Schism (30 page)

“Yes, I have more than a second,” he replied, relieved to have an excuse to leave the table. He followed Andy into the kitchen.

“What do you know about truth serum?” she asked him as he took a seat at the kitchen table.

“Truth serum?” he repeated with surprise. “Not much, I’m afraid.”

“Do you know if it’s actually real or if it’s just something that Hollywood made up?”

“Oh no, it’s real. It’s called
sodium amytal
. But other than that, I don’t know how it works or how reliable it is.
Rohypnol
might be better, but it causes memory loss.” After a pause, he added, “Why do you ask?”

Andy sat back in her chair and let out a weary sigh. “I’m trying to think of all possible ways to get the location of the virus out of Luke, assuming he even knows where it is.”

“Sounds like you’ve got some doubts.”

“Well, yeah. I can’t help but feel like we’re all taking a giant stab in the dark here.”

“Who’s taking a stab in the dark?” Susan entered the kitchen.

“Oh…no one,” Andy quickly muttered to contain the conversation. The last thing she wanted was for everyone to think she doubted her own scheme. After all, she had insisted on being the one to go to
Papillon
, an idea that Ben still hated despite his efforts to appear perfectly at ease with it, and despite all of their preparations.

“Did I hear you say something about truth serum?”

Andy closed her eyes, feeling foolish for even considering the notion. “It was just something that popped into my head earlier today. I’m sure it won’t even work.”

“I’ll look into it. You never know, right?” said Charlie.

“I guess,” Andy muttered before mustering a smile of gratitude. “Thanks, Charlie.”

“No worries. Want to come with me to the library tomorrow?” he asked Susan.

Her face quickly fell. “Oh, I would, but I’m going with Morgan and Maria tomorrow to find clothes, remember?”

“Oh, right. I forgot,” he said, frowning. “Oh well, then. It’ll be boring anyway.”

“What are you talking about? I love going to the library with you,” she replied as she reached over and stroked his hair. “I always feel smarter when I leave,” she added. He reached up and playfully grabbed her wrist.

Though smiling at the pair, Andy couldn’t help but feel a twinge of envy.

***

“How’d it go?” Ben asked Jim.

Sitting closest to Ben, Andy thought she caught the faintest hint of aftershave.

“It went fine. Danny came through, as usual,” Jim said. He then pulled out two ID bracelets from his backpack and handed one to Andy and the other to Maria. “You’re both registered as Helens now. Nothing else has changed except your classifications.”

“What’s today? Sunday?” Andy wondered aloud.

“Yeah, and I think if we’re going to do this, it should be this week,” Ben said with an edge to his voice. “The sooner, the better.”

“I agree,” echoed Jim. He looked back and forth between the two girls. “Are you two ready?”

They exchanged a quick glance before nodding in unison. Inside, however, Andy’s heart began to pound.

“We’re going to go look for clothes tomorrow,” Maria said. “After that, we’ll be ready.”

“Good. Wednesday is the best night to go,” Jim said. “Danny said that’s the night Dregs are allowed into the club, which means that the guards will be distracted with the crowd.”

“Which means less focus on everyone else, right? Including the Helens?” Andy asked.

“Hopefully. You and Maria should have no problem getting in without a second look. Once inside, you’re in the clear.” Though Jim made that task sound easy, everyone knew differently. While both he and Ben were forced to remain on the sidelines, Andy and Maria would be placing themselves in the crosshairs.

***

“You were gone for more than three weeks. What happened?” Sean was careful with his tone as he addressed Chad so that his words sounded authoritative but not accusatory. He wanted people to think he trusted them but make no mistake that he was still the one in control.

Chad, however, recognized the distinction. “The Fixers took longer to investigate the Metro than expected,” he replied calmly. “You were right about them…smart but totally helpless.”

They were sitting in Sean’s office in his Fifth Avenue apartment. Both had just returned to New York: Sean from Philadelphia, and Chad, an Infantry officer rising quickly through the ranks, from Washington DC. Sean had selected him specifically for the assignment.

“I know, but they have their uses, clearly,” Sean countered. “What about the people? Did you even see anyone?”

“No. The infrastructure is in ruins. Most of the city’s power lines are above ground, not like here where everything is underground. All the storms these last few years have done major damage. We’re talking miles and miles of lines that need to be fixed. It’ll take months and probably a few hundred people.”

Sean frowned at the news, though he wasn’t surprised. “It was the same in Philly, but I got that fixed.” Turning to his computer, he opened a few files that detailed every young man enlisted in the Infantry along with their age, rank, current location, and current duty. Over two thousand were located among the city’s five boroughs, while the remaining thousand were either in Philadelphia or shuffling back and forth. “I can give you fifty officers, and maybe a hundred and fifty workers,” he assessed after staring at the screen for more than a minute.

“I’d be better off with three hundred,” Chad countered.

But Sean remained firm. “For long distance jobs, I never want Dregs to outnumber the Infantry by more than three to one. Otherwise, I risk a revolt. That’s how I cleaned up Philly, and DC will be no different.”

Chad shrugged. “I’ll take what I can get.”

“You’ll manage,” Sean said coolly as he turned away from his computer. “It’ll take a few days to move some people around, but you should be back in DC within a week.”

After discussing a few other mundane matters, Chad left and headed back to his own sparsely furnished apartment in Chelsea. He walked the mile home, preferring to use his feet rather than a bike. He lived alone, his older brother Thomas having succumbed to the virus.

Upon entering his apartment, he removed his knife from his back pocket and placed it on the kitchen table. He washed his face in the bathroom with cold water. After a quick dinner of apples, milk, hard-boiled eggs, and bacon, he sat in the living room and spent the next half hour sharpening his knife.

Originally from a small farming town in western Iowa, Chad had traveled east to New York three years earlier. Shortly after his arrival, he joined the Infantry and soon caught the attention of Luke, the leader of the Infantry and the second most powerful person in New York. Luke had assigned Chad the task of hunting those involved in a growing underground movement plotting to overthrow Sean and the rest of the Directors. Effective at flushing out this enemy, Chad didn’t shy away from violence the way the others did.

The knife, which he preferred to use in lieu of a gun, had been a gift from his father. Two days after receiving the knife, his father was killed in a car accident on a lonely country road. The death was a serious blow to young Chad. His protector was gone, and his mother favored his brother. For years he endured her endless criticisms and lamentations over why he wasn’t more like Thomas. Unable to take anymore, he staged a robbery one night and stabbed his mother in the chest with his beloved knife while she slept. Thomas died a month later without ever suspecting his brother.

All of that was long in the past, as were his days in the Infantry. He was approaching the inner circle now.

***

“Where did you get your dress?”

The girl, probably no older than fourteen and little more than skin and bone, looked at Maria like she had two heads. “Where do you think? From a store.”

“Uh, okay. Which store?”

“I don’t remember,” the girl scoffed. “I’ve had it for years.”

“Well, can you tell us where we can get more clothes like it?”

The girl bit hungrily on her ragged fingernails as she contemplated the question. “What’s in it for me?” she finally replied.

“What do you want?” Maria asked.

“Whataya got?”

Maria offered food. The girl mulled over the offer, but asked if there was anything else to bargain with, implying drugs. Maria tried to persuade her otherwise. “No offense, but you look like you need some food.”

“Don’t tell me what I need!”

Maria shrugged and turned around. “Forget it. We’ll ask someone else,” she said and began to walk away.

“Wait!” the girl called out. “Give me something to eat, and then I’ll tell you.”

Maria turned around and gave her a long stare. She was a pitiful sight, like so many other young girls they’d seen wandering the streets of Manhattan. With bloodshot eyes, stringy hair, and a red, runny nose from obvious cocaine abuse, she was the picture of misery.

“Please,” she begged. The attitude was gone. Only desperation remained.

***

“You went all the way to the city just to find some clothes? Aren’t there malls in New Jersey?” Andy asked Morgan, who had several garments draped over her arms.

“You and Maria have to fit in with the other Helens, so we had to go to the city to see for ourselves what they wear. And besides, you didn’t even want to come.”

“Because I hate wearing dresses, and looking for them is even worse.”

Morgan placed the dresses on Andy’s bed and held up each one.

Andy made a face. They were little more than lingerie. “Seriously? Those aren’t dresses!” she cried after Morgan held up a blue piece of fabric that was sheer everywhere except where her bra and underwear would be.

“Well, you
are
pretending to be a prostitute. You have to fit the part.”

“Where did you find these?”

“You don’t want to know.” Morgan plucked a black dress out of the pile and analyzed it. “This one is not as…”

“Slutty?” Andy offered.

“Try it on.”

With a sigh, she stood up and slid her jeans off. She stepped into the dress and pulled it up to her waist before removing her T-shirt. The top portion of the dress was a corset design but without lacing. As she adjusted the thin straps, the wire boning hugged her ribs and back, giving her more cleavage than she thought possible.

“Wow. Look at that!” she exclaimed. “It’s like magic.”

The dress was sexy indeed and, by contemporary standards, not “slutty.” Hollywood starlets would have worn something similar on the red carpet.

“I’ve got shoes to go with it too,” Morgan added before disappearing from the room momentarily. When she returned, she was carrying a pair of four-inch black heels.

Andy eyed them suspiciously but tried them on nonetheless. She attempted a few steps but wobbled like a newborn fawn. “I’m practically walking on my toes.”

“You’ll get used to them, but you need to break them in.”

Andy hated the shoes, but there was no escaping them. She would have to get used to not just walking in them but running as well.

“You should show Ben, you know, get a bloke’s opinion,” Morgan suggested as she fought to keep a straight face and contain the edge in her voice.

“Uh, yeah…maybe,” Andy said as she looked at herself in the mirror. “These are
not
comfortable.”

“They’re heels, Andy. They’re not supposed to be comfortable.”

Andy left the room and walked over to Ben. She knocked on his door tentatively.

“Yeah?” he called from inside.

She opened the door slowly. He was sitting on his bed reading a magazine.

“Will this work?” she asked meekly while remaining in the doorway. Her hand gripped the doorframe while the other rested flat against her stomach self-consciously. She looked terrified, like a deer waiting to become a wolf’s prey.

Ben’s eyes widened as he looked up from his magazine. He tossed it aside. “Um, yeah, that’ll work. Just don’t look so scared.”

She released her hands to her sides and adjusted her posture in an attempt to appear more confident. “Better?”

Without responding, Ben sat up and got off his bed. “Come here,” he said to her.

Slowly, she stepped inside the room a few feet, from the doorframe.

“No, come
here
,” he insisted, gesturing for her to stand right in front of him.

Looking confused, she slowly moved forward until they were face to face. She could almost look directly into his eyes with the heels on.

“So pretend I’m Luke and you finally got me alone. What would you do first?”

“What do you mean?”

“How would you get me to tell you where the virus is?”