Chapter Twenty Seven

Freedom

The clinic room smelled like alcohol and disinfectant. The reflection of light from the glossy white walls caused me to squint when I first walked in. I pulled myself up onto the padded examination table with my back to the door. Doc handed me a chemical ice pack, which I pressed to my face. Two visitor chairs were situated on the wall across from me, underneath a desert painting. Tremont promptly plopped down into one of them and lounged back.

After the months that passed, Ari turned up in the village. I barely heard Doc say I was lucky not to have a broken jaw. Tremont said something too, but I did not pay attention. The door squeaked open but I did not turn around. Dorothy walked into my field of view. Dorothy told Tremont to leave, which he did sheepishly.

"What do you want now?" I demanded. A fresh bruise painted Dorothy's face. "What happened to your face? Run into a door?"

"I was wondering if your offer still stood," Dorothy said, blatantly ignoring my question.

I clenched my jaw and resisted the urge to grimace from the intense pain which shot through my jaw. "Go f**k yourself, Dorothy. After what you've put me through, I'd rather not."

"Please, we need your help. The shackles will be removed."

I dropped the ice pack onto my lap and grasped my legs to stop my hands from shaking. "I said no. Get out of my face." My voice trembled.

A voice called out behind me. "Not even if you work for me?"

I jumped off the table and spun around. I could not believe my ears. "Rose?"

Her purple and silver hair was a ragged mess. She set her old ratty tan bomber jacket on the bench and shifted her weight to lean on the whip hanging on her hip. "I want you to explain how you ended up here." Her arms wrapped around me in an awkward attempt at a hug.

"What are you doing here? How did you find me?" I asked.

She pulled away and handed me a photo from her back pocket. "Someone sent this picture of you to my family's estate. Apparently, they faked your death and circulated the picture as proof."

In the photo, I was lying down with bruises all over my face. Sweat broke out all over my body. Where and when did they take that photo?

I wanted to lunge at Dorothy. "Are you kidding me?"

"Why are you so upset? They wanted you dead, but we duped them," Dorothy said nonchalantly.

My chest heaved up and down. "There are people who depended on me. Who knows what they said when they circulated those."

Rose rested a hand on my shoulder. "Calm down. I need you clearheaded."

I moved away, bumping into the chairs. Tears burned the back of my eyelids. "Calm down? You show up as if nothing has happened after they held me here for almost four months. Should I be grateful and gladly run after you to do your bidding? And you want me to work with her. Get f*****g real."

Rose stepped closer. We were toe to toe. She towered over me. "Watch your mouth."

I drew a deep breath and clutched the edge of the table, so hard that my knuckles turned white.

She placed her hand on my arm. "I understand that you're upset. Please listen to me. I have not been home in two years. Believe me, I came as soon as I received that picture. I did not even wait for the others to show up."

"Why should I help them now? This is what they did when I offered," I replied and held out my arms. My voice cracked slightly. Do not make me do it.

"Something bad is in the works in the city. The only way to stop it is if we work together." She pulled me into a side hug. "Please. I need your help with this."

Dorothy cleared her throat. "I have never told you this story, but I had a younger sister. She fell in love with a man who came to Charlestown to become a Peacekeeper. They were married as soon as she left Knoxville. We wrote letters to each other every week." She paused. "She wasn't doing well; the adjustment to city life was difficult. Therefore, she decided to join the Church. Then the letters just stopped. I knew something was wrong."

My eyes fixated on her. I took deep breaths in an attempt to compose myself. "That's why you abandoned your family?"

Her chin shuddered. "I had to go. I was the only one who could. I did not find her or her husband. Eventually, I came across a housekeeper who told me my sister had a horrible reaction after drinking the communion wine. The preacher declared that God struck her down. Her husband went missing the next day." She sniffled and wiped her eyes. "I don't want to see that happen to anyone else. How many more people will die if they force everyone to go to Church?

"You wonder why they treat you as they do. Do you realize what the Peacekeepers do to people? We met Jefferson when he was working in the textile factory at the age of sixteen. His parents were arrested for breaking curfew and never came home. He had to take that job to take care of his little sister." She walked to the counter and pulled a handful of tissue.

"It was not like that when I left. I personally worked to prevent the brutality. Besides, that is not an excuse to treat people like you do," I argued. Your fake sadness did not fool me.

Rose placed a hand on my shoulder. "My grandfather tried to make changes and was run out of the city. No one else dared speak against Charles Payne. As much as I do not like her, we need to stop this. Before he died, he told me that he regretted not staying and completing what he started. We need to do something now."

I stared at the floor and nodded. I did care what happened. Did Blake and Kira see the photo?

"There are a couple of conditions," Rose continued. "One, you are only to act under my orders. No running off on your own."

I rolled my eyes. "What else?"

"You are not to retaliate against anyone for what has happened to you so far."

My mouth slackened. The bruise on Dorothy's face provided some satisfaction. I wanted to bruise the other side of her face.

"Can I finally remove those?" Doc asked.

"Yes," Dorothy responded. "Remove them."

He nodded. "Sit back down, please. I am going to administer a local anesthetic. Otherwise, this is going to be pretty painful."

"I don't care," I grumbled. "I want my own place to live. I don't care if it is only one room."

Dorothy's face tightened. "You don't like Doc and Tremont?"

"Don't be stupid. I realize Tremont is your favorite pet, but I cannot stand him. I will not let touch me anymore. No offense, Doc, your son is a moron."

Doc chuckled as he pulled the stool over to the table. "None taken."

"I will ensure it happens," Rose said.

Dorothy frowned. "You'll need to work for us. We always need help on the defense patrols."

"Yeah, whatever," I retorted.

Doc removed the shackles on my wrists first. What happened to cause Rose agree to work with Dorothy? My thoughts drifted to Ari again. He thought I was dead all this time. I wanted to find him and talk to him. However, things were not as they were. Was it true he showed up with a girlfriend? Or was Tremont attempting to get a rise out of me?

Blood dripped down my hand when Doc severed the shackle on my right wrist. I watched as it pooled into my cupped hand and almost spilled out.

Rose and Dorothy deliberated what to do next. Suddenly I overheard my name and paid attention to what they said.

Rose paced across the room. "Maybe Lily can convince Ari to talk Candi into cooperating."

"What do you want me to do?" I inquired.

Dorothy crossed her arms. "Weren't you listening? The girl who came in with Arthur, she's a member of the head research team in the University because she's Charles Payne's family."

"What are you hoping to learn from her? He is secretive. He doesn't share his plans with just anyone," I answered.

"How do you know that?" Dorothy jeered.

I laughed. "How is it I obtained more knowledge of your adversary than you?"

Dorothy spoke through her teeth. "We are trying to acquire the drug so we can develop a counter drug."

"Tell us what you know," Rose interjected.

"A counter drug for Angel's Tears? It already exists. The woman who runs the orphanage used to run his research team. She developed Charles Payne’s insurance policy since he's addicted to it as well."

Rose stopped in front of me."What did you call it?"

Doc completed bandaging my wrists and dropped the stool over to detach the ankle shackles.

"Angel's Tears. Larmes d'ange. After the flowers of Brugmansia suaveolens tree." I glared at Dorothy. "You aren't even familiar with the effective ingredient?"

"How in the world did you come by this information?" Dorothy ranted.

"She hoped that I could use this knowledge one day. If you and your lackeys would have listened to me, you would have known a lot sooner. Fran and the kids she cares for are some of the people you messed with by circulating this picture." I snatched from the table and chucked it at her.

Dorothy wrinkled her nose up at me. "Look, it was probably the Peacekeepers that made the ransom deal with us."

My hands balled into fists. I closed my eyes to cool myself.

"We need to interrogate Candi. She may still be able to tell us what is going on today," Dorothy said.

I looked at Rose. "I don't want to be the one to ask Ari to do that. He's going to think I'm just being jealous because he arrived with another girl."

"He doesn't know me. He does not trust her." She thumbed at Dorothy. "You are the only one who can do it. If you want to or not, there's no one else."

I flexed my jaw and pressed my lips together. Reluctantly or not, I agreed to work for Rose again. Fran was a better person to ask, but I should not expect them to listen now. I sighed heavily. "Fine."

Doc wrapped my left ankle. "Stop moving until I'm done."

Dorothy called on the handheld radio to fetch Ari. I cleared my mind. Time slowed to a crawl. As we waited, a slight chill cast a shiver down my body.

The doctor had just finished applying the bandages when Ari arrived. His eyes moved to my bandages and his shoulders slumped. Doc told me not to move until the anesthetic wore off and he left the room. Heavy footsteps plodded up the stairs.

Dorothy smiled warmly. "I'm glad you came."

"What do you want from me, Dorothy?" Ari challenged.

"The girl who came with you. What's her name?"

He pulled down on the bottom of his shirt before crossing his arms. "Her name is Candi. She did not tell me her last name."

"She's Candi Payne. She's Charles Payne's family."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "So what?"

"They want to interrogate her. She works for him. They think she can divulge secrets," I said.

Ari's gaze moved from Dorothy to me and back to Dorothy. "Hasn't she been through enough? I think you should let her go."

"She's under the influence of his drug. Our contact informed us about a plan to create God's true territory by spreading it to all the cities," Dorothy said. "If she works closely with Charles, she could possess vital information about that plan."

"No, she's innocent. She is just a staff member at the University." He turned to me. "Lily, you faked your death, disappeared for months, but you did not want to tell me what was going on? Why would you volunteer to help them?"

My sight grew blurry. I averted my eyes to the floor. "Obviously you haven't heard the entire story. Except for the last week or so, I was a prisoner."

"And now you are working with them. Couldn't you handle knowing I showed up with another woman?"

I bit the inside of my cheek. My fists compressed until my fingernails pierced the skin. Spots of blood formed at my fingertips.

"She's working with us because I asked her to," Rose said.

"And who are you exactly?"

"I'm Rose Andrews."

He was taken aback.

Rose plucked the picture from the floor. "Were you the one who sent this to my family?"

"No, but I gave it to Alex. Maybe he did," he said in a flat, monotone voice.

My head snapped up. His features turned down. A heavy feeling filled my stomach.

"Well, thank you. I'm grateful you did, or I might not be here today." She squeezed his shoulder reassuringly.

"You'll see soon enough. She will go through withdrawal and freak out," I said. I dropped my stinging eyes back to the floor. Carefully controlled breaths held the tears at bay.

"You're wrong. You're all wrong," Ari said. Moments later, the door slammed shut.

Rose sat down next me. "Lily..."

Against Doc's instructions, I jumped up and fell over onto an adjacent chair because of the numbness. "I told you I didn't want to do that."

"I know you did. I think it's time we shared what we've learned over the past couple years about the city and Charles Payne."