CYPHER: A Dystopian Novel by Barbara Winkes

Author:Barbara Winkes [Winkes, Barbara]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2018-10-01T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

They turned in soon after Ami had finished her bath, holding each other close in the darkness. This was so different from the movies, Katlena reflected, where people had desperate sex or alcohol binges the night before the world—or maybe just their world—was about to end. She was barely getting off the pain pills, and Ami…Her hand tightened into a fist when she remembered Drago’s cocky attitude earlier. After he’d assaulted her in the archives, Ami wasn’t much in the mood for that kind of distraction either. Someday soon, they would leave all of this behind them.

“If there was a way to get out of the City, would you come with me?” Ami’s question didn’t come entirely unexpected.

“It seems like a good idea. I might be unemployed tomorrow.”

There was a small pause in which Katlena irrationally hoped she might have fallen asleep and dreamed this conversation, or that Ami was talking about a vague theory. She knew the question was too specific.

“I mean it.”

“Yes, I know. Are you sure it’s a good idea to tell me?”

“No,” Ami admitted, “but you’re about to lend me $20,000 and I’m falling in love with you, so I think I should do it anyway. Cara—Caroline Rivera—came to see me, here in your apartment. With Paul Trenton.”

“I’ve been trying to reach him all day. Damn it, I have to talk to him.” She wanted to be angry, but she didn’t have enough energy for the sentiment. That didn’t bode well for sparring with Drago a few hours from now. “Maybe you shouldn’t have told me.”

“There’s more.”

“Ami.”

“There’s a reason why I had the laptop, and the files…”

“Ami, please, don’t.” Katlena didn’t mention that she didn’t ask Ami for mere altruistic reasons. If this went wrong, she could soon be interrogated by Drago’s goons. In that case, it would be better not to know anything about Ami’s plans.

Ami was crying. “I can’t take that money from you when I might be gone tomorrow night and you…I met Trenton before. There’s a separate group that’s conducting surveillances, sometimes cyphers, but I was told—”

“To spy on me,” Katlena finished for her. “Wow. You were good.” Or maybe, she thought, Drago had assessed her correctly, everybody had. She hadn’t acted rationally where Ami was concerned. The outcome might be worse than she could have ever imagined.

“Didn’t you hear what I said?” Ami asked, sounding desperate to make Katlena understand.

“Sure. You’re having second thoughts about the money.”

“Katlena, please. I was approached years ago. I didn’t know them from the IdA, but they said they would help me get Lily back.”

“Figures,” Katlena said. “Everybody lies.” She turned away, unwilling to continue the conversation. She couldn’t be distracted when so much depended on her. Tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow they’d be able to sort out all the threads of this web of lies, hers, Ami’s, Trenton’s and Drago’s.

“They aren’t the evil ones,” Ami insisted. “They could help you find out who planted the bomb. They want Drago gone just as much as we do.”

“That’s a good thing, I guess.

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