Lethal Redemption

by April Hunt

  Sarah nodded. “Oscar and Levi are hauling water up from the river, but they should be here soon.”

  David shifted on his feet and stared at Grace. “You’re really you, huh?”

  Everyone chuckled, including Grace. “Last time I checked a mirror.”

  Sarah explained, “David was a fan of yours.”

  “A fan? I’ve been here less than twenty-four hours.”

  David’s cheeks pinked. “Of when you were here before. I was only two, but my caretaker told me that I was your shadow when you helped in the nursery.”

  Two. So that would make him… “So you’re about nineteen?”

  He nodded, looking a little bashful.

  That meant this poor kid had been here for the last seventeen years—or longer—with no familial connection, because Children of the New Dawn weren’t reared by their parents. They were raised by the flock.

  Grace herself, as one of the older children, often worked with the toddlers, and the longer she studied David, the more his unruly dark hair and big green eyes morphed into a sweet young face she remembered reading to nearly every single night.

  Grace cleared her throat, pushing away a swell of emotions. “You had a favorite blanket. It was light blue with a—”

  “Sunshine patch on it. Yeah. That was me.” He smiled shyly.

  New Dawn bred three types of followers: the anger-ridden, the naïve sheep, and probably the most disturbing of them all, the perfect blend of the two. The former definitely fit Todd to a T. The eager to please Stephanie, the sheep. A wary gut feeling told Grace that Sarah was the latter.

  But David?

  Grace didn’t think he belonged in any of the categories, and she wondered what would happen when Rossbach realized he wouldn’t get an obedient, mindless soldier out of the teen.

  Stephanie clapped her hands, gaining everyone’s attention. “Well, you’re in good hands, Grace. I’m going to leave you with Sarah, and she’ll fill you in on all the particulars. Either myself or someone else from the flock will be checking in in a day or two.”

  She waved and skipped out of the room before Grace turned to her three temporary roommates.

  Maria, already losing interest, rifled through pots and pans beneath one of the counters, and Sarah handed David a rag and spray bottle. “Go wipe down the table.”

  “But Evening Nourishment’s not going to be for another hour.”

  “And when you clean the table, it’ll be ready for you to set it.” She slid Grace a small wink. “And don’t forget to add another setting.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He trudged back to the attached dining room, grumbling under his breath.

  “Can I help?” Grace offered. “Although I should warn you that I burn water.”

  “You any good with a peeler?” Sarah held out a veggie peeler and nodded to a small stack of potatoes.

  “I can try.”

  “I’m going to go set the table,” Maria mumbled and hustled after David, place settings in her hands.

  “Was it something I said, or am I just that scary?”

  “Maria’s nervous around new people that come into the Rec. She has trust issues, which is why she’s still with us in Sanctuary five years after her recruitment. To her, you’re a wild card. She doesn’t want to be linked to you by association and end up getting her Rec sentence extended.” Sarah’s mouth pulled up into a smirk. “There’s a reason why David was so awestruck when you walked through the door. He’s a teenager. He’s rebellious. It’s only natural he heard the stories about a particular young girl with the ability to find any kind of trouble in a three-mile radius.”

  Grace laughed, a real one this time. “It had to be at least five miles.”

  “Good to know,” Sarah chuckled. “I’ll make sure to stay on my toes around you.”

  “So you’re like what? The Rec warden?”

  “More like the resident assistant.” She glanced up to the ceiling, where Grace immediately noticed the camera mounted in the corner. “Those are the wardens. The video feeds go directly to the PC. They’re motion censored, so when anyone walks into the room, they turn on and record. They don’t have sound capabilities—something David is very thankful for, since he tends to drop more than the occasional F-bomb. And FYI, there’s one in everyone’s bedrooms too.”

  “That’s…” Damn creepy. “Thorough.”

  “You can say what you really think.”

  “I don’t think I can. I don’t want my voluntary Rec appearance to turn into a mandatory one.”

  Sarah laughed.

  Not only did the vice president’s daughter act like a woman who was happy staying with the Order, but Grace didn’t see any sign of the woman who’d written rage posts calling for an all-hands-on-deck political mutiny. It was like they weren’t the same person, and Grace had to wonder why.

  She took her cue from Sarah and picked up her first potato. “Can I ask you what brought you to New Dawn? My mother physically brought me here to Sanctuary, but you said you’re fairly new to the Order. If you don’t want to talk about—”

  “No, no. It’s fine.” Sarah’s lighthearted smile stiffened. “To be honest, it was my boyfriend who introduced me to the Order.”

  “Is he here now? What does he do?”

  “Simon’s one of Father Teague’s Elite Guards.”

  Grace racked her brain for any memory of the term and came up blank. “They’re different from the PC?”

  “Oh, very different.” Sarah’s face beamed, proud. “Father Teague hand-selects the member of the Elites. They handle sensitive assignments for the Order. It’s an honor, but it means that he’s off Sanctuary quite a bit. He’s due back sometime within the next few days, though.”

  “So he brought you here?”

  Sarah nodded. “Before I met Simon, I wasn’t happy with the life I was in. I just didn’t know what to do about it until I ran into him at a coffee shop. He recognized the similarities in our hearts from the moment our eyes connected. And now, I’m here, and everything feels…right.”

  No doubt he recognized her too…and everything someone of her stature could bring to Rossbach’s cause.

  Oscar and Levi chose that moment to return with the water, and while they were more personable than Maria, they said hello and promptly disappeared to their quarters to wash up for Evening Nourishment.

  With the meal nearly ready to be placed on the table, Sarah tossed her towel on the counter. “Let me show you to your room so you can wash up. Unlike the rest of the community, after Nourishment, we have a full evening of reflection. First together as a house, and then everyone will be sent to their private quarters.”

  “For more personal Reflections.” At least that much hadn’t changed—except for the cameras that made certain you didn’t slack on your individual studies.

  Sarah led her to a room that made a jail cell look decorative. A simple twin bed with stark white sheets was pushed against the wall, and tucked beneath the lone window, an empty desk was adorned with a plain metal basin and a pitcher of water.

  “It’s minimalist, but it’s been designed that way to make it easier to focus on what’s important.” Sarah nudged a chin to a small corner dresser. “There’s towels in there. I’ll leave you to freshen up and see you downstairs in a bit.”

  Left alone to prepare for the evening meal, Grace side-eyed the wall-mounted camera and pretended she didn’t care about its presence as she wiped down her arms and scrubbed her face.

  Evening Nourishment at the main house was always a boisterous affair—at least after Rossbach’s final Blessing of the night. So when Grace returned to the dining room a little less grimy than before, she hadn’t expected the somber silence of Sarah and the four other Rec residents.

  Everyone stood behind their chairs, heads bowed.

  Grace stopped behind the empty chair next to Maria, and the other woman casually slid hers farther away. Grace resisted the urge to mess with her by sliding hers even closer and heard a small cough. Sarah
Brandt’s mouth twitched as if reading her mind.

  A click sounded in the room, and then Rossbach’s voice echoed from the speaker at the end of the table. “May the New Dawn shine upon you.”

  “And upon you as well,” both the people around Grace’s table and those in the main dining hall chanted in unison.

  “Duty is something that we all possess,” Rossbach addressed everyone. “Duty to your community. To your leaders, who strive every day to steer you in the right direction, to guide you on your path to your New Dawn. But I and Mother Rebecca cannot do it alone. We must help each other. If it is within your power to aid a fellow member of the flock, you must do so without exception, for every New Dawn is precious. It’s to be protected—at all costs.”

  As Grace listened, her stomach twisted into knots. It was the same old message that she’d heard seventeen years ago, but this time, she heard it with a federally trained ear.

  It wasn’t about the emotional freedom that came with forgiveness.

  His sermon was about unquestioned loyalty. It fueled entitlements, encouraged them to be judge, jury, and executioner. It was about cold, unapologetic retribution without regard to the aftermath left behind.

  Grace’s gaze flicked over the people around the table. Most had their eyes closed, soaking up the words spewing from Rossbach’s mouth. But Sarah Brandt stared at her clasped hands, a small smile on her face.

  She not only believed every word that he said, but she was a woman with a solid, concrete plan. By the time Rossbach stopped talking, Grace was no longer hungry.

  She pushed her food around on her plate and contemplated her next move. “So does—”

  “We don’t talk,” Maria hissed.

  Sarah gave Grace an apologetic smile. “She doesn’t know that unless we tell her, Maria.”

  The other woman clamped her mouth shut.

  “Evening Nourishment is our time to take Father Teague’s words and apply them to ourselves. We solidify our resolve to finalize our Reconditioning and search within to identify our Obstacles and how to thwart them.”

  “I didn’t know…” Grace turned to Maria, who looked near ready to pass out from all the out-of-the-norm meal talk. The poor woman truly believed her entire livelihood was on the line. “I’m sorry, Maria. I’ll try to follow the rules more closely.”

  The other woman grunted and ate her dinner in silence.

  The rest of the meal passed at a snail’s pace, made even longer by the equally silent cleanup. After the last dish was put away, David led the way to the living room, where everyone chose a seat, most notably as far apart from others as the small room allowed. Grace took the plump chair on the left, positioning herself so she could observe the others without being obvious.

  Sarah extinguished the lights, and opened the hutch that sat catty-corner to the fireplace to reveal a wide-screen TV, a far contrast from the rest of the Spartan Rec furnishings.

  Rossbach blinked to life on the screen in high definition. “May the New Dawn shine upon you.”

  “And upon you as well,” everyone in the room returned.

  Startled, Grace glanced around, noting everyone’s attention affixed to the front of the room.

  “Your actions matter. Decisions matter,” Rossbach began. “Being in the midst of Reconditioning means that you have made a choice that could’ve taken you so far from your New Dawn path that there is no going back.”

  Across the room, Maria’s soft sniffle broke through the dead silence.

  “We here at Sanctuary do not give up on our flock. You, my lovely people, are exactly where you need to be, and it is my firm belief that with careful nurturing, you’ll once again rejoin your Order family. But you must commit yourself. You must be brave. You must be determined.

  “Think of your Obstacle…picture it in your mind. Is it a person on the Outside who is blocking you from your path, or are memories of a particular place preventing you from moving forward? It could be one. Or both. Or more. But you can overcome it. You can overcome them. For the sake of your New Dawn and everything that you’re entitled to, you must. Not. Fail.”

  Rossbach’s recorded message droned on and on, and with each repetitive sentiment sounded less like a pep talk and more like a thorough brainwashing. Without a clock, she wasn’t sure how long the video lasted, but by the time it ended, she wanted to claw off her ears.

  Maria jumped up and hustled to her room, and the others silently followed.

  Grace hung back, waiting as Sarah put the screen away.

  “He’s inspirational, isn’t he?” A dreamy-eyed smile floated on the other woman’s face.

  He was something. And if this were any other assignment, Grace would be chomping at the bit to write a professional article on his personality traits.

  “That happens every night?” Grace asked.

  “And twice more during the day. It reminds us that if our resolve is strong enough, and we’re willing to put forth the effort, our New Dawn is only a few Obstacles away.”

  Grace knew she needed to ask her question even if she was already ninety-nine percent certain of the answer. “What’s your Obstacle, Sarah?”

  The young woman smiled, but this one, unlike the one earlier in the kitchen, left Grace cold.

  “Obstacles are a private affair to be known only between the individual and Father Teague. But you’ll know when I’ve finally reached my New Dawn.” She reached out, squeezing Grace’s clammy hand. “Soon, everyone will know.”

  Chapter

  Seventeen

  Ever since being granted his level three badge three days ago, Cade had made sure each of his PC shifts happened in the surveillance room. Not only did he get to verify the videos’ blatant blind spots, but he got to keep taps on the Rec.

  Specifically, Grace.

  If he didn’t know her as well as he did, he wouldn’t have been able to distinguish her from the other five residents. They moved like robots, hopping from task to task, and mostly never saying a word to one another. And he really wanted to know what the living room was about. The camera angle focused on the front door and not the screen everyone’s eyes were fixated on.

  But after that evening’s movie night, something changed.

  The others went to their rooms, and Sarah and Grace stayed back. The two talked easily, but the tension in Grace’s posture mixed with the exhausted dip of her shoulders was impossible to miss, and it didn’t go away even when she hugged the vice president’s daughter and walked out the Rec’s front door.

  That was two hours ago.

  Now, Cade paced his and Grace’s cabin, marking each pass with a string of curses that would make his mother glower at him.

  He’d barely heard the first squeak of the step when he flung open the front door and pulled Grace into his arms. “About damn time.”

  Curling his fingers into her hair, he held her against his chest and kissed the top of her head. Then her temple. Her cheek. And then he kissed her mouth.

  Grace’s hands slid up to his shoulders, and her lips opened, accepting the firm slide of his tongue. His body would have broken out into song if it could, every cell damn near vibrating. He hadn’t realized the scope of his need for her until that very moment.

  The tightness in his chest eased, and each breath came easier than the one before it. Grace Steele was his oxygen, and he didn’t think he’d be able to survive without either of them for very long.

  “Miss me much?” Against his mouth, Grace chuckled. “Maybe I should get myself sentenced to the Rec more often if that’s the homecoming I’m going to get.”

  “Like fucking hell, sweetheart.” He pulled back enough to close the door behind them, but he never took his hands off her. “Are you okay?”

  “Never better.”

  Cupping her chin, he tilted her face up and scavenged for the truth.

  She smiled, knowing exactly what he was doing, but the light didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I’m tired. Physically. Mentally. And emotionally. But I’m okay
.”

  “Christ. That place looked…”

  “Weird as hell? Because that’s how it felt.” Her brain slowly processed his words, and then his wardrobe. “Wait. How do you know how it looked? And why do you look like GI Joe?”

  “Because you’re looking at James’s new right-hand man.”

  Her mouth dropped open. “I leave you alone for three days and you become New Dawn’s perfect little pet?”

  “I was always perfect, babe.” He grinned, earning him an eye roll. “Besides, this means that once we pack Sarah up, I can get us out of this Twilight Zone undetected. It’s like the stars are aligning.”

  Grace snorted and pulled away. “Until one gets snuffed out…which I’m pretty sure has already happened. Sarah Brandt isn’t leaving voluntarily or quietly.”

  He winced. “It’s that bad?”

  “It’s worse.”

  “How the hell could it be worse?”

  “Because Rhett was right. Rossbach took the concept of happily ever after and put his own sick twist on it. Not only does Sarah Brandt feel that she’s entitled to her New Dawn, but that it’s perfectly acceptable for her to do anything to get it.”

  He didn’t have to be trained in people’s thought processes to know that was a very bad thing. “What’s she going to do?”

  “Whatever it is, it isn’t good, and knowing how she felt about her father before she left, I can’t shake the feeling that it has something to do with him.”

  For the first time, Cade noticed the dark circles under her eyes. The exhaustion he’d read from the video feed looked three times worse in person. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and let his fingers brush against her cheek. When she looked up at him, he fought not to take her pain away with a swift kiss.

  “Go take a hot shower. Or a bath. Tomorrow after the night guard’s swap, we’ll trek out to Roman and Tank and give them an update.”

  “And Sarah?”

  “She’s not going anywhere right now. And if she’s as deep into Rossbach as you think, then it’s even more important that we get her the hell out of here. Go close your eyes. Just don’t drown in the tub.”