The Innocent (Clan of the Woodlands Book 2)

by V. K. Ludwig

  “Rock solid,” Ruth said. “Let’s get rolling then, so I can be back home by five and recover from my seizure.”

  We walked over to the door of the lab. Ruth and I leaned against the wall, while Max peeked through the wire-reinforced window and out into the hallway. He waved his hand at us, gesturing to follow. “Remember to appear casual.”

  We strolled across the hall and into the lobby, Ruth ordering a coffee from the kitchen bot behind the counter. Max parked half of his butt on the armrest of a chair and, from the corner of his eyes, peeked into the hallway across from us every few seconds.

  “There he is,” I mumbled, a sudden shiver running down my spine and along my legs. Once the guard in his white jumpsuit turned around the next corner, we had eighteen minutes. Plus whatever Ruth pulled off.

  “Ready?” Max asked.

  “Uh-huh,” I said over shivering lips.

  I leaned with my hand against the column beside the counter, eyeballing each and every footfall of the guard’s polished black boots. His left sole squeaked at every other step, making the fine hairs on my arms stand on end. I didn’t know much about spies, but we sure fit the description. If these people killed a councilwoman over votes, what would they do to protect their other secrets?

  My senses were at the edge.

  Somebody closed a door two halls down on the left.

  Max scratched his fingernail across the woven fabric of the chair.

  Ruth’s coffee spread a dark and robust flavor through the lobby.

  “Now!” Max rose from his chair, waving his hand behind his back.

  We hurried across the speckled marble tiles and into the hall across, not even looking back. Back didn’t exist. I waved at my holo-band and set the timer. “Eighteen minutes from now.”

  Max stopped in front of a wide door. Fingers jittery, he fumbled the access card from his back pocket. He pushed it deep into the reader. I checked my holo-band. Not even a minute had passed. Yet, life seemed to speed, and the rush of my blood made the veins pop along the top of my hand.

  A red dot lit up. “Access card faulty.”

  “Shit!” Max picked up his arm, wiping fine sweat beads off his forehead.

  He pulled the card out. He pushed it back in.

  “Access card faulty.”

  Damp and unsteady, his fingers lost grip and the card fell to the ground in what sounded like an earthquake to me. My gaze shot over my shoulder, Ruth staring back at me with a cup of coffee in her hand, her spoon in a slow-motion stir.

  I picked up the card. “Let me try it.”

  Leaning my weight against the door, I pushed the card in.

  “It’ll draw too much attention,” Max warned.

  Too late! Here we go!

  I gave the door a hearty bump. A green dot appeared followed by a computer voice, and the door swung open like a charm. I rushed inside, and so did Max.

  He closed the door quietly — perhaps even too quiet.

  That familiar click of something falling into the lock must have drowned underneath our heavy breaths. Or the monotone hums of the servers in front of us, each one sized like a coffin.

  If one were looking for cutting-edge technology, he wouldn’t find it here. Dusty and archaic, the room resembled little more than a revamped broom closet, stuffed with a rainbow of cables and blue-lit hard drives behind scuffed glass.

  “You shouldn’t have pushed the door in like that,” Max said, eyes combing the room. “I don’t get why you insisted on coming. As if lifelong jail time for me isn’t already bad enough, you need to get yourself deported, too?”

  Irritation pinched the underside of my skin, and I sucked in the stale air, flavored like rubber, electrons and burnt plastic. Deportation was the least of my concerns. What about my clan?

  The thought of bringing down good relations and trade agreements made me sick to my stomach. But Rowan needed to know the truth. Genetic engineering would rearrange our societies as we know it, the potential consequences too fearsome to be ignored.

  “Are you kidding?” I said with a mute quit the attitude in my voice. “This is top notch entertainment. Now tell me what we’re looking for.”

  He followed the servers along the wall, peeking into each and every gap. “An old fashioned keyboard most likely. Along with a monitor of some sort. Check underneath the server frames, and I’ll check on top.”

  I gave him a quick salute and crawled over the floor, waves of dust breaking at my knees. My heart throbbed against my throat, making my elbows want to cave in. No time to waste on fear!

  What if they wouldn’t deport me, but throw me in jail as well? The word political immunity came to mind like a spark of hope. But it remained only that: a spark. Kept in check by Max’s frantic voice. “Over here, on top of this server.”

  He pulled down a keyboard with a small built-in monitor, sat down on the ground and blew the dust off it. “Look at this granny here. She’s got a USB port from the stone age right here at the side.”

  I pulled the contents from my overstuffed pockets and held them all out on my outstretched palms. Five different kinds of memory sticks, a piece of red candy, a string and a scalpel.

  “What the hell, Autumn.” Max picked up the scalpel and held it under my nose. “What did you bring that for?”

  “Protection,” I said terse and factual, tapping my index finger on my neck. “Perfect for stabbing into an artery, and the string is strong and long enough to strangulate someone.”

  He leaned an inch away from me, his eyes wide and his shoulders tense. “Jesus! Maybe that’s how you do things back home, but these are the Districts.”

  “Right.” I poured everything into one palm and helped myself to the candy. “No stabbing and strangulation here. Just killing off council members.”

  He gave me one of those smirks that made my legs buckle, sending an electric impulse straight between my legs. How he could sit there, fidgeting the scalpel and pondering over his human shortcomings was beyond my horizon.

  This man was was everything I needed, and then some. Whenever he entered a room, my heart popped up into my head, sending my brain into an instant knockout. One gaze from his lust smoldering eyes turned my panty soaked, and my pussy wanting.

  I leaned in closer, and he didn’t shrink back. Instead, his eyes wandered to my lips where they got stuck as if I had dipped them in honey. “I hate to say this, but I almost hope they catch us. That way we have to follow escape plan B.”

  A visible gulp went down his throat, making his Adam’s apple bob. “You want me to come back to the clan with you?”

  Come on, tell him!

  My chest burned up with the urge to lay my heart open.

  Tell him that I loved him.

  Wanted him.

  But rejection was ugly. And fear was a bitch.

  So I looked down at my hollow-band. “Clock’s ticking Max. We’ve got fourteen minutes left.”

  His shoulders slumped along with his head, and he grabbed the zebra-striped memory stick. “Give me five minutes, and we can leave.”

  He turned the keyboard upside down, inched the memory stick into the connector and began typing white-lettered commands. My eyes entertained themselves by following a maze of red, blue and yellow cables. They came together in knots just to separate a foot later, turning into chaotic tangles leading from one server to another.

  “I found it,” Max said.

  Every now and then a cooler fan turned on, adding another layer of to the symphony of hums. And there, between an orchestra of machines, the sound of footsteps pushed between the lines.

  “Shhh… did you hear that?”

  My eyes darted toward the door. Shit!

  A gap no wider than my pinky let in a line of artificial light. The door had never fallen into the lock, and someones shuffling grew closer.

  Panic and anxiety solidified in my legs, which seemed o have melted into the stained concrete floor. I juggled the memory sticks and the string back into my pockets but
held on to the scalpel.

  Just in case things would get ugly.

  Max shoved the keyboard between two servers. “We have to hide.”

  No shit. We scurried toward the corner.

  The gap by the door grew wider, the lightbulbs from outside now casting a concave ray of light into this fucking broom closet. With no window and no other exit… Let’s face it: we were screwed.

  My sweaty fingers held on to the scalpel, ready to launch at whoever might leap through that door. Fear consumed my every breath, leaving little for my lungs to work with.

  We squeezed ourselves into the corner between two of the frames. Fuck! Metal hit concrete in an ear-shattering noise. I had dropped the scalpel. The only thing we had left between uncertainty and freedom.

  Frames flashed before my eyes. An unwashed face grinning at me while he ran a gutting knife down my thighs. Rowan’s arms wrapped around me in comfort. And Max, holding on to me… making it all better.

  The air stilled in our little corner, but everything around it filled with soles making contact on the hard floor. Definitely not boots. Those steps weren’t heavy and certain. No. They were light, calculated, precise and each one of them seemed to serve its own purpose.

  Keystrokes clicked.

  Cables tugged.

  Sweet little sighs came from around the corner.

  After three choking minutes which made me age the same amount in years, the soft planted steps trailed out, letting the door fall into its lock.

  Max made a quick cross on his chest, his eyes wide and his face ashen. “We have to get out of here.”

  We scrambled out of the corner and Max went back to work on the keyboard, the monitor left behind on the familiar white backslash waiting for new commands.

  He turned the keyboard around. “Whoever was in here took the drive. Give me the dark red one. That one should work as well.”

  I did as told and did so quickly. He inserted the memory stick and went back to typing, pushing his fingers down in a frantic tap dance.

  “Max, we're running out of time.” I shook his shoulder. “If we’re not leaving now, we’ll run right into the guard’s arms.”

  “Ruth will take care of him.”

  “But what if she doesn’t?” I jumped up, ready to run, my insides turning into a liquified mess which tormented my stomach. “Max, now!”

  His fingers froze followed by his empty stare. All blood retreated from his limbs, leaving his arms pale and his veins flat. “Where did it go?”

  “Where did what go? Max, we don’t have time for this shit.”

  “It’s gone!” He rubbed his hand across his face and rode his thumb into the corner of his eyes. “Whoever was in here deleted Svea’s file.”

  Within five breathless seconds, everything had gone tits up, including my stomach. I pushed the handle down, letting in some of the commotion coming from the lobby.

  A peek into the hall confirmed it: Ruth lay on the ground, tremors weaving through her body in an award-deserving spectacle.

  Max pushed me out of the room and closed the door behind him.

  “Wait,” I said. “I left the scalpel inside.”

  Black polished boots stepped around the corner, and I quickly put on my most innocent smile.

  Chapter 22

  Max

  Getting into the server room and finding Svea’s file was easier than I’d thought it would be. Coming out with it? Not so much!

  Whoever walked in on us leaving not even a breadcrumb behind wasn't faster than us. Nope, but he sure had the element of surprise on his side.

  My brain replayed the scene over and over again from different angles, but the focus always shifted to the same face: Autumn’s.

  Autumn telling me she hoped we’d get caught, to be precise.

  Those words were scary as shit, yet cradled me in a soft kind of warmth.

  The way she sat leaning against me on my couch, one hand caressing my stomach and tracing my abs with her thumb made me wonder. Wonder?

  Hell, whom was I kidding?

  It made me hope!

  What for, I had no clue.

  That she had feelings for me? God help her!

  That she would take me with her? God help me!

  Something popped out of me like the plug on a flooded rain barrel. “Do you think a guy like me could make it out there? I mean, among one of the clans?”

  Her hand stopped the caressing motion, her fingers hanging stiffly underneath my shirt. Eyes slightly narrowed she shook her head. “Where is this coming from?” she asked, the tone of her voice making her non-answer even more of a guessing game.

  Her question was so innocent it almost made me feel guilty. Guilty of lying — mostly to myself.

  The truth was, I couldn’t forget that chubby-cheeked hologram of our little boy. Back then he was nothing but rays and imagination. But damn, did I want him to be real whenever his mom touched me, sending little tremors through my spine.

  “I guess I’m just wondering what this is,” I said, dangling my finger between her and myself. “And what it will be once you have to leave the Districts and go back home.”

  She pushed herself away from me, facing me straight on. “I need to tell you something.”

  I felt the pointy end of a knife poking against my heart, and I couldn’t help but shrink back half an inch. Nervous and unable to take a single breath, I waited for her to continue.

  “I love you, Max!” Her tongue hurried through the words. Once they were out, she squinted her eyes as if raising a draw-bridge. Joy trembled my fingers. Then she sat there for a long time, allowing those four words to fuck with my brain.

  They were like dynamite.

  Blowing final doubts to pieces.

  Leaving behind a hot mess of a man that wanted to bury himself inside this woman — cock first; never coming out again.

  My brain told me to think first, but my heart pried open my lips like an inmate desperate for freedom. “Au-autumn, I… I… I…” my voice came out a stutter that changed the pitch three times and scared the birds from the tree outside. I cleared my throat, making sure it came out just right this time. You know… in a deep and raunchy voice that would make her panty drop right then and there.

  I cupped her chin in my hand, waiting for her eyes to slowly open. “Autumn, I —”

  Wumth! Two figures avalanched through my door and into my living area, their shuffles, and word-turmoil drowning out whatever words I managed to confess.

  Out of breath and with rose cheeks Ruth stared at us, her eyes alarming. But the black gym bag in Svea’s hand baffled me even more.

  She swung it to the ground right in front of us. “The clanswoman needs to get out of here. Defenders are going to storm Ruth’s place any moment now.”

  My heart fell out of my ribcage, and the floor seemed to swallow me whole. This couldn’t be happening. She needed to get out of here… where?

  Still knotted up underneath legs, arms and unconfessed feelings, Autumn and I struggled away from each other and onto our feet. Before one of us managed a question from our tongue, Ruth had grabbed Autumn by her arm. “I’m bringing you to … place on the far end of the hall since she isn’t home. The defenders won’t look for you there. At least not for now. We’ll take it from there once it all boiled over.”

  Autumn turned around, giving me a wide-eyed glance filled with confusion and fear. Her weight shifted in my direction, but her feet stumbled the opposite way, dragged across the room and out the door. Each step she took brought a mile of heartbreak between us, unscalable and cruel.

  “Max!” Svea shook me by my shoulders as if I had drifted off. “They found evidence that she stole classified information from the server room. We need you to cover her.”

  “Cover?” I asked in a voice that sounded too far away to be mine.

  “They will come. And they will interrogate you.”

  I dodged her stare and leaned to the side, hoping to get a glimpse of Autumn. “Where are you ta
king her?”

  “Home where she’ll be safe.”

  She picked up the shoes Autumn had left behind, opened the window and threw them out and to the side. “You know nothing, and you never expected her to do something like this. Do you hear me?” She snipped her fingers in front of me, pulling me out of the fog.”

  My knees caved in, my frozen blood apparently doing all the work at keeping me standing. “Huh?”

  “You know nothing, Max.” She repeated, but she could have said it a thousand times and yet I wouldn’t have cared. “And if they ask where you’ve been during the breach, you tell them you came to my office to discuss funding for your lab. That way we can keep you out of this.”

  “But… but I don’t want to be kept out of this.”

  “Believe me you do.” She walked over to my desk and leaned herself against it, straightening her shirt and brushing off her pants. Then she folded her arms in front of her chest, stood straight and metamorphosed her face into something with no lines, no tension, and no particular expression. “Although I do understand why you don’t want to. At least on a psychological level.”

  Her creepy eyes pinned me down, making me fall back onto my couch. In the hall, footsteps combined into a march of boots and the quick brushing of one leg against the other made me sick to my stomach. Sure enough, what seemed like a battalion of defenders squeezed themselves into my place.

  Armed and ready, they stood motionless about the room neither looking at nor away from me. A guy in black uniform walked in, his built suggesting he must have fallen into the protein powder as a kid.

  He grabbed a cookie from the coffee table and pushed it into his ugly hatch, showing off the huge scar that ran from his cheek across his mouth. It had parted his lower lip in two, and each side seemed to have its own mind as he crunched down on the goodie. A quick nod acknowledged Svea’s presence, then he sat down on the coffee table.

  “And you are?” I asked.

  “Doesn’t matter.” He grabbed the gun from its holster and placed it next to him on the table. As if that shit was supposed to intimidate me. “How did you help her get inside the server room? Did daddy give you a fake card?”