Faith recognized Lyna’s scent. It was a further jab in her heart that they’d sent Lyna to fetch her. She’d liked this guard.
Faith finally opened her eyes when Lyna gently set her in a chair. They were in the same room in the shed the guard had brought Faith to earlier.
Lyna stepped back, her pudgy face frowning in dismay as she took in Faith’s tear-stained face.
“They killed my brother,” Faith explained as the emptiness in her heart spread to her gut.
“Goddamn it,” Lyna cursed softly, surprising Faith with the depth of feeling in those two words, but she had nothing left to offer in response.
“I’m sorry, Faith,” Lyna said, calling her by name for the first time. “I won’t let them have you.”
Faith shook her head at the hopelessness of the situation.
“All my life, they’ve taken pleasure away from me,” Lyna continued. “This facility, this horrible country has done nothing but systematically deny me any form of happiness. I won’t let them take you too.”
Bewildered by the guard’s statement, Faith glanced up at her.
“The only way I can help you is to tell you how to escape. This wouldn’t be the first time it’s happened. Prisoners go missing every few weeks. No one really cares as long as the person isn’t wanted for something serious. In that case, they wouldn’t be at this facility anyway; they would be in the real prison.”
Faith studied Lyna, trying to understand her motivation. “But why are you helping me? I didn’t finish my part of the bargain.”
Lyna looked away as if she couldn’t meet Faith’s gaze and say what she must. “I love what you did with me earlier. I cannot let them kill you.”
Faith didn’t respond, she couldn’t. She had nothing left to give to anyone. With her head down and her arms wrapped around her waist, she slowly rocked her body in mourning.
“Faith…Faith, are you listening to me?” The guard asked in the kindest tone of voice Faith had heard in a long time.
When she raised her head, she found Lyna standing before her.
“Here’s how this works. When I leave, you wait a bit. Then go to the nearest gate, E12. It will be unlocked. Open it and walk out. If you see any guards, act as if you don’t see them, and they will act as if they don’t see you. This is how we do it around here. This is how the snitches are released.” Lyna stared at Faith, as if waiting for a sign that she understood.
Slowly, Faith nodded.
Then Lyna left.
Chapter Six
Faith was alone in the shed. Freedom awaited her, but what did it matter if she was alone? She knew she should move, walk out of the open gate as Lyna had instructed. However, try as she might, she simply couldn’t seem to coordinate her muscles into action.
Her brother was dead. The last surviving member of her family was gone. What was the point of living anymore?
An image of Trake sitting at his desk crossed her mind. He was perhaps the only person left in the world she wanted to see again. Where was he? Did Deja have him? If he was still in custody, that meant Faith was responsible for his confinement. The standard thing would be to put a tracking device on him and put him under house arrest until this thing blew over…until Faith was dead.
Panic seized her chest. Trake would try to rescue her; she knew what type of man he was. He’d had a plan to save Collin, a person he’d never even met, whereas he’d professed having feelings for Faith. He would definitely do something rash to save her.
Her muscles tensed, finally ready to function. She had to get word to him somehow that he didn’t need to do anything stupid.
A crazy plan formed in her head. It probably wouldn’t work, but to prevent any additional harm coming to Trake, she was more than willing to attempt it.
Yet, there was one final thing she had to do. This was for her brother, her parents and herself. She was living on borrowed time, and she had to make it count.
Faith slowly opened the door of the shed and poked her head out. Her heart pounded against her ribs. What if Lyna had lied to her? What if the guard was just mistaken as to how it worked?
In the distance, two guards stood with their backs to her. Gate E12 beckoned to her, just twenty yards away. It didn’t seem to have a lock on it; however, she couldn’t be sure until she tried it. Beyond the gate was the city. The camp truly was terribly understaffed and poorly secured, considering the number of inmates being held here.
Faith slowly closed the shed door. She should simply walk out as Lyna had told her, but she couldn’t get her crazy idea out of her head. Besides, now that her last family member had been stolen from her, she had nothing left to lose.
Faith looked around the shed. Spotting a storage cabinet, she opened it. Inside were cleaning supplies, glass bottles and a stack of cleaning cloths.
As Resistance leaders, her parents had taught her and Collin how to make Molotov cocktails when they were young. Gasoline was the best material, but industrial-cleaning supplies ignited just as well. Needing something that would break on impact to spread the flammable liquid, she found one rather large glass bottle that would do nicely. And once she removed the room light cover, she could hold the cloth between the oxygenating plates to provide a flame. She had the materials she needed, but did she have the courage?
A few moments later, Faith opened the door once again and checked the area. The only guards were a long distance away, facing toward the city. Sticking her head out farther, she studied the camp.
The prisoner dorms were spaced wide apart and were unguarded. Once the prisoners were in their barracks, they were only brought out for interrogations or to be transferred.
A maintenance man walked toward a nearby administration building. He noticed her, but looked away apparently unconcerned.
Faith casually opened the door fully and walked out, not in the direction of the gate, but instead toward the women’s dorm while her blood pounded in her temples.
Behind her, the utility building exploded in flames.
Sirens sounded in the distance, but the women in the dorm were oblivious to it.
Faith wasn’t surprised to see a shy girl sitting on Carrie’s lap on her bed. Carrie had to know she didn’t have much time before they interrogated her to death or sent her off to the work camps. If she was lucky, she’d have enough information to offer about the Resistance that she could buy herself some time in the detention camp. Instead of showing any worry, though, she was smiling and joking around in the general chaos of the dorm as if she didn’t have a care in the world.
Faith knew better.
She walked over to Carrie and stood in her personal space. The young girl glanced up with frightened eyes and scrambled off the woman’s lap. Carrie held her hands open in protest then directed an angry expression toward Faith.
“We have to go, now!” Faith said.
“What? Are you fucking out of your mind?” Carrie shot back.
“Everyone!” Faith shouted, backing away from Carrie.
A few people glanced her way, while most ignored her and continued with their conversations.
“Everyone! This is an escape!” Faith yelled to be heard.
“What are you talking about?” Carrie rose from her bed.
A silence finally fell across the dorm and all eyes were on Faith.
“I started a fire on the other side of the camp, where the guards are. We can walk out!” Faith shouted, starting for the door. “Come on, let’s go!” She shouldn’t have taken the time to warn the women in the dorm, but this one was for the Resistance.
At the doorway, she realized no one had followed her. “Carrie?” she pleaded.
Carrie looked around, unsure. The mob of women waited for her instructions.
“It’s suicide!” Carrie said angrily.
“It’s suicide to stay here. They will kill you! You know t-this!” Faith’s voice cracked in frustration. She glanced around at the scared faces of the other women in the dorm.
“How can y
ou stay here and just give up?” But she already knew the answer. Fear paralyzed unless you had some other purpose.
There was no more time to wait. Faith turned and ran out of the dorm.
* * * *
Faith walked through the early morning streets to Deja’s place, not Trake’s. Surely knowing he would risk his life to save Faith, Deja either had him at her place or she’d put him in some other lock-up. However, if she’d planned to do that, then why would she break him out of the detention facility in the first place?
No, that controlling bitch loved him. They had some serious history together.
Faith just hoped Trake was with Deja. If he wasn’t, she was out of ideas. She could try to make it to the Resistance in the hills; however, she wasn’t sure she wanted to go if she couldn’t find Trake.
After leaving the detention camp, Faith had entered the Military Transportation office on a gamble that her palm print would still work as no one had had a chance to realize she’d been arrested and disabled her access. She’d also been able to get out before the security bots alerted the authorities. Less than three minutes was all it had taken to access Trake’s personal files and retrieve Deja’s address.
Faith hadn’t attracted much attention on the street because plenty of poor women workers came home from late night cleaning jobs wearing simple smocks. However, it was a long walk to the other side of town.
Faith’s mind raced with each step. What would she do when she got to Deja’s? Simply knock on the door? What if Deja called security?
Then Faith’s thoughts turned toward her brother. She swiped at the tears running down her cheeks. She thought she’d finished grieving last night. She didn’t have time for this now, yet the tears continued to roll.
She wouldn’t let him die in vain. She would go deep into the Resistance as her family’s last surviving member. She would fight. She would continue to fight until her last breath. She would get her revenge.
However, right now she needed to get her man.
* * * *
“You know I would do anything, including die for you,” Trake said to Deja.
With her fingers steepled under her chin, she slowly rocked in her Zero-G chair behind her large oak desk in her small home office. It was just before dawn. They had been talking all night. The exhaustion on Deja’s face mirrored what Trake felt deeply in his own body.
“Trake…” Deja sighed then stopped herself. Obviously, she had nothing new to add.
“You don’t believe me, but I’m telling the truth,” Trake insisted, as he leaned forward in his chair. Surrender was not an option for him. He would save Faith. The only question was would he have to hurt Deja to escape her custody? This was the last thing he wanted, but he would do what he must. The thought of hurting her twisted his gut in a knot.
“Then do this one thing for me, Trake!” Deja said, slapping her hand sharply on the table as if the sound would wake him to the reality of the situation.
Trake leaned back and let out a breath. They had been talking in circles for hours.
“Just one more thing, Deja?” Trake asked, staring at her with his head cocked to one side, reminding her of their history together.
“I came and rescued you from the camp. Do you know how this is going to look for me, my career? Your own family wouldn’t help you on this one, Trake.” Leaning forward, Deja stabbed a finger at him in the air. “I’m all you have!” A single sign of her vulnerability lingered on her eyelash, before she quickly wiped it away.
Trake considered her for a moment. “I needed you to get Faith too.”
“I couldn’t! I told you that!” Deja shot back.
Trake’s heart broke as he thought of Faith trapped in that facility, but he wouldn’t give up. Faith needed him. He needed her. Deja wouldn’t understand, and that made him sad. “You don’t know love, Deja. You don’t understand. I can’t stand by and let them kill her, not when I can do something to stop it. I need to…I’ll leave here soon.”
Deja visibly trembled. She was out of options, and she knew it. “I don’t know love, Trake? Really?” She rose from her chair and walked toward him.
“I believe you love me, Deja, but that’s not what I meant.” Trake crossed his arms. She couldn’t physically overpower him; they both knew that. She would attack emotionally and was capable of landing several effective blows, but he could land some of his own. “I mean the love a man can have for a woman…or a woman for a woman.”
Deja froze with a frown, as she appeared to search for a reply.
“Come with me,” he said.
“I can’t. You know that.”
The door chime echoed through the house, startling them both.
Deja opened the door for Faith and immediately walked toward the back of the house.
Startled, Faith tentatively stepped into the entry hallway. Her apartment wasn’t big enough to have an entry hallway. Her door opened directly into the living room. A stab of loss went through her as she realized she no longer had an apartment. All of her belongings were lost to her; she could never go back home again. She no longer had a home.
Deja disappeared around a far corner. Faith gingerly closed the front door then followed Deja’s path.
Entering a small office, Faith stared at Trake’s back as he sat in a chair facing Deja’s desk.
Deja calmly sat behind the desk with a resigned expression on her face.
“Who was it?” Trake asked.
Apparently hearing Faith’s step as she approached, he turned to glance behind him. Shock registered on his face as he slowly rose. “Faith?”
She broke into a wide smile. This was the best thing that had happened to her in nearly two days. Trake was actually here, and he was happy to see her.
“Trake!” She started toward him as he started toward her. Then they both stopped, as if unsure of the correct thing to do. Recognizing their shared relief at seeing each other, they lunged together and embraced.
“I was going to come for you!” Trake said, running his dark hands through her hair.
Deja turned away as if she couldn’t stand the energy Faith and Trake produced with their passion for each other.
“I know. I had to escape to stop you!” Faith kissed his neck and face.
Deja cleared her throat, trying to get their attention. They ignored her.
“Are you okay?” Trake pulled away to scan her face. “How did you get away?”
“I did what you said. I walked out.”
Deja made a sound of unconvinced surprise, and Trake glared angrily at her.
Faith touched his chin gently and turned his eyes back toward her. “All I want to know is, will you go with me?” she asked with trepidation.
Trake smiled. “I don’t know exactly where you mean, but the answer is yes, wherever you want to go!”
Faith grinned and threw her arms around his neck, squeezing him tightly.
Deja stood and slapped her desk. “No one is going anywhere!”
Trake gently grabbed Faith’s hands and set them at her sides as he faced the female Aristo. “Deja, enough!” Trake bellowed.
Faith placed a hand on his chest to stop him from advancing on Deja. “Wait, Trake…perhaps we can work something out.”
Trake gave her a long look. “What do you have in mind?”
Faith answered confidently, “Deja wants to be with me.” She turned to the other woman. “Don’t you?”
Deja stared back, her chest rising and falling quickly.
Trake’s gaze flicked from Deja back to Faith. “No.”
Faith opened her mouth to protest, to tell Trake that it would be better to make a deal with Deja to let him go than to hurt his long time friend with violence.
“I can’t do it anyway,” Deja said, her emotional pain quite obvious in her voice. Her normal commanding tone had been replaced with the sound of a woman hurting. “If Trake gets away, they’ll lock me up next.”
“You can come with us, Deja,” Faith said.
Trake turned to her. “What?”
The room fell silent as Faith stared at Deja who returned the intense gaze.
A slow smile crept across Deja’s face as if the exercise was very unfamiliar, having never met another woman who’d maintain eye-to-eye contact with her. “I wish I could,” she said. “But that’s impossible.”
Trake leaned back as if physically hit by the emotion in the room. He glanced between Faith and Deja with a frown.
“Yes, you can, Deja,” Faith insisted. “You know in the hills you can freely love whomever you want. Man or woman.” She let her words hang in the air.
Deja began to protest the implication, but then seemed to reconsider. It was no mystery to Faith what Deja’s true desires were.
“Perhaps…” Deja began, addressing Trake, “if you overpowered me, a few bruises, maybe stabbed me?”
“Deja—” he protested.
“Do you want to be with your little Snow Bunny or not?” Deja said, cutting him off. Her normal commanding tone had returned, and she focused her razor sharp gaze on Faith. “And I do want another session as my price.”
Faith sighed and returned a disappointed look. “Deja, is it so hard to believe someone could want to be with you without some sort of threat?”
Deja stared at her without replying.
Trake continued to survey one woman then the other. He seemed to come to a decision. “If we do this, Deja, we do it my way.”
Deja slowly shook her head. “No, I don’t think so, Trake.”
“You don’t have a choice,” he replied.
Trake walked to Deja and firmly grabbed her by her shoulders. “You will get what you need.”
Deja’s eyes widened, and she focused on Faith with uncertainty.
Trake spun Deja around. She resisted, but he easily overpowered her. “Be still!” he commanded.
Deja relaxed, but Faith could tell it took considerable effort. Trake removed his belt, which was fashioned from rope material. He jerked Deja’s hands together and bound her wrists.
Deja grunted at his harsh treatment, yet her body betrayed her with a small shiver of excitement. Trake glanced at Faith, and she stared back at him, confused by his actions.
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