by Lolita Lopez
For some unknown reason, the Splinters had picked her planet as their latest base of operations. She suspected the way her people shunned most technology and scientific advances and were nearly totally closed-off from the outside world had appealed to them. They were a populace unable to defend themselves and easily conquered.
A horrific bombing years earlier had forced her planet to seek help from the sky warriors, and treaties were quickly signed. In exchange for military aid, her people provided the Harcos with food, natural resources—and women.
“Why is the war already here?” She feared the answer but needed to know.
“You forget the way Naya was nearly killed in that warehouse over the guns and the food shipments? Or how about that mess that nearly got Dizzy, Hopper and Jack Lane killed down here in the tunnels?” Danny made a face. “That’s just a taste of the nightmare that awaits us if the Splinters aren’t stopped.”
“But how?” Ella glanced at the revelers who seemed totally oblivious to the precarious situation unraveling around them. “Danny, people are just trying to survive out there. They don’t give a shit about the war between the Harcos and the Splinter faction. That’s them, not us.”
“It is us, Ella.” Danny rubbed the back of his neck. “They’ll find a way to make it about us.”
She didn’t know if he meant the Splinter terrorists or the Harcos sky warriors. Either way, she figured their people were screwed. Hating to see him so stressed, she reached out and rubbed his arm. “Hey, why don’t you have a drink and stay a while?”
For a moment, he looked as if he might agree. “I can’t, Ella. I need to get to a safe house for the night and get some sleep. It’s going to be a busy couple of days for me.”
“Why?”
He tapped his watch. “It’s the start of a new quarter tomorrow morning—and you know what that means.”
She groaned. “Ugh. Another Grab! Where?”
“The Mill.”
“How many got pulled this time?”
“A dozen, I think. We only had two women trade lottery numbers and ask for help getting to the colonies. From what I’ve heard, the rest of the girls wanted to be taken.”
Ella considered the sky warriors she had met while attending her best friend Dizzy’s wedding to the frighteningly huge sniper Venom. Although the alien males were terrifyingly large and gruff, she had been surprised by the sweetness Venom’s friends and colleagues had shown her. They had all been extremely respectful and kind toward her. Not a one of them had tried to cross that line. The same could not be said for men of her own kind.
“Maybe word is finally getting out about how good it is up there,” she reasoned aloud. “If I was facing a life slaving away in the fields or trying to scrape by here in The City while working myself into an early grave in one of the factories, the chance of being taken away from all this to a place where men treat you like something precious might sound awfully tempting.”
“Don’t forget about the collars and the leashes and the whips and the chains—”
She held up her hand. “You have spent enough time up there with Naya and Dizzy to know that’s not strictly true. Yes, some of those men are assholes but take a look around you, Danny. The ones here are just as bad.”
His expression softened toward her. Was he thinking of the way she’d been mistreated, used and abused over the years? If he was, he didn’t bring it up, and she was grateful for that. They were memories she wanted to keep buried—forever.
Tugging the magazine free from her grasp, he tucked it back inside his jacket. “Don’t do this again, Ella. It’s too dangerous.”
“I needed the money, Danny.”
“There are better ways to raise it.”
“Yes,” she conceded, “but I needed it fast. One of my benefactors bailed on me, and I had to fund the closing for the land. It was easy money and I couldn’t pass it up.”
“You have to be careful, Ella. Since you’ve decided to throw your lot in with the New Dawn, you’re going to be a big target.”
“This fundraiser is going to fix my funding issues in the short-term. I have plenty of legit campaigns booked to fund the rest. I couldn’t risk losing the land. I need to know the doors of the shelter will be open by late fall, before the first freeze.” Her throat tightened as she thought of the young women who hadn’t survived the prior winter. “I can’t lose any more of my girls.”
Danny trailed his finger down her cheek and playfully poked one of her dimples. “There’s that warrior mama again.”
“Someone has to look out for them, Danny.” She put her hand against his chest and rubbed a circle over his heart. “We’re not all lucky enough to have a big brother to take us under his wing and protect us.”
He looked slightly abashed and gave another one of those careless shrugs. “I did what anyone would do when faced with finding a six-year-old kid digging through garbage cans for her breakfast.”
“No, you did so much more,” she murmured gratefully. “You taught me how to survive and fend for myself.”
“Sometimes I worry you may have taken my advice to use that pretty face of yours to your advantage too literally,” he said in a voice colored by regret.
She swallowed hard as the implications of his words hit her. He wasn’t trying to be cruel—the man didn’t have a cruel bone in his body—but he hurt her nonetheless. “What else was I supposed to do, Danny?”
His jaw visibly tensed. “I don’t know. I never wanted that for you. Never.”
Pushing down the pain that threatened to overwhelm her, Ella lifted her chin. After Harkin, the only man she had ever loved, bailed on her and she lost the one thing in the world she had wanted so badly, she had done whatever it took to get off the streets.
“I made my choices, and I can live with them. I’m doing all this to get that shelter built because I want to spare other girls those hard decisions.” She hesitated as a ball of emotion clogged her throat. “I’ll never have children of my own, Danny. Those street kids who come to me for help? They’re my children. They’re the ones who matter to me.”
“You won’t be much help to them if the censors lock you up in one of their work camps.”
“I won’t end up in a work camp.”
“I hope you’re right, Elladee. I won’t always be around to get you out of trouble.” He seemed to waver and opened his mouth twice before finally speaking. “I heard Harkin was seen in the colonies.”
The mention of her one-time closest friend and lover caused her knees to wobble. “Are you sure?”
“The person who told me is never wrong. I’m not sure what Harkin has gotten mixed up in, but it’s probably not good. If he comes to The City, I’ll make sure you know.”
“He wouldn’t dare come back here,” Ella insisted. “Not after the fire. He still has warrants out for his arrest.”
“If Harkin gets arrested, you know what George will do.” Danny seemed reluctant to even say the name of the head of the secret police who had tormented her for years. “He’ll try to use Harkin as leverage to get you back.”
“I’m never going back to him,” Ella swore.
“He knows your pain points. He knows what matters most to you, and he will absolutely use that knowledge to manipulate you right back into his life.”
A shiver of fear left her nauseated. The memories of her life with George were almost too much to bear. It had been years since she had broken free from him, but the scars—emotional and physical—would never leave her.
Hugging her close, Danny brushed a tender kiss to her temple. “Be safe, kiddo.”
“Always.” She held onto him for a few more seconds, refusing to let go of him just yet. With the risks he took to make life better on their planet, Ella never knew when—or if—she might see him again.
When they parted, she stared at Danny’s back, watching the man who had been the only constant in her life disappear into the dancing crowd. The urge to run after him, to beg him to stay and give up h
is dangerous work, was so strong, but she remained rooted to the spot, fully aware that Danny had long ago made peace with the idea that he might die at any moment.
The image of Danny vanishing before her eyes forced Ella to remember the other times she had been left behind by the people she loved. Her mother, Harkin, Naya, Dizzy—they had been but four in a long line of people who had walked out of her life as easily as they had slipped into it.
That wasn’t quite fair, she acknowledged privately. Naya had left The City to start anew in Connor’s Run, to build a life for herself as a business owner and escape the hellish landscape of the slums and streets where they had spent most of their teenage years. Poor Dizzy had been forced into a Grab to escape a loan shark and a tangled web of deceit her parents had woven. And her mother? Well—Ella really didn’t want to think about that.
The squawk of the amplifier cutting across the crowd made Ella wince. She put a hand to her ear and downed the last of her drink.
“Remember to drop your change in the jars, folks!” Across the subterranean space, Hopper took the time to point out the men and women walking around with donation jars. “Every penny counts—and we need every single one to get this shelter open by the winter. So, line up at the mixing booth, buy a drink or two, drop your extra change in a jar and dance your asses off!”
Ella smiled at the raucous whoops and applause that erupted. A moment later, the band started another song and Hopper shocked the crowd by diving into them. Gasping, Ella watched her wild friend body surf along the outstretched hands, her petite body easily floating on the palms held up to support her.
At the edge of the dance floor, a taller guy lowered Hopper to the ground. He looped his arms around her waist and tried to steal a kiss, but she skillfully turned her head and tapped her cheek. Laughing, the guy pecked Hopper’s cheek and let her go. Like a lot of girls who had grown up on the streets, Hopper had drawn the line when it came to men and intimacy. She wasn’t going to get herself in any sort of trouble.
Like the one that got me…
“Did Danny already bail?” Hopper rose on tiptoes to search for him. “I didn’t even get to say hi.”
Ella rubbed her pouting friend’s arm. “Sorry, honey. He had some place to be.”
“Doesn’t he always?” Shrugging Hopper turned back toward her and smiled. “So what birthday is this? Are we calling it twenty-four?”
Because Ella had been so young when she was abandoned by her mother, she hadn’t known quite how old she was. Danny had assumed she was six when he found her and that seemed close enough. “It’s been eighteen years since Danny found me so yes.”
“And fourteen since you found me,” Hopper replied, her gaze turning wistful.
Ella remembered the evening she had come across the scrawny, blonde-haired little girl crying and stuffed in a crate in some filthy alley. Hopper had been so very young, maybe three or four. She had hardly been able to speak at all and they had assumed she was deaf or mute for weeks until she finally started to use her words. Later, Ella had understood that poor baby Hopper had survived some sort of traumatic ordeal that had stripped her of her ability to communicate. What that ordeal was Hopper had never said, and Ella didn’t dare push.
“God, we’ve come a long way since the days of scrounging through garbage and sleeping on cardboard.”
Had they? Sometimes Ella wondered if she would ever achieve what she really wanted. Dizzy and Naya had found their happily ever afters but Ella’s always seemed just out of reach. In truth, she had stopped hoping for something that seemed so fantastically impossible. After all the ways she had been screwed over in the past, she figured she was probably better off on her own anyway. She could count on herself. The same couldn’t be said for most men.
“Hey, are you going to see Dizzy again sometime soon?”
“I might get to see her in a few weeks. I’m on the list for the next family and friends visit, but I may get bumped because I was allowed to come aboard the Valiant for her wedding. Why? Did you want to go with me?”
“Me? Up there?” Hopper scrunched up her nose. “Heck no. I’m a strictly on the ground sort of gal. No, I wanted to ask about that sky warrior who was hurt trying to recover the fuel rods from the tunnels. Danny said that Pierce was recovering well, but I don’t believe it. That poor bastard fell so hard.”
“Well, they have medical technology up there that is amazing. I told you about the soldier I met with the mechanical leg, right?”
“Mayhem?”
“Yes. That thing is amazing. I could not believe the way it responded and reacted exactly like a real flesh-and-blood limb. You should have seen him running on the beach. It was impressive.”
Hopper’s mouth lifted with a sly smile. “Uh-huh. Sounds like you thought Mayhem was impressive.”
Ella didn’t deny it. “He’s gorgeous—but much too dangerous for me. They’re all way too dangerous.”
“Sure,” Hopper agreed, “but they’re also extremely capable and protective. I envy Dizzy. It must be the most wonderful feeling in the world to have a partner she can count on to protect and love her.”
Like Hopper, Ella had no idea what that must feel like. She would be a bald-faced liar if she said she didn’t sometimes yearn for a partner to share the burden but it wasn’t in the cards for her. “Yes, she’s very happy.”
“You know, you’re sort of in an ideal position, Ella. You get to go up there to visit your best friend who just happens to be surrounded by dozens of eligible officers looking for wives. You don’t have to take the risk of being picked in the lottery and Grabbed.”
Thinking of the life she had worked so hard to build, she said, “There’s no way I could live up there. My life is here. My career, my friends, my shelter, my girls—I belong here.”
“You can’t do it alone forever, Ella. At some point, you need someone to lean on. We all do.” Before she could argue with Hopper, her friend kept talking. “You have the chance to go after the pick of the litter, you know? Choose the one you want. Surely one of them interested you?”
Ella swallowed nervously. “Interested me? Sure.” She hesitated. “I liked Venom’s best friend Raze. He was…kind.”
“Kind?” Hopper fished for more information.
She tried to find the words to describe their brief interactions during Dizzy’s wedding. Her heartbeat ticked up a notch as she remembered the way he had shielded her from the rush of men who had descended on the arrivals deck of the Valiant for her autograph. He had curved that big, brawny arm of his around her shoulders, dragging her tight to his hard, hot body and preventing the mad descent of horny soldiers and airmen from trampling her as they waved paper advertisements in front of her and begged for autographs. Even now, all these weeks later, she could still smell him. He wore a comforting blend of scents, something a little earthen and bright and reminiscent of her favorite summer in the forest.
“He was nice to me without any sort of ulterior motive. He was…different. It was nice to speak to a man and spend time with him without worrying that he just wanted to get me on my back or use me for my connections.” Feeling embarrassed but certain she could trust Hopper not to laugh at her, she admitted, “I think he liked me. The real me.”
“Of course, he did! I love the real you. Why wouldn’t everyone else?” Waggling her pale eyebrows, Hopper asked, “So do you think he might be the name we put at the top of your list?”
“What’s all this we business, Hops? And I’m not making a list! Look—I’m not the type of woman that a man like that would want.”
Hopper’s smile faded. “Why would you say something like that, Ella?”
Annoyance flared deep inside her. “Because it’s the truth, Hops. Men like that? Men like Raze and Venom and Menace? They don’t want a girl like me. I’m not bright, shiny or new.” She brushed her hand against the front of her belly and the scar she took great pains to hide. “I’m broken and dirty and smudged.”
“Ella, don’t say—”
Shouts near one of the tunnel entrances interrupted Hopper. Before Ella could even process what was happening, a series of blasts ricocheted off the walls and echoed so loudly in the cavernous interior of the abandoned subway that her stomach actually pitched. What in the hell?
Covering her ears, she tried to make sense of the chaos but it was impossible. A strange smoke filled the air, rapidly spreading across the crowd. The acrid stink of it made Ella cough and wheeze. Her eyes burned and tears streamed down her face. Choking for air, Ella grabbed Hopper’s hand and rushed into the stampeding crowd. Every fiber of her being demanded that she find clean air. Now.
But the swirling mass of panicked partygoers was impossible to escape. Hopper jerked hard on Ella’s hand and dragged her in a different direction. Trusting her friend’s knowledge of the tunnel systems, she kept close and tried not to breathe in too much of the tainted air. Her stinging eyes flooded her cheeks, and she rubbed at them in a desperate attempt to clear away the agonizingly painful sensation.
“No!” Hopper screamed but Ella couldn’t see what had happened. Her friend was jerked away.
Ella frantically snatched at the air but came up empty. “Hops!”
A cruel hand gripped the back of Ella’s neck. She gasped with pain as it drove her down to her knees. A heavy piece of cloth—a hood—covered her head. Terrified by the sensation, she reached up to rip it free, but her hands were grabbed and dragged behind her back where they were quickly secured. Her ankles were soon locked into a similar position.
Lifted like a hogtied animal, Ella was carried out of the tunnel. She felt the difference in temperature on her bare legs as the cool night breeze touched her skin. Not long after, she was tossed like a piece of garbage into some sort of vehicle, probably one of the criminal transport trucks commonly seen around the capitol. She hit another body—a back, maybe—and tried to roll into a better position. Another person slammed into her, crushing her ankles against her legs in the most awkward and painful way.
Trying not to freak out, Ella closed her eyes tightly and concentrated solely on her breathing. She dragged slow, calmed breaths into her lungs and wiggled her shoulders and hips until she found the most comfortable position. When she had regained some control, Ella listened for any signs that Hopper was nearby. Fearing for her friend, she prayed Hopper had managed to escape.
