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Allison Brennan

Cutting Edge

PROLOGUE

Twenty Years Ago

I am going to die tonight.

It was a random thought, and should have been fleeting because Nora didn’t believe she was in any real danger. As soon as they breached security, they’d be arrested, and then she’d be truly free.

But as soon as the dire prediction flitted into her mind, it hung heavily in the air as she drove with her mother, sister, and two men toward the Diablo Canyon Power Plant, nestled in the coastal mountains of Avila Beach. She had never been so close to a nuclear reactor in her life; fear flowed through her veins, riding on her blood cells, squeezing her until she could scarcely breathe. It was the situation that gave her fearsome thoughts, not that she was truly going to die.

Nora didn’t want anyone to get hurt. She tried to be strong as they turned off the Pacific Coast Highway and drove the winding roads into the mountains east of the power plant. Ten miles as the crow flies, and then they’d be at the end of the narrow road. They’d proceed the last mile on foot.

How her mother thought this plan was even remotely sane, Nora didn’t know. When Cameron laid out the idea last month, she had laughed out loud and told him that the security at nuclear power plants was probably better than security for the president of the United States.

He’d slapped her. Lorraine hadn’t even flinched. Nora wasn’t surprised that her mother hadn’t stood up for her, but it hurt deep down where Nora had thought she no longer cared how her mother felt about her.

Kenny used to work at Diablo Canyon, knew all the security protocols. He’d get them in, Cameron assured the group with complete confidence.

“Once we’re in,” Cameron said, “it doesn’t really matter if we are able to cause a radiation leak. Getting in is the key. The press we get for penetrating their so-called security will be worth any trouble we have. The public will wake up, demand change. The revolution will start.

Nora wasn’t so sure. For years, her mother had been involved in every kind of protest under the sun. They lived off the grid-Nora didn’t even have a Social Security number or a driver’s license or a birth certificate. She’d been born in a cabin in the woods. Had anything gone wrong, she would have died. She didn’t think her mother would have cared.

Nora was exhausted. She’d be eighteen in October-her mother didn’t remember her exact birthday-and had never had a real home. No formal education; her mother’s friends taught her what they knew, which was heavy on creating fake IDs, making bombs that were rarely used, and stealing food. But she got by, and was giving her little sister an education that involved reading and math more than it did picking pockets.

Quin was smart. Nora couldn’t let her grow up like she had. Her sister needed a permanent home, a real school, people who cared about her.

If Nora had even one small doubt that what she was doing was right, it disappeared when Cameron insisted on bringing Quin with them-and Lorraine didn’t object. “She’ll stay in the car,” Cameron said. “No one is going to be left behind. ” And he stared at Nora. For a moment, she feared he knew. Then he went back to pontificating.