The Girl in the City (4 page)

Leah scooted back along the cart and dropped over the edge. As her feet touched the ground, a hand clamped around her wrist. She yelped and looked up into the face of the Amish man who’d been watching the Transport policemen drag away the young man’s body. Up close, his shirt was remarkably white. His green eyes locked onto her from beneath his wide-brimmed hat. Leah’s heart quickened as terror took over. The man pulled her away from the cart, and she swung a fist at him. She caught him on the shoulder, but the blow bounced off.

The man grabbed her other wrist. “Calm down, little one.” His voice was deep and a little rough.

Leah kicked at him, her leather boots glancing off his shin. He grunted and stepped back, holding Leah away by her wrists. The man let her kick at him a few more times, but she was too far away to connect. She stopped and limited herself to wriggling in his grip, trying to break free. She could feel the rough skin on his hands where they held her. They were like the vises in the mechanic’s workshop where her father worked—immovable.

As Leah’s struggles slowed, the man spoke again. “Have you finished?”

Leah glared at him. He smiled, which just made her mad. She yanked her arms again, hoping to catch him off guard. She didn’t.

The man nodded towards her over-laden bag. “Hungry, little one?”

Leah pursed her lips.

“I would imagine the Transport Authority would be very interested in knowing how you ended up in possession of such a delicious haul. I understand they frown on people obtaining food without the requisite permission slips.”

Ice flooded Leah’s veins. The policemen were right there, just a few feet away. They hadn’t spotted her yet, but even if the man didn’t call out to them, it wouldn’t be long before they looked in her direction. She twisted in the man’s grip.

“It’s okay, little one,” said the man. “I’m not going to hurt you or turn you over to Transport.” He knelt down in front of her. The movement put him back within range of her feet, and she kicked at him again, catching him on the side of the leg. He frowned at her, but his eyes were filled with amusement. “My name is Isaac.”

Leah ignored him.

Isaac raised his eyebrows. “It would be polite to tell me your name, now that you know mine.”

Leah looked away, focusing on the dusty ground at her feet.

“I don’t want to have to call you ‘little one’ forever, little one.”

Leah raised her eyes.

“Please?” he asked.

“Leah.”

The man smiled, and it made his eyes sparkle. They reminded Leah of her father’s, although his were blue, not emerald green like Isaac’s.

“Well, Leah, it is a
pleasure
to meet you.”

“Okay,” said Leah.

The corner of Isaac’s mouth turned up a little more, and he snorted. He let go of one of Leah’s wrists and took hold of the bag. “I think that food belongs to me.”

Leah stared at him, her eyes cold, but she let him slip the bag off her shoulder. Maybe if she gave him the food back, he’d let her go.

“That is quite a feast you’ve got there. Do your parents know you’re out here stealing food?”

“My mum’s dead.”

Sorrow filled Isaac’s eyes. “I am sorry to hear that. What about your father? Does he know?”

Leah shook her head.

“He would not approve, I take it?”

That was an understatement. Leah shook her head again.

Isaac lifted the bag to his face and took a deep sniff. He let out a sigh. “My wife baked that bread, I would recognize her recipe anywhere. Lord, that smells good, doesn’t it?”

Leah nodded, and her stomach growled in agreement. Isaac smiled again. Leah looked over his shoulder and gasped. One of the policemen had seen them and was walking across the square, an inquisitive frown on his face. Isaac saw Leah’s reaction and turned. When he saw the policeman, he moved his hand so that it was wrapped around hers, and stood up.

“Good afternoon, Officer,” said Isaac.

The policeman didn’t bother with any pleasantries. “What’s going on here?”

Leah took a deep breath and prepared to run as soon as she got the chance. Isaac must have noticed because he gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

“Just having a conversation with a friend, Officer.”

The policeman frowned. “A friend?”

“Yes,” said Isaac. “A friend.”

The policeman looked at Leah. His eyes narrowed. She could see the suspicion on his face, and she tried to look casual, innocent. She didn’t recognize him, and thankfully, he didn’t seem to know her, either. If he’d been one of the many policemen she’d encountered during her adventures around the City, things might have gone badly. But after looking her up and down a couple of times, he returned his attention to Isaac and nodded towards Leah’s bag. “What’s in there?”

“Lunch,” said Isaac. “Fresh bread and some smoked ham. My wife baked the bread. Would you like some?”

The policeman hesitated but shook his head. He looked at the handcart, and Leah was sure he’d notice the gaps where she’d pulled out the loaves. She was about to make a break for it when one of the other policemen called from across the square. All the wagons had been unloaded, and the Amish were almost ready to leave. The policemen were heading towards the gate to let them out.

The policeman took one last look at Isaac, a glimmer of contempt in his eyes, then turned and strode across the square towards his associates. Leah breathed a sigh of relief. It was a few seconds before she realized Isaac was still holding her hand. She yanked it free and backed away from him.

Isaac looked down at her, the sadness back in his eyes. “You still don’t trust me, little one? I had ample opportunity to turn you in, did I not?”

Leah looked towards the leather bag of food. It was the only thing stopping her from running. She didn’t want to leave without at least the bag. “Can I have my bag back?”

Isaac lifted the bag’s flap and peered inside. He glanced across at the Transport policemen, then closed the bag again and handed it to Leah, still full of food. “Go straight home. Don’t let them catch you with that. You’re young, but that won’t stop them punishing you.”

Leah took the food. The smell of the ham wafted over her again. Leah smiled. “Thank you.”

“Ah ha!” said Isaac. “You do smile.”

Leah blushed, making Isaac grin. “Do you know The Free Man Inn?” he said.

“I think so, yes.”

“I’m going to be staying in the city for three days. If that policeman causes any trouble for you, find me, and God willing, I will help you. Okay?”

Leah nodded.

“Good. Now you’d better go before Transport start snooping around again.”

Leah slipped the strap of the bag over her shoulder. It was heavy and awkward, and it was dangerous to be carrying this much food around, but the risk would be worth it to see the look on her father’s face when she gave it to him.

She smiled at Isaac again, not quite sure what she should say.

“Go on, little one,” he said. “Get out of here.”

Leah checked the square to make sure Transport weren’t watching and hurried away.

Leah knew something was wrong as soon as she reached her street. Bright orange tape hung across the road, blocking off access to some of the houses. A black van was parked diagonally behind the tape, the Transport Authority’s blue-and-gray logo painted across the back doors. A tight-knit group of people Leah didn’t recognize stood nearby, whispering to each other.

Two men and two women, all of them wearing dark blue Transport uniforms, stood around inside the tape. They were watching the crowd very carefully. A white globe buzzed above the scene, darting to and fro as though it was a sand fly—a TRACER drone. Four camera lenses protruded from the sphere, and a cluster of flashing red lights on its top warned everyone that the drone was active.

A young man moved away from the edge of the crowd. As he approached the tape, the drone moved forward. Its red lights pulsed, and it emitted a high-pitched beeping. The man raised his hands and stepped back from the tape. The drone hovered nearby for a moment, then resumed its seemingly random darting.

It took Leah several seconds to realize the orange tape was blocking off access to
her
house. Fear swept through her as she fought to find an explanation. An attack by TRACE was the most obvious, maybe even the explosion she’d heard from the square. But why would they target her home?

She checked the sky above the buildings. There was no fire, no telltale column of smoke. As she got closer, she could see the house was undamaged. Which meant Transport was there for some other reason.

Leah didn’t know much about Transport beyond what her father had told her, and that was precious little. They ran the City—the country, actually—and made the rules people lived by. They were to be obeyed at all costs, and there were consequences for going up against them, consequences she’d seen herself, time and time again.

She knew one other thing: you did not want Transport coming to your home to talk to you.

Leah slapped her head as though she’d suddenly remembered something important, turned on her heels, and walked back down the street. She tried to move slowly and act naturally, but she could almost feel the hot breath of the Transport officers on her neck. Any second, an accusatory hand would grab her by the shoulder, and she’d be dragged, kicking and screaming, into the van.

She turned the corner, out of sight of the officers and their drone, and let out the breath she’d been holding. She picked up her pace.

Farther down the street, there was a narrow alley that led to the back of her house. It was barely wide enough for a cat to saunter down, but Leah was thin, and she often used it when she was returning home with salvage.

After checking that no one was watching, Leah slipped between the two houses and ran to the gate leading to the garden behind their house.

The garden was tiny, just a rectangular patch of grass and a bench her father had built from scrap metal one weekend. There was no sign of Transport. Leah unlatched the iron gate and swung it open. It screeched, the noise painfully loud. Leah cringed and ran across the scrubby grass to the house, leaving the gate open rather than risk making so much noise again.

Leah pressed herself flat against the wall next to the kitchen window. She could hear voices inside. They were muffled and indistinct, but the underlying anger was clear.

Her heart thundering in her chest, Leah put down the bag of food and poked her head up to the window. Her father was sitting at the kitchen table. He was talking animatedly, his hands waving around in front of him as they always did when he got excited. There was a woman standing on the other side of the table. She was old, not much taller than Leah and gray-haired like someone’s grandmother. She had her back to the window but Leah recognized the uniform—another Transport Authority officer, the badge on her shoulder marking her as someone higher up the pecking order than the others outside. A man stood behind Leah’s father. He was also wearing a dark-blue uniform, but without the officer trappings.

The voices from the kitchen became louder, clear enough for Leah to hear.

“Andrew, we know you’re with TRACE. We know you have the data. It would be better for everyone concerned if you gave it to us now.”

Her father shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

There was a pause, the silence ominous, and Leah found herself holding her breath again. The woman gave a curt nod towards the man behind Leah’s father. The male officer stepped forward and wrapped his arm around her father’s neck, dragging him up and away from the table. The chair he’d been sitting on clattered to the floor. Leah gasped. Her father barely responded. He just let the man drag him upright without offering any kind of resistance. Leah could see him struggling to breathe.

The woman walked over to Leah’s father and grabbed his chin. Her fingers dug into his flesh. He clenched his jaw and swallowed.

“This is your last chance, Andrew,” said the woman.

“Please…” whispered Leah, praying her father would tell the officers whatever it was they wanted to hear.

There was another pause, and for a moment, Leah thought he was going to do just that.

But her father pulled his jaw free of the woman’s grip and stared into her eyes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The woman whirled away. Leah gasped as the woman’s gaze flicked across the window, but if she saw Leah, she didn’t acknowledge her.

“Take him to Central,” said the woman.

Leah’s father struggled for a few seconds, but the man holding him tightened his grip. Her father’s face turned red, and he stopped fighting back and let the man guide him out of the room. The Transport officer watched them leave, then followed them out.

Leah turned away from the window and leaned against the wall. Keeping half an eye on the back door in case someone from Transport decided to come outside, she tried to piece together what was going on. Transport wanted the circuit board she’d found, that much was clear. It might even have been Transport that shot the man in the alley, if they wanted it badly enough. But what was it?
Why
did Transport want it so much?