02 Masked-New World

by Stalder, Janelle

  It was going to be a long night.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  “This party sucks,” Sam complained, stuffing a pastry into her mouth.

  Vi grunted her agreement. “I think one-armed Louis down by the stacks throws a better party than this.”

  Sam nodded. “That man makes the best moonshine.”

  “That moonshine can burn the hairs out your nose just from sniffing it,” Lake commented, her face scrunching up in disgust.

  “I know.” Sam smiled.

  “Burns your sarcophagus on the way down,” Vi said with her own grin.

  “It’s esophagus, moron,” Lake said. “We’re not mummies.”

  “No wonder Trent always complains when we banter about rubbish,” Seamus murmured. “They’re worse than us.”

  “It’s definitely a close competition,” Pete said, his eyes continuing to scan the room. The girls continued to talk, although he’d stopped listening about ten minutes ago after Sam had eaten the whole platter of shrimp then complained at the lack of food. He didn’t know how they ever managed to get anything accomplished. The five of them stood along the north wall, well away from the Uppers who mingled amongst each other in the middle of the room. Charlotte, Trent, Phoenix and Garrett were on the south side, while Tyler and Pixie waited across the street in another building, keeping an eye on those who were still arriving.

  His nerves were starting to get the better of him the longer it took for them to spot Bridge. The only comfort was that Ludwig himself had yet to arrive still. Pete hoped Bridge would be with him. The last thing they needed was for their assumptions to be wrong, and Bridge wasn’t planning on attending. Pete didn’t like the idea of putting them all at risk by being here for no reason.

  A flash of gold caught his eye from the opposite side of the room. The tiny beads on Charlotte’s dress sparkled in the light, the gold setting off her dark strands of hair. She literally took his breath away. It was a shame they were only here to work, because all Pete wanted to do was press her sweet body against his, and spend the rest of the evening admiring her. The extravagant mask Phoenix had got her only enhanced Charlotte’s beauty. No man in the entire room was immune to her as she passed them by. Thankfully no one had approached her, otherwise things would take a turn for the worse quickly.

  Trent stayed close behind her, his large form standing out amongst the crowd. Pete was pretty sure he had a lot to do with the other male’s distance. Trent didn’t come off as someone you wanted to mess with.

  A commotion by the door had Pete looking away from the woman who beguiled him, just in time to see Ludwig enter. A handful of soldiers followed, but no Weapon X. His stomach dropped. The next few minutes were tense as he waited to see if she was just behind him, but no one else entered. Pete looked over at Seamus, who, despite the mask hiding one side of his face, wore the same apprehensive expression Pete wore.

  “You think she’s coming?” Seamus asked.

  Pete looked back at the front doors, a sliver of hope still alive. When no one else came in, he turned to the others. “I think we should leave,” he suggested.

  “What? But we just got here,” Sam said.

  “She’s not here,” Pete replied. “There’s no sense in risking all of us getting caught if we can’t do what we came here to do.”

  “He has a point,” Lake agreed. “To be honest, being around all these uppers and soldiers is giving me the heebby jeebbies.”

  “You talk like my eighty year old grandma,” Seamus said.

  “How do we know she’s not just fashionably late?” Vi asked.

  “This is Bridgette,” Pete said. “She’s never late for anything. I don’t think she’s coming, which means we need to leave – now.”

  “Fine,” Sam said with a sigh. “I bet Missy’s made something better than this garbage anyway.”

  “How much food do you eat, woman?” Seamus said.

  “There’s nothing wrong with a healthy appetite,” she answered before stomping away toward the front doors.

  “Sam was the only one out of her family to survive when the soldiers raided their village,” Lake said softly. “She spent a long time alone on the streets before we found her. She doesn’t like to be hungry. I think it brings back too many bad memories.”

  Seamus cursed under his breath. “I was only teasing,” he said.

  Lake smiled sadly. “I know. So does she. Sam can just be a little touchy sometimes.”

  “Let’s go get the others,” Pete said, giving his friend a sympathetic look. Seamus was likely to feel bad about his comment for the rest of the night now, until he could apologize. Pete turned to find Charlotte again. When he saw her, he noticed her body stiffen, her eyes trained on something near the front entrance. He looked to where she was staring, and froze when he saw Ludwig Tennebris standing just as still, his eyes focused on Charlotte.

  “Shit.”

  Charlotte was growing more anxious the longer it took to find Bridgette, but it was nothing compared to the panic that set in when Ludwig walked through the doors. At first she’d been looking behind him for the infamous Weapon X, but when she didn’t show, Charlotte’s eyes had gone to Ludwig himself. As if by some invisible force, his eyes had met hers dead on from across the room. Every muscle in her body had frozen when she saw the recognition in his eyes.

  Trent swore quietly behind her, but she couldn’t look away from the New World leader who had essentially taken care of her for the past five years. Slowly, he made his way toward her, a warm smile lighting up his face. Charlotte could sense the people around her reacting to their leader, but the two of them seemed to be caught in their own private moment.

  He stopped just in front of her, his eyes raking down her body slowly with appreciation. “You look lovely, darling,” he said, his familiar voice washing over her. It hadn’t been very long since she’d been under the same roof as him, but for some reason it felt like years right then. “I thought you were wearing the silver dress, although gold does look rather fetching on you.”

  Charlotte forced a smile, her palms growing sweaty. “I liked this one on me better,” she lied. Although now she knew Bridgette would be wearing a silver dress, which was helpful at the moment. Charlotte had banked on the fact that Bridgette would be in the Weapon X uniform, but apparently she’d be dressed just like the rest of them. Somehow Charlotte needed to pass this information off to Tyler outside, before Bridgette made her appearance.

  “Where is Roman?”

  Charlotte shrugged casually, forcing her muscles to relax so Ludwig wouldn’t pick up on her distress. He was a very perceptive man, part of the reason she hadn’t wanted to come here in the first place. It really was no surprise that he’d recognized her so quickly, considering how well they knew one another.

  “Probably doing a security check around the perimeter, I’d imagine,” he said on a laugh. “That man doesn’t know how to relax, I swear.”

  “A rather good quality when being your head of security, I’d imagine,” she replied.

  “Touché, my dear. How about a dance then?”

  She hesitated, looking around discreetly for the others. Ludwig stepped closer, his hand landing lightly on her back.

  “Don’t be nervous, Di,” he said reassuringly, mistaking her hesitancy. “No one knows who you are. They’re all too distracted by your beauty tonight.”

  Charlotte swallowed against the dryness in her throat. “I’m just embarrassed to dance,” she explained. “I don’t really know how.”

  Ludwig grinned. “Well it’s a good thing I’m an excellent lead then.” He escorted her to the dance floor, pulling her into his arms as the band started to play. Charlotte placed her hands timidly on his shoulders, praying Pete wouldn’t do anything stupid right now. She could only imagine the thoughts going through his head.

  They danced in silence for a moment, Charlotte too concentrated on following his moves to do much else. Despite how uncomfortable this all was, the silence between them r
eally wasn’t all that awkward. After everything that had happened within the last month, and despite all her plans against this man in front of her, there was still a small sense of familiarity between them that didn’t make their silence awkward at all. That fact bothered her a bit, but was true nonetheless.

  “How do you think the turnout is?” he asked. This was normal to her, she realized. Ludwig asking for her opinion was something she had come to expect, and so when he asked her she didn’t even hesitate to give an honest answer as she looked around the room.

  “I think it’s going well,” she said. “From what I can tell, almost all the Uppers are here.”

  “Have you seen Sal and Eve this evening?”

  Charlotte did little to hide the shudder at just the mention of the arms dealer’s name. “Thankfully no,” she replied. It didn’t surprise her that the woman was here, considering she went everywhere Sal did. The two of them were just two more reasons to add to the growing list of why this whole plan was a terrible idea.

  Ludwig chuckled in her ear. “Not a fan?”

  “Sal is an idiot, we both know that.”

  Ludwig grunted his agreement. “I kind of think he fancies you.”

  Charlotte rolled her eyes. “I’d rather cut off an arm than let him touch me.”

  He laughed again. “So grisly, Di. Leave your arms where they are. I won’t let him put one finger on you, I promise.”

  And there it was, another achingly familiar circumstance – Ludwig ready and willing to defend her against all others. A sense of guilt crept into her stomach that she silently tried to fight, but it persisted. How could she feel bad about betraying a man who’d killed more people than she could imagine, and kept her away from her sister all these years? It just didn’t make sense, and yet she did.

  Ludwig pulled her closer, snapping her out of her thoughts. His lips brushed her ear as he spoke in a whisper. “Have you seen any signs of your father?”

  Her father? Charlotte’s hands instinctively flexed on his shoulders. Was that what this was all about? Some elaborate plan to draw out her father? But how? Did they hope the lure of having all Uppers in one place would be enough to force Douglas out of hiding? Or was it something else? She wished she could ask, but knew it would likely give her away.

  “N –” She cleared her throat. “Nothing yet.”

  He opened his mouth to reply then stilled. They stopped dancing, his eyes trained over her shoulder.

  “Ludwig?” Confusion washed over his face as his hands tightened their hold on her. Charlotte looked over her shoulder, an instant wave of hot and cold spreading over her body with dread. Just inside the doorway stood two unmistakable people, even with their masks on. Ludwig’s hands tightened further. She looked back at him, their eyes meeting. His were filled with questions and what she identified as hurt. It felt like someone had punched her in the gut, her chest tightened to the point of pain.

  His eyes looked back over to the door. She could practically see him trying to work out the situation in his head. Charlotte looked back at the two newcomers, her gaze meeting with a dark blue one that instantly turned to horror. Roman took one step toward her, his body visibly tight. It hit Charlotte right then that Roman didn’t look surprised to see her, as if he’d already known the Charlotte beside him wasn’t really her.

  Suddenly her vision was cut off by a large body that appeared between them. “Time to go,” Trent said, no longer wearing his mask.

  Ludwig laughed, recovering from his shock quickly. “She’s not going anywhere,” he said.

  Trent pulled out a pistol, levelling the barrel at the New World leader, smiling cruelly. “I disagree.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  It took all of five seconds for the people standing closest to them to realize a weapon had been drawn. Once that happened, the whole room erupted into chaos. Trent grabbed her roughly by the shoulders, pulling her out of the way as he grabbed onto Ludwig, holding the gun firmly to his temple.

  “Trent, no!” Charlotte said, pulling uselessly on his arm.

  “We need to get out of here, Charlotte,” he said. She could see the sweat beading at his brow. New World soldiers were starting to enter the room, their own guns trained on them. “The only way we’re doing that is by using him as our ticket.”

  Charlotte’s eyes went to Ludwig’s, who looked surprisingly calm considering the situation. She wasn’t sure what to do or say. The sense of loyalty she still felt for him screamed at her that this was wrong. But, at the same time, she knew Trent had a valid point. There was no way Ludwig would let them simply walk out of here if they didn’t take some sort of drastic measures.

  Pete appeared beside her, his eyes wide in alarm. The Archers were making a half circle around them, their guns pointed at the soldiers who were keeping their distance. Charlotte looked over to see Bridgette frozen by the front door, her top teeth biting worriedly at her bottom lip. Roman was making his way over, hands out at his side.

  Charlotte looked to Pete. “We need to get Bridgette and leave,” she said. “Those soldiers will not hesitate to shoot each and every one of us if we stick around.”

  “And risk killing him?” Trent said, nodding his head at Ludwig.

  Charlotte nodded. “Of course. They’re the best trained soldiers, Trent. They’d have no problem shooting us and missing him in the process.”

  “Then why aren’t they firing?” Phoenix asked, her mask now discarded on the floor along with the others. Charlotte still wore hers. She was so used to hiding her face around the citizens of the upper section, she felt like she couldn’t take the thing off. Old habits die hard indeed, she thought.

  “Because I haven’t given them the signal,” Ludwig said, his voice even.

  Trent pushed the barrel in harder against his skin. “And why is that, huh?” he asked through clenched teeth. “Playing with us as a cat would a mouse?”

  Ludwig chuckled, unperturbed. “Funny you should say that.” He looked at Charlotte, and she could have sworn she saw a hint of sadness and betrayal in his eyes that hurt more than she thought it would, coming from him. “For one thing,” he continued, “I’m not about to go and risk Dinah getting shot amongst this commotion.”

  “Her name is Charlotte,” Pete said, stepping closer to him, hands balled into fists at his side. “Use it.”

  Ludwig raised his eyebrows, the only sign that what Pete had said had any effect on him. “The name I gave her was given out of respect for her, and signalled her freedom. That name was given to her by a man who would no sooner think twice about her life than he would a stranger on the street, yet she carries his blood within her veins. I stand here, protecting her like I have since the day I met her. That’s more than anyone in her family could say. And more than you could.”

  Charlotte placed her hand on Pete’s arm to keep him from doing anything stupid. Ludwig’s words hit her in a place she hadn’t known existed, one she wasn’t ready to acknowledge – that of a girl severely let down by the ones who were supposed to be her protectors.

  “What’s the other?” Lake asked, her gaze trained on the New World leader.

  Ludwig looked toward the speaker, his eyes widening a fraction at the sight of her, before returning to the bored look he was so good at maintaining. “The other what, love?”

  “You said for one thing,” Lake replied, “suggesting there was more than one reason we’re all still standing here alive. Why else haven’t you given your men the signal to shoot?”

  He smiled his approving smile when someone’s passed a test they weren’t even aware they were taking. Charlotte had been on the receiving end of that smile plenty of times. If there was one thing Ludwig loved most, it was saying things to see how well people were paying attention. Charlotte had also realized he was hiding another reason, but was still too caught up in what he’d said before to voice it.

  “I’m afraid I had my own plans for this evening,” he answered. “And to be honest, this whole scenario is rather
working in my favour, I should say. I’m almost happy you’re all here.”

  Charlotte could see them all giving each other confused looks as they tried to make sense of his riddles, but Charlotte knew more than they did.

  “Is this about my father?” Charlotte asked, even though she already knew the answer. Ludwig turned back to her, giving her that look that said he knew she knew the answer, and not to ask stupid questions. She’d also been on the receiving end of that look as well, many times in the past.

  “What about him?” Pete said.

  Charlotte looked back toward her sister, to see that Roman was now standing not too far from them, his hands still out, weaponless. Their eyes met, and he nodded subtlety in greeting, which took her back for a moment. She’d almost forgotten about him throughout this conversation, and his obvious knowledge of who was behind the silver mask at the door. The fact that he knew it was Bridgette made Charlotte want to get them all out of there even faster. Having her sister across the room from her was making her extremely nervous. The last thing they needed was for someone to put a gun to Bridgette’s head in retaliation. Thankfully she didn’t think anyone else was aware of the identity switch, aside from Roman. Well, and now Ludwig, of course.

  Charlotte looked back to Ludwig. “You were hoping he’d take this chance to get Bridgette back, yes?”

  He didn’t nod, just looked at her.

  “Was that him who tried to take her before? At the explosion in the warehouse?”

  Again he made no movement.

  “Why is he so anxious to get her back? He’s the whole reason she’s here.”

  This time he shrugged, and said, “I assumed he was after you, not her. I have no idea what motivates your father to do anything that he does.”

  “And so now you think that the fact we’re both here means he’ll show for sure?”

  Ludwig smiled. “One can only hope. Your father never was one for missed opportunities.”

  Trent nudged him with the gun. “That’s enough out of you,” he said. “We need to get out, now. Those soldiers are starting to look antsy, and I really don’t want to wait and see how strong their restraint is.”