by Alexa Riley
“Shh, that hotty Brad Chalmers is being interviewed again.”
I smile and zip it for the sake of my friend’s man crush. But I know for a fact that Brad is just another pawn of the Regime being put on TV to promote the government’s propaganda.
The women in yoga have loose lips. They all have the hots for the chief of staff and say his real job is to take out Loyalists who’ve been compromised by the Insurgence. His lesser known occupation as a thug make all those women practically cream themselves when they gossip about him.
She stares at the television as he drones on to the camera about some nonsense or another. He’s a tall, muscular guy with a nose that looks like it’s been broken a few times. A nurse can always tell.
He’s not bad looking, but nothing compared to my Owen. My gaze falls away from the TV as I think about the tiny nugget that’s growing inside of me. As much as I’m worried about the future, I’m beyond thrilled. Whatever happens, Owen and I will find a way to be together. We have to. I can't bear the thought of not being with him. For our child to grow up without the two of us together would be a nightmare, and I won’t dwell on it. My Owen can do anything, and he will to protect us.
The next moment, Lisa is snapping me out of my daydreams.
“Holy shit! Did you see that?”
“What?” I ask, looking back to the TV.
“Is he dead? Oh my god, please don’t be dead, Hot Brad can’t die!” she screams.
“What happened?”
“She punched him. That chick came out of nowhere! She punched him and he went down like a rock. He hit his head and now she’s gone. I think he might be dead right there on the street on live TV! Oh my god, I cannot believe you missed that!”
I squint at the TV. “Who punched him?”
“I don’t know who she was, but they’re calling her Nazi-Puncher now. And she’s a badass.”
“Are you crazy? You can’t talk like that in a government hospital! Besides, I thought you were in love with him.”
“I said he’s hot. I didn’t say he didn’t deserve to be punched.” She smiles and gives me a little shrug.
I turn my attention back to the television once again. Brad Chalmers is back on his feet, but the camera is still on him and reporters are clamoring for a comment. I’m surprised to see that the government didn’t use a delay on the feed to keep everyone from seeing one of their own get embarrassed. I watch as Chalmers dabs at his nose. Looks like the protester succeeded in breaking it once again.
That kind of violence, is this what Owen stands for? Even though I shouldn’t condone this kind of behavior, there’s something visceral inside me that liked it. There’s no long-term harm done to the man, probably. The chaos of that moment was satisfying to watch in a world that’s so structured and ordered. At least on this side of the city.
I don’t have long to think on it, because there’s an interruption as a group of EMTs bust through the doors with a woman on a gurney. Lisa and I run to help. The lead emergency worker holds an oxygen mask over the blonde woman’s mouth and nose as he speaks.
A panic falls over me.
“Law enforcement, found unconscious in her office just minutes ago,” he says.
I’m certain as I look at the blonde hair and tan face that this is the woman I suspected of being a mole in my yoga class this morning. The one I adjusted to give her a headache and make her muscles sore. Not to fall unconscious!
The team wheels her into the unit and work to resuscitate her. They hook her up to an IV line as she begins to breathe on her own. She’s not responding to anything we’re doing, and I’m terrified.
So much for not condoning violence. I just put one of my students in a coma.
Chapter Twelve
Minnie
Owen knew things would come to this. He predicted I would have a breaking point. But I denied it. Yoga was nonviolent. I was trying to do my part in a nonviolent way, but I’m beginning to see that might not always be the option. I’m seeing that even more now that I have a child of my own to protect. It’s already a love like I’ve never known, and it’s taking hold inside me.
I have no time to think what to do next, because the military police are checking in yet another new patient to the emergency room.
A tall man with a broken nose. None other than Chief of Staff Brad Chalmers.
I have to summon all strength to keep my fingers from shaking as I clean the blood off his face and set the cartilage in his nose without anesthesia. It was his choice to go without it. I bandage him up and put him in a wheelchair, which he doesn’t appreciate.
As soon as the radiology nurse wheels him away, I have to take a moment to breathe. Placing my hands on the counter of the exam room, I breathe in and out. Deep inhale through the nose, exhale through the mouth. The horror is coming in waves. What have I done to that woman? She was likely only doing her job. Maybe I should have talked to her. Made her see reason. But what if she would have taken me in on the spot? Made me disappear like they did my mother?
One moment I’m plotting how to raise a baby with Owen, the next I’m considering whether I should turn myself in for assault on the female Regime official. A knock on the open exam room door pulls my attention.
“I need a minute, okay?” I push past my lips.
“It’s not okay. I need you in my office. Now.”
It’s my supervisor, and she sounds pissed.
Shit. I follow her to her office.
“Sit down.” My supervisor Tina closes the door to her office. “Minnie, this is serious,” Her eyes are locked on me. My heart starts to pound and my hand protectively goes to my stomach.
“Oh god, I know. I don’t know how it happened, but I will take full responsibility…”
Tina cuts me off. “I’ll tell you how this happened. Nobody ever taught you how to act like a lady,” she says, throwing me off.
What the hell…? “I’m not sure…”
“And yes, you will be taking full responsibility for this. We have expedited your arrangement. You’ll be married next week.”
The blood drains from my face. I might faint. I try to hold back the terror. “I don’t understand what that has to do with what happened today.”
My boss is getting increasingly pissed. “Did you skip the day in nursing school when they taught you about human reproduction? You sleep around, you get pregnant. End of story.”
Oh god. She isn’t talking about the agent. But how does she know about the pregnancy already? And how dare she imply that I sleep around.
“I’m so confused right now,” I say, trying to think how she knows this already.
“Your coworker stumbled on your test stick that you left lying around for everyone to see. It was yours, wasn’t it?”
Coworker? Lisa? Shock and sadness rise in my throat, but I fight back tears. No. I won’t let any of them see me cry.
No point in denying the pregnancy test was mine. They will see the bump in about three to four months anyway.
“Yes, it’s mine,” I admit.
Tina shakes her head. “I guess we can take the treasure out of the trash, but we can’t always get the trash out of the treasure.”
“What does that mean?” I try to hold back the bite in my tone, not wanting to dig my grave even deeper.
“It means as a scholarship child from the other side, we expected more from you. But I suppose we should not have expected you to keep your legs together, just like the rest of them.”
Anger replaces the tears in my throat. I don’t even know what to say or where to focus my rage.
Tina continues. “I’ve sent for your things. You’ll be staying in your dorm until the wedding.”
“Do I get to meet him first?” I throw out, not that I want to meet this man anyway.
“Sweetie, you lost that privilege when you let street scum knock you up.”
“This is wrong. I want to marry the father of my baby,” I protest.
I have to bite the inside of my c
heek to stop myself from saying more. The anger coursing through me has me clenching my fists in my lap. I’ve never wanted to really punch someone before, but right now I’d love nothing more.
“You know as well as I do that all marriages are subject to approval by the Regime and any marriage between an elite and non-elite is forbidden.”
“I’m not an elite.” Thank god.
“You were chosen to be here. That makes you an elite. A very special kind of elite. You got here on your own merit.”
“I wanted a job. Just like everyone else.” I shake my head. I wanted to learn how to help others. To heal. I’m seeing now that I have to pay a high price for that.
“The good news for you is you get to keep your status once the wedding takes place, and if your husband sees fit, you may even get to keep your job.” Tina leans back in her chair and folds her arms. This is the end of the argument, I know that. “The wedding coordinator will be contacting you soon. And don’t bother trying to go back to your lover. You will be followed and he will be dealt with.”
So that’s it.
I know I can’t go back to Owen. I would be leading The Regime right to the heart of the Insurgence. To the man I love. I won’t let them have him.
After being dismissed I return to the emergency ward. Lisa bumps right into me as I round the corner from the administration offices. I look her straight in the eye and feel the heat of anger in my chest.
“Hi.”
“Hey, Minnie,” she says.
“Where are you going? Got some more dirt about me to throw around?”
Lisa looks confused. “I don’t know who or what you’re talking about.”
“I’ll bet you don’t.” I shoulder check her as I walk past and return to work.
I’m so angry I have to fight my body not to shake. There’s absolutely nobody left for me to trust except Owen, and I’m never going to see him again. I’m starting to feel the rage he was talking about, the thing that makes me think that violence is an acceptable way to fight back. Maybe he was right.
Brad Chalmers had returned from radiology and is speaking on his phone to someone important, but he sounded agitated. I wait a moment at the entrance to his exam room and when I think the conversation is through, I go in, only to be surprised by a flying phone that breezes past me a little too closely.
“Sorry,” he says, running his hands through his hair and clearly upset about what he just did.
I stare at him. He’s being overly apologetic, but something is bothering him. He looks at my badge and then starts reaching into his wallet. Oh please.
Sure enough, he pulls out a food voucher. Just another reason I know I’d never truly be an elite. No matter what my marital status says and no matter if I keep my job, I’m from the wrong kind of lineage. I’ll always carry the label of “illegitimate,” just like my unborn child.
“No thank you,” I say, giving him a dismissive hand wave and not meeting his eyes. He doesn’t seem like a total jerk, he just feels bad for me and my situation. Just another reminder of how this whole system is entirely wrong.
Maybe it’s time to fight back, in a different way.
Brad, who had no idea what’s going on in my head, asks me what he can do since I’m refusing the food vouchers.
I look him straight in the eyes and realize as I form the words exactly how I want to fight back.
“I need someone killed,” I say, and he laughs.
Chapter Thirteen
Minnie
From my dorm room window, I stare down at the wall and the old brewery just on the other side. The lamp is still there in the window. I hope Owen is safe and that no one has found out about him and where he’s staying.
My heart aches at not being near him and knowing I might never see him again. The thought is unbearable. Owen’s dark, intense eyes flash in my mind. I can’t believe he’d ever truly let me go. But I know how much the I Insurgence means to him. He has thousands of people to take care of. To lead. He wouldn't risk all that for me. Would he?
Still, against his wishes, I blink my light off and back on, just once, to show Owen that I’m okay. The last thing I want to do is worry him. Who knows who could be watching me. I desperately want to take comfort in his arms right now, but if the Regime found us together, he would disappear forever.
My heart breaks into a million pieces when I think of how Owen and I can't be together.
But I knew this was the case before he ever put his hands on me. I knew we could never work as a couple. I was a crossover, born into the oppressed society but accepted into elite society because of my scholarship. But still I wanted my stolen moment with him. I just didn't know how hard it would be to let go. I’m sure I can survive it.
But even though I choose to stay and reside outside of the privileged class, I’m still subjected to the expectations of high society. I belong to them in their eyes and they won't let me go. There’s no escaping into the night. They’d hunt me down.
I’m expected to marry an elite, and of course it would be an elite of their choosing. Someone who matches my background and who can give them more elite children. My plan, when I accepted the scholarship, was to infiltrate and change the system from the inside out. With nonviolence measures. I wanted to learn how to heal people and take my skills to my side as well.
But that plan isn’t working. I’m a highly respected nurse at the main for-profit hospital. And now I’m about to be fully immersed in elite society with a husband, permanent residency and a baby that they’ll pretend is my new husband’s progeny. The thought steals the breath right out of my lungs.
The Regime and its followers are good at denying the truth, so as long as babies are born after a wedding, the groom is the father. And thousands if not millions of biological fathers go on with their lives in ignorance.
I will never want anyone but Owen. He’s my soulmate.
But I can’t dare return not knowing what might follow me to his doorstep.
Chapter Fourteen
Owen
Something’s wrong. I can feel it all the way down to my bones. I’m pacing like a caged animal, and I can't wait any longer. I have to get my own eyes on her and make sure she’s okay. Otherwise I’ll end up ripping that fucking wall down with my bare hands.
I head to the basement and pull back the false stack of kegs hiding the door to the tunnel. I push it open and enter into the darkness. Nothing could stop me from getting to her. Minnie belongs to me now. The Regime can't have her.
I haven't seen her in days, and she didn’t return to me on Sunday night like she was supposed to.
It’s Monday morning and a lot has happened. Word spread that a government agent is in the hospital in a suspicious coma. More alarmingly, Brad Chalmers has been shot and killed by someone they call Insurgent No. 1. Except I know the truth behind the story. Brad faked his death so he and Sylvia could be together. They came to me to help them disappear, and I didn’t refuse.
I’ve kept the lamp lit in the window, but it isn’t enough. She’s signaling every night that she’s okay, but otherwise not responding. Why is she still there? She should have come home to me by now. I shouldn't have ever let her go to the other side, but I know how badly she wants to help. I couldn't tell her no, but this has to end. I can’t keep sending her to the other side. It’s slowly eating me alive. I don’t get anything done when she’s gone. Then when I get her back, I pull her into bed and don’t let her leave for days.
I have to get to Minnie.
When I reach the other side of the tunnel, I tap out a signal code and a door opens.
This is the first time the Librarian and I have ever laid eyes on each other, but we exchange no pleasantries. I simply ask for building plans to the hospital dormitory and she gets them for me.
Later that night, the Librarian is shutting me in the trunk of her car and driving me to the service entrance of the nursing dorm. She tells everyone she’s got a book delivery to make there and no one questions her.<
br />
When we arrive at the location she said would be safest to let me out, she pops the trunk and I slip out.
I’m dressed in all black so I can blend into the shadows. I scale the drainpipe until I reach the roof. Scanning the heating vents, I pray that I know what I’m doing. This is out of control, but I don't care. I’m not stopping until I have her in my arms again.
I’m normally a man in control of myself, but not when it comes to my little sparrow. I’m in control of the Insurgence and I have masses of people carrying out very precise orders all by my command. Every minute of my day is normally calculated for the sake of the cause and is devoted to fighting the Regime and not getting caught. And now my Minnie has sent me into chaos in what I can only describe as a beautiful way. I’m going to the other side of the wall, a dangerous place for the leader of the Insurgence. But she’s worth the risk. If I didn't have her by my side I’d be useless. I need her to ground me once again.
I pick a vent, open it, and crawl in.
Here I am in the belly of the beast, risking everything for my woman. She’s breathtaking, brave, exciting, soft, inviting, and unbelievably sexy. This world is so hopeless and sad at times, and then she comes along and turns all of it upside down. I can barely concentrate when she’s not with me. Every time I close my eyes I feel like she’s beside me.
Eventually I find the back of the vent that I think leads to Minnie’s room. I’m not sure what else to do at this point, so I take a chance and knock.
“Minnie,” I whisper and then a shriek echoes from the room.
“What the fuck?!” I hear from the other side of the vent.
“Shhh! It’s me, Owen. I’m in here,” I say, trying to whisper-shout without causing too much of a commotion. I knock again at the metal grate at the ceiling of her room. I breathe a sigh of relief when I can see her staring up at me.
“Are you insane? What are you doing?” she hisses and then looks back at her door.
