Free The Ones by Daniel Sweren-Becker

Whether we use pipe bombs or speeches, I don’t care. Until total victory or total annihilation, we follow one rule: The New Weathermen protect the basic rights of Ones at any cost.”
    As Kai returned to his seat, there were loud murmurs of assent. For her part, Cody wanted to jump up, rush over, and hug him. He had articulated exactly what she already knew to be true: A storm was coming, and they had no choice but to face it head-on. And then it dawned on Cody with a wave of excitement—she saw how the wind was blowing.
    Before the next person could speak, the back door of the storage room crashed open. As Cody and everyone else turned to look, she let out an audible gasp. James was being led into the room at gunpoint.
    Cody covered her mouth, not knowing whether to scream out or hide. A girl Cody had met outside, Taryn, was pushing James to the front of the room.
    â€œI found him outside, spying. Not sure how much he heard,” Taryn said. She turned to Kai. “What are we going to do with him?”
    Brandon jumped out of his seat. “Whoa, hold on a second,” he shouted. “First of all, why are you asking Kai? No one’s in charge here, remember?”
    Taryn rolled her eyes, then made a big show of addressing the whole room. “Sorry … what are we going to do about this?”
    â€œAnd second of all,” Brandon continued, “why the hell do you have a gun? We’re certainly not going to kill him!”
    â€œGimme the gun—I’ll kill him!” J-Dog shouted.
    Taryn turned to Brandon. “Wake up, dude. This is exactly the type of stuff we need to worry about now,” she said. “If you want me in charge of security, then don’t bitch about how I handle it.”
    Cody watched as Kai stepped in between them and lightly pressed on Taryn’s arm to lower the gun. And then Cody made eye contact with James for the first time, saw the panic on his face, and realized she had to do something.
    â€œHe’s with me!” she shouted from the back of the room. Everyone turned to look at her. “It’s fine. He’s with me. And he’s a One.”
    â€œAnd who the hell are you?” Brandon sneered.
    â€œIt’s cool, I invited her,” Kai said. “She’s the high school kid I told you about. The one who fought back.”
    â€œSince when are we including kids at these things?” Taryn asked.
    â€œHey, remember the point of all of this? We’re a minority that makes up one percent of the population.… We need all the help we can get,” Kai said. Then he turned back to Cody. “Do you vouch for him?”
    Cody hesitated. She could certainly vouch that James was a terrific person, a good boyfriend, moral, trustworthy, and kind. But somehow she knew that was not what Kai was asking. And now her standing in the group would be forever tied to James. But what else could she do other than vouch for him? She’d just have to make James understand that whether or not he completely agreed with what was happening here, he’d have to accept it. Everyone else in the church saw what the Equality Movement was trying to do—if James didn’t, Cody would make him.
    She looked Kai in the eye and nodded. She vouched for him.
    Up in the front of the room, Kai turned to James and gave him a rough pat on the arm. “Welcome,” he said. “Have a seat.”
    *   *   *
    After the meeting ended, Cody waited until they had walked away from the church before she turned on James.
    â€œI can’t believe you followed me here!” she said.
    â€œAre you serious? Don’t you mean thank you ?”
    â€œThank you for what? I was fine. Meanwhile, you almost got yourself shot and made us both look like idiots.”
    â€œWhich all could have been prevented if you had just told me where you were going.”
    â€œI wasn’t allowed to. Kai told me to come