by Jody Klaire
“Like I’m going to listen to you.”
Frei lunged forward. Gripped the collar of the stupid leather jacket Suz wore like armor. Silver buttons. Faded. Battered. “You will.”
Suz whimpered at the venom in her words.
“You’re out of control. I can’t take care of you. I can’t get you out of trouble. I’ll risk her. I can’t risk her.” She gripped harder, shaking her. “Don’t. Make. Me. Choose.”
Suz whimpered again. Frei shoved her back to the bed and let her go. She went to the dresser and pulled out a bottle of antiseptic that one of the nicer nurses had given her.
“Why are you so afraid of them?” Suz whispered as Frei took the bottle and started to clean up the wound.
“I have my reasons.”
Suz held her wrist, her eyes searching. “What happened to you? You were carefree, you found me funny, you were so . . . shy?”
Frei freed her wrist and continued dabbing. “I grew up.”
“You are always doing what he orders you too. He calls us home for you to leave with him. Megan has noticed.” Suz’s voice was gentle. “We all have.”
“Then stop looking.” Her tone was more curt. She was sick of covering it up. It was easier to be blunt. It saved explanations. She didn’t need to be liked. She just needed to keep them safe.
“I’m not the one who needs to be worried about getting pregnant.” Suz’s eyes narrowed.
“He would never do that.” She couldn’t explain why. Huber never ever looked at her in any way other than with amusement, or a distant affection. He wasn’t that kind of man. He didn’t need to chase slaves. He had Megan to amuse him.
“He tell you that?” Suz huffed out a breath.
Frei’s temper ignited. She closed her eyes. Slow, calm, breaths. Like Huber had taught her. She placed the bottle on the side and went to the door.
“Where are you going?” Suz’s fear filled her voice.
“To clean up your mess.” Frei slipped her picks into the lock, it clicked open. She stepped into the corridor. The only light was from the monitor’s room along the hall. She was past it and down the stairs in seconds. It wouldn’t take her long.
She stepped out into the night air.
Jäger’s guard was watching for her.
She slipped past him without him moving.
Her focus was on the gym. She often had class with the head of physical education. A blunt, sharp-tongued woman but she liked Frei. She understood her. Frei sucked in a long breath. Like her or not, Suz came first but she was sick of getting rid of her mess.
Frei picked the lock to the gym. It wouldn’t take a lot to find something Caprock would send the skill captain back to her owners for.
Frei sighed as she shook the memory from her head. It was as if she was getting sucked into them. She’d been able to see Jones’s and Sawyer’s faces so clearly. They had been skill captains in Caprock themselves when she went back with Aeron and Renee. Their lives had taken such twisted avenues. Jones had been sold to an Irish family, he’d worked in the docks, collecting information for them for years. Then they’d decided he was no longer useful so he’d found himself back in Caprock. He’d blamed her. She did too.
As for Sawyer, he had become a cage fighter for a cretin called Crespo. His ruthless temper had seen him do well until age caught up. Like Jones he’d been sold back to the place he’d hated.
Jones had somehow escaped from CIG custody before Lilia had chance to question him and Sawyer had scuttled off before CIG had moved in on gala night.
It had been a risk getting the kids, getting Jessie, to help. They’d bankrupted Caprock with the escape; sent Jäger running back to his brother; and Smyth, the principal, had gone into hiding. She knew better than to think that Jäger would need long to lick his wounds.
She shuddered when she thought of how close she’d been in Caprock. Alone, his hands at her throat, it had been Aeron who had come to the rescue.
She stared at the door. She never dwelled on things. She was either getting old or she needed to drink more. The door hummed as if to confirm the latter. Drink more, she could do that.
Chapter 13
AS NAN HAD said, my dad was in the kitchen waiting for me when I got downstairs. To say he’d been shocked at what happened in Caprock was calling a mountain a mothball. He’d hugged me so tight before I’d headed upstairs earlier, saying how proud he was I’d helped break the kids out. It always confused me when he did stuff like that. I mean, I liked it, but it was like when Renee did the same, I didn’t know how to act.
“Take a seat,” my dad said, shifting my thoughts back to him. He was still in his boxers but he had on an old gray high school t-shirt. Most of the letters had peeled off. Guess he’d been a jock.
He had plenty of energy crackling around him so I guessed he had a lot he wanted to say. “If you’re gonna tell me to be careful, there ain’t a lot of point.”
He smiled a sad smile. He gripped his coffee cup like a stress ball. “I watched them take you away from court and my heart ripped in ways that I didn’t think would ever heal.” He stared down into his cup. “Getting you back, seeing you laugh, smile . . .” He cleared his throat. “It repaired a lot of the damage.”
“Thought getting Lilia back did that?”
He nodded. “That too. It took me too long to realize that I have so much love for you all that I don’t know how to let it out sometimes.” He rubbed his hand over his chin. His hands were a furrier version but definitely a lot like mine. Explained why I had shovels for mitts.
“I hope you can forgive me for keeping it inside.” His nerves rippled through his aura.
“Nothin’ to forgive. Love keeps no record of wrongs anyhow, right?”
He blinked at me a few times.
“You ain’t meant to be dumbstruck.”
He smiled. “My mother used to tell me the same . . . it was her mantra . . . your Uncle Abe.” He sighed and waved his cup around. “Wish she could have seen you.”
I’d never heard him mention his parents before, ever. His aura filled and I could feel the deep ache in his heart.
“She was right,” I whispered, hoping it would help ease his hurt. “An’ you an’ me are a lot alike.”
He shook his head. “Oh no, you’re exactly like your mother. No one as beautiful as you comes from my genes.”
He thought I was beautiful? Go figure. I tried and failed to keep the smile in. “We are the same. Both of us are as soft as chocolate in sunlight,” I wagged my finger at him, “and don’t think I don’t see you talkin’ to Mrs. Squirrel.”
He chuckled and held up his free hand. I noticed he had a new wedding ring on. He’d always worn one from Iris and Jenny. He had a necklace from Lilia. This ring he wore like a trophy, like he’d grin just looking down at it, at what it meant. It shimmered with his love. “Then you’ll understand why I need to help you.”
I nodded.
“There’s an ex-friend of mine called Joey. He’s an idiot but he’ll help you out should you need it.” He pulled out a sheet of paper that had writing on the back. Looked like a list of contacts. “Grimes, I took care of him when he joined the force. Great cop, nice guy. He moved to Baltimore but he’s got great ties in organized crime.”
I raised my eyebrows.
“The unit,” he said with a grin.
Phew. I frowned at the first name he’d read out. “Ain’t Joey the guy who Iris married?”
My dad nodded, glancing up the stairs in case my mother was listening.
“She’s talkin’ to Nan.” I leaned onto the table. I didn’t get how two lawyers could help us find Frei. Iris hadn’t bothered representing me in court when I’d been arrested. “Why would my dear ex-step mother and her husband help me out?”
My dad sipped his coffee for a moment. “He will.” He smiled. “And you’ll know exactly what buttons to push if he isn’t as . . . helpful as he should be.”
I looked down at the list of contacts. “Only twenty st
ates, you couldn’t find people in all fifty?”
He waved off my teasing. “Having someone to go to if you need help . . .” He sighed. “I just don’t want you girls to think you’re ever alone.”
I smiled and tapped my chest. “I got you in here.”
“In a more practical sense.” He sighed. “You’ll have your bullet-proof vests, won’t you?”
I nodded. At least I guessed we would. Renee’s car was normally a turret short of a tank. She had her own armory in the trunk.
“Take this . . . just in case.”
I cocked my head. It was a slab of metal or something. Thin enough to hold in his hand but the way his wrist flexed showed it was heavy.
“Your grandfather, my dad, went to war. His pop gave it to him. It kept your great-grandfather safe from a bullet.”
I frowned. It didn’t look like it had a scratch on it.
“The original is all crushed up. My dad never wore it but kept it in his pack.” He smiled. “He gave it to me when I joined the force.” He moved it toward me. “I thought it would be more practical to give you an un-dented version.”
I took it from him. It was solid. It didn’t feel as heavy as I thought.
“Should stop most projectiles,” he said.
It wasn’t a conversation I’d ever envisioned having with my dad. “Where am I supposed to put it?”
“Inside your vest . . . inside . . . well . . . you know . . .” He waved his hand in the vague direction of my chest.
I didn’t like to tell him I barely had room for me in my vest and definitely nowhere spare inside my bra. I’d figure something out. He needed me to wear it. “Thank you.”
He blew out a breath, relief shining in his eyes. “You know I’m here anytime. You need me to run checks . . . anything . . . you just call, you hear?”
I nodded. “Well . . . Renee will call. If I call, you’ll have no power for a week.”
He smiled. “She’s a wonderful woman that one. Fiery.”
I watched him finish his coffee. He looked more relaxed than he had when I’d been released from the institution but there was no mistaking that all the stuff with Sam had taken a lot out of him. “Will you be okay when Lilia is at the base?”
“Can’t say I won’t miss you both but we need to get that boss of yours back so she can keep you and the firecracker in line.”
I chuckled. Yeah, that was the long and short of it. “I care about Frei. I care about Renee. A lot.” I didn’t know why I was saying it but it bubbled up before I could clamp a lid on it. “Renee . . . It’s . . .” I rubbed my hand over my face. “It was nice to have somebody to vacation with.”
He smiled, pure light and love pouring through. “Your mother and I . . . we feel the same. Both are welcome here.” He held my gaze. “As in here too.” He tapped his chest.
I was still in shock that I’d said that much. Soda. I weren’t shaking nothin’, nope. Nothin’. Nan had a lot to answer for. She was just putting thoughts in my head.
“You getting your wires twisted up?” I put the metal . . . thing . . . in my pocket, trying to look anywhere but his eyes. “Frei and Renee . . . They order me ’round all day is all.”
I didn’t know who I thought I was kidding but my dad was never gonna buy that lame excuse.
“We’re alike as you said.”
I looked up at him.
He smiled. “I know when you’re bluffing.”
He folded his arms. His gaze unyielding. I rubbed the back of my neck, feeling like I had a spotlight on me. Ah man, this is like being a kid again. What if Renee sees me?
She’s gonna think I’ve lost what marbles I had left.
I cleared my throat, hoping that he’d stop interrogating me. “Next you’ll be telling me Nan is naggin’ you too.”
My dad chuckled. He perched on the edge of the table beside me. “Now she’s some firecracker herself.”
I wheezed out a breath. “I hear you.” I got up from my seat. I knew what thoughts flickered through his mind but it still didn’t prepare me. He got to his feet and wrapped his arms around me.
He clung on. I could feel all that he couldn’t say pouring from him, circling around me, and holding tight. I relaxed into it, soaking up the comfort, the love. My tears clogged up my throat and I couldn’t speak so I just poured every bit of love I could back at him.
Without a word, he let go and strode up the stairs. I watched him go.
I jumped, my heart clattering about in my chest.
Renee.
Renee was at the top of the stairs.
How long has she been there? Had she heard me?
Uh oh.
Chapter 14
FREI TOOK A deep breath. One of the guard’s shoes was in one hand and the keycard in the other. The keycard wasn’t disabling the alarm system but it was flicking the latch on and off. It was something.
If it could have turned off the buzzing volt of electricity, that would have been more useful.
She took another breath, braced and reached out. She rammed the keycard into the reader. Slammed the shoe to the door, shoving as hard as she could.
The shock hit her. Punched her hands away. Shoved her backward.
The door swung open.
She dropped to the floor. Cracked her knees on the hard surface.
The door started to swing closed.
No.
She scrambled through the doorway. Hit the opposite wall. Collapsed onto her front.
A voice in the distance. Suz. Suz? What?
She fought to open her eyes. The hallway flickered. She was in the hallway. She was out.
The voice mumbled something. It was Suz. How?
It couldn’t be her.
Disconnected. Hazy. Flickering. She didn’t even feel much pain.
Not good.
She slumped to the floor, gripping her pocket. Jessie needed her inhaler.
Huber’s voice drew her from sleep. Frei peeked open an eye. Where was it coming from? She rolled onto her side, wondering if she was dreaming. Weird dream.
“In your drawer.”
Frei followed the sound. She pulled open the drawer and pulled out a large chunk of . . . well . . . a plastic brick.
“It’s a phone.” His tone was impatient. What was new there?
“It’s not connected to anything.” She looked for the wires, confused. Huber had a desk phone. The staff had phones and radios.
“It’s a cell phone. Put it to your ear.”
She did as told. It smelled strange, plastic. “How are you talking when I didn’t answer it?”
“Auto-answer . . .” He sighed. “I don’t have time to teach you. This isn’t a social call.”
Frei shook her thoughts free. “I’m listening.”
“Suz.” He almost sneered the name. She drove him crazy. She drove Frei just as crazy. Although Suz looked to her more and more for reassurance now. “She’s in trouble.”
Frei looked at the unmoving, snoring form in the bed opposite. “She’s asleep.”
“Not when Jäger gets there.” Huber sounded irritated now. Her shoulders rose at the tone. She got to her feet, ready, primed. “You need to get her out. They’ve failed her.”
Her knees buckled at his words. Failed?
“What will happen?”
He tutted at her. “Crespo is on his way. Get her out.”
Frei nodded.
“Put the phone back in the drawer.” His voice cut and she stared down at the lump of plastic in her hands. She put the phone away and took a breath. Get Suz out. How did she do that?
Frei shook Suz awake. Her eyes focused, her hand raised to protect herself.
“It’s just me. Suz, we have to leave. You have to go.”
Suz didn’t ask why. Didn’t argue. She’d known. Her eyes showed it. She knew she’d failed and said nothing. Frei grabbed her by the hand and pulled her out into the hall. Suz was light on her feet so the monitor was no problem.
“Where?” Suz asked.
Frei bit her lip. “Garage.”
They hurried along the wall of the dorm, crept along the main building of the school. Her gaze was drawn to Jäger’s quarters.
“He’s at the principal’s place,” Suz muttered. “Dinner.”
Frei nodded and they hurried past the humanities block, the boys’ dorm, up the road to the garage. She peeked between the buildings. In front, on the lawn, stood the state-of-the-art “visitor center.” It was called that but it wasn’t. No, it was the center for gala night. The center that the auctioning of slaves would take place in. It had a huge glass statue inside loaned by some rich buyer. They would open it officially when Suz’s age group were auctioned.
Frei tore her gaze from it. Huber would have kept Suz if she’d made it to the auction. He’d promised he would. She’d just had to keep Suz’s nose clean enough that she didn’t fail.
“It’s not your fault,” Suz whispered.
Frei couldn’t bear to speak. She swallowed back the heavy ache in her gut and flicked the lock off the garage door in seconds. They hurried inside. A car was waiting. A man was waiting. His lapel pin said he was one of Huber’s.
“Shave her head.” The guy was armed, vest on, glint in his eyes. She’d only seen him once or twice but he had never spoken.
“I don’t have—” He threw a razor at her. She caught it even at the speed he’d hurled it.
His response was a respectful smile.
“You have to sit down.” She turned to Suz who shook her head.
“Why? I don’t want to shave my head.” She glared her way.
Frei shut her eyes. They had to be quick. Truth. She opened them. “You’re a slave, Suz. We’re all slaves. You’re being sold.”
Suz laughed. She looked to the man who dragged on a cigarette. His eyes were hard. Cold. Jaded.
“You’re kidding . . .” She searched Frei’s face. “You’re not, are you? How long . . . how . . . ?”
Frei gripped her shoulders. “It doesn’t matter. We have to get you out.”
Suz set her jaw. “Do it.”
Frei switched the razor on. Suz’s eyes filled with tears as she worked. Her glossy hair fell to the ground in heaps. “Think of it as freedom.”