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FIFTY-THREE

Alderney State Penitentiary,

Dear Amethyst,

I never saw my father in person again, but we communicated occasionally via burner phones. A year of making contacts across the firm gave me the groundwork I needed to free a number of like-minded operatives from the Moirai’s shackles.

Some of them were recently qualified assassins who were already disillusioned by the unfair business practices. Most were support workers who had gone through the academy and were disgruntled over their working conditions.

In my previous letter, I promised to describe how the firm recouped its investment in the children it trained. Their solution was a system of debt bondage.

Anyone who fails to arrive at HQ with a token fails to graduate and then becomes beholden to the firm for the costs associated with their time at the academy. Many start out with debts of two-hundred thousand dollars, which is slowly paid off the longer an employee works for the firm.

For instance, a cleaner earning $40,000 a year sees half their wages garnished to settle their debt. After deductions for food, accommodation, uniforms, and taxes, they’re left with just $12,000. That doesn’t include potential fines or medical expenses.

With compound interest, it would take 17 years to clear their debt to the firm and gain freedom. No wonder our boss was so miserable. Who could ever prosper, knowing they were enslaved?

It was easy to gather followers, especially with the promise of freedom. I didn’t just meet cleaners and maintenance staff, but medics and those who managed the firm’s computer systems, who were equally enslaved.

Over the year, we all carried out our duties, keeping our trackers close so as not to arouse suspicion. We communicated via burner phones and congregated at night in safe houses. We diverted calls to the firm and stole assassination jobs to build up funds in a communal bank account. We used that money to create a hideout protected from our masters.

And during the next graduation run, we enacted the first stage of our plan.

Fan questions:

The book club was a great success. The other inmates were touched by the outpouring of love. They thank you for the books, gifts, and snacks. There were lively discussions, plenty of wonderful food, and much lifted spirits. I enclose photos. We’ve inspired many inmates from the general population to start their own book clubs. With your permission, I would like to donate the books we’ve read to spread the joy. Next week, we would like to read George Orwell’s Animal Farm .

Please don’t be hard on the warden. My visitation rights were revoked when I lashed out at a guard who touched my intimate piercings without my consent. It was a knee-jerk reaction, and I wasn’t yet accustomed to the daily indignities that come with being an inmate. I would give my soul for the opportunity to receive visits, but the rules are the rules.

Love,

Xero