The Line Book Two: Walled Read online

She clumsily hugged me back and then dipped her head at the crying baby on my hip. “Who’s this?”

  “This is Clea, and that’s Adena.”

  She nodded awkwardly. “Cute.”

  “And that’s Shirel,” I added. When Sonya’s uneasy demeanor didn’t diminish, I said, “She’s been a friend of mine since I first got out.”

  This seemed to perplex Sonya. “Is that right?”

  Adjusting Adena on her hip, Shirel placed her back into the high chair. The baby dove straight for the oatmeal and melons. “Nice to meet you,” she mumbled to Sonya, although it was pretty apparent she didn’t mean it.

  “Likewise,” Sonya answered back. I could tell she was also lying.

  “I met Shirel in the boardinghouse,” I explained. “Before I came to the clinic and met Ric. After the riot, Shirel was looking for a place to hide too, and we both managed to find our way here. The whole building is disconnected from the server. The owner of the building has it set up under a false IP address. Something about hiding her son, who had trouble with security forces a while back. But it works for us. Anyway, Shirel’s been great. Especially with the kids.”

  Sonya nodded at me. “Uh-huh.” She didn’t seem too interested, and it left me nervous. If she wasn’t here to catch up, then why was she here? I had an aching feeling I wasn’t going to like the answer.

  In the meantime, Clea had settled down, so I put her back into her seat and offered Sonya a cup of coffee, which she refused. I handed a mug to Ric instead, and we sat around the kitchen table.

  Ric leaned the shotgun against the table leg.

  There was an awkward silence as we weighed each other.

  Sonya must have sensed my trepidation. She eyed me staunchly.

  To break the ice, I said, “Shirel’s the one who started the riot.”

  Sonya frowned. “Did she?”

  I nodded.

  Ric examined his mug of coffee, looking dejected. His eyes were round and doleful.

  This caught Sonya’s attention and she glared at him. I got the sense this wasn’t the greeting she’d anticipated. But what had she expected? A parade?

  Even though we were both survivors of the Line, it reminded me of just how different Sonya and I were. Change was her constant, her normal. She was a fighter. She’d escaped the Line on her own, crawling out a ventilation shaft when no one was looking.

  But the situation of my release had been different. They’d let me go. Practically kicked me out. They claimed to no longer have any use for a pregnant sex slave. Or, at least, that was the lie they’d told me. It proved to be something much bigger, much more sinister than that.

  And when Sonya and I had returned to the Line in an attempt to free more enslaved girls, the guards were waiting. They’d shot at us, killing many as we’d fled into the streets from the burning building. If it hadn’t been for the riot, the one Shirel had started just outside the Line doors, more would have died—probably Sonya and I, as well, and Peni, my best friend inside.

  I wanted to convey all this to Sonya, to explain, maybe even apologize for our cold demeanor, but my words didn’t come. There was too much to say after all this time, and it felt as if it didn’t matter anymore.

  I watched Clea and Adena munch on their breakfast and my insides lurched.

  “Well, thanks to you, we made it out,” Sonya said to Shirel. “We owe you one.”

  Shirel’s stony exterior loosened slightly, and she shrugged, leaning over to pick up Clea’s chucked spoon from the floor. “I di’n’t know at the time that it was Naya who was escapin’,” she said. “But I knew that’s where she was from, and when I heard they were lettin’ the girls burn in the fire, I just...I don’t know. I couldn’t take it no more.”

  Sonya nodded. “I wish more people had agreed with you.”

  Ric glanced up from his coffee. His face was flat but I still saw sadness behind his eyes. “What’s it like out there? Since we’re not connected to the network, we haven’t any access to the declaration feeds.”

  “That’s smart,” Sonya said. “Not being hooked up to the system. I was wondering how you two had managed to stay in hiding for so long.”

  “So,” Shirel said, cutting to the chase. “What brings you here?”

  Sonya stopped for a moment, and leaned back in her chair. “It’s time.”

  Ric and I looked at each other, but Shirel blinked. “Time for what?”

  Sonya rested her hands together and tilted her chair onto the back legs, balancing. “Time to end Auberge’s rule.”

  Shirel laughed, but when she saw the rest of us weren’t, she sobered quickly. “You serious?”

  Sonya turned to me. “We need your help.”

  I felt my world shift on its axis and I eyed Ric again. He was gripping his coffee so tightly his knuckles had gone white. He shook his head back and forth but stopped when he saw me watching.

  “I’ve got a plan,” Sonya said. “There’s a group of us. We’ve been working on a mainframe virus. But I need to get back inside Auberge headquarters, and you two are the only ones who have been there.”

  Ric’s mouth had cemented into a permanent frown. “Except you.”

  Sonya nodded. “I can’t go in there alone. Security is insane since the last time. They’ve closed off HQ so tight I can’t get in the same way.”

  “So what good are we?” I asked.

  Her eyebrows rose. “You’ve been inside. You know your way around HQ.”

  “So would anyone who studied the schematics of the building,” Ric pointed out.

  Sonya’s chair tipped forward and hit the floor. “But I thought...”

  “You thought we’d want to go back in?” he scoffed.

  She seemed genuinely shocked. “Well, yes, I mean...They’ve reinstituted the Line. It’s starting all over again. The girls. The mysterious disappearances.”

  The pit of my stomach dropped. I couldn’t. It was too soon. I wasn’t ready.

  No.

  Not now.

  Maybe not ever.

  I suddenly wanted Sonya to leave, to shut up.

  Don’t tell me! You’ll ruin everything.

  “It’s practically martial law out there,” Sonya continued. “Did you know they’ve implemented random searches and are arresting people for the slightest infraction? They’re hiring more guards, even women, posting them everywhere, on every street corner, in every building. It’s gotten bad. Worse than before.”

  “And how are we supposed to stop that? The two of us?” Ric snapped, his face flushed.

  Sonya was aghast. “By getting inside HQ, like I said. With your help.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” he barked. “What you need are trained soldiers and burglars, like you. You don’t need a veterinarian and a—”

  “Washed-up hooker,” I finished his sentence.

  I should have known better. Nothing pissed off Ric quicker than talking about myself that way.

  “Goddamn it, Naya!” he bellowed. With one swipe he slapped his coffee cup off the kitchen table. It hit the floor and splattered scalding liquid in all directions.

  Both the babies screamed.

  Shirel scooped them up and flared at Ric faster than a wildfire. “What the fuck is the matter with you?” Clea and Adena clung to her.

  Ric’s shoulders slunk and his face turned ashen.

  Without saying another word, Shirel whisked the babies out the front door.

  I heard her unlock and slam the door to her apartment beside ours. As the babies continued to wail, Shirel said, “Goddamned temper tantrums worse than a toddler!”

  “Well, she’s a delight, isn’t she?” Sonya quipped.

  “Sonya,” I started to say, but she raised her hand and cut me off.

  “No need to sa
y it,” she said, and she stood from her chair. She smoothed out the creases of her stolen uniform and plopped her oversize hat back onto her head. “I get it. You don’t want to come.”

  “Sonya,” I said again. “It’s just that—the babies.”

  She held up her palm. “Don’t. Okay.” I heard the injury in her voice and it cut me deeply. I didn’t want to leave her on her own, but things had changed. “I came here because I honestly thought you two would want to help,” she said. “It’s what you, and me, and Tym had wanted. Remember, Doc? Remember how Tym died to free Naya? Or are you two just going to forget all about him too?”

  Through the walls, we heard Shirel singing an off-key lullaby. The crying from the babies grew quieter.

  “Things are different now,” Ric said, his face creased with strain. He fanned his arm out across the room as if that was explanation enough.

  Sonya shook her head to mask her tears. “I see that.”

  “Sonya,” I started again, but she couldn’t, wouldn’t look at me.

  “No,” she said, and she inched toward the front door. “No, I get it. You’d rather hide in your hole and pretend like the rest of us aren’t out there suffering. But just think about this, okay? If I found you, how hard do you think it would be for Auberge to find you too? Sure, you can stay hidden in here for a while, maybe even a year or two—pretending like nothing else is happening. But sooner or later, what’s out there is going to invade in here. And when that day comes, you can take great comfort that you did nothing after they steal your babies and dump your bodies over the wall.”

  Ric’s face flushed all the way to his ears. “Get out.”

  “No problem, Doc.”

  “Sonya,” I said. But I choked on the rest of the sentence. I didn’t want to hurt her, but what she was asking was madness.

  She left, not looking back.

  I didn’t say anything more. It felt as if someone had sliced open an old wound and left it exposed to the elements.

  Ric closed and locked the door behind her. He rested his palm against the faded wood and sighed heavily, staring at the floor as if it was to blame.

  We could still hear Shirel singing through the walls.

  “And down will come baby, cradle and all...”

  Chapter Two

  Morning turned into day. I couldn’t shake Sonya from my thoughts. There was plenty to keep me busy, but Shirel could tell I was distracted.

  Elsewhere.

  When the daily shipment arrived at the apartment building, I didn’t realize she had been talking to me until she punched me in the arm.

  “Ow!”

  “If you don’t hurry,” she barked at me, “They’ll leave before takin’ the dirty diapers.”

  “Okay, okay.” I left the apartment with the bag of soiled diaper cloths over one shoulder, our laundry over the other, but my mind was in Auberge headquarters.

  What had Sonya meant, she couldn’t get in the same way as before? Had they sealed off the air vents? And why was she wearing an Auberge uniform with bunny slippers?

  I’d assumed she was wearing the uniform to move about Auberge more freely, away from suspicion. I also knew Sonya hated shoes since not wearing any clothes for all those years she’d been on the Line. But wouldn’t the slippers give her away?

  I hadn’t asked her about any of that, and the questions gnawed at me.

  I didn’t like not knowing.

  I had too many unanswered questions about my own life. I didn’t need any more.

  After I left the laundry at the front door in the drop pile, I searched the mountain of pickup bags for our groceries. Then I headed back upstairs. Inside, Shirel had the twins engrossed in a rousing game of peekaboo. All three of them were cackling like mad.

  I unpacked the food and then went to Shirel’s to unload hers. When I got back, the twins were down for their afternoon nap, and Shirel was cleaning the kitchen.

  Ric sat on the weathered sofa in the living room, reading an old book he’d borrowed from Mrs. Rosenfeld in apartment three.

  “I’m going with Sonya,” I blurted out.

  The room stilled. Neither of them moved an inch, although Shirel left the water running in the sink.

  “You know she’s right,” I continued. “We should do something.”

  Ric lowered the book to his lap. He didn’t speak but only gazed at me. He shook his head softly then looked away.

  Shirel dropped a dish in the sink, but kept her back to me.

  “If we don’t help her, things will only get worse,” I added.

  Ric’s jaw clenched. “You want to go back.” It was a statement.

  “No, I don’t want to go back. But we should.”

  “How do you figure that?”

  “Because it’s what’s right. We started this mess, we should end it.”

  He glared at me then, and I almost balked at the intensity of his powerful green eyes. He leaned back into the sofa and crossed his arms. “Do you want to know what I think is right?”

  It was a rhetorical question. I waited.

  “Taking care of your own,” he said. “That’s what’s right.”

  “You mean staying here with the twins.”

  He blinked at this, as though the answer was obvious. “Yes.”

  “But that’s just diapers and feedings and naps. Shirel’s got that under control. I’m talking about changing the world where the twins live. Don’t you think that would make a bigger impact on their lives?”

  “Your mind is already made up,” he stated, an undercurrent of pain seeping through his words. His eyes had grown red and wet.

  I noticed Shirel had stopped running the water and turned to listen.

  “Yes,” I burst out. “My mind is made up.”

  Tossing his book onto the sofa, Ric quickly stood and trailed away from the sofa, stopping short of entering his bedroom. Even though his back was to me, I could see that his neck was flushed. “It’s a suicide mission.”

  “Not if we do it right. We did it once before.”

  “And Tym died.”

  “We’ll be smarter this time.”

  “You’ll leave them orphaned,” he spat.

  “They have Shirel.”

  “And what if she doesn’t want them?”

  Shirel dried her hands on a tattered dishtowel. “Leave me out of this.”

  “See? She doesn’t want them!” he blurted.

  Shirel put her hands on her hips and jutted out her chin. “I di’n’t say that! I meant ‘leave me out of this little lover’s quarrel.’ Fuck me. You don’t want to know where I side in this, Ric. You wouldn’t like it.”

  He grumbled under his breath, but I didn’t catch what he said.

  This opened the door for Shirel to weigh in, and I was both sorry to have dragged her into it and glad to have someone on my side.

  “The only progress that’s ever been made against Auberge stemmed from that girl,” Shirel said, pointing at me.

  “It’s not better out there,” Ric said, his voice shaking. “Sonya said it was martial law.”

  “They’re only panicking because they realize they’re losing control,” I said.

  Shirel nodded ferociously. “It’s gonna get a hell of a lot worse ’fore it gets better. And if Naya can make a difference, then you gotta let her. The twins will be fine. I’ll take care of them like I was their own grandmother.”

  My breath caught in my throat. I wanted to hug her, but I stayed where I was.

  Ric wouldn’t even face me. He rested his arm against the jamb of his bedroom door, his fist tight. “We have a good thing here. Why are you throwing it away? And for what?”

  I realized then what he was afraid of. He must have thought I wasn’t just leaving the t
wins, but him, as well. He thought I was deserting all of them.

  I crossed the room and swept him into my arms.

  He melted into me as though it would save his life and rested his face beside my ear.

  I pecked him on the lips to try and reassure him, but he growled at the taste of me and pulled me into a crushing lip-lock.

  “Damn it,” he muttered, kissing me fiercely.

  Surprised, I gasped, unsure if I should follow my instinct to break away or to fight against it and savor the moment.

  Behind us, the front door closed as Shirel exited.

  Ric pulled me into his room and slammed the door closed with his foot.

  “Ric, I—”

  He covered my mouth with his again.

  His fingers dug into my hair and he drew my body into his. The feel of his frame against mine was both intoxicating and terrifying. His lips devoured me. His tongue tasted the contours of my mouth, my neck, my ear, then my lips again.

  As Ric’s hands left my hair and smoothed down the curves of my ribs and breasts, his desperation was palpable. It was as if he needed to make sure I was there.

  I felt as if I was being pulled underwater.

  Beautiful. Yet suffocating.

  I fought against my defenses, trying to enjoy the sensations, but the moment his fingertips played with the snap of my pants, my skin slicked with the sweat of a thousand panic attacks, and I lurched away from him. Memories of appointments flooded my mind with a tidal wave of pain and suffering.

  Their hands on me. Their forced kisses. Their grunting and groaning as they violated me.

  Skidding backward, I slammed into the closed door behind me and pushed my arms out, warding Ric off. “Stop!”

  He looked physically beaten, heaving. His hair and clothes were disheveled. The worst of it was his face. He was visibly crushed. “Naya?” He was asking, no, begging me not to do this to him again.

  My lungs tightened at the sight of his pain and I cupped a hand to my mouth to keep from crying with old fear.

  It wasn’t his fault. I knew this. I wasn’t trying to punish him or withhold affection for a purpose. That was the last thing I wanted. But it couldn’t be helped. My fear was still there, just under the top layer of my skin. All it took was a scratch, and my worst nightmares poured out of me like a dump truck tipped back to unload.