That was not an accident. I squinted in the dark as I edged over to the door. I cracked it open and wedged a chair in place for more light.
I found two young men bound and gagged at the back of the room. I hadn’t even noticed them with everything else that had been happening. They were dirty and emaciated. One of them looked familiar.
“You’re Jason’s brother!” I hurried over and removed their gags.
“You know my brother?”
“I spoke with him briefly. I didn’t know he was working with the NEM.”
“He doesn’t want to!”
“None of them do,” said the second man. “We’d never steal from New Franklin. We were even thinking about joining up. But these assholes held us and forced them to go. They wanted some hard drive or something.”
I knew immediately which hard drive they wanted, but kept quiet. Right after the First Annual Trader’s Market, Kiera and Bael’k had gone on a dangerous quest into a Dead Zone to retrieve a hard drive full of old Earth technology. Think the secret to microchips and all that. We didn’t have the equipment to use the information, but knowledge was the first step.
The fact that the quest had been successful had been kept a secret. We acted like we were just celebrating the fact that they’d returned at all. The Tech Wizards, humans who took on the Xarc’n military role of technical advisors to the hunters, knew about the hard drives. And some of the hunters knew. But that was it.Ionly knew because that fateful meeting had happened inmylibrary after hours, with the doors firmly locked.
Perhaps the NEM had only guessed we had it and didn’t have proof.
“That doesn’t explain why he trashed my library.”
“I’m sorry for what he did. But they were trying to rescue us. There was no other option for them. We’ve traded with the NEM before, even though we know we couldn’t really trust them, but we needed the vitamins because the younger ones are still growing. This time, they turned on us and locked us up. Then they told the younger boys that if they didn’t infiltrate NewFranklin and steal things for them, they’d kill us. The NEM claimed they had someone on the inside, and they’d know if they went for help instead.”
“Wait, let me get this straight. They captured you, then forced the younger ones to do their bidding, while holding you as ransom?”
“Yeah. They knew that it wouldn’t work the other way around if they kept the younger ones here and let us go; they’d have to keep one eye open every night. And our reputation with New Franklin will be forever tarnished. That is, if I ever get to see my brother again.”
“You will.” Deciding to trust them, I found a knife at the bar and started to saw at the ropes. “When we get back to New Franklin, we’ll let them know what happened. They probably exiled the boys, but we’ll find them. And I’ll talk to Roger. He’s a good man. He’ll understand, especially if you help him root out the traitor they say the NEM has on the inside.”
“There is. And they have a way to communicate too.”
“So that’s how they knew it was planting day and everyone was out.” I continued to saw at the tough rope with the dull knife. “We did get quite a few new people. It could be any of them.” My mind reeled. If this were true, it would put everyone at risk. “We have to get this info back to Roger.”
“Roger’s good people, I hope New Franklin will be able to forgive us for this. I’m Shawn, by the way. And this Kai.”
“I’m Dottie.”
The knife finally went through the last strand holding Shawn prisoner. He took the knife from me and freed his friend much faster than I did him. With them both standing, I could see how lean they were. They were surviving in this bleak anddangerous landscape on their own, but they weren’t thriving. Still, considering they had a bunch of younger boys to look after, I’d say they’d done very well.
If others at New Franklin were willing to forgive them, perhaps we could convince them to join us. In order to survive this long while taking care of a group of younger boys, they had to be smart and capable, and we always had the use of smart, capable young men.
“We should get going,” Shawn said, searching the bar for anything useful. “The NEM usually calls in the scourge to clean up after them. This place is going to be overrun with bugs soon.”
My stomach sank. “But how?”
“We’re not sure,” Kai replied, passing me a bottle of water the NEM had left behind in their rush. He cracked another one open and chugged half of it before continuing to speak. “But they seem to be able to control them at least for a short time.”
With one of them armed with a steel pipe and the other with several billiard balls—don’t ask, I had no idea how that would protect him—we stepped out of the bar. The NEM was gone, and along with them Alice and the other women.
I was glad Alice and I had the forethought to ditch our phones the moment we realized we were getting kidnapped. They were now on the ground next to the field, probably trampled, but at least the devices weren’t in the NEM’s hands. They’d taken everyone’s devices when we were on the shuttle.
I had to believe that Kaj’k was already out looking for his mate. They’d taken the wrong woman, that was for sure.
“Where do you think they took the others?” I asked, as I followed them across the parking lot, cursing the fact that Ialready knew I’d have trouble keeping up. I was going to slow these two down. That was deadly out here.
The thought that Alice and I were separated didn’t sit well. It wasn’t that I didn’t think they wouldn’t come for me, but that I knew for certain Kaj’k would go to the end of the universe for Alice. Those Xarc’n warriors really did love their mates.
And that had me thinking of Ror’k. Now wouldn’t that have been a sight if he’d rushed in there to save us. But it wasn’t like I was his mate. I was too old for that.
