Among the Betrayed Read Free Page B

sock. Twelve years of all of them living on stale bread and thin broth. Still, Nina couldn’t help feeling that the precious card was her death sentence instead of her reprieve. If she wasn’t Elodie anymore, if she was supposed to be this strange new person, Nina Idi, then she wasn’t Aunty Zenka’s little melody, she wasn’t Gran’s little sweetiekins, she wasn’t the one beloved ray of sunshine in an apartment full of tired old women. She wasn’t anybody at all.
    Somehow, amazingly, Gran and the aunties had recognized Nina’s screaming as fear, not brattiness. They’d all crowded around her, hugging her, comforting her, “You’ll always be our special girl, no matter what. Even when you’re away at that school . . .”
    And just hearing that word, “school,” Nina had understood that Nina Idi really was killing Elodie Luria. Elodie could exist only in Gran’s apartment. Nina was the one who was going to leave.
    But now if Nina Idi was about to die, wouldn’t she rather die as Elodie?
    It was so tempting.
    â€œThat’s not a tough question,” the man chided her. “Are you Nina Idi or not?”
    â€œYou’re the one who arrested me,” Nina snapped, just to buy some time. “Don’t you know my name? Maybe you didn’t even arrest the right person!”
    The man turned around.
    â€œGuard?” he called toward the door. “A chair?”
    Minutes later a guard appeared with a solid wood chair that the man slid into. He leaned back in it, obviously enjoying the greater comfort. Nina still huddled on the cold concrete floor. The guard left, locking the door behind him.
    â€œI decided this conversation might be worth continuing longer than I wanted to spend squatting on your putrid floor,” the hating man said, as if it were Nina’s fault her jail cell was dirty. He leaned toward her, resting his chin on his hands, his elbows on his knees. “Now. Surely you realize my question wasn’t as stupid as you imply. After all, the other criminal we arrested yesterday morning, Scott Renault, was masquerading as Jason Barstow, pretending to be an illegal third child who’d gotten ahold of a fake I.D. Supposedly he was trying to trick other illegals with fake I.D.’s into revealing their true identity so he could report them to the Population Police. Got all that? His story, of course, is ludicrous. Everyone knows that in this great country of ours it’s impossible for an illegal to get a fake I.D. No law-abiding citizen would defy our beloved Government so flagrantly.”
    Nina stared back at the man in confusion.
    â€œWhat . . . what was I arrested for?” she asked quietly.
    â€œTreason, of course,” the man said, almost cheerfully. “You betrayed your country.”
    â€œHow?” Nina asked again.
    â€œHey, who’s supposed to be asking the questions here?” the man protested. He answered her anyway: “Youand this Jason—Scott?—what should I call him?”
    â€œJason,” Nina whispered. “He’s Jason.”
    â€œOkay. Whatever. You and this Jason tried to trick the Population Police into paying you for turning in a bunch of so-called exnays—illegals trying to pass themselves off as legitimate citizens. Just what I said before. Except all the supposed ‘exnays’ actually were legitimate citizens, some of them with very powerful and well-connected families. Just think if the Population Police had fallen for your little ploy . . .”
    Nina stopped listening. She had never felt so thickheaded and stupid before in her life. None of this made sense.
    â€œYou don’t think I’m an illegal third child with a fake I.D.?” she asked cautiously.
    â€œOf course not,” the man said. “There’s no evidence of that. And if you were an exnay yourself, why would you betray your own