Lie to Me (20 page)

The word blinked in block, capital letters across the banner over the victims’ heads, followed by their names. Kella jerked to a sudden halt. Horror bled across her features, and she blanched before turning aside and retching. Even though she had nothing in her stomach to throw up, he pulled her hair out of her face to be safe, while she made awful sounds of regurgitation. He plucked the kippy from her grasp and settled the pet on the ground near his feet, away from any possible splatter.

Finally, she stood, and he released her hair. Tears scored her cheeks, and she kept her gaze averted from the graphic scene.

“Come here,” he said, as he towed her to him. Kella went limp against him, burying face against his chest. Her silent tears evident only in the dampness against his shirt and the hitching of her shoulders.

“Monster,” she muttered against his chest. “Fucking
monster
.” While in the company of strangers, he left her comment alone, but he couldn’t help his curiosity. Was the monster she referred to the “terrorists” executed by crimson rain, or was Regent Jones the monster for using this type of punishment?

“Brian Wilcox, Darren Beam, Sue Nigel, and Mick Andreas,” he read aloud the names. Kella fisted his shirt. “Do you know what terrorist act they’re accused of?” Stone asked a stranger dressed in a suit and tie.

“Regent said they were members of the X-Diplomats and were found guilty of treason.”

The X-Diplomats were a real threat to the privileged way of life. There were rumors some had made their home in the badlands, and that they now numbered many. Enough to cause a serious revolt if the right person led them. He hadn’t experienced their brand of terrorism in his Quad. Yet. He knew it was a matter of time, but he could also sympathize with their plight. Equal rights for all citizens wasn’t too much to ask.

“They weren’t X-Diplomats,” Kella said as he guided her back to the hotel door. Retro followed without requiring a command.

She sounded so certain of that statement, he took a moment to ponder her announcement. Stone opened the door and motioned for her to enter first. “How would you know? Terrorists aren’t exactly upfront about their fanatical behavior.”

Fingering the moisture off her eyes, she entered the hotel lobby. “They weren’t extremists.”

Something in her voice caught him as peculiar, but she’d given him her back as she stepped into the building so he couldn’t see her face. Couldn’t glean the truth behind her pain. “You knew them personally?”

“I know all the dregs. Brian Wilcox was a priest. Darren Beam a deacon. Sue Nigel a courier, and Mick Andreas a florist. Do any of them sound like terrorists to you?”

Scanning the occupants in the lobby, he spotted three of his soldiers. A couple of folks scrunched their noses in offended gestures at the sight of him and Kella. He couldn’t blame them, since they were filthy and reeked like the swamplands. “Just proves that you never really know someone.”

“Of course you wouldn’t believe me.”

That grabbed his attention. “They’re already dead, so why does it matter?”

“Trust is a two-way street, Stone.”

Hitting below the belt with that one, he shrugged it off as one more argument in a long list of them with her.

James stepped into stride right beside them. “Good to see you again, holy terror.”

“Fuck off, Satan,” she shot back without looking at him and not bothering to keep her tone low.

His bodyguard chuckled. “Glad to see you’ve retained your spirit. I’d like to point out, this is a better look for you, even if you are sullied and smell like shit.”

She scratched her temple with her middle finger.

James tossed him a grin. “I’ll take her to my room to shower in private so you can do the same.”

Stone watched her, contemplating her confidence that the terrorists weren’t terrorists at all. “She remains with me.”

The other man shrugged. “Your funeral. The package I detained is secure in my room. I’ve managed to skirt all questions concerning Mark Evans for the moment, but we need to make a decision soon. I teleported him to your Quadrant, along with Christine. Regent Jones has reached out twice. I expect his third soon. Where’d y’all find cover during the rain?”

“In the remains of a downed plane located in the badlands. I froze my nuts off.” Stone halted at his bedroom door and caught James’s smirk.
Asshole
. Of course his friend would find humor in that. He punched the code into the keypad and slid his thumb along the tiny sensor. The door opened with a click. With his palm nestled against Kella’s lower back, he nudged her into the room. “Shower and clean up. Bathroom is through that door.” He nodded toward the indicated doorway. She sent him a hesitant glance, before moving away. Waiting until she was out of earshot, he faced James. “Nothing to decide about Mark Evans. The motherfucker will pay for Kella’s suffering.”

“By your tone, I’m presuming Kella suffered more than eating out of garbage cans to survive.”

“Much worse. Nothing any woman should have to endure.”

Their gazes held. After a long pause, James asked, “Rape?”

Stone shook his head. “Thank God it wasn’t that. I’d say she was beaten, but she won’t confirm it. She admitted to selling herself for food. I want to kill unnamed people that did nothing wrong.”

His buddy cringed. “Anything else I should know?”

“I’m going to offer Reaper a job.”

“Why?” Repulsion carved across his friend’s face. “He’s a fucking dick.”

“He killed Kella’s attacker.”

“Fuck. I applaud Reaper for
that
, but, Stone, you’ve no idea the arrogance of this fella. And you know we can’t trust him.”

“From what I’ve pieced together, she wouldn’t have survived without him. That loyalty has to count for something.”

“You’re a pussy,” James bitched, scowling.

“All the pussies I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing take a pounding from me over and over again, so thanks for recognizing how big a badass I am.”

James snorted. “Only you would thank me for an insult.”

Stone caught his friend’s shoulder and squeezed. “You’re arrogant, and I keep
you
around. His arrogance doesn’t matter to me when she trusts him, and he can maintain her safety.”

“Yeah, but will he keep her safe or help her escape again?”

Probably both, but her safety mattered most. “Guess we’ll see. Order us something to eat. Ate half of one of her protein rations last night. Never again. I’m fucking starving.” He turned to enter his room, but halted. “Find me a barber ASAP.”

“You’re finally cutting the girly locks?”

“Asshole. Send one of the soldiers to retrieve her backpacks. They’re a mix of dark gray and army green, with a splotch of pink.” The pink amused him because it displayed the tomboy liked girly things despite her tough exterior. “I threw them out of the flyer on our way in.”

“Why?”

“I had a point to prove.”

“Did you make it?”

“Not sure yet.” Probably not, but time would tell. At this point he wasn’t even sure what point he’d been going for in that particular moment other than to remind her she should show him respect if for no other reason than he outmaneuvered her. “I need someone from a dress shop to bring some clothes for her to pick from. She’ll need all the other shit too.”

James stroked his jaw. “Why does she require clothes?”

“Because I doubt she’ll be happy walking around naked even though I wouldn’t have a problem with it.”

James grinned. “Good to know some things never change.”

“How do you mean?”

“She’s still leading you around by your dick.”

––––––––

K
ella rushed for the bathroom, shutting the door behind her, only to draw up disappointed when she discovered there was no latch. A bit shocked her life had taken such a drastic turn, she collapsed on the commode and wondered what the hell she would do now. The muffled voices of James and Stone carried to her, but she couldn’t make out their words.

Finally, the door to Stone’s hotel room closed, and she could hear him moving about in the outer room. The bed he’d groped her on when she’d been Mack unnerved her.

Would he expect her to share it with him?

Would he force himself on her there tonight?

He doesn’t need tonight to rape me. He can do that in broad daylight.
Stone wasn’t that type of man. At least she didn’t think he’d changed that much.

Another muted rap sounded on the hotel room door. Stone’s heavy footsteps stomped across the floor, she assumed to answer. A new voice seeped to her, one with an older tenor.

Getting nowhere with her contemplations, Kella sighed and rose to her feet. She faced the mirror and stared at her new look as little metal, snippy sounds emerged from the other room.

It’d been so long since she’d seen her real reflection it should’ve felt like she ogled a stranger, but instead she had a sense of coming home after a long time abroad. Noting the differences from her youthful appearance to now, she admired the way her chubby cheeks had slimmed up into sleek lines. The pale, freckled skin she’d peered at for the last eight years hadn’t bothered her, but the darker skin tone marking her long line of Greek ancestry was a much prettier shade. Her Greek ancestors had been on vacation in the United States when the pestilence hit.

The emerald instead of brown eyes reflected back at her. The green was more pronounced because of her long black eyelashes, so thick it looked as if she’d rimmed her eyes in kohl when no cosmetics touched her features. Given all the grime, she couldn’t tell much about her hair, but its darkness was an anomaly compared to the blonde she’d grown accustomed to.

She quickly stripped out of her shirt, baring her upper body. Her natural breasts were larger than the Mack Ellason façade she’d taken on. And her nipples were a brown color rather than Mack’s pink tips.

The tattoo that marked her as Stone’s property was a glaring reminder of her enforced slavery. It curled at one end, to swish in a flare at the other. Two dots beneath the wispy line and one slash through the middle. It was a powerful symbol, the sigil for House Emmerson, and as long as she bore it, no spooner would elevate a hand against her. At least not publicly for fear of retribution. There was a sense of empowerment in that reality.

She’d have to locate Reaper and make sure he understood getting the video out there was priority number one. Saving Kella was not on their to-do list. That mission would endanger their ultimate goal. And Kella wasn’t as important as the X-genes they sought to save.

Stone would be eager to head back to his Quad now that he’d unveiled her. No doubt he would put his goon on her to watch her like a criminal too. Okay, so she was technically a criminal, but he’d forced her to take desperate actions to gain her freedom. So long as she remained in Stone’s custody, she couldn’t meet with the X-Ds as freely as normal, because she couldn’t risk leading Stone and James straight to the real X-Diplomats.

How had the innocent ones in the square been arrested and found guilty? None of the four were part of the uprising. As far as Kella knew, none of them held even a basic knowledge of their insurgency. She wouldn’t put it past Regent Jones to use them as examples simply because he could. To instill fear in the real members behind the revolution. Reaper might have more information. She’d ask him once she got a chance to seek him out, assuming he got away from James and Stone’s other goons. Kella hadn’t been so lucky, so she crossed her fingers and hoped Reaper had better luck.

A soft tap on the bathroom door startled her from her thoughts. “You close to finishing up, Kella?”

“Sorry,” she called to him. “I’ll be a few more minutes.”

Spying the old-fashioned toothbrush and toothpaste, Kella snagged it out of the holder. She hadn’t been able to afford the luxury of real dental hygiene in eight years, but had utilized the chewable tablets that fizzed and cleaned away most of the grime. They didn’t work as well, but the real stuff was pricey. Of course Stone would have the genuine product. To use his personal toothbrush would be gross, right?

She ran her finger along the soft bristles. In the end, gross or not, having clean teeth was worth the nastiness of sharing teeth-grime with him.

Clutching the toothbrush between her fingers, she globbed the paste on the bristles. The minty flavor tingled on her tongue, but brushing away the muck felt so good to her gums. After a couple of minutes, she rinsed off the bristles and dropped the brush back in its holder. She spit and rinsed and smiled in the mirror.

Kella toed off her tennis shoes, and quickly stripped off her stiff, mud-caked pants. The red lace of her panties was a nice compliment to her darker skin. She hoped they weren’t ruined. The lingerie had been one of the few splurges she enjoyed. She liked the way they felt against her skin, and she only owned two pairs.

Tears blurred her vision.
Correction
.
Stone owns two pairs...and me.

In a huff, she yanked the panties off and tossed them aside with the rest of her clothing. Tears wet her cheeks and fell so freely she couldn’t make out her socks as she tugged them off and slung them away from her.

Fury rode her hard. Fury over the innocents Regent Jones had brutally murdered in the square. Spooners were afforded a fair trial by a jury of their peers, and even the most blameworthy were rarely found guilty. If by some miracle their actions were so heinous even the spooners couldn’t overlook the misdeed, the offense
never
resulted in execution. Dregs lived and died upon the Regent’s benevolence alone. No impartial trial by a jury of their peers was expected or granted. Regent Jones was a monster. Like all Regents, he ruled with an iron fist, touting equality for the classes while openly exploiting those beneath him.

The injustice of society infuriated her. None of the Regents protected their dreg population—not even Stone. Once born to the dredge of society, there was no way to elevate one’s status unless you were female and an X-gene. And that didn’t guarantee someone an elevated status, but instead came with a chain of servitude for the length of the X-gene’s life. Usually short the moment the girl bore an X amount of fruit from her loins.