Trade Secrets

by Beth Ryan

  “Will the guards do as I say with you under gunpoint?”

  “They should, I—”

  “What the hell is going on?” I demanded, cutting through their hushed conversation and gesticulating. The horror in my voice must have been clearer than I’d thought, as Ivy looked at me in concern.

  “Cooper is kidnapping me,” she told me matter-of-factly. She brushed her hair from her eyes, where a spark of mischief was hidden.

  “And how does kidnapping you help Joshua?”

  “Why are you so obsessed with my brother?” Ivonne’s nose scrunched up in that baffled look of hers, and then she shook her head. “Actually, it doesn’t matter right now. We have to go.”

  “Go where?”

  At my wits end, trying to make sense of it all, I gripped my hair in my hands. I began to pace in the small amount of space left between Ivy and Cooper. I was long past subtle now. I needed answers.

  “What is even going on? Your brother blackmails Cooper into coming here under the guise of marrying you, and you go along with it, all for the sake of running away?”

  “I’m the one who blackmailed Cooper. I’m the one who convinced my father I was ready for marriage, and I’m the one who is risking everything to make this plan work. My brother had nothing to do with this.”

  “Why?” I asked, turning to face her. We both knew I wasn’t talking about Joshua anymore.

  Somehow, I’d convinced myself that her brother was the mastermind behind all my troubles, and yet here she was telling me that he wasn’t. In the pale light put off by the single uncovered bulb, I could see her lips pressed into a thin line. I waited, willing to stand there forever if it meant getting an explanation.

  “What they’ve done,” she started, then stopped. Two deep shuddering breaths, and she started again. “What my family has done is unforgivable.”

  She glanced down the passageway and then turned back to me, fists clenched.

  “We are a country built on lies, Nate Donovan, and the greatest lies of them all are the ones we tell ourselves. That we are free, that we live in the greatest country in the world, that we aren’t all terrified of the inevitable self-destruction we know is coming.” Ivy’s eyes were shining with more than the dim light of the room now. She reached out, her warm hands grasping mine as she spoke in earnest. “The only way to join the Lemniscate is to honestly believe they can do no wrong. Only zealots are capable of looking the other way when they realize our country isn’t what it claims to be.”

  “And what is that?”

  “The last civilized place on Earth. They’ve misled all of you to believe that the world around us fell apart and we were the ones left standing. They claimed that the other countries destroyed an entire planet of resources, that scientific discovery became unsustainable. The truth is that your government has enslaved you from the day you were born, and you know it.” Her voice was soft, but her tone was harsh.

  It struck me like a blunt object. I flinched away from the venom in it, but I couldn’t turn away from her. She still had my hands grasped in hers.

  “I’ve never believed the government had our best interests at heart,” I told her. “That doesn’t explain what we’re doing here.”

  “We don’t have time for this,” she hissed. “I’ll explain it better once we get out of here. Please, we have to go.”

  “You don’t want to do this. You might think you want to run away from all the luxury and wealth, but living in poverty isn’t the charming fantasy you’ve convinced yourself it is, and no one should have to risk execution so you can find that out.”

  “I’m not running away! I’m fighting back. The Lemniscate hasn’t just lied to its people, it has lied to every other country as well. There’s a whole world out there that could help us if someone could just tell them what’s going on.”

  “And that someone is going to be you?”

  “Yes,” Ivy declared.

  She was still clutching my hands, and she grasped them tighter as she whispered the words that would convince me not only to help her escape, but to help her succeed.

  “Fighting back is the most terrifying thing a person can do, but I’m begging you to help me. Help me stop them. Help me put an end to the injustice. Help me do the right thing, just this once.”

  23

  I’d gotten it all wrong.

  That was the thought that battered itself against my brain as we wound our way through the secret passageways, Ivonne leading us with her hands raised, and Cooper holding his gun up to her back for show.

  I prided myself on my ability to extrapolate information from the smallest clues, and on my status as a master of human interaction and manipulation. Yet Joshua King was sitting somewhere in the mansion, dressed in all his finery, fully expecting the three of us to be there for the arrival of the Argentinians.

  The Argentinians who were just as unaware as I had been of the dichotomy between America and the rest of the world, if Ivonne was to be believed. Somehow it was easier for me to accept that our whole government had been holding us hostage in a cloud of pollution than it was for me to believe that Joshua hadn’t been a part of her plot.

  Our conversation after Rhys’s death had sealed it for me. He’d been very clear about everything. The servant’s death had mattered. It had messed up the plan, but hadn't put a stop to it. He’d told Cooper to do exactly as they had planned to do before. He’d suggested that we act as though everything we’d ever held dear was at stake and that we fight to the death without regard for consequences.

  Yet Ivonne had been the mastermind all along.

  It didn’t make sense.

  We exited the house at the same point we’d entered several hours before. The brick wall swung open under Ivy’s weight, and then we were outside the south wall, still acres of wilderness between us and freedom. Not to mention the GPS in the trading chips and the very deadly forcefield.

  I stopped. Cooper oomphed as he ran into me, the barrel of his gun pressing against my spine for one chilling moment. In the face of what I was about to suggest, the gun didn’t seem so daunting anymore.

  “Nate?”

  “Keep moving,” Ivy hissed, glancing back at us with wild eyes. “Get your gun up. We can still make this work. Once we get past the guards, you can put it away.”

  “We’re not going past the guards,” I told her. “Your brother said—”

  “Stop thinking about my brother!”

  “No. Your brother said to follow the plan exactly as it was.” I turned to Cooper. “You remember, right? He said that Rhys’s death mattered. He told you the Argentinians were arriving in an hour and not to be late.”

  “They won’t be here for at least another three hours,” Ivonne amended, hope lighting her voice and realization dawning in her eyes. She grinned, and spun around, calling to us over her shoulder as she darted down the lawn. “He’s going to bring the wards down, just like Rhys was doing. He’s helping us escape!”

  Cooper and I looked at each other, and he held out his hand. I grabbed hold of it and then we were running across the lawn after her, three figures in the twilight, headed full tilt toward what might possibly be our deaths. Ivonne was fast, her flats not delaying her like the heels had. Her black suit was trimmed to fit her exactly and blended in with the night. She wasn’t even bothering with a coat.

  “Hurry,” she huffed as we caught up.

  If her breathing was hard, then mine was impossible. Cooper was the only one who seemed fit enough to keep pace without breaking a sweat.

  “We only have another few minutes,” she urged.

  We broke the tree line at a full run and didn’t stop. Ivonne leapt over fallen trees and raced through thorn bushes like they weren't even there. I was dragged along behind Cooper, our hands still clasped together even as he pulled ahead.

  As we reached the wall of blue, I didn’t bother to look back. Ivonne and Cooper were at my side and I had everything I owned tucked away in the pockets of my coat. There was
nothing personal left behind in the mansion besides the single dark circle staining the sill in my room. As much as I’d pushed myself to accept my future there, knowing I wouldn’t be returning was my greatest relief of the night.

  I braced myself despite having watched Ivonne make it through the forcefield unaffected. It was instinct. Years ago, I’d seen a man kill himself by running into a forcefield like this one. It was something I’d never forget the sight, or the smell, of.

  I squeezed Cooper’s hand, not slowing down.

  Only the dead were ever truly free.

  We raced through the wall of blue together.

  Ivy let out a great whoop as soon as we were all safe on the other side. She hurried to pull the foliage off the transporter hidden deeper in the forest, and we piled in. Sitting in the backseat and watching the car wind its way through the trees and toward the road, I admitted to myself that it wasn’t a half bad plan. There had been hiccups, and there were still flaws, but we hadn’t been killed yet.

  As we passed through the second forcefield, automatically nutrualized by the presence of a Lemniscate-approved transporter, Ivy turned on some music I didn’t recognize and focused on the road. Against all odds, I watched Cooper droop and then slump entirely into sleep. I tried to distract myself with the scenery as we drove, but most of the time, my eyes were drawn back to Cooper.

  I hated myself for it. Even if we got out of this mad mess alive, he was still my client. There was a line that I’d been toeing since I’d met the younger man, a line I knew I couldn’t cross. I had to stop, for both our sakes.

  Cooper startled awake the moment the car entered the city. It was like the line between privilege and poverty was tangible and unpleasant to cross. I shook my head at the whimsy that was floating there and reminded myself that there were a hundred other reasons for Cooper to wake right then. One of them being the bright lights that never seemed to shut off unless the grid lost power, which only happened once every few months.

  A short time later, Ivy pulled the car into a parking garage that I’d passed more than once on my way to pick Audry up for a fun night out. I didn’t question what the runaway heiress had planned next. It was clear she had thought through every step of her kidnapping before implementing it. The only details that had fallen out of place were the ones where I was involved. I would let her take the lead on this and trust that she knew what she was doing.

  “Shit,” she said, slamming the transporter into park. She hit the steering wheel, and when that didn’t seem like enough, she did it again.

  “What’s wrong?” Cooper asked softly. He sounded like he didn’t want to hear the answer. I couldn’t concur any more than I already did.

  “What’s wrong is that you two idiots couldn’t trust me for one gods damned night, and my contact was spooked by our delay,” she said. She threw her hand up, indicating the wall in front of us. There was some sort of yellow graffiti there, still wet. “He was here, and now he’s not. Not coming back, either.”

  “So,” I ventured to ask. “What now?”

  “What now?” She whirled around to glower at me from the front seat. Her face was twisted into a nasty sneer. “Nothing. This was my plan. This was all I had.”

  She turned to face the front again, slumping down in defeat. Her hair was caught up in the little bar that held the headrest in place. She didn’t notice. I didn’t tell her.

  “I’ve tried this so many ways. Every time I get close to the ambassadors from other countries, there’s always someone there to pull me away. Every time I get a message out, the carrier is killed before they leave the country. Someone knows I’m a traitor, and they’ve been keeping me in line for years. Now they’ve won yet again.”

  “What was your contact going to do for you?” I pushed.

  The despairing tone wasn’t something I’d ever expected from Ivy King. She was steel and fury encased in satin. Except, looking at her now, she was more damp pavement covered in refuse. Her response was mumbled.

  “New car, new ID, smuggle me out of the country.”

  “Well then,” I said, straightening up and running a hand through my curls. Neither of my companions could see my grin, but knowing that I could help Ivy complete the task that Robert Eisley had been sabotaging from the start was very appealing. “Lucky you have me. Just so happens that this city is my domain, and we’re very close to someplace that specializes in what you need. I can get you out of here no problem.”

  Ivy spun around, cautious hope unfolding across her face. Cooper didn’t look surprised at all. In fact, he had his hand over his face like he was gathering patience to deal with me. I cast that absurd idea to the back of my mind. I was both honorable and talented, and he knew it. Whatever expression he was hiding, it couldn’t be exasperation.

  “Get on with it, then,” Cooper told me from behind his hand. He sounded hoarse.

  I gave a curt nod and exited the car. The others followed close behind me as I guided them through the winding streets of my city. The door I stopped in front of half an hour later was much redder than those around it.

  “Where are we?” Ivy asked. The soft clip of her flats came to a stop beside me. I turned to grin at her.

  “We’re about to meet the very best chip engineer in the country,” I told her with all the bravado I could muster.

  It was the least I could do to talk up the woman we were about to impose upon, considering she didn’t deserve to be drawn into this. I owed her more than I could ever say, and this would only extend that debt. There was nowhere else to go, though, and it wouldn’t be long before the Lemniscate caught up with us. I’d worked long enough to keep Audry out of this but the truth was that I just couldn’t do it without her.

  I knocked on the door with three short raps.

  “No” was the first word that came from Audry’s mouth when she saw me there, two well-dressed strangers tucked away behind me on her fourth-floor landing.

  Her hands were planted on her hips, and my fedora perched atop her head. Dressed in a too-large hoodie and grease smudges on her fingers, she looked almost nothing like the young girl I’d met at a park wearing a jean vest, hideous orange dress, and lime green shoes.

  “Hey, Bright Eyes,” I said with a face-splitting grin. She only frowned harder. “I happen to need a favor.”

  “I happen to need less of you in my life right about now,” she shot back. She still moved out of the doorway and waved us in. I gave her a tight hug as we passed.

  “Don’t be like that,” I said, holding on as tight as I could. It was nice to see a familiar face. Someone I actually trusted. “You’d hate your boring life without me.”

  “Uh huh.” Audry nodded. “I also wouldn’t have been worried out of my mind all day. So, what brings you and two strangers to my door?”

  “I can’t go home,” I replied, and her eyes widened. My words were more telling than they sounded, and I knew it. The news was only going to get worse from there. I pulled out of the hug and gave her a serious look. “We need new profiles and a way out of the country. Pronto.”

  “Where are you going?” she asked, eyes narrowed and arms crossed. I turned to raise an eyebrow at Ivonne.

  “The United Environmental Improvement Center,” she said, holding her chin up as she spoke with determination. “Paris, France.”

  24

  May 20th, 2080

  I can hear the music I didn’t want to face back then. The slow waltz toward our deaths, a performance I maintain because I must. Inside, I am screaming, and Cooper knows it. Having an entire mansion as my prison is no better than living in a cell, and it’s even worse with him by my side.

  It isn’t just the walls that hold me in. It’s the tight collar of the suit I wear, and the glittering lights of yet another ball. Living with the Lemniscate is like living in a diamond-encrusted cage. As pretty as everything is, that doesn’t change the fact that I am trapped.

  I smile, I nod, and I keep my mouth shut as those around us ramble on. I s
ay nothing and listen to everything. They wear their brutal honesty like badges of honor, and I pretend their words don’t fill me with rage.

  When it becomes too much, Cooper takes my hand and leads me away from the gnashing teeth and biting commentary. He pulls me out to dance, and I hate his reassuring smile. It tells me that he understands.

  He might be the only one.

  25

  November 19th, 2079

  The clink of glass on the counter was muffled by the sound of the shower running in the apartment next door. I envied whoever was in there, standing under the mostly warm water and blissfully unaware of all the troubles I’d faced. The grime from three days without washing was really starting to wear on me.

  “So,” Audry said, leaning against the counter beside me with her arms crossed and her eyebrow raised, “Are you going to introduce me to your new friends?"

  I glanced over at Ivonne and Cooper, who were at the kitchen table, huddled over a map of the eastern United States. They were whispering among themselves, arguing over the best way out of the country and thick as thieves. With the danger over his sister gone it seemed Cooper was a very forgiving blackmail victim.

  “Friends is a bit strong.” I said, turning back to the drink I’d poured. Audry didn’t even bat a lash as I shot it back and then poured a second one right after.

  “It's always the pretty ones, isn't it?” She asked, still watching the aristocracy bicker over her worn out tablet. Cooper continued his rapid-fire commentary while pointing to different places on the cracked screen, moving the map around as he made his point.

  “Don't know what you’re talking about.”

  “You mean you didn't swoon the moment you noticed those gorgeous brown eyes and that holier-than-thou attitude?” She snorted. “Please, I know you better than that.”

  “He's just a client.” I tore my eyes away from the scene and finished off the second glass. It wasn’t doing what I’d hoped it might to sooth my nerves. The urge to look over my shoulder had nothing to do with Cooper and everything to do with the nagging fear that someone from Ivonne’s army of babysitters might track us down here. The risks I’d taken for these two, for the chance that Ivonne could accomplish what she was hoping to. I shook my head.