Captives (41 page)

“I’m still not sure how we’ll get out,” Jemma said over the radio. “Even without the power, there will still be enforcers in the hallways.”

“You have to think of a way,” Levi told her. He was lying on his bed in the Larkspur, staring at the ceiling. It was late Saturday night. Levi had spent the early evening with Jordan, Zane, and Rewl, slogging through storm drains between the Highlands and the Midlands, so that Jordan could learn how to get the women to Bender’s underground bunker.

“I’ll try. You know, ‘It’s all very well to read about sorrows and imagine yourself living through them heroically, but it’s not so nice when you really come to have them, is it?’ “

“No, Jem, it’s not.”

Levi’s Wyndo started to sing a techno beat. He sat up and grabbed it from his bedside table. Red’s picture covered the screen. He tapped it. “Hello?”

“I’m out in front of the Larkspur,” Red said, as if she was stuck inside the glass. “Bender needs you. Come on out.”

Levi checked the time on his mirror clock—1:34 a.m. “Now?”

“Yes, now. And wear something normal, shell.” She disconnected.

Static fuzzed on the radio. “Levi? Are you there?”

He pressed the talk button. “Yeah, but I’ve got to go, Buttercup. Bender needs me.”

“Be careful. ‘All my heart is yours, it belongs to you.’ “

He smiled. “I’ll take good care of your heart. I promise.”

Levi put on his Old jeans and one of the fresh white tank tops from his backpack. He doubted that was what Red had meant by normal, but it was normal for him. It was a little chilly when he got outside, and he wished he had his leather jacket.

He found Red sitting on the hood of a black car in the parking lot. She was wearing what looked like a black towel, lacy fingerless gloves that likely held her SimTag, and clunky shoes with heels as long as Levi’s hand.

“Aren’t you cold?” he asked.

“Aren’t you?” She slid off the hood and opened the driver’s door. “Get in.”

Levi climbed into the passenger seat. “So where are we going?”

Red started the car and drove out of the lot. “A club called the Savoy. Our mission tonight is to be seen together. One of my contacts, Nash, who tasks on the ColorCast gets jealous. Bender needs a few more details about Lonn’s liberation and thinks I can get them from Nash.”

“I don’t like it,” Levi said. “What if the guy jumps me? I can’t afford another X.”

“Nash won’t hit you. He’ll just buy me a drink and ask me to ditch you.”

“Then how do I get home?”

“Take a cab.”

Great. “Why didn’t Bender mention this earlier?”

“He won’t always tell you everything, shell.”

Levi wanted to tell Red to eat dirt and Bender to feed it to her. He didn’t appreciate such beckon-and-call moments. And he didn’t trust Red. But until his people were freed, what choice did he have?

Red drove them into the Highlands and parked the car. While they waited to get into the Savoy, Red fluffed her hair, took some kind of purple makeup crayon out of her cleavage, and drew the color on her lips. She handed it to Levi. “Hold this for me?”

“What’s wrong with putting it back in your …?” He motioned to her chest.

“It will fall out when we’re dancing. You’ve got baggy pockets.”

“Fine.” Levi pocketed the crayon.

When they finally got inside, it was like some kind of torture chamber. Dark, hazy, with blinding bluish-white lights flickering from the ceiling. Bodies everywhere, packed in and wiggling like they all had to pee. Deafening noise with a steady thumping rhythm and a wailing voice that needed to be put out of its misery filled the space, all masquerading as music. Madness.
Give me a grassy clearing and the Glenrock women singing any day over this.

Red took Levi’s hand and dragged him through the wiggling bodies. She stopped in the center of the mob and slid her arms around his waist, tucking her hands into his back pockets. He grabbed her arms and pulled them out.

She yelled into his ear. “We have to look like we’re together.”

“We are together.” He couldn’t believe how he had to scream just to be heard.

“Like we’re pairing up.” She moved in close and ran her hands over his chest. “Like you want me.”

With Red this close, Levi’s view revealed way too much. “I’m not comfortable with—”

“There he is! Dance with me.” She pressed against Levi, rocking her body against his.

Levi reached up and grabbed his hair, anything to keep his hands off this crazy woman. He squinted at the flickering faces around him, looking for a man who might be watching them.

“You have to
dance
, shell!” Red pulled Levi’s arms down and around her waist.

Levi felt exposed and embarrassed standing in this crowd with a half-naked woman rubbing up on him like a bear scratching on a tree. She was both repulsive and alluring.

Too long, they danced. Too much, Red touched him. And when she pressed up onto her toes to try and kiss him, he turned and left the dance floor to get far away. He made it all the way outside before she caught up with him.

“What was that about?” she yelled.

“I’m done. I don’t care about your mission. Call Zane to be your scratching post.”

Red’s eyes glinted, her face sallow under the lights of the Savoy sign. “I can’t. Nash knows Zane.”

“If Nash isn’t jealous by now, he never will be.”

She shot him a nasty glare. “What do you know?”

“I know I’m going to take my cab now.”

“Bender will hear about this, shell.”

Levi considered that. But Bender had understood about Jemma and had told Red to leave Levi alone. “I’ll explain the situation to Bender.” It was worth it to get away from the temptation Red’s roaming hands had awakened in him. He took a cab back to his apartment in the Midlands, but it was hours before he managed to fall asleep.

J
emma?”

Shaylinn opened her eyes. She lay in her bed in the harem, and when she looked over to the clock it read 2:12 a.m.

“Jemma?” Kendall’s voice called out in the hall. “I think the baby is coming.”

Shaylinn sat up, slid off her bed, and searched her floor for something to wear.

“Did your water break?” Jemma asked.

“I don’t think so. How will I know?”

“You’ll know.”

Shaylinn pulled on a pair of stretchy pants under her nightgown and ran across the hall to Jemma’s room. Kendall was sitting on the edge of Jemma’s bed, her face pinched, gripping her belly with both hands.

Jemma held the radio to her mouth. “Buttercup to Jackrabbit. Come in.” She looked to Shaylinn. “Go fetch Naomi and Mia and tell them to come here.”

“But what are we going to —?”

“Shh. Go, quickly.” Jemma tried the radio again. “Jackrabbit, are you there?”

Shaylinn slipped out the door and woke Naomi, but Mia’s room was empty. That girl was likely out with Rand again. Shaylinn had no idea how Mia had managed to talk Ewan into helping her. She was just thankful not to be a part of it.

Naomi was already in Jemma’s room when Shaylinn got back. “Mia isn’t here.”

Jemma closed her eyes and sighed. “Fine.”

“Mason then?” Shaylinn said. Jemma nodded and spoke into the radio. “Buttercup to Eagle Eyes, come in.” She clutched the radio to her chest. The four of them remained frozen: Jemma sitting up in bed, Shaylinn standing just inside the doorway, Kendall sitting on the foot of Jemma’s bed, Naomi standing beside her, rubbing her shoulders.

Kendall suddenly moaned and rolled forward, clutching her belly. The sound scared Shaylinn, and she hugged her own stomach, wondering if life was growing inside her.

“What are we going to do?” Naomi whispered.

“I don’t know,” Jemma said. “Shay, go fetch Aunt Chipeta. She’ll be able to help.”

“Just tap them,” Kendall said.

Shaylinn ran back to her room, happy to get away from Kendall’s pain. She found her Wyndo on the floor beside her bed and brought up Jemma’s aunt’s picture. It rang and rang and rang before a sleepy Chipeta answered.

“Shaylinn? Is something wrong?”

“Kendall is in labor. Jemma wants you all to come to our suite.”

“Oh, dear. We’ll be right there.”

Shaylinn sat for a moment to catch her breath. She set her hand against her abdomen; something told her there was life inside even though she didn’t feel any different. The peace she’d had the day of the surgery fled, and fear gripped her like the bite of an electric gun. She didn’t want to have a baby, and she didn’t want any pain. But if
she was going to have a baby, she really didn’t want anyone to take her baby away.

Her Wyndo vibrated in her hand. She tapped Chipeta’s image.

“Hello?”

“Come let us in!” Chipeta said.

Shaylinn ran to the front door and opened it. The women filed inside and went to Jemma’s bedroom. Aunt Mary gave Shaylinn a hug.

“No one is answering my calls!” Jemma said.

“Then we need to leave on our own,” Chipeta said.

“Where’s Mia?” Jennifer asked.

“She snuck out again,” Shaylinn said.

“Please,” Kendall said. “I don’t want any of you to get into trouble. Let’s call Ciddah.”

“No.” Jemma threw back her covers and got out of bed. “We’ll just have to deal with this ourselves. There is no way I’m letting them take Kendall to the hospital, not when they’ll take her child away.” She squared her shoulders. “I know Levi had a plan, but I think we should try to leave the harem tonight. Even if it’s only to hide somewhere until Kendall’s baby is born.”

“We’ll get caught if we try to escape with her,” Naomi said. “The cameras are everywhere.”

“We could try and go out through the kitchen,” Shaylinn said.

Jemma stepped into a pair of shoes. “What do you mean?”

“The night Mia and I snuck out, we went through the kitchen,” Shaylinn said. “Stairs back there lead to a big garage in the back of the harem.”

“Are there cameras?” Naomi asked.

“Ewan said there weren’t.”

“If you’re determined to do this, we’ll need to split up,” Chipeta said. “You young girls will go Shaylinn’s way. Us older women will go out the front, create a diversion just in case Ewan was wrong about the cameras.”

Jennifer folded her arms. “I’m not leaving without Mia.”

“We won’t actually get away, Jennifer,” Chipeta said. “They’ll catch us.”

“But what if they don’t? What if we get away and Mia comes back and we’ve left her?” She shook her head. “I’m not leaving my daughter.”

“I’ll stay with Jennifer,” Aunt Mary said.

“We should leave the radio with you, in case we do get away,” Jemma said.

“No!” Aunt Mary said. “How will you reach Levi or Mason without it? Besides, it will be my turn to visit the Surrogacy Center soon enough. We can speak with Mason there.”

Another painful moan from Kendall silenced any further discussion. Chipeta planned to give the girls a five-minute head start, in case there was an enforcer outside the harem’s front door. Everyone exchanged hugs and kisses, then Shaylinn, Kendall, Jemma, and Naomi each filled a pillowcase with belongings and crept downstairs. Shaylinn had packed her favorite new dresses, though if she were pregnant, she doubted they would fit much longer.

Shaylinn led them across the main sitting room, hoping and praying this would work. When she reached the kitchen door, she pushed it open just a crack. It was dark inside. Jemma entered and held the door for Kendall and Naomi. The light above the stove and the green emergency exit sign gave them enough light to see. Shaylinn led them through the exit door and into the stairwell.

When the door closed behind them, their surroundings were pitch black. Shaylinn fumbled in her pillowcase until she located the Wyndo. She tapped the glass and it lit up, illuminating the stairwell with a dull gray glow.

Shaylinn took the stairs slowly, trying to be quiet, but the scuffing of their shoes over the concrete steps seemed terribly loud and convinced her that an enforcer would catch them any moment.

Kendall stopped and cried out, and the sound seemed twice as loud in the confined space.

Jemma ran to her side. “Another contraction?”

Kendall nodded. Several strands of her tangled brown hair were sticking to her flushed cheeks. “I don’t like it.”

Jemma sucked in a wincing breath. “Shaylinn, what time is it?”

Shaylinn glanced at the time on her Wyndo. “Two thirty-three.”

“Be sure and tell me when the next one happens, Kendall,” Jemma said.

“I’m sure you’ll know.” Kendall limped a few steps, stopped, and whimpered.

Jemma hooked Kendall’s arm with hers. “We’ll wait until you’re ready.”

Kendall’s lips pressed into a thin line. “I’m ready.”

They continued down the stairs very slowly. Shaylinn braced herself for another outburst from Kendall, but it didn’t happen. They reached the bottom without meeting anyone. Maybe this would be simple. Maybe there was truly no one up at this hour. Maybe the enforcers had never thought of guarding this door or putting cameras in this place.

She peeked through the door at the bottom of the stairwell, saw no one, and led the girls into the warehouse, keeping close to the wall. Only a few lights were on, making the room appear to be lit by a full moon. The air smelled oddly of cardboard boxes. Shaylinn put the Wyndo into her pillowcase and moved along the edge of the wall while trying to keep in the shadows. The door was here somewhere.

She walked until they came to a corner, then followed the next wall. The bright glow of an exit sign quickened her breath. She could see it clearly at the end of the row. Though she wanted to run, she forced herself to move slowly.

The exit door let out into a narrow street between the harem and another building. It was dark to the left. To the right, Shaylinn could see the Harem Gardens, beyond them, a busy street and the huge Medical Center. Shaylinn walked to the left, hoping that staying in the shadows would be wisest.

They reached the end of the alley. An expanse came into view on their right. The Noble Gardens. City Hall stood beyond the gardens like a watchful eye. They needed some place quiet where Jemma could try to call Levi on the two-way radio again.