way any fight between the two isn't going to trash half of the city."
    "Now wait, I didn't say I wasn't thinking about it," Rachel said, raising her hands up.  "I just want us all to know and take full stock of what is on the line here and how tenuous the facts are."  She rubbed her eyes, red with lack of sleep.  "I wish I had something more concrete myself."
    "Honestly, I never intended for the plan to drop the barrier to be the final one.  I had expected to figure a more effective strategy before now but it looks like Epic had spent far longer on his own planning."  Rachel shook her head.  "Even the civil protests aren't as large as I was expecting."
    "Well, that asshole has all the cards," Duane growled.  "People can be pretty complacent when a God-on-earth is looking down on them.  They've got food, medicine, and shelter still.  I'd say we could wait until shit gets tight then ride the wave of resentment, but I'm not that cruel."
    "Is this the part where we all talk in circles about other ideas that we could do, but we aren't, and then eventually settle on the risky-but-moral plan we started this discussion with?"  I sat back down into my chair.  "If we are, I'm going to go get a pot of coffee started."
    Rachel answered by bouncing a thoroughly-abused stress ball off of my forehead, eliciting a deep chuckle from Brooks.
    "That's my Rachel."  He smirked at me.  "I think that's your answer."
    "Great!"  I favored Rachel with a smile.  "So, you're the expert planner.  How do we do this?"
    "The first step