“No, I’m not. My dad was from the outside. I’ve never experienced the world he came from until recently, but I know for certain that the things insiders say about people like you are ridiculous. You’re just people like us who are doing the best you can with the situation you’re given. Let me help you get to a better situation, and if you’re looking for another reason why I’m helping you, then let’s just say I could use more friends. I don’t have many good people in my life, and you strike me as someone I should know.”
“All right. I’m going to trust you, Lee, but understand that I can’t take any more disappointment. If this is a trick or a . . .”
“It isn’t! I would never do that to you!” he immediately said.
“Okay, then get me out of here.”
Lee took her hand. He didn’t know what he was going to tell his parents, but he knew one thing for sure. There was no way they were leaving this city without her.
* * * * *
In the New Vegas headquarters, Alex and Sarah were finally having their meeting with Charles. It had taken a while to get security to let them through, and when they finally did, they were only led to a small conference room where several minutes passed. At that point, they weren’t sure whether Charles would ever see them, but finally, well over an hour after they had arrived, he decided to show himself.
“I’ve been expecting you two. Sorry about my guards. They had to be sure they were dealing with the true rulers of Raines,” Charles said with a smile.
“We don’t rule Raines. We gave up power quite a while ago. Surely you knew that, though,” Sarah said.
“Who are you kidding? Titles do not matter. Only power and influence do, and you could convince the people you freed to move mountains.”
“Maybe so, but we wouldn’t ask them to.”
“And that is why you have their devotion, and the true rulers of Raines still sit before me. I suspect that I already know the reason for your visit, but please, enlighten me,” Charles said, sounding somewhat smug to Sarah. It was like he thought he held all the cards, and maybe he actually did, but this man didn’t know what kind of people he was dealing with. No one wanted peace and diplomacy more than her, but she could still bite if push came to shove.
“You have our daughter, or so we were told,” Sarah said, sounding more calculated than she thought she could. In reality, Sarah felt desperate.
“I do. I secured her from some ruffians who intercepted her out on the road when they were delivering goods for us. I think a proper thank you might be in order,” he said and grinned.
“We can’t thank you enough. Can we see her?”
“In time, yes. I’ll be needing a proper thank you first, though.”
“What are you talking about? Sarah just thanked you,” Alex said.
“It’s simple. Your girl lost our goods, which sent my people into a frenzy. After all that, I still rescued her out of the goodness of my heart, though. I paid three million credits of the people’s money to secure her for you. I have to explain that to the people of New Vegas. Don’t you think I’ll need more than money to do that?”
“What do you need?”
“It’s quite simple really. I’ll only need you to get these papers signed and bring them back,” Charles said and snapped his fingers. A servant quickly retrieved some documents and slid them across to Alex and Sarah.
It was a trade agreement, only it wasn’t a fair one. Raines would be producing twice the goods as before and only getting half the medicine. The three million credits he had given for their daughter was only a drop in the bucket compared to what Charles would gain if they got that deal signed. It was unacceptable, and they both knew it, but what Charles said next enraged both of them.
“Oh, and I’ll need to be reimbursed for all of my losses in securing Veronica, too.”
“So let me get this straight. You want us to give up millions in trade and valuable medicine that our people need while also paying you back the three million credits, which is a drop in the bucket compared to what you’re proposing we do for you. Does that about cover it?” Alex asked and glared at him.
“I think you have the idea.”
“And why would we even consider something like this?”
“You might not. For all I know, your city doesn’t even have enough goods to give me my asking price. Getting the girl was always a calculated risk. If I’m wrong and you don’t value her life enough to make a few sacrifices, then by all means go home, and our normal trade deal can resume in the future. You’ll never see Veronica again, though.”
“You son of a . . .” Alex managed to say before Sarah cut him off.
“Please, surely you have children. We don’t rule Raines, and we can’t give you what you need. You’re still a reasonable man, though. I’m begging you. Give us our daughter back,” Sarah pleaded.
“I think not. You two might be used to getting everything you want back in Raines where you’re practically royalty, but this is my domain. You’ll meet my demands, or she’ll suffer the consequences. So what will it be? Does she die, or should I keep her comfortable until you get back?” Charles asked with a smirk.
“Keep her comfortable,” Alex said and sighed.
“Good. I knew you were a reasonable man. We’ll do anything for our children. It’ll be a hard sell, but you two can convince the people of Raines to endorse anything, and they’ll go along with this. Anyway, I’m sorry to run off, but the two of you have a long journey back to Raines ahead of you, and I’ve got an important dinner ahead of me.”
“Go ahead,” Sarah said and nodded for lack of a better option.
That wasn’t what she wanted to do, though. She wanted to stand up and lunge herself at this man. She could picture it so vividly. Sarah would slowly choke the life out of him, but that was only a fantasy. This man’s happiness was key in keeping Veronica safe. Of course, that didn’t mean they had any intention of actually giving him what he wanted. They just needed to buy some time until they could figure out how to do this.
As Alex and Sarah walked out, they had no idea how complicated the next twenty-four hours were going to be. Getting Veronica back would be nearly impossible, and they were about to have what seemed like one more liability to take care of, thanks to Lee’s bleeding heart.
Chapter 9
A New Ally?
Alex and Sarah drove back to the same spot where they had left Lee, Roger, and Travis only to discover that one person was missing. Alex sighed, wondering what kind of trouble his son could have possibly gotten into now. They already had enough problems with Charles twisting their arms about something they truly had no control over. Another problem might just be more than they could take.
“Where is Lee?” Sarah asked as they stopped and Roger and Travis got in.
“I only stepped away for a minute,” Roger said and sighed.
“Okay, but where is he?” Alex asked.
“He went with some woman from the bar,” Travis said nervously while rubbing the back of his neck.
“I can’t believe this. I knew he was naïve, but this is getting ridiculous,” Alex said in frustration. Before anyone else could speak, the door slung open, and they saw the exact person they were looking for, only he wasn’t alone.
“Hey, what did I miss?” Lee asked.
“What did you miss? The question is what did we miss? Who’s with you?” Sarah asked, obviously displeased that Lee was off with some stranger when they had something so much more important to focus on.
“Oh, this is Alisa. She’s going to be coming with us,” he said as if everyone should just accept that at face value. No one was quite ready to do that, though. In fact, Alex was done with this foolishness, and they were about to have it out. He was, however, a sensible person who preferred to have that conversation in private, so Alex made a suggestion.
“Let’s discuss this more in private,” he said and put the truck in gear. They headed over to a parking lot across the street where Alex contin
ued. “Alisa, could you give us a moment alone with Lee?” Alex asked as respectfully as he possibly could in the situation. She nodded awkwardly, not knowing if they would leave her as soon as she got out, but Alisa ultimately gave them the privacy they needed.
“Okay, first off, who the hell is that?” Roger blurted out before he could stop himself.
“My friend. She’s . . .”
“I don’t care who she is. She’s staying in this parking lot,” Alex said.
“Now that we’ve settled that, what did you hear about Veron . . .” Roger managed to say before Lee chimed back in.
“The hell she is! You don’t know what she’s been through, Dad!”
“I don’t know what she’s been through - the man who lost both his parents, his brother, his mentor, and every friend he ever had? I know pain, son, but whatever she’s been through isn’t our responsibility. We have enough on us already.”
“But everyone she loves is gone! She’s all alone. We can’t leave her behind. She needs . . .”
“She’s probably playing you just like that woman from before,” Travis interrupted.
“No, she’s not! I saw it with my own eyes.”
“What did you see?” Sarah asked. She felt the same way as everyone else about this issue, but she was at least going to hear Lee out. If they didn’t listen to him and pretend to consider it, then he would be even more difficult to deal with later.
“Her brother was forced to fight in the pit. She was afraid to go watch, so I offered to go with her. Henry didn’t make it, though, and she told me afterward that she had no one. Her parents died, and if we don’t help her, Alisa will be on her own on the outside. Isn’t that the type of thing that you fought to prevent back home?”
“Of course, it is, but this isn’t our home. We can’t help everyone.”
“I’m not asking you to help everyone; I just want to help her,” Lee said with the hint of desperation.
By now, even Alex had softened. His son had witnessed the type of tragedy that Alex had seen weekly back when he was seventeen. It was the type of thing that always stuck with you, but it wasn’t something that you could always help. They already had one girl to save. Could they afford another?
“I understand how you feel, but we don’t have the power to help her anymore. We don’t run Raines, so even if we brought her with us, she might just be stuck outside of another city once we got home,” Alex said.
“That’s ridiculous. You two still have a lot of pull. You could fix it so she could come in.”
“And then what would we tell the thousands waiting on the third city to be built? We can’t afford to play favorites. If we do, the whole thing will fall apart. People could rise up, and everything we built will have been for nothing,” Alex said and looked over at Sarah for support.
“Your dad is right. I hate to say it, but if we pick up every person down on their luck from here to Raines, we’ll have to build a fourth city to house everyone,” she said.
“Well, you can either take her or leave me here,” Lee said defiantly.
“Enough of this! Don’t you even care about your sister?” Alex asked.
“Of course, I do.”
“Then let’s discuss her.”
“All right, but I told Alisa about our situation, and she seemed to think that . . .”
“Why would you do something like that? She could tell someone,” Alex said and scoffed.
“She wouldn’t do that!”
“Maybe she would, and maybe she wouldn’t, but one thing is certain. We can’t tell her that we’re not taking her with us now. If we do, she’ll go straight to the first guard she sees and tell him that we’re planning to steal Veronica back.”
“So does that mean she can come with us?” Lee asked, now sounding a bit hopeful.
“For now it does. We’ll bring her along until we get Veronica back, but after that, we’re cutting her loose.”
“But . . .”
“No buts! That’s how this has to work. You can tell her to come back for now. We’ve got some strategy to discuss.”
Once Alisa was back in the vehicle, Sarah explained that Charles Boyd was asking for more than they could possibly give him, and in truth, more than they would be willing to, even if they were still in power. Then she explained that if they couldn’t meet Charles’s demands that they were going to have to take her back by force. Their numbers were small, and they had very little firepower, however, so they would have to be sneaky if they even wanted a chance of retrieving her.
“I can help with that,” Alisa said.
“How can you help?” Sarah asked, hiding the skepticism she felt.
“I have some experience with stealing. I know petty theft is nothing compared to breaking into a palace, but I’m good at not being seen. The only problem is this,” she said and motioned down to her ankle.
“What is that?” Roger asked.
“They track outsider movements who are temporarily in the city to make sure we’re out within twenty-four hours, but my brother taught me a little about ankle monitors like this. There’s a way to short it out for about two minutes. If I can do that and put it on one of you temporarily, then I can try to get her back for you.”
“It sounds good, but you’re not one of us. You don’t even know Veronica. Why would you help?” Roger asked doubtfully.
“For a lot of reasons. First off, Lee has offered to help me, so why wouldn’t I do the same? I guess the most important question is what do I have left to live for, though. If I get caught, no one will miss me, and at least I’ll be able to say I died doing something worthwhile.”
“I’m in, too. It’s my fault that she was even taken to begin with,” Roger said.
“You know that isn’t true, but just hold on a second. How are we even going to get in?” Travis asked.
“That’s simple, and I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before. We won’t need to remove my anklet, after all. The sewage flows out of the inside to some tunnels we can access from outside the city. There are guards posted at the entrance, but there are a lot of us. We can take them out, and from there, we can follow the tunnels and come out around the palace,” Alisa said.
“Do you have a map of the tunnels, because if not, we could just be wandering around down there forever with no idea where we’re going,” Roger said.
“No, but I know a guy who could give us one. He snuck in last year. Unfortunately, he got caught, and he’s never been quite right since then, but he swears he knows those tunnels better than the back of his hand.”
“Well, it’s more than we had a minute ago, and if we leave the city, you can actually turn the ankle bracelet in to a guard on the way so no shorting out will be necessary. I like it,” Sarah said, although she was slightly surprised. She had expected Alisa to be using her son, but here she was offering to help. Maybe they had been wrong to question his judgment.
They drove to the front gate where the guards took off Alisa’s ankle monitor, and then she showed them where the sewage ran out. Wading through waste didn’t seem like the most appealing way to get inside, but right now it was all that they had. The only questions were who all would be going, and what was the plan going to be for when they got inside?
“Before I figured that it would be better if one of you snuck in there, but now I realize that it doesn’t matter who goes. Once we get this map, I’ll go get Veronica,” Alex announced.
“No, Dad! We already discussed this. They know yours and Mom’s faces,” Lee said.
“What does that matter? Any of us who gets caught are going to be in trouble anyway.”
“I get your point, but think about the worst-case scenario. If one of us gets caught, then we’re going to need capable people to rescue that person. What better people are there than you and Sarah? You’re well connected to powerful people, and if it comes to a fight, you’re the most qualified ones. We have to choose between the rest of us, and you already know I’m in,” Roger said.<
br />
“Me, too,” Lee said and stepped forward.
“There’s absolutely no way you’re going. We’ve already had one child taken from us,” Sarah said.
“Mrs. Morgan is right. I didn’t step up before, and if I had, things might be different. As much as I hate myself for saying this, I’ll go,” Travis said.
“But I . . .” Lee managed to say before Alisa cut him off.
“It’s fine, Lee. I’ll be with them. Give me a few minutes to go see my guy, and then we’ll be in and out of that place in no time,” she said.
Lee didn’t look happy, but it seemed like everyone was against him on this, so what could he do? With that decided, Alisa started to step away to meet with her guy, and Lee decided to go with her. Alex and Sarah both looked noticeably distressed about him leaving. They thought they could trust Alisa, but if there was one thing they had learned it was that no one was truly how they seemed.
Seeing their insecurity, Roger immediately volunteered to go with them. After all, he had his suspicions about Alisa, too. She seemed helpful enough, and he thought that she was probably even telling the truth about having no one left, but if there was even a one percent chance that she was going to try anything, then he was going to be there to help Lee.
“So how far away is this guy?” Roger asked as he caught up to Lee and Alisa.
“Just a few blocks. You didn’t have to come, though. Greg can be a little paranoid about new people,” she said nervously.
“I don’t mean any disrespect here, so I hope you don’t take it that way, but I did have to come. We don’t really know you yet, and Alex and Sarah have already lost one child. I can’t take any chances with this one.”
“Roger, you can trust her, and I’m not a child. I can take care of myself,” Lee said, trying to sound more mature, but the truth was that his plea for respect only made him sound even more like a little boy.
He was slightly embarrassed. Lee didn’t want Alisa to think he was just some insider kid and that his parents ran his life, even if it was true. He shouldn’t have been so worried, though. The truth was that Alisa was envious of his life. He had two parents, a friend, and what looked to be an older and protective brother in Roger. What did she have now? She would have killed to be treated fragile by someone who loved her again.
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