New World Order (22 page)

“Wait,” I said, and she paused. “That’s it? No more discussion?”

She turned around to face me. “What do you want, Sunshine? A declaration of how wrong I was? Okay. You have it. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m a little upset. I not only lost one of my best friends in the river, but
I just found out he was a traitor.”

She turned and strode away.

Jack

I couldn’t have been more stunned if he had sucker punched me in the face. He was
giving
me a seven-year-old girl? What the hell for? What was his angle? If Ryder was President Holt and we were back in the Dome, I’d know exactly what the gift was meant to do: make me feel indebted. Create
a sense of
you owe me
, so I would be within his control. Was that Ryder’s angle too? I couldn’t tell. It had been so much easier to master the game with Holt because I’d known the rules, but Ryder was an unknown.

“Wow,” I said. “That’s a generous gift, but my current residence isn’t big enough for servants.” I thumbed in the general direction of the shed.

“Digging holes is thirsty work, Jack.
Do you think
I’m
going to be bringing you water?” he asked, shaking his head. “I’m a busy man.” He tore a piece of flatbread in two and scooped up some mushy vegetables from his plate. He looked at my untouched food. “Eat up.”

“Let me get this straight. I’m your prisoner, but you’re giving me a servant girl?”

He finished chewing and swallowed. “Jack, you haven’t been listening to me,” he said.
“You are not a prisoner. You’re merely being
restrained
until you no longer pose a danger to yourself or anyone else.”

“You mean until I become part of your community.”

“Would that be so bad?” He waved a hand toward his plate. “We have food and water and a fence to protect us from hungry animals, raiders, and cannibals. We can devote our lives to
living
, Jack, not just struggling to
survive
. Get on with the business of repopulating the earth with good, gods-fearing people. As of yesterday, I have seven wives, thirteen children, and four more on the way.”

He studied me for a moment, and I stared back at him, trying to guess what was going through his head. It had been easier to figure out Holt.

“Unless, of course, you already have those things somewhere else, Jack.”

Is that
what he was doing? Trying to find out where I came from? “I already told you I did. And I’d like to get back there,” I said. I picked up a piece of bread and dipped it in the soggy vegetables.

He grinned at me. “That’s right. You belong to an advanced civilization with nuclear warheads.” He sopped up more food with a piece of bread and looked out the thick, blurry windowpane as he chewed thoughtfully.
“I wonder why they haven’t come to rescue you. I mean, it sounds like they’re more than capable.”

I dropped the bread I was holding back onto my plate. Whether he intended it or not, his comment hit home. In my darkest moments, I had wondered the same thing but then reminded myself that everyone was dependent on the radiation-free water and food supplies that we produced. Wandering too far from
our valley posed a big risk, and I wouldn’t want to be the cause of anyone’s death.

I didn’t respond to his question. I’m sure my expression said it all.

“You really should eat, Jack,” he said. “Digging is hard work, and you’ll soon become weak without food.”

I truly hated this man and was tiring of his mind games. What was I digging holes for? Why was he giving me a child servant? And
what had he done with my friends? I choked back more radioactive food, partly because I wanted him to think he was winning me over and partly because he was right. I was of no use to Naoki and Talon dead of starvation.

For the rest of lunch, Ryder preached about the scriptures, deities, the poison in our blood, and his commitment to diluting it. I nodded often, raised my eyebrows frequently,
and said the odd word of praise for his wisdom in these matters. This was how I had behaved with Holt, and even though that man had been using me, he’d still bought my act. Telling Ryder he was a delusional madman would get me nowhere. Power-hungry men like him had big egos, which made him just as vulnerable as he was dangerous. It was all in the way he was handled.

As soon as he had scooped
up the remaining food on his plate and popped it into his mouth, he called for his henchmen. The door immediately opened, and my escorts Fadi and Amos came in. They must have been sitting right outside the door, waiting for his command. I smiled, stood, and assumed the position. Fadi gave a nod of appreciation at my thoughtfulness and secured the plastic tie around my wrists.

“I have some business
to attend to, but I’ll stop by and check in on you later, Jack,” Ryder said. He looked at Fadi. “Take Annie with you. She’ll make sure he doesn’t get thirsty.”

We stopped in the kitchen long enough to collect Annie. She was told to bring a water pitcher and fill it up on the way to detention. I still didn’t get the whole detention thing. Maybe my detention was digging a hole. Or maybe it was
my grave.

I had to find a way out of there.

We took a different route in order to collect the water. Instead of walking through the common area, down the street, and then making a left past the plastic factory, we took an immediate left. We were headed toward the buildings I suspected were a market, and upon closer inspection, I was pretty sure I was right. Articles of clothing hung on the
backs of open doors, and small tables in front of the buildings displayed a variety of ceramics and, of course, plastic items. Their plastic products weren’t the evenly-colored, seamless, state-of-the-art creations our replicators spit out. These were crude, oddly-shaped items, and some were unidentifiable. I did notice a thick plastic knife, but I saw it too late to make a play for it. If we came
by this way again, I would accidentally bump into that table and try to grab it.

At the far end of the compound were four hand-pump water wells. There was a lineup at each pump, and Annie joined a queue while we stood to the side and waited for her. When it was her turn, she struggled. It was obvious the hand pump took some strength to operate, and she was trying to work it with one hand while
holding the pitcher under the spout with the other. She couldn’t do it, and her face turned red as she started to panic. I looked at Fadi and Amos. They weren’t moving to help. I stepped forward, and Fadi quickly laid a hand on my shoulder to stop me.

“She’s a little kid. She needs help,” I said, hoping they had a soft side. Fadi shook his head. I sighed. “Annie,” I called to her. She didn’t
look at me. “Annie,” I said again. Her big round eyes found mine. “Put the pitcher on the ground under the spout and use both hands.”

She hesitated, but did as I instructed. She was a tiny girl with paper-thin skin stretched across petite bones. The handle of the pump looked bigger than her, and she approached it again with trepidation.

“Pull the lever up and then push it down,” I said. “Just like the others are doing.”

She paused and studied the others at the pump. Then she pulled the handle up and tried to push it back down. It didn’t seem to budge, and she threw her entire little body into it, her feet lifting off the ground. The handle came down, spewing water into the jug and onto the ground. It only half filled the jug.
I remembered the trouble she’d had carrying the full pitcher earlier.

“Great job, Annie. That’s plenty of water for me,” I said. She looked grateful.

Picking up the pitcher, we resumed our trek to detention. We didn’t have to go past the plastic factory, but I could see it from the gate. The sight of all the chipped plastic had my attention. A shiv. The pile of plastic waiting to be melted
was full of them. Tonight I would ask Ryder for a tour of the facility and see if I couldn’t snag one.

My shovel was waiting for me, and Ryder’s table and chair were still there. I told Annie to sit in the chair and, oddly enough, Fadi and Amos didn’t argue. I don’t think they really cared one way or another. I was a little worried about Annie though. She didn’t look good. She was pale, and
her forehead was too sweaty for the cool early spring temperature.

I didn’t put as much vigor into shoveling this time around. If it was going to be my grave, then I needed to drag it out so I had time to escape before I was killed. Although I still wasn’t convinced that was what Ryder had in store for me. I expected to be threatened and tortured until he had the information he wanted about
where I came from. Yet, aside from a few questions, he really hadn’t been probing for much information. He seemed more intent on getting me to join his flock. And that wasn’t going to happen.

My thoughts turned to home, and Sunny’s image sprang to mind. Not that I wished she was with me and in danger from Ryder, but I did wish I could talk things over with her. During our time in the Pit when
we had been evading execution for treason, she had always had the best ideas. She saw people and situations differently than I did. She was a person of action, whereas I was the guy who had to think everything through. We made a good team. And I needed her here now to kick my butt and tell me to go get that shiv and kill every last man in this compound. Or at the very least, to get myself the hell
out of here.

A humming distracted me, and I paused in my shoveling to look for the source. It sounded mechanical. Almost familiar. Was it coming from the plastic factory? Did they have motors? A quick check on Fadi and Amos told me it probably wasn’t the factory since they were alert and scanning the area too. The sound faded away.

“You go ask,” I heard Fadi say to Amos.

Amos vigorously
shook his head. “I’m not going to be the one to look like an idiot.”

I went back to my halfhearted shoveling, dying for a drink of water, but not wanting to wake up Annie, who had fallen asleep in the chair.

The shadows had grown long by the time Ryder showed up to check on me. He shook Annie’s shoulder and motioned for her to vacate his chair. She jumped up, almost knocking over the small
table.

“How’s that hole coming along, Jack?” he asked with a smile.

“It’s a hole,” I replied. “What’s it for, anyway?”

His smile grew bigger as he stretched out his legs, crossed them, and rested his hands atop his head. “I don’t want to ruin the surprise.” He watched me dig for a while. “You have to put your back into it, or it’s going to take forever.”

“
I’m
not in any rush. Are you?”

He shrugged. “Winter’s coming, and we need to be ready.”

I had no idea what that meant. “What about my friends, Naoki and Talon? Do you have them digging a hole somewhere too?”

“No. We have enough for them. They spend their day at our training facilities.”

“So you’re hoping they’re going to join your society too? Or have they already?”

His mouth curved into a frown. “It’s my sincere wish
that that happens,” he said. “But I’m sure you understand that Ajuns make people nervous, especially Ajuns who are skilled fighters. We need to test their loyalties.”

I stopped shoveling to study his face, wondering what he was up to. “Test them?” I asked suspiciously. I remembered how much Hollywood had bragged about bringing skilled warriors back, so Ryder was obviously looking to recruit
men for fighting. “You mean you’re gauging their skills as soldiers? So you can send them to fight against Daemon?”

He sat up straighter, turned his ear in my direction, and cupped it. “Did I just hear you right?” he asked with a knowing grin. “Because you told me you didn’t know who Daemon was.”

Heat crept into my cheeks as the realization that he had just won a round in the cat-and-mouse
game sank in. The first time he’d met me, he asked if I was one of Daemon’s men, and I had told him I didn’t know who Daemon was. It wasn’t a lie. I really didn’t know Daemon. But any explanation at this point would just sound like excuses to get out of being caught in a lie.

“I know
of
him,” I said, but I was pretty sure my red face was working against me. “I mean, who doesn’t? Right?”

Ryder
put his elbow on the table, rested his chin on the back of his hand, and silently regarded me. I went back to shoveling. Finally he spoke. “You’ve seen our city, so tell me, Jack, is Daemon’s more advanced?”

I stopped to look at him. “I honestly don’t know. I’ve never met Daemon.”

“C’mon, Jack. Yesterday you told me you didn’t even know who he was and today you’re asking me if I’m training
your friends to go up against him in battle. Be honest with me.”

“I am being honest. I was briefed on Daemon just as I was briefed on you before I met you.”

“
Briefed
sounds kind of official. Who told you about me?” I opened my mouth to tell him, but he held up a hand to stop me. “Wait. Let me guess. The advanced society with nuclear warheads you belong to is also all-knowing and all-seeing.”

I screwed my mouth to one side and looked up at the sky, wondering how I should play this one out. The more lies I told, the more traps I set for myself in this little game of ours. I decided to stick with the truth. “You got it,” I said.

He stood up and kicked at the ground, sending a spray of dirt at me. “Whatever you’re playing at has to stop. We both know there are no nuclear warheads,
Jack. You’re Daemon’s man, and you need to come clean about it.”

“Yeah?” I asked. “Then how do you explain my face healing?”

He glowered at me, his eyes piercingly angry. “That’s one of the things I want to find out.”

Raised voices and a shuffling at the gate drew our attention. Guards armed with bows walked alongside a group of about seven men with their hands tied behind their backs. I
spotted Naoki and Talon. Naoki looked pissed off; Talon looked scared.

“That’s enough for tonight, Jack,” Ryder said. Fadi advanced on me, grabbed my arms, and twisted them behind me. I felt the familiar plastic ties around my wrists as I watched my friends come closer. When they were within hearing distance, I risked talking to them.

“Naoki, what’s going on? What are they doing to you two?”