Infiltration (Infiltration Book 1)
Page 23
I looked around at the mourners. Death and loss were hard to handle no matter the person’s age. Maybe it was his time, I don’t know. I only knew it wasn’t my time or Ben’s.
Coming here had been Ben’s idea. I didn’t want my superiors to trace me so I’d disabled my two PR devices as best I could, however the only way to dispose of them thoroughly was to burn them. A regular fire didn’t burn at the right intensity. It took a fire of about nine hundred degrees centigrade to incinerate the devices. A cremation fire.
So here we were, the only two people at the funeral who weren’t experiencing a huge loss.
Last night I’d taken a look at the only photo remaining in New Nation of Ben Tanner. It was imprinted in my mind. I’d never forget it.
Maybe this was how it was going to happen all along. Maybe I was always going to be sent back in time at which point I’d decide to help Ben. Maybe we were both always going to live through this. Maybe I was always going to meet Ben and be with him.
Who knows? We still had choices, plenty of chances to stuff things up or make them right, depending on our decisions.
I wondered about Lucien. How much did he know? I’d thought he was as bad as the generals who’d sent me to my death – worse, in fact, because he’d been like a father to me.
Perhaps that picture had told him something the generals didn’t know. Perhaps it had told him I had a chance. Perhaps he hadn’t betrayed me after all and had instead given me life and a future.
I’d never know the truth.
I still found the picture slightly freaky. More than slightly if I was to be honest. I didn’t want to think about it. Luckily Ben hadn’t cottoned on and I was happy to leave it that way. How could I explain it to him when there was so much I didn’t understand?
Ben nudged me. “Nicola, people are paying their respects now.”
At the front of the room, a middle-aged man had his arm around a weeping woman who leaned over the open casket. He led her away to make way for the other guests who were queuing up to place their hand on the edge of the casket or throw rose petals in from a basket.
Ben ushered me ahead of him to join them. I hoped this wasn’t disrespectful because we meant no harm to the man who’d passed away or his family. Ben had the two slender PR devices in his hand and slid them into the casket along its satin lining.
I tossed a handful of petals in the casket and said goodbye. To the man whose name I didn’t know, to the two PR devices, to my old life.
One thing was for sure. I was never going back to New Nation, no matter what.
We didn’t stay longer than we needed to. The casket and its contents would be cremated regardless. We watched the casket as it was transported along a conveyor belt into the crematorium, and left.
Outside it was glary with a few small gray clouds in the sky. A light drizzle fell on us as we walked, more like a wet haze than a proper shower. I didn’t think it was anything to worry about but the few people who were around took shelter in the surrounding buildings. The wide red brick path we walked along was lined on either side with attractive garden beds, the smell of mulch rising from the damp soil.
Ben turned right at the end of the path but I tapped him on the shoulder and pointed the other way. “Look.”
He stopped and smiled. A rainbow, albeit a weak one that was fading.
Returning his smile, I joined him and we ambled up the sidewalk. This was what life was about – friends, family and relationships. And the occasional rainbow. It was about enjoying every moment, no matter how small.
Still, I had to be aware. I couldn’t let my guard down for a moment. Neither could Ben.
“It’s not over yet,” I said as we walked.
Ben squeezed my hand. “I know.”
My superior officers wouldn’t stop. They’d send someone else. And next time it’d be harder.
In the meantime, I had now.
I had a future.
Acknowledgements
I have too many people to thank and can’t possibly do this in any particular order. I’m also very nervous because I may have left someone out. A big thanks to James Rogers,Louis Rogers, Chris Kunz, Michael Cain, Lotte Plumb, Josie Kelly, Sacha Pulsford, Sophia Robbins, Annie Sommer, Stephanie Swain and a special mention to Taya Lunn because I made you cry and that made me very happy.
The list goes on – thanks to Claire Boston, Lorraine Mauvais, Juanita Kees, Teena Raffa-Mulligan and Anna Jacobs. Also to my technical and medical experts Tessa Plumb, Nick Stott, Tony Rogers, Andrew Tran, Jo Taylor and Brendan Murphy
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About the Author
Susanna Rogers is the author of kick butt books for young adults. She also writes romance and at one point moved to a life of crime – you might be seeing more of that. She loves writing young adult, partly because she’s an overgrown teenager and partly because she can write the kick butt heroines she adores. She’s also a kickboxer and dreams of empowering girls and guys around the globe to believe in themselves, to take care and follow their own dreams.
Susanna believes in love and kicking ass and a little bit of murder here and there. She would love to hear from you – susannarogers.com.
If you like her books, please post a review on Amazon or Goodreads. She’d like that a lot!
More Books!
Infiltration (Book 1) – you just read it
Regeneration (Book 2) – Coming 17 January 2018
Validation (Book 3) – Coming 15 February 2018