Page 86

CHAPTER 85

KIRA WAS TUGGING on her chains in her nightly quest to find a comfortable position. She was in Hemple’s tent, with the day’s sweat still crusted on her body. Her back and joints ached from bending and kneeling for fourteen hours straight.

And she was alone.

Vanda and the other workers were quartered in their squalid tent city just below the compound. But Gurney made sure that Kira got special treatment. Every night after she climbed up the ramp from the pit, her wrists were zip-tied and she was led back to the compound at gunpoint. She was apparently considered the ultimate flight risk.

The truth was, Kira thought she might be safer here than she would be in the tent village with her coworkers. Many of them still considered her a demon, and she knew they wouldn’t think twice about stabbing her in her sleep.

But here, sleep was hard to come by.

The tent was never totally dark. A small lamp hung from the ceiling, casting an eerie yellowish glow all night long. And it drew bugs. Kira was constantly shaking her head to get them out of her hair and clenching her lips to keep them out of her mouth.

She sat on the hard-packed dirt floor, with the chains wrapped tightly around the post behind her. For the first few nights, she had tried to work the post loose, but she soon realized that it was set in concrete. It wasn’t going anywhere. The lock was out of reach above her, and none of the contortions she tried brought it any closer.

Kira’s mind was restless and resourceful. It was how she’d been trained. But at some point every night, her machinations about escape were overcome by her desperate need for rest. She had reached that point now.

She inched back against the post, which was the only support for her head. She had figured out that if she slouched at just the right angle, she could nod off for a few minutes at a time, pooling enough precious energy to survive another day. Those were the times she found herself thinking about Doc, dreaming she was with him, swimming in warm, clear water…

Kira felt herself drifting into that cloudy nether state. Then, suddenly, she felt a gloved hand clamp tightly over her mouth.

Her eyes popped open. Her heart was racing. She whipped her head around, but the post blocked her view. A second later, she felt the chains loosen around her torso.

“Stay quiet.” A woman’s voice.

The glove slipped off her mouth. Kira could move now. She rolled onto her knees and stood up in a crouch, hands up, ready for anything.

In the glow, she could see the intruder. T-shirt, jeans, dark ponytail. Kira knew the face in an instant. It was Lial. She had a gun pointed at Kira’s forehead.

Kira had a spit-second choice to make. Assess or attack.

“If you want to live,” said Lial, “follow me.”